Cow's milk allergy - your experience?

[RumNoRaisins]

Started weaning DS (5.5) today on baby rice. Stressful doesn't even begin to describe it. He only licked the spoon several times but broke out in hives before my very eyes. Mad dash to A&E and some piriton later he is now fine. A&E thinks it is the cow's milk in the cereal that caused his reaction rather than the rice itself. He has been ebf apart from one bottle of formula at less than a week old and I have been avidly consuming dairy in my diet all this time. Has anyone had a child that's been fine with cow's milk in moms diet but reacted badly on weaning? TIA

Bump?

I discovered my DD's dairy allergy after a dramatic reaction when I gave her a spoonful of yogurt at 8 months old.

Prior to that she had had no obvious reactions to dairy in my diet, although she did suffer from eczema.

I did give up dairy after we discovered her allergy and while she was still BF.

This was 7 years ago, and that was the advice I was given. I think now some doctors recommend not to give it up if the baby isn't reacting. The proteins in the cows milk are broken down in the breast milk, and this makes them unrecognisable to some allergic babies' immune systems.

Thanks for that. Hmmm DS does have mild eczema but very well controlled with emollients. Did your DD grow out of her allergy? Am getting a bit panicky now reading the list of foods to avoid.

My dd reacted badly to her first exposure to cows milk at 4 months, I kissed her after just having a sip of milkshake. It was soon discovered she was allergic to cows milk.
She too was BF and did present with strange symptoms that no-one (at the time) knew why, such as very green loose stools, extreme projectile vomiting (of exorcism magnitude!) and not really gaining weight as expected. Other than that we had no idea until we started to wean her. As soon as I cut out milk from my diet, her other problems went away.
She has grown out of it (by aged 5 1/2) which was fabulous, but still a very worrying and difficult time up till then.
I hope you manage ok, feel free to pm me if you need any support.

Thanks singarainbow. I am still in shock really. We haven't been offered any skin prick testing or follow up, just piriton and advice to not give cow's milk for a few months. Am thinking now if I should go to the GP and nag them for a referral. May take you up on the pm offer somewhere along this scary journey.

i'd go and see a nutritionist rather than another doc. they'll be able to give to practical advise and some food alternatives.

5 months is young for cow's milk try mixing the cereal with breast milk or formula. your DS will like the familiar taste.
You must of had such a fright, I hope you and your DS are feeling better..

I think you should ask for a referral to an allergist if he had hives from a small exposure. I had similar advice to "just not give her milk" from our doctor, but pursued allergy testing and I am glad I did. I don't want to scare you, but if you wait a few months and then give him milk the reaction could be worse.

My DD is now 8 and she can eat milk baked into things like cakes and biscuits, but she still cannot eat the cold stuff- cheese, yogurt, icecream and actual milk.

I remember how scary it is at first, but it does get easier. At least while he is small you have control over what he eats. If he does not react to your EBM then hopefully you wont't have to give up all the food yourself.

I am not in the UK so I can't help too much with the practicalities, but I think seeing an allergist would be a good idea.

I second what bonestable says, although getting to see an allergist can be difficult. We were told it was a 18mth wait when dd started getting reactions, we paid for a private appointment (about £100, but got half back through HSA) so was seen within 2 months. The allergist did a skin prick test.

You will certainly need to be referred to the paediatric dietician, who will ensure that your DS isn't missing out too much, and they will closely monitor his weight & development.

Hi Rum, sounds like you've had a horrible day. Am sending hug even though it's mumsnet

I have a 9 mo DS who is allergic to cows milk protein, had some brilliant brilliant advice on here, if you search my name it should bring up the original thread.

This is what I suggest. Give Allergy UK a call tomorrow on their helpline, they can put a pile of leaflets in the post to help you start getting your head round it all ( it takes weeks, I felt wretched 3 months ago and now we're doing ok). Plus they can give you the name of your local allergy specialist doc and which hospital they are based in. Then make a GP appt and push hard for referral to that specific doctor.

I have EBF DS. I have removed all dairy from my diet and DS's skin is amazing now. It took three days. CMP is in so many foods, initially you'll probably wonder what on earth you can eat, but if you stick to it I bet your son's eczema improves. Going to post now and go back and read your post again (typing on phone).

Thanks all. Will be doing elimination diet on myself and pushing for referral to an allergy clinic. Am so glad this allergy board exists. The cow's milk in the baby rice was formula, not homogenised cow's milk. Off to read poppycat04's thread. Thanks again!

One thing I would add is to be careful introducing other common allergens such as egg, soya and wheat, as well as peanuts, treenuts and fish. My DD is fine with all of these foods, and your DS probably will be as well, but some milk allergic kids also have problems with soya and / or other foods. So when you introduce these just go slowly and watch carefully for any reaction. Keep Pririton on hand just in case.

I think you have a good chance he'll outgrow it, but that might not be until 2-3 yo. Def try and see an allergist. (oh and YES. Keep all nuts out of your and his diet, just in case!) Good luck!

Had the most disturbing dreams last night about hypoallergenic formula . We are going to go very slow and cautiously with the weaning. Thanks for the heads up bonestable and comma2 When I woke up this morning, I felt as if we now have a different life, one with a constant threat hanging over us.

poppycat04 I've read your thread and what a good source of info! I've also got a medical background but it hasn't been much help so far apart from the word anaphylaxis screaming a refrain in my head when DS went red and blotchy yesterday. I need to pull myself together and do a bit of reading, it's been a looooong time since I did any paeds.

Glad the thread helped. Yes, that's exactly how it feels, like it's suddenly a different life. But it does get better. Plus there's hardly anything in conventional paeds. This allergy board is far better, I found, in terms of practical help. Feel free to PM me at any point if I can help.
Poppy

Also we've now had our first appt with our allergy specialist and DS has had blood tests, we're waiting for results. They've given us individual help introducing other allergens. I eat peanut butter most days and the doc was happy for me to continue.

I started by weaning on to fruit and veg and now it's meat, fish and fruit and veg. There is an awful lot of cooking from scratch but I do think DS3 has a healthy diet now. And our diet as a family has improved too.