warning about allergies

Ella's been off her last evening feed for the last 3 nights.  She still needs it - she wakes in the wee small hours if she's missed it - she just refuses to take if from the breast.  No probs with a bottle of EBM, but I only get a little expressed now, so can't see that working long term.  Anyway, last night she again refused, so we got some sachets of formulas to try.  Tried her on a Heinz gold one (not that I think the brand is to blame!), and after chopping it back like a trooper, she dozed off (which Ella doesn't do at the end of a feed), immediately came up in a red rash and hives, they went from her neck to all over, her neck swelled and she had trouble swallowing.  She threw up (thank God) and seemed to breathe easier after that but before the ambulance had arrived she'd started getting wheezy breathing.  She was given steroids at A&E and steadily came right overnight. 

Our little girl is fine now - apart from some marks leftover on her skin from it all she's back to her normal self, and we came home this avo.  What scared me the most was the breathing trouble, swollen neck, and hearing her wee voice all strained and croaky because she couldn't quite get it all out.  I wouldn't want any parent to go through that, and I sooooo wish I'd taken that 'before using this for the first time, consult your healthcare provider' note on the pack seriously.  OK, so we have no family history of food allergies, but crikey the poor girl's made up for that.  And I know no-one expects anaphylactic shock, but it can happen.  Ella now needs an epi-pen prescribed but is too little for the smallest dose, so we have to be hyper-vigilant until she's 10kg.   She'll have RAST test done when she's a year old, and if that comes back OK for milk by then, they want to have her try some on her skin, but only in the hospital.  We seriously didn't see this coming.  So if you're considering trying a formula out, please try it some way other than a full feed's worth for the first time.  Maybe just a little amount, or mix some up and put it on the inside of baby's elbow or something.  But while I still think it's a fantastic invention, be careful that first time. 

Teresa, I'm considering a giant sign to hang around Ella's neck when we're out... "please do not feed the baby" but then they never really worked for the monkeys in zoos so I can't see it helping here!  Yeah, I'll make sure all my friends and family know. 

And Vanessa - oh dear... Ella was 6.02kg at her last Plunket check a week ago.  They didn't measure her though.  Last time they did that was at 3 months, and she was 5.52kg and 62cm long.  They weighed and measured her in hospital and I'm stuffed if I can remember the numbers (sooo got no proper sleep) but I could swear they said her length was 70-something... I remember thinking Crikey!  But also, the nurse stretched Ella to measure her.  And I could be wrong on the figure too.  I think I'll pop into Plunket and have her measured and weighed before her next check, as it's 6 weeks before we see the dietician.