New here. Help - what does a milk allergy look like!!?

[JuliaAndJohn]

ds3 is 6 mos I have been introducing solids for three weeks. This morning the poor little lad looks dreadful - bright red, flaky cheeks, small spots all over face and neck, scratches from his nails all over forehead, lumpy, bumpy red marks everywhere else on face with flaky bits of skin everywhere. He is constantly trying to itch/scratch his face. I have been adding small quantities of cows milk to some of his mushed food. He has had flaky, red patches for a while, but I had put it down to cold weather. Now I am not so sure.
Any suggestions amd remedies very gratefully received. I keep looking at his distress and want to cry. I have done this to him. He had beautiful, immaculate skin with just breastmilk. Nasty old food, silly mummy? HELP.

No, you haven't done this to him, and you're not a silly Mummy. Even if it IS the cow's milk that's doing it, you weren't doing anything wrong in giving it to him - cow's milk is meant to be OK from 6 months.

Are you still breastfeeding? Can you express some to mix with his food instead of the cow's milk and see if that helps?

Get him along to the GP and get it checked out; even if it's not an allergy it sounds as if he needs something to help with the soreness.

It sounds like excema, which may be triggered by the cow's milk.

I think some people get excema triggered by tomatoes, or wheat, too.

Not silly mummy - not at all! Concerned, caring mummy.

Go back to basics: have you been introducing foods one at a time, and giving that new food for 3-4 days before introducing another food? If you do that you are likely to be able to identify the trigger. But it does mean that you have to give home-cooked foods, as most of the jars/packets will have combinations of foods in them.

As for soothing him, the GP will probaly recommend aqueous cream - which is very good, and cheap, but it actually makes the reaction worse for some people (me) and some people find that they start reacting to it after using it for a while (my dd). The best thing I have found is Aveeno, which is a cream made from oats, together with using oats in the bath. You cut 8" or so of old stocking, knot one end, put a handful of porridge oats into it and know the other end. Then put that in the bath - don't use any soaps or bubbles. Let the oats soak a bit and the squeeze and swish the bag. Creamy gunge will come out and that's the soothing stuff. It sounds weird but really works well.

When my dd has her reaction (she's mildly allergic to hard tap-water I think) I make sure never to use anything on her face other than bland moisturiser or oaty-water. To wipe her face after eating, for example, I smear cream over her and wipe it off with a damp cloth (or rub some cream on the cloth and wipe her face like that).

HTH

It sounds like eczema and yes, it can be triggered by cows milk. You can use breast milk instead, but if you are not breastfeeding now the usual formula he is having will be OK.

DS is allergic to cows' milk and his reactions to it are eczema, bloated tummy, slightly puffed face, constipation, etc.

Sounds like a milk allergy. You need to have him tested and avoid milk and dairy until then. My dd would get red around her mouth it she had anything iwth milk or dairy. But when I eliminated it, no of this appeared.

He may just be too young for milk, if he is breastfed then it's fine to just add water to his mush.

He will probably be fine with milk after a year or maybe 2.

I would recommend probiotics to strengthen his gut, oat baths, avoiding other allergenic food until the recommended times for atopic babies, and a nice relaxing bath for you.

Ds has many allergies and around once a month I find myself in A&E having done something silly and the doctors always tell me not to be too hard on myself.

my dd (5.5 months) is formula fed and has developed excema. she has always not been keen on formula and wondering now if the formula is affecting / causing the excema.

where can i go for an allergy test for one so young? since thinking of switching to soya formula to see if dairy affecting her? do i need to ask a GP first? is it just as calorific?

trying avenoo, epaderm, vaseline, avenoo bath oil to no avail, how long till i see effcet?

should i just stick to one?
sorry so many questions.........

forevermore probiotics are useful for some types of eczema and personally I'd ask me gp if I could try pepti junior/ nutramigen/neocate for a few weeks. Or try nanny formula (goats milk) which you can order from Boots or maybe a health food store. Soya is a common allergen so best not introduced under a year. The waiting list for allergy testing is usually so long she'd probably be one before you got there but they don't like testing babies unless the reaction is potentially life threatening and it doesn't sound like that.

Hi! My baby has milk and soy allergy since 3 months old. Just for your information even breastfed babies can be effected. My baby has milk and soy allergy he would develop a rash on face or on body if i have consume any of these products. If taken directly, he would really go crazy. Why do I say so? Because he would have a rash immedately his would rub his eyes non stop and wheeze terribly.
Very suffering.Once I gave him a creal which contained milk protiens his eyes were like goldfishes. Some say it would get better as they ages but it seems they say.
Don't be suprise that he is so sensitive that he can even touch milk products.What I mean is that he can't have skin contact with such liquids.
Isn't that bad! Best to do a skin/blood test.