Help - very new to all this

[Leedsmumof1]

My 9mo dd has been diagnosed as allergic to milk, soya and peanuts, and I'm not sure what to do about it all...

Brief (hopefully) history: round about 3 months she had a major skin rash which spread over her whole body, took ages to clear. At that stage she was exclusively breast-fed; we never worked out what the trigger was, though I had started eating breakfast cereal with nuts a couple of days before.

Round about 7 months I gave her porridge made with cow's milk (hv said it was fine ). She immediately developed hives round her mouth. I've tried smearing her arm with yoghurt and formula, and got the same hivey response. Since then, on GP's advice, we've been using Aptamil Pepti and soya marge/yoghurt, and she seems fine - no reaction.

She has always had bad wind and trouble sleeping, but normal stools and I've been told this is just normal baby wind that she will grow out of.

A couple of weeks ago we had a referral to a paediatrician, who took a blood test, the results of which show the soya and peanut allergy. I was also advised to put her on a milk exclusion diet - special bread etc. I find myself very confused by all this; she's been having normal bread & other products with traces of milk with no reaction, so do I really need to rigorously exclude all milk from her diet? She's been having soya products with no problems, so how come this shows up as an allergy? How paranoid do I have to be about avoiding contact with any tiny trace of peanut?

Apologies for the essay; if this rings any bells with anyone, I would love to hear your experiences and advice.

[lindsaygii]

It's possible the doctors want you to exclude everything for a while, then introduce things one by one so as to see exactly what causes the trouble and what doesn't.

Before you go against their advice I would speak to them again and ask them to explain exactly why you are being asked to cut things out of the baby's diet, and what their plan is in the longer term.

[Leedsmumof1]

Thanks - I guess that's possible. Not planning to go against their advice, just to understand what to do for the best. Agree I need to speak to them again... sometimes it seems like I get conflicting advice from different medical people, and I'm not in the best position to make sense of it all.

[MrsK40]

Hello,

My DS1 has a milk and egg allergy and we found talking to a dietician very helpful. He is 11 now, and we have been going to see both an allergist and a dietician every few years to check on his development and diet.

My best suggestion if you are stuck for what to give your baby to eat is to check out the vegan websites, as they are dairy free (obviously not nut free) and are good for pudding suggestions. Also, baking/cooking yourself is better than buying special allergy products which tend to taste gross!

I understand it is confusing and depressing finding out your child has allergies.. However, when DS was a baby, we were in Hospital with his severe eczema and the mum of a severely disabled child turned to me and said "I wish my baby had allergies"! It made me feel bad for feeling sorry for myself... she was right, there are worse things in the world than allergies. Hope this helps..

[bridewolf]

i suspect that the traces of milk in food is continually causing tummy problems with your child. certainly if she is a classic allergic child, rather than intolerance, strict avoidance of any forms of milk is very important.

sometimes you can get intolerance and classic food allergies.
intolerance in young babies can mean that the lininng of the anus is sensitive to cows milk protein, hence normal stools but with a incredible amount of pain, and tummy ache.

you need to have a clearer picture of what your childs allergies are, are you facing both types or one?

list your questions, and go back to doc.

avoid all forms of allergens including traces.
good luck!

[Bilbomum]

Hi Leedsmum, just to let you know that I live in Leeds and have a 3 year old with multiple food allergies (nuts/milk/egg/soya/sesame/peas!!). We've been through the system and learned lots along the way (mainly through help on this board). DS has been treated at the LGI since he was a baby and although they're pretty good there's a lot of practical stuff they can't help with.

I know it's a pretty confusing time when you first get the diagnosis so if you would like to meet up for a chat then let me know.

[heliotrope]

Just to say my DS has egg, milk, fish allergies. The advice I've had is that for egg it is OK to try bits of cooked egg in cakes etc and see how they go. But they are much more cautious on milk - they say to do total exclusion of all dairy, and they will test it by doing a milk challenge in hosp when they think he's ready. I know he's not due to a range of accidents in the meantime. He probably doesn't react to small amounts of milk powder in a biscuit etc, I can't say I am 100% on label reading, but this is the advice I had.
With fish also it can get worse suddenly with a new exposure so they advise to do total exclusion.