A "Sensitivity"

I took Gemma to see our family doc yesterday. I wanted to ask him for a referral to an allergist so we can finally get a definite answer about Gemma's egg "issues". I know the wait times can be very long, so I thought I'd get a head start and get a referral in now as opposed to in 4 months when she is 18 months old.

Background:

Egg yolk was one of the first solids I started when Gemma was 5 months old. Not the first, but one of the first. She did fine and really liked it the first three times she had it. Then, read this back for what happened on the fourth time. We tried two more times with similar results, but maybe not quite as dramatic. So at the advice of the pediatrician and our family doctor, we stopped giving her egg yolk. The recommendation was to wait until she is 18 months old to try again.

She does not get hives. She does not swell up in any way in any body part. She does not seem like she can't breathe.

She can eat eggs cooked in anything - baked goods, meatloaf, breads with eggwash on them, etc. I haven't given her straight egg since episode #3, but she has been totally fine with things containing egg. She also never reacted to the flu vaccine, which people with egg allergies are supposed to avoid.

So I was never convinced that she has a true allergy. But then I read some people who are allergic to eggs CAN eat them like Gemma can - baked into things or other forms. So I just wanted an answer - is this an allergy or not???

Well after talking to my family doc about it yesterday, he isn't convinced. And since neither am I, I didn't fight hard for a referral either. so it's a no-go for the allergist. He thinks maybe the egg just didn't sit well with her at such a young age (especially just the egg yolk being so... heavy). He called it a "sensitivity", but I can't seem to find anything online that differentiates between a sensitivity and an allergy. Anyhoo, the recommendation still sits to wait til she is 18 months (or 2 years) to try straight egg again. I've never tried to give her straight egg white either, but there is no history of eczema, atopy, or asthma in either of our families, so he didn't think it too likely that she would be truly allergic.

So another 4 months before Gemma can try to have scrambled eggs with us at the breakfast table. I sincerely hope though that it will be a thing of the past when we try again though. This is a family of big egg-eaters and she just wouldn't fit in. LOL.