Looking for a dietician for a baby in Limerick

angelll

We're on two different lists to see a dietician in the hospital and with local phn but they are long and i'm getting a bit desperate,he's allergic to everything it seems. Anyone know of someone we could see privately that deals with babies? Have googled but the ones that come up deal with 3 yrs and upwards diets...

Clareman

Moving this to Newborn and Toddler as there maybe more people to help there.

@Mods, feel free to pass this back to Limerick if you wish

RubyWoo83

Does your baby attend the pediatrician clinic in the hospital? If so usually when you are there for your visit you see the dietitian at the same time.

I haven't dealt with any of the community dietitians but from what I can see at the hospital they have no system at all in place. I was left waiting ages for an appointment myself until someone told me to ring them so that's what I did. took a few attempts, they work really odd hours so just keep trying & leaving messages and they will give you an appointment over the phone and might even have a chat with you and give you some advice over the phone too.

Just ring the hospital & ask for dietetics, sorry I don't have the direct number to hand but I'll try route it out and send it to you.

0ctober

You could try www.indi.ie for a list of dietitians who practice privately. Click on the find a dietitian section and then you can search by their area of speciality!

Moonbeam

0ctober wrote: »

You could try www.indi.ie for a list of dietitians who practice privately. Click on the find a dietitian section and then you can search by their area of speciality!

Ask your gp to refer you .

0ctober

Moonbeam wrote: »

Ask your gp to refer you .

The OP wants to see a dietitian privately, GP would probably just refer you to the community dietitians.

angelll

Yep gp would refer to community one unfortunately and hospital waiting list is 6-12 mths! Have been in contact with nutrikids (recommended by pm) and we can have a phone consult thankfully,thanks for the replies!

pwurple

It is very awkward alright with food. Have you spoken to the allergy nurses in the paediatric unit at the hospital in the phone? We have a child with food allergies, and we phone the allergy nurses any time we have a question. They have some leaflets they can give you about food substitution. I always find them really helpful.

I don't understand how you haven't seen anyone yet if the child is 3 years old already, unless it is a mild allergy or intolerance maybe? That might put you to the back of the queue. Who diagnosed the allergy initially, hospital or GP? The GP would normally send you to the childrens unit in the hospital at the time of the first reaction if it was severe (breathing affected etc).

How do you manage the reactions now? Epi pen needs to be prescribed if needed, and it was our consultant rather than GP who did that prescribing.

angelll

Hi pwuple,he's only 8 mths old,the private dieticians i found online would only see children of 3 yrs plus,that's what may have confused you in my post,sorry. We haven't seen anyone,gp just said we will have to figure out by trial and error what he is allergic to Don't think Limerick regional have anyone related to allergies and i'm not sure who we should be asking about referrals. He did have a rast tests for dust,egg & milk and it was fine,however he comes out in hives all over,vomits,has green/black nappies & starts wheezing when he has dairy so....not sure where to go. He had been back on dairy for 3 days before he had the rast test and that was enough for a clear result i think? He ended up in hospital wheezing and with mild apnea after the three days so really don't want to go through it again! He's under a paediatrician for a kidney problem since birth and we will be seeing him in a few weeks so will be asking for something to be done then,perhaps skin patching? Not sure if he is too young for that though. Just quite lost really,i'm not sure where to go or who to ask...

pwurple

I misread about the age, rsorry. Who did the rast test?

The tests they did for us were these:
Skin prick, where they cut the skin with a small blade, put on a drop of the allergen solution and measure the size of the resulting hive against a control.
Blood, where they take blood and measure the antibodies using enzyme based tests (not rast).
Challenge test, where they get the child to eat tiny bit of the food and watch the reaction. (hives, wheezing, vomit etc).

We had the first set of those tests at 9 months, and have them every few months since to see what allergies she is growing out of.

You need a detailed diagnosis before you see someone privately about diet probably. they won't know enough to help you otherwise. Skin patching is for diagnosing skin allergies like dermatitus and excema, so no real point asking for that for food allergy. i would tell your kidney consult that you suspect a food allergy, tell them the symptoms and ask for a referral to someone to verify.

I don't know is dairy allergy is different, but mine wouldn't last even ten minutes after a crumb of egg or nut before her face starts swelling up like a football, hives all over, projectile vomit and wheezing. 3 days on the allergen seems like a really long time.

Blueskye

pwurple wrote: »

I misread about the age, rsorry. Who did the rast test?

The tests they did for us were these:
Skin prick, where they cut the skin with a small blade, put on a drop of the allergen solution and measure the size of the resulting hive against a control.
Blood, where they take blood and measure the antibodies using enzyme based tests (not rast).
Challenge test, where they get the child to eat tiny bit of the food and watch the reaction. (hives, wheezing, vomit etc).

We had the first set of those tests at 9 months, and have them every few months since to see what allergies she is growing out of.

You need a detailed diagnosis before you see someone privately about diet probably. they won't know enough to help you otherwise. Skin patching is for diagnosing skin allergies like dermatitus and excema, so no real point asking for that for food allergy. i would tell your kidney consult that you suspect a food allergy, tell them the symptoms and ask for a referral to someone to verify.

I don't know is dairy allergy is different, but mine wouldn't last even ten minutes after a crumb of egg or nut before her face starts swelling up like a football, hives all over, projectile vomit and wheezing. 3 days on the allergen seems like a really long time.

What about an immunologist? I saw Paula O'Leary in CUH privately and she was v good. I see they also have a paediatric immunologist in CUH Jonathan Hourihane. Just google 'paediatric immunologist cork' and he'll come up. They would be qualified to investigate and diagnose food allergies.

I agree with pwurple. You'll need a proper diagnosis before a dietitian can help.

My GP referred me.

angelll

Thanks for replies,i know of hourihane,my second child went to him with constant rashes and constant chest & ear infections,he diagnosed him with dermographism (skin writing),a yr or so later he was referred to ent where he needed double grommets and adenoids removed as they had grown huge from severe dust allergy (they did testing during the op). Also think he may be dairy intolerant now i've looked it up in relation to my third child (the 8 mth old). We drove down from limerick to cork and the prof looked at him for 2 mins,scratched his back,diagnosed him and sent us off.....so i'm quite reluctant to go to him again. Unfortunately i think he's the only one nearby so may have to get referral....will prob take at least 6 mths.

Trilogy

Hi op,

Ruth Charles is an excellent dietitian and would be considered one of the country's private experts:

http://www.nutrikids.ie/food-allergy-intolerance/

Good luck!

T

angelll

Yes that's the one i have gone for,posted above,great to get another recommendation thanks Doing phone consultation sometime this week.

pwurple

Angelll, i hope you went back and followed up with hourihan if his initial diagnosis wasn't enough. No-one is a mind-reader, when people don't go back and follow up they don't know there was more to it afterwards. It helps everyone else in similar situations.