Baby had rare food allergy that affects just one in 7,000 children - and doctors didn't know what it was

Birmingham couple Tarandeep Rehlon and Gurpreet Sidhu-Rehlon's daughter, Leneiya, was diagnosed with Food Protein-Induced Enterocolitis Syndrome (FPIES) at eight months old.

Affecting one in 7,000 children, the condition sees sufferers have a delayed allergic reaction to food, with Leneiya responding to allergens up to four hours after eating.

Leneiya, now one year old, was diagnosed with FPIES after Tarandeep and Gurpreet paid £800 to see a specialist privately, following several visits to their GP.

Tarandeep, 30, said: "It's not an immediate reaction so that's why it's so difficult to pinpoint what food it is. She's allergic to banana, avocado, eggs and she'll have it and be absolutely fine until three or four hours later and then all of a sudden the allergy would kick in.

"When she was diagnosed, with it being a rare allergy, the regular GPs didn't actually know what it was. They did the usual tests for allergies but nothing came up.

"When we weaned her and were giving her new food, we didn't know if it would be a trigger or not and every time we gave her new food it was a constant worry of giving her something new."

In order to raise awareness for the condition, Tarandeep and his brother-in-law Charandip Sidhu, hiked up Scafell Pike in the Lake District last year and raised £2,200 for FPIES UK.

Gurpreet, who is a nurse and a trustee for the charity, added: "I had a bit of background on [FPIES] but that's just because I am a medical professional, whereas someone that doesn't wouldn't have instantly thought of that.

"I became a trustee for the charity when I was having a reaction and I just went onto Google and saw it there and I got in contact with them and they were really helpful, providing me with loads of resources and things I didn't even know.

"It's a horrible thing to go through when you are weaning a child and you have no idea what to feed them."