Could this be related to her allergy?

[EggShouldersKneesAndToes]

DD, nearly 3, is allergic to egg. If she has it her face swells and she gets hives, but thankfully its very manageable.
If she is 'egged' though, after the swelling/hives reaction we always get a day or two of the worst nappies imaginable.

Just lately though, the last month I'd say, she has been having really awful nappies everyday. They are runny and smell acrid, burn her bum and they ruin her pjs and bedsheets and I'm washing them everyday.

Prior to this she always had normal nappies, unless she'd had a bug or something accidently with egg in it, or ages ago when she was still teething.

Is this likely to be related to the egg allergy? A new allergy? Some sort of intolerance? Should I go to the GP or will I be wasting his time?

I'm not sure what to do about it really, I assumed it would clear up but its isn't showing any sign of going. It means she really dislikes doing a poop and I think its causing her panic about potty training, which we've put off for now.

yes, it does cause gut problems, often can cause vomiting and diarorea (sp?) fairly soon after accidental ingestion.

can last for some days afterwards as body is still recovering from shock of it all.

take it you DO have epi pens?

It sounds like a new allergy. I'd seek advice about food excluding in rotation, eg week off milk, week of wheat etc to see if her symptoms resolve. Speak to your HV.

Eragon No, we don't have epi pens, the GP said we didn't need them.

She went for a blood test to be checked for the egg allergy and he said it came back as a 'moderate' allergy and we just have piriton on prescription.

I'm a bit worried because we are going away on holiday to the US next month and I don't want her to be developing a new allergy that we haven't identified yet.

Would a new allergy just start with no warning? She has always been allergic to egg, from the first time she had it, not long after she weaned onto solid food.

HappyCamel Would a week off be enough then to see the difference? Would I know within a week that it was the thing we had avoided all week?

Crap, its going to be milk isn't it?

why does your GP say u dont need them?

if its because you can manage her food as so young, talk about family parties, other adults and impact on social life as a result.

in general most gps had no training on ige allergies, so are often , sadly not that well informed on allergy status.

Other impacts on health at time of accidental ingestion can make a mild reaction tip in to a more serious one. reactions are often different each time, because of this reason. you can not assume that you have a mild allergy, just because so far, there have only been mild reactions.

my son was judged to have a moderate egg allergy when he was young, by a local pead. He has had severe reactions to egg, and other foods, and does need his epi pen and other emergency meds.

ask to be reffered. certainly i wouldnt travel at all without epi prescription, esp with air travel and eating outside normal family home!

allergies do start with no warning, egg allergy and peanut seem to be most commonly go together.

you need to get further testing and a immunolgist to examine your child.
you can ring the anaphylaxis helpline to get some support and further advice re name of nearest clinic and doc to you.

good luck.

Eragon - He wouldn't give an epi pen because he said the reactions weren't severe enough, that piriton would manage it.

It does, though she has only accidently had egg in things like cakes, she hasn't had egg on its own since she was about 7 months and I don't know how she would react eg. scrambled egg or omlette or something.

Will just read the rest of your post now, wanted to quickly reply whilst you are around.

Have you written to all the food manufacturers that you use products from. We did when DD2 had her egg allergy, which thankfully she grew out of. It's amazing how many products contain egg or egg derivatives.

I am a bit worried about flying with her, but I can't see the GP prescribing an epi pen or giving us a referral, he was clear that he thought it not necessary.

I guess I'll take her back to see him, I bet I won't get an appt now til after Christmas and we go away to the US at the end of Jan. Feel a bit worried now.

Michglas No, though I check each time I buy an item on the packet that its ingredients haven't changed.
I find it hard when we are eating out, hence the occasional slip up, but thats pretty rare these days.

Hopefully to set your mind at rest a little... Ds is allergic to eggs (dairy and sesame also) with similar reactions to your dd.
Immunologist at paed clinic feels Epipen not necessary so we use piriton. I have to say that on the odd occasion we've needed it, even just 2.5mls does the trick really quickly.
It does sound to me like she is reacting to something - I would ask for a skin prick referral ASAP. Hope u get referred :)

I can't remember what it's listed as, but there is an egg product that is listed in sauces etc but reading it's name, you wouldn't think it is egg. All of the ones I wrote to obliged with lists, even stuff i'd been reading ingredients on had egg in it. They don't need to list egg if the egg derivative is less than 5%.

