Dairy intolerance? What next?

[YulenoYurbubson]

I am asking for advice because I am outside the UK so will be managing what happens to a greater extent than if I were being shepherded by the NHS. This has advantages and disadvantages, and I need to know as much as possible to make the right decisions for my son.

DS has bad eczema. It got worse. We cut out dairy nearly 3 weeks ago. It got better.

What's next?

I am currently not letting him have milk, butter, yogurt, cream, and anything with any of those things in them. I have found a list online of all the things dairy is disguised as in ingredients lists.

I have also cut it all out of my own diet as he is breastfeeding.

Do I now ask for allergy testing to confirm this? This will cost us £500 so I don't want to do it if it is unnecessary.

I don't want to be so strict about cutting EVERYTHING out, if allergy testing could tell me it's only eg butter we need to eliminate.

But I suspect it is most likely that it is milk - am I right in thinking that if it is milk, then it is everything else too?

And, should we get him tested anyway to check it's not anything else too?

Allergy testing would not distinguish between different milk products, as true allergy is to the protein in ALL milk products. Does he have any other symptoms other than eczema? Is it possible it may be an intollerance, rather than allergy? In which case, allergy testing would be a waste of cash.

I would suggest you get the advise of a dietician before you continue long-term with such a major exclusion diet. I appreciate you are not in the UK, so don't know how easy this would be, but here, your GP can refer you.

I feel for you, as I know how miserable eczema can make your LO, but sometimes it can be very difficult to pin-point one cause. I am aware that Cow's milk is an exacerbating factor for many. For what it's worth, my DD has a severe CMP allergy (amongst others), and so has no milk in her diet at all, but still has terrible eczema.
Good luck!

Thank you Nelly. I did not realise that intolerances would not show up in allergy testing .

I agree it is quite a drastic exclusion diet. His eczema is massively improved for the first time in his life since we cut out all dairy. People have been commenting on how different he is. Also, he has not been sick since cutting dairy.

I feel now that I want medical confirmation that I am doing the right thing, or advice on what I should be doing now or next. I am not sure where to get this. I will see if we have a dietician covered by our insurance.

SOunds as though you are doing the right thing. If you want to reintroduce, you could start with a small amount of something and watch him carefully. I am no expert but have heard that yoghurt can be more easily tolerated than milk, so could try this. Also he may be able to take small amounts of butter because it is mostly fat and not much protein.
HOwever, it is true that for a true allergy all these products plus cheese etc will be a problem. But then you might be more likely to see a more obvious reaction such as hives if it was an allergy.

It's hard with the eczema isn't it, as it isn't an instant reaction. YOu have to go really slowly to be reasonably sure that any change you see is down to diet.
Also, before you reintroduce to his diet you could try increasing some of those products in your diet and see if it makes a difference. I know from experience how hard it is to restrict your own diet - much easier to control the baby's! My experience was that ds is allergic to milk and eggs (hives etc) so has always avoided these, but cutting these from my diet made no difference to his eczema.

My nephew had this. My SiL has now had him seen and he's under the ongoing care of a paed allergist. He has an epipen as he's allergic to eggs, dairy and plenty more.

I know it's difficult but you really ought to think about getting him seen by someone like that.

Have you any medical insurance which might help?

I had my childrens allergies confirmed through poo samples.
The sample has to be tested within a certain amount of hours though.
They check the ph level,(lactose affects the ph of your poo and can result in thier skin being burnt.) and they also test for something else which i'm really sorry has escaped my memory. What i can remember is that they told me a quarter shows a significant allergy.
Be aware my health visitor couldn't understand the lab results so had to phone them to confirm what they meant!

My eldest had a raised ph and showed a raised level in this other thing. He is affected gastro only. He can eat eggs and very very small amounts of cheese.( so he has a low cmp allergy but is lactose intolerant)
My youngest had a normal ph but the other level was at one and he was only having my breastmilk with me on a restricted diet.He is affected both gastro and before we had it under control eczema that bled. He can't eat any dairy or eggs.(so he is o.k with lactose but has a bad cmp allergy)

Hope this helps a little, and if you would like me to find out what the other test is called let me know.x