Cow's milk allergy help needed.......a bit long winded, sorry!

[lackaDAISYcal]

My DD is 9mo old. she has always had mild eczema, which the HV has told me is baby eczema and she should grow out of it.

Since starting to wean her at 6mo, it has gotten steadily worse. She eats a fair amount of dairy as she loves cheese and milky puddings, and now even has the odd bottle of formula. If she has breakfast cereal, I use cow's milk.

She has had a bit of a tummy bug for few days, so has been mostly BFing, and the only food she has eaten since Monday is a bit of (pasta with tomato sauce and some raisins and apple.....no dairy). Her skin seemed in much better condition this morning, so I took her to the clinic to ask about it.

I've come away with yet another prescription for an emollient cream, and the advice from my HV that if it was a cow's milk allergy, then it wuld be getting through in my BM, so therefore it can't be that as her skin would have been bad all the time . It has been present since she was tiny, just not as bad as it is at the moment.

So, what I'd like some advice on, from anyone who has been through similar with themselves or their own DCs is.....

*would my eating dairy perhaps be the cause of the mild eczema when she was fully BF?

*would a day and a half's abstinence from dairy be enough time to show an improvement?

*should I persevere with this and go see the doctor?

I obviously don't want to cut any important food group from her diet with no reason (I have coeliac disease and i know what a faff it can be finding alternatives), but I just have a gut feeling that it's cow's milk that is the cause.

I've got to pop out for a bit, but will be back later, so not ignoring any advice

TIA

[mad4mybaby]

YES, YES AND YES!!!

My ds has dairy allergy aswell as soya and egg intolerant so he has nanny goat milk formula. What you eat WILL get through to your dd but not the same as her drinking the cows milk.

I had months of doctors not listening to me about my ds being allergic and i wish i had gone on without their help to start with. When my son has a tiny bit of soya(say in a slice of bread) he gets a flare up and then by the end of the next day it will have virtually gone

[lackaDAISYcal]

thanks for that...I thought that was the case, but my dippy HV didn't. she looked unsure though

I'll do a wee home experiment with it; ie no dairy for a few days (she gets enough calcium from my milk at the moment I think) and then I'll let her have some and see what happens.

[mad4mybaby]

yes sounds like a good plan. My HV was a bit of an erny when it came to this. I think its just because they really dont know! Let me know how you get on!

[lackaDAISYcal]

i will do

[loopylula]

Maybe your DD has an intolerance to dairy?

My DD (also 9mo old) has a cow's milk , egg and soya allergy and she's violently sick and breaks out in hives atound her mouth if she even gets so much as skin contact with those food groups.

Ask your GP to refer her to an allergy specialist to get her skin-prick test done. It only takes 20 mins and if she's already had decent exposure to dairy she should get an accurate result.

Hope that helps, good luck!

[trixymalixy]

yes, yes and yes again!

[JayneF]

My son had similar symptoms at the same age, turned out to be lactose intolerance. All dairy was suspended,..which was a big worry as he is also vegetarian.

Intolerance was only temporary and gradual reintroduction of dairy food started about 3 months later. However, he was ( and still receives) prescribed SMA lactose free formula milk (NOT SOYA) and drinks this instead of cow's milk. We do not now cut out dairy from his food, save as to the milk itself. Too much soft cheese like Dairylea or Philly gives him painful gripping stomach cramps so keep an eye out for specific things in diet which could have an effect. We kept a food diary at the time...it helped us to see a pattern. Good luck

[ratbunny]

absolutely!
ds's severe eczema cleared up within a few days of cutting out dairy.
can you go to the gp and get an appointment with a dietician - dont go to the hv as they dont know much about allergies.

[amidaiwish]

definitely.
DD2 has an egg allergy (lightly cooked only, is ok with it in food) and when she was small she had bad eczema.

i was told over and over it wasn't her diet. funny though that when i had a latte (i was quite partial to starbucks when i was bf her eczema did seem to react. Then when she had formula in a bottle her face would get hot...

the proof came when i gave her cod in cheese sauce, which i made after leaving the doctors to be told "no, no, if no tummy upset, it is not a milk allergy" - she took a few spoonfuls of the food, her face got hot, she scratched and tore at it until it bled, it was horrendous.

I cut out dairy. hey presto, problem solved.

She is now 2 and can have dairy ok, though too much and she gets chronically constipated.

