>> >Our son is anaphylactically allergic to milk. But he tested negative to
>> >milk in both skin and RAST tests. His allergist blythely said he wasn't
>> >allergic. We foolishly went ahead with an oral challenge; on a Sunday; when
>> >the allergist's office was closed; we had a quick trip to the ER on that
>> >one. They told us we shouldn't have believed the negative results.
>
>Strange question, was he a breastfed child at the time of the tests?  I
>have had several people tell me about false negatives before - and in
>almost all cases the baby/child was still breastfed at least partially.

Hmm, Matthew had a false negative RAST to milk while breastfed too.
Luckily our doctor told us to believe our other evidence more than
the tests!  (Matthew was not anaphylactic to milk but got bloody stool
and GE reflux when I ate dairy and nursed him -- after several months
of being dairy-free (and other things) we challenged dairy in my diet
and the symptoms came right back, so we are quite certain that there
was a milk allergy, although now he has outgrown it!)

--Robyn (mommy to Ryan 9/7/93 and Matthew 6/16/96)