Does this appear to be a milk allergy/dairy intolerance - baby with eczema and reflux.

[Junebugjr]

DD2 is now 4 months, and has quite bad eczema which is always flaring up, and is all over her body, face and scalp, apart from the nappy area. We've tried the usual emolliants - epaderm, diprobase,oilatum, HC, blah blah, I now use coconut oil, shea butter and aveeno with limited success.

She is also sick constantly, as soon as you pick her up she is sick, sick before feeds, after feeds, between feeds. Some days she is very refluxy, other days not so much. She is a 'happy' puker though, and it doesnt seem to bother her nearly as much as it bothers my washing machine. She has also kept up on the 98th centile, so it doesnt have an effect on her weight. Her nappies are normal too.

Im in the process of eliminating what exactly is triggering the frequent flare ups. I think Egg is one of the triggers as she had a bad flare up after I ate an omelette, and also suspect detergents, so am replacing cleaning products with alternatives - eco balls and the like.
The more Ive been reading up on eczema, the more Im hearing of dairy intolerances and allergies. DD is fully bf, so I would have to go Dairy free.
Im going to try and push for allergy testing with the GP, I have a meeting with a specialist eczema nurse, so I will also see what she says.
Does it sound like she may have an milk allergy, with the constant reflux and unresponsive eczema? My HV says it would make little difference in giving up dairy even if she was allergic, and it would only make an appearance at 6 months when she starts solids.
Im literally tearing my hair out in trying to find out exactly what is triggering the almost constant flare ups in my poor baby

I'm just going to bump this for you, I came across it by accident and I know there are mums who have these issues!

When did the exzcema start?

Started at about 4 weeks, but very mild to start with, a few spots on her face and it then spread. Its been all over her from about 10 weeks onward.

Does sound very similar to my DS's early symptoms of cow's milk allergy. I would suggest cutting dairy and soya out of your diet for a few weeks to see if it makes a difference. Make sure you're still getting enough calcium though. If it doesake a difference, ask your GP for a referral to specialist before you start weaning.

I agree with freefrom, it sounds just like my DD who turned out to have cmp allergy. The classical symptoms are the eczema that doesn't respond well to treatment, and reflux. I would also advise cutting out all cows milk protein from your diet and soya (I am assuming you're bf by the way) and you'll have to do a lot of label reading to make sure you really have cut it completely out. If you're ff DD then you need to try a hypoallergenic formula. We were told it takes 6-8 wks to see a difference. And as freefrom has said you will need calcium supplements if it's you who's cutting out all the dairy. You can use things like oatly milk and oatly cream and pure spread or vitalite as the basic substitutes. Please ask if there's any other suggestions you need.

Just wanted to say the appearing at 6 months with intro of solids is utter crap. The sick thing sounds like my dd and she has a milk allergy.
A
lso cutting dairy out of your diet won't harm her so i would say definatly worth a try. Hope you get answers soon.

Thanks so much for your replies. Chocomum - I'm bf, Usually for 2 yrs mainly because of bad allergies in dp's family.

I've a feeling it's an allergy to something I'm eating, so have been shopping today and got all dairy free stuff. I've already cut out egg because of her reaction a few hours after I had it.

Is soya something to avoid also then??

I've bought soya yogurts, but coconut milk and pure spread to use.

How long before cutting out dairy made a difference ffmum and chocomum?

The weight isn't half dropping off me after cutting out chocolate and cake!

Thanks for your help

Addicted is spot on about the allergy symptoms appearing at 6 months/weaning being rubbish, cows milk protein crosses through breast milk.

Unfortunately up to 50% of babies with cmp allergies are also allergic to soya, there's a big crossover. And considering how bad your poor DD sounds I think it's probably worth it. I know soya alternatives are much easier to find than other dairy alternatives though. However soya is in loads of things like normal bread so it's tough to start with. You soon get the hang of it though and it just becomes second nature.

Our diet as a family is much better after discovering all of DD's allergies so I know what you mean about the weight! But there are dairy free cakes and chocolates around, dark chocolate often doesn't have milk in. And the free from products are often dairy free too. We use oatly milk or hemp milk for normal milk, and coconut milk for sweeter things.

I noticed a huge change in DD within 2 weeks but the 8 weeks target made it really clear how bad she had been with cmp in her system. So if you can, try 6-8 weeks to be completely clear. My DD is also allergic to eggs which again is quite common in babies so you may well be right about that too. We were told you only know for sure when you remove the possible allergen for 6-8 weeks and then reintroduce it and see what happens. However with such a huge improvement in DD and some nasty reactions we didn't do the reintroducing step. Good luck, I really hope your DD feels a lot better soon.

I agree with all the fantastic advice above. My DS also had eczema and reflux and has cmp allergy. It's the combination of the two which seems to point to an allergy.
The eczema affecting the scalp must be bothering your DD a lot if it's anything like it was for my DS. We used scratchsleeves when he slept (that helped enormously). But we also used diprosone two or three times on his scalp only: you have to apply it very very thinly, but it made a massive difference. Perhaps worth asking your GP about this? Also, our paediatrician said that often parents are way too cautious about using HC. I know we were, and it prolonged DS's suffering, I think.
Have you been using baby aveeno or the adult version? I found the baby version (which you can't get in the UK but is available online) was much better for DS. There are two versions for babies, I think. One contains milk protein, but the other (eczema therapy, I think it's called) doesn't. They're expensive, though!
HTH

you mention no ezcema on bottom? if you use disposable nappies, can i suggest a possible dustmite allergy? its very common btw. there arent many dustmites in disposable nappies! so its a bit of a clue !

buy some anti allergy bedding , and start reducing the dust mite level in your home and around your baby.

my son's skin improved dramatically, as well as his sleep once we twigged this allergy.

worth a try! good luck!

Washing things at 60 degrees gets rid of dust mite, and freezing things that can't be washed at 60 degrees like soft toys also kiills them off. I change DD's sheets every 3 days and try to dust and vacuum her room the same, or at the minimum open her window daily and wipe down surfaces and vacuum weekly. All this has definitely helped us too.

But saying that, it is very rare to get eczema in the nappy area even when it isn't triggered by dust mite.

You're right ChocaMum, eczema in nappy area is very rare. Some research has shown this is because of the effect of urine (hence some eczema creams containing urea) but it is also thought to be because the nappy protects the skin from allergens including dust mites but also washing powders etc.

With sensitive skin, I have found only Surcare and the latest Simply (available from Waitrose and Tesco) tablets to be effective. Fairy stil affected me and all the 'sensitive' powders still gave me dermatitis

Just want to say my son was diagnosed as cows milk protein intolerant at just 16 days old and he was breast fed! He had a blocked bowel and a rash like eczema and was admitted to hospital after crying for 24 hours solid!