8 month old coming out in hives - worried

[SweetBeadieRussell]

I'd really appreciate some advice as i'm very worried about dd2. She's been having pretty much what we eat (minus obvious nasties, fish, nuts etc) for a month or so now. Twice she's suddenly developed a sudden reaction which has brought her out in a red, nettle-like rash whilst eating. The first time dh had given her Organix baby porridge with banana (the packet mix kind) and not only did she have a rash but was coughing, sneezing etc with red eyes so we took her up to the hospital where they said they had seen this before with packet mix cereals and to avoid them (she had previously been fine with the jar version but this was the first time she'd tried the dried stuff). We were advised she was far too young for allergy testing.

Since then she's been fine, until yesterday when she was eating home made porridge with banana, followed by plain greek yoghurt. First her neck and chest (where the food had touched her skin) and hands went red and then hundreds of tiny white lumps started appearing, and she was scratching so it was obviously pretty itchy for her. I gave her piriton syrup, which thankfully she seems to like, and it calmed down within half an hour. The weirdest thing is, the food she was eating was leftover from breakfast, when she'd been absolutely fine with it. I don't think it can be the yoghurt as she has that most days and hasn't reacted like this before.

So what's going on here? i'm completely baffled.

Could be milk allergy? Sometimes it takes a few exposures before you get symptoms. DS1 ate eggs fine for a few weeks before developing a reaction. Was she breast or bottle fed?

milk? or banana

sorry, i didn't read the whole thing properly.

she's normally fine with yoghurt?

agree with pp that each exposure can make it worse
but banana can be an allergen, has she had that before without any effects?

It definitely sounds like an allergic reaction, Piriton is the right thing to do and it sounds like it brought it under control. She's most definitely not too young for allergy testing. My ds was tested at 6 months at hospital. They can do RAST testing which is blood and skin prick testing as well. You need to talk to your GP and ask for a referral. Take a picture of her if she has any more reactions so the GP can see the severity.

I'm baffled as to what's causing it though, keep a food diary and it might help pinpoint the culprit. I confirmed ds's dairy allergy by just rubbing a bit of cheese onto his back and it came up in a massive red weal so it was obvious what the cause was. If you're suspicious of anything you could do the same but don't do it near the face just in case. In the meantime carry the Piriton with you at all times.

Good luck, hope you get it sorted.

thanks everyone,

UAM, she's still being breastfed and has been pretty much from day one.

milk allergy seems unlikely as she's always been fine with yoghurt, cheese, butter etc before. she has cheese with lunch most days and never had anything like this.

defo not banana as she had that again this morning, on toast and was fine.

i'm wondering if it could be oats? But we went through a phase a few weeks after the first reaction (when i thought cereal additives were to blame) of having it nearly every morning and she was fine. mind you the last time dh tried to give her porridge (before yesterday) she barely touched it, might be a sign?

Bilbomum, thanks for telling me about RAST test I'll try and get a GP appointment pronto.

Hi,
My ds reactions started like this. He had hives with porridge and other cereals.
Oats have gluten in, my son has wheat/gluten and egg allergy. He used to react like this to any glugten/wheat. The reactions were sometimes very mild and then next time, hives and later on swelling. When he was diagnosed we went for allergy testing, the test only showed up egg allergy at about 11 months old and not wheat/gluten but he still has the allergy to wheat not so much gluten anymore and he is 2yrs 4months now.

Hope you find the allergen and that your dd is ok.