Allergy Testing for Children

My son was tested when he was 2 1/2 for allergies . He also had the blood test. It checks for peanuts,treenuts,wheat,soy,milk,egg,gluten,shellfish,and plant mold. It is worth it because you will find out the severity of each one also. The scratch test is painful and unneeded if many allergies aren't suspected. By the way, my husband took our son for the bloodtest. he was great and didn't cry.Good luck to you :)

My sister used to live in Morristown!

Two of my kids had the blood test done before other testing. It was worth it not to have to wait to see another doc. My kids were 9 months and 12 months when they got tested. I have to test all my kids before I give them cows milk at 1 because my 1st son quit breathing when I gave him cows milk.

My allergist told me that skin test is actually more accurate than bloodwork.

Both of my boys have had alergy test taken by blood samples. To be honest I was not aware there was other ways to get tested for alergies. As it turned out they seemd to be very accurate. One of my sons is alergic to dogs which is why we had his test taken in the first place. My other son turned out to be alergic to cats. Taking of the blood was a traimatic experience, BUT is was literrally a minute that it took. I made it a point to express what a "Big Boy" they were and how brave they were. A scoop of ice cream was all it took to wipe the experience from their memory. Best of luck to you and your son.

My daughter did the blood test and it only showed elevated white blood cell count. We had to do the skin prick test to get answers.

At least with the skin test, the child won't see anything "scary" (it was done on my daughter's back.) Hardest part was trying to keep my daughter from rubbing anything against/on her back or scratching for 20 minutes. The actual test was just gently scratching the skin with a plastic applicator--no needles. The blood test however would be visible to your son (since it's done out of his arm). It was quicker than the skin test but your son would have to be calm while they jab and draw blood (and for us, it was inconclusive at pin-pointing anything).

When my son was 2 yrs old he got this weird rash on his face and we couldn't figure out where it was coming from...food? latex? we just didn't know? He had a blood test done and they tested for a whole 2 pages worth of stuff...it was well worth it!

I thought it would be a nightmare getting him to hold still and that there would be tons of crying but believe it or not he just sat still and watched...I had to hold his arm down tight but he was SO good...easy as pie!