Weirdly enough the one formula she was able to tolerate was Babynat Organic Follow on milk (cow's). I have no idea why, i still use it though for her. I tried goats milk and it turned her poo to putty, horrific experience.

[lackaDAISYcal]

thanks for all your replies

Last night we had carbonara for tea, and she was awake at 11:00am screaming and scratching at her face, which was scarlet. she also h what looks like ealry cold sores on her lips . I know it could be egg, but she has only recently had egg, and the skin condition has always been there. I know it's not wheat, as I'm coeliac and I use gluten free pasta for everyone as it's too much of a faff otherwise.

anyway, I've not given her any dairy today and I've only had a little milk in tea, and her skin is much improved. I'm a bit wary of cutting out dairy from my diet though, as being a coeliac my ability to absorb calcium is already compromised, and I'm newly pregnant.

I'll get an appointment and ask for a referral.

thanks

[lackaDAISYcal]

oops, i meant 11pm

[amidaiwish]

oh dear, this does sound incredibly similar to DD2.

i didn't find i had to cut out dairy from my diet, just not have too much (like extra large lattes!)

it was more her dairy that was the problem.

by the way, i heard recently that Aptamil has egg in it. If you are using Aptamil i would try another.

How is she poo-wise. Is she regular?

[lackaDAISYcal]

her poos are OK usually, but she threw up on Monday night and has had bad diar, dihorr, squits since then, but only one nappy a day. Of course it could be connected, but all the more reason to avoid dairy at the moment anyway. I thought she was over the bug, but we had another real stinker today.

I feel really bad that I've been merrily feeding her this stuff and just not connecting that there is a problem. The egg thing is a puzzler as well, as she has had the odd carton of aptamil since she was about 12 weeks old, usually once or twice a week (her skin started to get really bad at around 16 weeks).

she had no reaction to her injections though, and aren't they cultured using egg albumen?

[gomez]

Sorry for being shit but haven't read all responses. My DS has a dairy allery - proper full-on swelling airways, urticera everywhere allergy. Was only diagnosed at 7 months when we started weaning - he was exclusively breastfed up until that point. I did not have a diary-free diet. He did not develop eczema untl this time - i.e. I was eating dairy he had no eczema.

But he has an allery which relates to the milk proteins as opposed to an intolerance which relates to the lactose.

My eldest DD1 had poor skin always, baby eczema, flaking etc. At 7 she now has lovely if sensitive skin. No allergies.

Not sure that will actually help you TBH but is just my experience. You can only do what you think is best for you and your daughter. Are you still bf - if so it is fairly easy to wean onto a dairy free diet without compromising her nutrional intake and test your theory. You can use calcium enriched rice milk for cooking, cereal etc if you are still bf - you can't use it as a milk substitue when she is so young.

Please excuse dodgy spelling - rioja is flowing this evening.

HTH

[MegBusset]

DS (12mo) is similar. Has had eczema since soon after birth, although it has got a little better with age. When he was around 3mo I did a proper dairy and egg exclusion from my diet (he was 100% BF) for three weeks (under paed supervision) but it made no difference to his eczema. If you are going to do an exclusion trial it must be for at least two weeks and avoiding all dairy/egg products inc whey, lecithin etc -- best done after talking to a dietician.

Since weaning, it has become clear that he is allergic to cow's milk (hives etc immediately on contact). However, he is mostly fine with other dairy products like cheese and yoghurt. Goats' milk he can tolerate as long as it has been cooked (ie it is OK in cheese sauce etc but not on cereal).

He has no contact reaction to egg and is fine with food with egg in (like cake) but the one time I gave him a boiled egg, he had awful egg-smelling diarrhoea.

The paed referred us for blood tests for dairy, egg, soya and various other allergies and we are getting the results next week.

[MegBusset]

Anyway what I am trying to say is that your DD may well have a dairy allergy that is connected with her eczema but will not necessarily be the cause of it, IYSWIM -- you may well have to treat the two separately.

[amidaiwish]

DD2 had no reaction to the injections either.

i think her egg allergy is mild though it has been confirmed by skin prick and RAST test. She is fine with cake etc, just has to avoid boiled/scrambled egg, quiche etc. It doesn't cause us any problem (frantically touching wood). It is apparently very likely she will grow out of it.

DD2 does however get very constipated, and i am now thinking this is linked to her egg intake (like when she demolishes big slabs of birthday cake). i can't be sure about this though.

