10 month old. Possible dairy allergy??

[RichManPoorManBeggarmanThief]

DD is 10mo. She was breastfed from birth. However, when she was 3mo I had to go back to work PT and decided to mixed feed. Gave her HIPP Organic, and she developed hives and was very gassy for a day or so. The paed recommended taking her off dairy until at least 6mo, but said the allergy didnt seem very severe. I stopped using formula, pumped and managed to EBF. She was weaned at 5.5 mo using BLW and is a good eater. At around 8mo I introduced small amounts of dairy (yoghurt and cheese) with no issues. Also around this time I started to have pumping issues, as in I just cannot express anymore. As I WOH, I tried DD with Neocate and she wasnt keen, but as she'd been okay with cheese and yoghurt, i decided to try normal formula again (Aptimil) on the days I'm working. That seemed fine (no gas, no rash, no discomfort). However, just recently she seems quite mucousy in her throat and has also developed ecxema on her ankles. I'm wondering if this is dairy related. Alternatively, it could be just irritation of the skin from crawling on the rug a lot and her catching her brother's cold.

Also, she doesnt seem to have any digestive discomfort, so could she still be allergic? Paediatrician is a bit non-committal. If I eliminate dairy, I'm not sure what to do re. milk as she doesn't like the dairy free formulas. Is 3 (breast) feeds a day enough?

TIA

[Masalamama]

My daughter was the same except we didn't think it was an allergy until she was about a year old. She got tested at hospital and was found to have dairy intolerance. She refused to touch neocate and I hadn't breastfed her since she was about 6 weeks old. So we gave her the recommended milk intake as aptamil but no other dairy (yoghurts, cheeses etc). By the time she was 2, she was just fine, and we slowly reintroduced dairy back into her diet. She's a healthy 4 year old now.

You've done really well breast feeding her for as long as you did. The paed is probably non committal because it's quite hard to tell so early. As long as your DD doesn't to be in obvious discomfort and is growing well, you're doing just the right thing!

[RichManPoorManBeggarmanThief]

Thanks. I guess I'll have to carry on bfing to limit the formula. Damnit- was really hoping to stop at 1 year and I figure at her age I have zero chance of persuading her to drink Neocate. Will see if the mucusy throat persists. The plus is that she does eat a very good diet and happy to eat fish and meat and humous.

[May09Bump]

My son would vomit all formulas except neocate, he has severe allergies to a number of foods and medicines. He hated neocate (it does taste vile - very metallic), but I couldn't bf forever - so my H suggested blending it with banana. It worked brilliantly as he still has "banana milkshake" now at 4yrs old. We used a hand blender, maybe something to try. If LO has teeth make sure you clean after night feed. We also used these types of cups to transfer from breastfeeding as wouldn't take to bottles - www.amazon.co.uk/NUBY-GRIPNSIP-MONTHS-NO1-CUP/dp/B003YGWS2A/ref=sr_1_31?ie=UTF8&qid=1369460601&sr=8-31&keywords=nuk%20cup&tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-21

I would also push for a blood allergy test, as she is showing symptoms of possible allergies and they can test for multiple allergens with just one blood test. Then you know what to avoid and if you need an Epipen and a nutritionist referral.

Hopefully just a case of adapting to new things, but if she has allergies then they need monitoring by a consultant.

[RunningOutOfIdeas]

She seems quite similar to my DD1 - mildly dairy intolerant. After much experimenting we found she was ok with Aptimil and cooked dairy but her eczema was worse if she had raw dairy. Although DD1 was also very windy and had diarrhoea if she had cows milk on cereal.

DD2 is more dairy intolerant. She is on Nutramigen (hydrolysed formula so the cows milk protein is broken down). The paed and dietician both said it is very difficult to get children to accept it if they start on it over 6 months due to the taste. For cereal etc. I use coconut milk (called koko) available in Sainsburys. I have also found some lovely coconut yogurt in a health food shop. It is called CoYo.

Aptimil do a partially hydrolysed formula now that is available from pharmacies and is about the same price as the normal stuff. I think it is called Aptimil comfort. This could be worth a try.

[RichManPoorManBeggarmanThief]

Thanks all. I should have mentioned that I don't live in the UK- not sure if Aptimil Comfort is available here, but I'll do some investigating as given her allergy seems mild, it might be enough. If not, maybe the banana thing will work. To be fair, I've tried both Neocate and Nutramigen and they are both rank. I cant really blame her for not liking them, and as she's so good with solids, she doesn't really get hungry enough to give it a try. She's just "No thanks- I'll hold out for a breadstick"

I'm taking her back to the paed on Monday as the mucousyness (is that even a word?) has become a full blown cold and chesty cough, so I'll ask re the dairy allergy blood test then. It might be that she just has a cold and I'm being paranoid, but would be good to know for sure.

[RichManPoorManBeggarmanThief]

Quick update- DD is going to have the allergy scratch test in the next couple of weeks, once she's recovered from her cough, which has now gone to her chest (nebuliser time- joy). I just want to know one way or the other, so I can decide whether I need to consider bf beyond 1 year, and also consider the impact on the family diet, as I'd prefer us to all start eating together - at the moment DD and DS eat earlier than us, and eat different things as DS is fussy and DD isn't. DS isnt a dairy fan anyway, and I dont really mind, although I may have to have a brie binge occasionally.

I pressed the paed on whether the formula could be making her mucousy- she said the issue with milk is the consistency and that drinking any thick liquid will make you mucousy (cows milk is typically thicker than breast milk) so it may well be the formula making her produce mucous, but it's not a sign of an allergy per se.