Michglas I knew that egg derivatives can be called other things so this is the list I normally check for (I'm so anal I have it printed out in my purse for when I can't remember!):

Albumin/Albumen
Conalbumin
Globulin
Lecithin (unless it states soya lecithin)
Livetin
Lysozyme
Ovalbumin
Ovoglobulin
Ovolactohydrolyze proteins
Ovomacroglobulin
Ovomucin
Ovomucoid
Ovovitellin

The most common ones I find listed on ingredients are albumin and ovalbumin. As a rule, I avoid anything with ovo/ova starting words.

Thanks puffy. I just don't know if I'm making a big deal out something or not. The GP didn't think it was too big a deal, just keep her away from egg, he did say to avoid it totally, but just said the piriton would be enough.

Can I request skin prick tests? Would I have to have them done privately? I'm a bit bothered about the £££ of going private.

I think I've decided to go this week completely avoiding cows milk, its not going to fun is it . I'll start in the morning.

So I guess no
milk
cheese
yoghurt
chocolate
butter

You shouldn't have to pay, your gp should refer you :) ds2 was automatically referred after 'the scrambled egg incident' as he'd already had a possible allergic reaction to penicillin and a trip to a and e following a face swelling reaction to yoghurt.
He's 2 now and showing no signs of growing out of it. I begged for a milk challenge (selfishly trying to stop breastfeeding as he won't take soya) but had an immediate reaction.
Afaik u need to cut out dairy for 3 weeks minimum as it takes that long for the cows milk protein to work it's way out of the body. However if it is dairy for your dd, I would expect fairly quick improvement to her stools.
I question marked lentils for a while, but he's ok with them now. Stools aren't great but certainly not runny and that could well have more to do with his 'solid to b-milk' ratio

Just to add, her stools don't sound normal, something is clearly going on that needs identifying. Does it follow on from a course of antibiotics or a tummy bug?

Oh and last post, our immunologist said piriton would be enough for now as we don't know where he is on the allergy 'scale' ie increasing or decreasing, which is why he is monitored via skin prick tests. I presume if reaction gets worse the treatment will need to change

Puffy Thanks for coming back to the thread.

No, no antibiotics or tummy bug that I know of, I can't even be sure when it began. She has always been prone to bad nappies, particularly back when she was still teething, so in the past wouldn't have given much thought to a bad nappy. But now its everyday and seemingly not ending its a different matter.

Our GP talked about the allergy scale and not knowing if she was increasing or decreasing but we haven't been offered any monitoring and she has never had skin prick tests.

I will have to make an appt, but I bet I won't be able to get one until the new year now. We'll start milk free tomorrow and give that a whirl, see where it gets us. If we see an improvement we'll stick to it for the 3 weeks like you suggested. I suppose you then have to gently reintroduce it and see if the symptoms return and then if they do you know it was the milk. Does that sound right?

Yep, sounds perfect. If you find she improves you will also have more ammunition for referral.
Be mindful of her mineral intake though, include lots of beans (kidney are good) green veg if she'll eat it, dried apricots, nuts if she's Not allergic. U could try her on soya as a replacement but it tends to be high sugar or revolting unsweetened! Also fairly common allergen. Oatmilk is good :)

By mineral intake do you mean calcium? I guess its calcium and protein that she is mostly getting from milk. And vit D maybe?

She isn't allergic to nuts but the doc said to keep her away from them because egg and nut allergy are common together apparently, so she has never had nuts unless they've been in something I haven't noticed. Maybe I could get her a vitamin supplement?

She is going to cry when I tell her she can't have her drink of milk in the morning, or her cereal. And bedtime without her drink of milk?

Crap.

You might find she's not too bad if you sit her down and explain you need to see if milk is making her tummy poorly. Ds is 2.2 and quite happily refuses eggs as 'make me poorly sick mummy'. (cheese is another matter though lol)
How about as a special night time treat she has hot choc powde in oat milk? Rice milk is nice too.
Yes it's mostly calcium vit d protein and fat but they're fairly easy to replace. Tinned salmon covers most!
I wouldn't take her off the dairy till you've got some replacements in :)I give mine vit supps but mostly cos ds1 arely eats and ds2 HAS to have whatever ds1 has!!!

you really shouldn't be doing an elimination diet without medical advice

please ask for a paeds referal or discuss with GP before starting

Workshy I won't be able to see the GP this week, though I will try. One week without milk isn't going to do her any harm, if I see an improvement in the week I'll go to GP knowing what I think the problem is and might be able to push for a referral (which I'm not bloody likely to get anyway if I know the GP). If I don't see any improvement I'll have to see the GP anyway because I still won't know what is the problem. I don't see that it makes much difference really.

She went the best part of a week without milk when we went camping and had nowhere cool to store it, no problems.