18month old covered in Urticaria for 4 weeks am desperate!!

[rubyroo]

i know lots of people have posted on this before but i could really do with some more advice on this as my 18month old dd has been covered head to foot for four weeks now with hives/uticaria
have been to GP (twice) A+E (once due to NHS direct freaking us out on the phone) and health visitor to no avail!!!! have been giving her piriton (now on 3x a day)but can think of nothing new which could have started this.have started food diary but as it hasn't subsided have no idea what can be causing it. She wakes up every night crying and scratching i work full time and am so tired now i feel at wits end and feel so bad for dd who seems so out of sorts. has anyone got any advice? Doctor said they wouldn't do an allergy test on such a young child as it could be so many different things. any advice would be most gratefully recieved

what sort of things is she eating/drinking?

she mainly eats what we do, has cows milk twice a day. no processed food really i make everything fresh except sausages and fresh ravioli. she just drinks water and her milk. i make her lunches to send to the childminder but since shes not had any problems before this we haven't excluded anything like wheat etc. i don't know what fruit to cut out first? i've stopped strawberries and grapes and fresh tomatoes but not sure about tomatoe sauces and passata should i cut them out too? but no sign of any improvement the piriton has hardly cleared it up at all.

i can only suggest going back to weaning stages agin, but under docs supervision.

but it may be enviromental, change in washing powder, too much pollen in the air, being around animals etc etc.

would you consider homeopathy? could be helpful in this situation

thanks everyone,she normally has a satsuma every day but i've cut that out today not sure what fruit is safe now trying to give her balanced diet still. dr didn't seem to think it was that serious and it would just go but not sure how much more sleepless nights i can take plus feel really bad for dd as shes uncomfortable and scratchy at night. also she has been having really heavy nappies so much so that i have to change in the night not sure if this is just coincidence though

rubyroo, do you think it's worse at night because the hives are worse or because there's no distractions? I ask because maybe it's something to do with bedtime that's affecting her skin, like bubbles in the bath. Have you tried an extra rinse cycle on the washing machine? This made a huge difference to ds1's eczema (not the same thing I know but perhaps worth a go). You can get pyjamas with mittens attached to stop scratching which might help. The National Eczema Society have a list of suppliers.

I wish your GP would be more help. Hope she feels better soon.

thanks vivie, we have been using infacare thats for sensitive skins but now just using water on doctors advice. it seems to get worse if shes hot so just putting her to sleep in a vest. i already use non bio washing liquid but am going to change brand to maybe fairy have been using own brand ones and people at work thought i might be better off with a brand. can't handwash stuff though with flakes just not got enough time that sounds really bad but i struggle with full time work as it is.

Try using a chemical-free washing powder/liquid such as Ecover. Most supermarkets sell Ecover now. My son's ezcema stopped as soon I stopped using normal detergents. It might make a difference. Good luck.

rubyroo I feel for you because I went through this when my ds2 was 4 months. He was allergy tested (skin prick) at 8 months and found he had allergies and was being exposed through my breast milk. Hope you find the cause and I would suggest getting a 2nd opinion re the allergy testing.

Rubbish that they can't test an 18 month old. Of course they can, she is obviously very allergic to something.

Because of her age I think you should try the Failsafe diet. Get one of Sue Dengates books (Fed Up is a good one). It starts with a small list of food that is is very difficult to be allergic to. You eat that until you are better (so for you hives gone would be better) then you introduce food in groups of natural chemicals such as salicylates and amines and see if there is a reaction.

I would also give her probiotics and flax seed oil to help her cope with this outbreak.

You say you work full time - where does she go?

They can and do test kids below 18 months. The tests are not reliable but they aren't 100% reliable at any age. They do mean you don't have to avoid massive amounts of food.

First thing I'd do is put them on probiotics and flaxseed oil. Then I'd switch to using goats milk instead of cows. I'd rotate foods, especially things like wheat - buy rice noodles or corn pasta. Try not to give the same foods more than once in 4 days as that stops allergens building up in the system. Lamb, rice, pears are part of the 8 foods diet for testing allergies in adults, I forget what the other are - think asparagus maybe. Haven't introduced kiwi fruit lately have you - that's pretty allergenic?

thanks everyone for all the advice haven't been online for a few days as been too knackered!! but had full nights sleep so feel much better as does dd! will buy ecover and try pip thanks for tip. what kind of probiotics do you give an 18month old? sorry very ignorant about these things. if i go somewhere like holland and barratt will they be able to advise? i live in a small town without much access to health food shops but am not too far from sheffield. kwiwi fruit has been off the diet for a while due to sheer forgetfulness! so not the culprit. shes clear as of today so am going to keep a food diary and rotate foods as you suggest tatt. during the week shes at childminder but all this started when she was off with me for 6weeks as i'm a teacher and i send her food to childminder. i just want to thank everyone for their advice and i am going to go back to a different gp in the practice and ask for an allergy test. i was feeling pretty low when i posted but all your responses have really made me feel a lot better so thanks

for an 18 month old without milk allergy I'd use live yoghurt because most kids like it. Any live yoghurt would do but it has to be taken daily and if you're doing a rotation diet you may want to stick to one without fruit. Our nearest Holland and Barrett certainly stock probiotic powder and you may find it in other shops or you can order over the net. If you have any problem finding powder buy tablets, fold a piece of paper over one and smash it with a hammer