Hello
Great to hear from you and I like your new name!
I think my daughter's milk allergy went when she was approx 2 and a half yrs old.
At six months old, she caught bronchiolitis. Her eczema was starting to go bananas just before. Then it went to a weeping stage. Once the dermatologist said that she may have a milk allergy, she tried a hydrolysed milk formula however she refused to drink it! It tasted of bleach to me! She then went onto soya formula. I think now that they say that infants under one year should avoid soya - not sure. Soya can also be an allergy! When she was just over a year, we moved onto goats' milk. This improved her eczema - so I am suspicious that she was a bit allergic to soya. Goats milk has less big proteins I think so is easily digested - I think in eczema, you can have leaky guts so absorbing the larger cow's milk, can make eczema happen - I think you have to find foods with small particles. Not 100% sure of this! I then moved onto organic cows semi-skimmed milk at two ish and everything seems OK - touch wood!
I found the info at www.foodsmatter.com extremely useful plus help from a dietician from the children's hospital. The dietician worked out how to get enough calcium eg soya yoghurts, certain green veg. I also learnt how to look out for cows milk items in food eg casein. I did try some cheese substitutes and they were OK eg Cheesley (sp?). Do search goats milk at the Foods Matter website and you should see what I mean. Some dermatologists are sceptical tho about how useful goats milk is. There are goats milk formulae but we never used these. Using goats milk was helpful in cooking and for her drinks, however it was too sour for our cups of tea etc and she was the only one who had it in hte breakfast meals. I think some doctors think the goats milk has the same type of proteins as cows milk but others disagree. Yes, cows milk allergy DOES go for most in time - I think my daughter was average when she did not react to milk.
There are some good books on the web re allergies and diets. Re peanuts, I have just found The Peanut Allergy Answer Book by Michael Young - very useful.
I have only just noticed the pollen allergy apart from the skin test eg lots of sneezing, however her skin has always been worse during the spring and summer.
Yes it is a lot to take in as well as look after such a young baby. I was a little disheartened to know that we now have further allergies. I have Epipens for peanuts and also Piriton (the doctor should
work out for you how much is safe for
your daughter's age - you may need to use
a syringe to get the right amount re helping
reduce the amount of histimine and therefore
itching/scratching when it is at its worst
eg overnight. My daughter reacted
to handling peanut butter when making some rice krispies, sesame etc shapes. Watch out for eczema creams - some have peanut oil inside eg we used Boots Zinc and Caster Oil - fab for bottoms but has peanut oil inside. Also I think Oilatum cream has/had it.
Glad to know that the Dermasalve is working fine - do you just use it once a day?
My daughter reacted to Aqueous Cream by the way so we avoid that one.
Working out what to eat is a nightmare but in time, it does get easier. Look at the free from sections in supermarkets, and they give you lists of products which are free from or which do have the allergic item. It is a completely different way of thinking but in time, if feels normal. It also makes you look at labels - you can often meet others and compare allergies when scrutinising the labels at supermarkets! Watch out too as some brands can change their ingredients and include the allergic item at a later date - Truefree Custard Creams did this I think re milk.
I will try to think back and remember what I found useful with the milk allergy.
It is great you know early on what allergies you have - these may change with time.
Cheerio
Alison