By the way, her skin is now beautifully perfect. You would never think 2 years ago it was torn apart by her scratching and we had to tape mittens to her babygrows with duct tape every night .

[carrieboo75]

All 3 of mine became lactose intolerant at 6 months when they refused the breast and so wnet on to folmula. All showed different syptoms, for different lenghths of time and all needed a different amount to be cut out.

Two even went on to have probs with other formulas. However all responded fantastically to goats milk and all have grown out of it. Doctor, HV etc were at best slightly helpfull - you just need to experiment and trust your judgements. I think the medics see it as black and white and if it does not fit there all or nothing check list then you are making it up!!!!!!! To be fair to them this stuff gets more complicated everyday and untill you have lived with it you don't really learn how complicated it is.

I just desperately hope that my next one goes on to feed past 1 year as I think this may avoid it, as they mostly seem to be ok if they main milk stuff is avoided.

[JayneF]

Agree with carrie boo on Doc/HV interest. My first doctor said just do not give him milk....he was 6 mth old and hardly weaned!!

It may help if you cut to the chase and ring your hospotail based dietician who should give you avice in the interim and contct you doctor to precipitate urgent appointment.

[lackaDAISYcal]

thanks for all the advice. I saw my HV this morning and had her weighed. She has lost 5.5 ozs thia week, so in the last five weeks has only gained 2ozs . She is still within the centile band though, so HV not unduly worried.

HV advised me to see the doc, so I have an appointment on Tuesday. The doc in question is quite good on allergies (it is him I see about my coeliac disease). In the meantime, I've cut out dairy for her and her skin seems so much better today. HV thinks it's probably connected to either milk or wheat.

amidaiwish at your poor DD. I was trying to figure out how to stop her clawing at herself as all the scratch mitts I have are for tiny babies, not 9mo old ones.

Thanks again

[amidaiwish]

i am glad the HV hasn't fobbed you off and you have a good GP.

you can get bigger scratchmitts - they come in different sizes. she was definitely wearing them at 9m as that was when she had chicken pox which sent her crazy! i remember it like it was just yesterday, it was a tough time. You'll get through it and come out the other side though you sound far calmer and more sane than i was!

[lackaDAISYcal]

I'll pop down to mothercare tomorrow and see what I can get.

I only type sane

[MegBusset]

DS doesn't scratch much at night now, but used to loads and it kept him (and us) awake for a long time. We found these sleepsuits invaluable, they are pricey but really helped.

(Adams.co.uk used to do sleepsuits with built-in mitts much cheaper but seem to have stopped doing them now, shame.)

[lackaDAISYcal]

thanks meg Next only have fold back cuffs to 6 months. I got some two part pjs handed down from my neice and the 6-9 mo have fold back cuffs, but they are getting on the small side now. Maybe I can make some from some old pjs or something.

She doesn't scratch her body that much, just her neck, or she rubs her face on the sheets. Her wee nose is pink and shiny most mornings from all the rubbing.

[mistlethrush]

Slightly different problems with ds (now 2.10), but might help a bit. We had ds on cows milk exclusion due to problems with ears: we thought that goats milk helped, so we went on a total exclusion for 3 weeks, then have gradually included certain foods - starting with goats milk, then goats cheese, then goats butter. We're waiting for better weather (and therefore fewer opportunities for sniffles) before trying cows milk cheese, then yoghurt, then milk.

Going onto just goats milk has helped with congestion.

We thought that this might be a good idea because I am lactose intollerant. Please note that not all dieticians are any good at advising on this sort of thing - I rang one when I was pregnant to ask about whether I should be avoiding dairy due to intollerance. She asked whether I had been 'officially' diagnosed (no - its really obvious when even I have had any cows milk) - and asked what foods caused problems - just milk, OK with both yoghurt and cheese within reason. She told me, on the basis of this, that I didn't have an intollerance and dismissed me as a timewaster. However, a quick google reinforced that you can be lactose intollerant and still be able to have cheese and yoghurt as the process that makes them into cheese or yoghurt gets rid of nearly all the lactose and changes it into something else.

Ds went onto an exclusion diet as our consultant said that there was no point in getting tested for something like this, as it wouldn't prove anything - you could still be intollerant to things that came back as OK, and you could tollerate things that showed up as no Ok (iyswim).

Hope it clears up soon