Is this an allergic symptom?

[SleepIsForTheWeak]

Hi, my 7 month DS has excema and shown a reaction to nuts. As such I was avoiding wheat. I bought him a new brand of porridge which although it is wheat free, contains gluten. He has rough, dry and slightly darker patches around his mouth and chin. Does this sound like it is a gluten / wheat (what is the difference?) reaction? Or is it just because e is dribbling continually from teething?!

[Heartmum2Jamie]

I would be inclined to say it is from the dribbling, especially in this cold weather. My whole family currently have rough, dry, darker patches of skin right now.

[schment]

My dd got red-sore patches on her chin at about 3.5-4 mo and I was blaming her drooling. But, when she started getting red patches in other places, I realised that it might be an allergy and I stopped eating dairy (long story, had previously shown signs of dairy problems, was bf) the redness on her chin went away completely although the drooling definitely continued...

It definitely could be from drooling, esp in the cold weather, but I would watch for any other signs of allergy -- did excema get worse in other places? poo? Especially if the redness started just after eating the porridge yet the drooling had been going on previously...