What we can offer you at Prince Clinic
Prince Clinic offers a one-stop shop for the diagnosis and treatment of food and/or other types of allergies in children. Our staff at the Prince Clinic are all specialists in paediatric (children) medicine and have the experience of looking after children and their parents. We understand parental concerns and don’t take them lightly.
At your first visit, you have the option of seeing an allergy-specialist consultant, without any referrals, who will spend the necessary time - up to one hour - to listen and talk to you, the parents, and will perform a comprehensive assessment and examination of your child. If necessary, blood and/or some other tests can be done at the same time. You will be informed of the results, as soon as the consultant gets them, usually a week later. Thereafter, there are a number of ways that your child’s allergy – if there is one - can be dealt with: - It may be that following the assessment and a blood or skin test confirming the allergy that some nutritional advices are enough to relieve the manifestations with a re- assessment of the progress and improvement after one, six and twelve months. - Some times the issue of food allergy may be complex and may require the help of a Paediatric Dietitian, someone who is trained in all aspects of food and nutrition relating to children, in order to have a well balanced diet for your child to grow and develop properly while avoiding allergic problems. - More complex allergies - according to the current official guidlines - will need to be managed by allergy-specialist consultants for further testing and a comprehensive treatment plan. At Prince Clinic you have the peace of mind of having your precious child in the hands of an allergy-specialist Consultant Paediatrician. There are only a handful of specialist centres such as the Prince Clinic across the UK. We involve parents in every aspect of the development of the child's allergy management plans and decisions. For those children who have complex allergies and need to be followed on a regular basis by a specialist, parents can either continue the journey towards a better outcome with us or, if they wish, can be referred to the NHS (should follow NHS terms and conditions including waiting lists). In any case, what is most important is to stop the allergy impacting on your child's health as soon as possible for as long as possible.
For more information, please call us at 08456 525 777 or e-mail us at enquiry@princeclinic.co.uk What to do
when
You think your baby has an allergy!
By DR Allyson Betts
Child-specialist GP
Food allergies and intolerances are increasingly common and affect children of all ages including young babies but parents and children can have a difficult time getting the allergy diagnosed and treated. Usually mums bring children to see a GP with a few of the manifestations associated with allergy. For example I might see a 3 month old who has troublesome eczema and who vomits more after feeds when started on formula milk, or an 8 month old who vomits and has sore lips after trying a new food, or an older child with recurrent abdominal pain and constipation.
Sometimes parents become aware that after taking certain foods a child will become more irritable or a few days after they will notice that there is flare in the child’s eczema.
Most of the time, baby food allergy manifestations are:
-diarrhoea and/or vomiting
-skin rash and hives
-tummy cramps
-wheezing when breathing
A food allergy or intolerance to a certain food is ture when the manifestations become repetitive.
Some of the manifestations may be typical but some not. For example an irritable and ‘sicky’ baby may be like this because they have an allergy to cow’s milk in formula feeds. Worried parents face a frustrating time trying to get help with the problem. Most of the time, the health professionals parents seek help from may not take the manifestations seriously dismissing them as normal or trivial. This may be due to a lack of knowledge or awareness on the professional’s part or they may not know how to help.
Click here to read the incredible story of a mother’s experience and how making the right decision helps saving your child from disastrous problems! A child suspected to have an allergy to food or other things must be assessed comprehensively. Taking a detailed history of the symptoms (manifestations which are indicators of a disease) and a thorough examination by the GP should often reveal whether an allergy is likely, in which case, decisions can be made - after discussion with the parents and the child - as to what should happen next. However in practice, some GPs maybe quite dismissive of the problem suggesting that the manifestations may be normal for a child of that age or not significant, and some other GPs –more knowledgeable about allergic diseases - may refer you to an allergy specialist consultant. Not many of us were taught at Medical School about food allergy in children or how to manage it.
Undertaking a full assessment of an allergic child requires time and a specialist knowledge of allergic diseases in children that many GPs don’t have. That is why health authorities in the UK require an allergy specialist to be involved right at the beginning when the suspicion arises, and also why many GPs may not be able to help as much as they may wish even with a good knowledge of allergic diseases.
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