Help please - weaning 7 mth old DTS. Milk allergy, now reacted to tomato. Don't know what to do for the best!

[Jojay]

My boy twin has had eczema patches on his face since around 5 months old, prior to weaning.

About 3 wks ago I gave him a stick of cheddar to chew on, which provoked an allergic reaction. Hives on his face, frantic itching and crying, swollen lips, coughing.

We've cut all dairy since that incident, and as he is bfed I've cut dairy out too.

GP referred to paed for allergy testing, date was originally 30th May. HV managed to get it pulled forward to 16th May but it still seems ages away.

Yesterday I gave him a pureed casserole that I'd made. The only ingredients that he hadn't had before were tinned tomato and tomato puree so I'm assuming that triggered the reaction. No hives this time, but he was bright red in the face and very itchy and crying within a minute or two of having a mouthful.

The eczema is an ongoing problem. 1% steroid cream sorts it out but as soon as we stop, it's back. The patches are raw and often bleeding or oozing clear fluid. Creams like Epaderm help elsewhere on his body - he has a few other minor patches but nothing like on his face - but nothing seems to help his face except the steroid cream.

I can't help thinking that the food allergies are causing the eczema, as his skin was horrific after the reaction to cheese, and is raw and bleeding today after the tomato yesterday.

Where do I go from here, bearing in mind the allergy testing isn't for a while yet? Should I be cutting more from my diet, ie tomato? I feel nervous giving him new things now in case he reacts to something else.

Arhhhh! What would you do next?

Tomatoes are rich in histamin so he may just be a little too young to handle them yet as opposed to being truly allergic. My sympathies, I was in your position not long ago when my DS developed a reaction to milk and later eggs. My approach to weaning has been one new item every couple of days and piriton on standby. Have been advised by the allergist not cut dairy or eggs out of my diet if there are no obvious reactions in DS. Did try an exclusion diet for almost a month with no change to his eczema.

That's interesting. Certainly atm I'm wondering why I'm bothering to be dairy free as it doesn't seem to be helping. No-one told me to though, just thought I'd try it.

it is possible your child has other allergies , for e.g enviromental ones. dustmite is a common cause of ezcema.

why not keep ringing to see if you can get a cancelled appointment at the allergy clinic?

Im breastfeeding a baby with a severe milk and egg (probably peanut) allergy and I cut all those out of my diet as it as an adverse effect om his eczema. I would steer clear for now.

Poor baby, I was in your position 4 months ago when my baby was 5 months old. Call your GP and ask for an URGENT referral to the allergy specialist. Stress that it effects his breathing and new allergies are showing up. I had to do this and got an appt about 2 weeks later, we got an epipen.

Im still very new to this but other on here are great with excellent knowledhe and advice.

Thank you both.

Both HV and GP has requested an earlier appt and I'm on the cancellation list for the paed we need to see, so fx something will come up. I will let the GP know about the tomato reaction in case that hurries things up.

His eczema is almost exclusively on his face, the skin on his body is almost perfect, except for the odd patch. Is that indicative of any particular trigger, do you know? It's also in his hair, but it doesn't look like typical cradle cap and it's very itchy.

He has also had 3 chest infections needing ab's in his short little life, and has been wheezy on a couple of occasions, so he has his own ventolin puffer. He seems to be an atopic kind of chappie.

Thank you again

My dd had an allergic reaction to raw tomatoes (hives) followed by a massive eczema flare up. However, she did not react to tomatoes in a skin prick test. Despite this, we were told to avoid all raw tomatoes for 18 months before slowly reintroducing them to see if she had outgrown the reaction. In your position, I would avoid all tomato until you have seen the specialist. There is a good chance that in the future your ds will be fine with tomatoes.

I would also go back to the GP and ask for something a little bit stronger for your ds's eczema. The key with eczema is to hit it hard with strong steroids for a short period of time. Apparently, this is much better than using lower strength steroids (e.g. 1% hydrocortisone) for long periods of time. (I was told this by a paediatric dermatologist). You need to completely get on top of it before moving back onto just moisterisers. If it just flares back up again as soon as you stop the steroid cream, you've not yet effectively dealt with it.

My dd has had a couple of massive eczema flare ups after allergic reactions. By following the approach I've outlined above, her eczema is now pretty much under control. As soon as I see a hint of a flare up, I zap it with strongish steroid cream which means that the eczema never takes hold. I have to only put creams on for a day or two instead of the weeks and weeks that I had to after the really bad flare ups.

Thanks neolara ( do you have a Lara? I do )

One of my older sons was sensitive to raw tomatoes, which I believe is quite common, but was always fine with cooked, hence my trying DTS with the casserole. I certainly will avoid tomatoes in all shapes and forms until the testing is done.

That's interesting re the stronger steroid cream. Currently the GP recommended we try one week on, one week off for a month with the 1% cream, nad if that doesn't sort it she'll refer us to a dermatologist.

So far it's not looking good

I just hope that his / her waiting list is a bit shorter than for the allergy paed!

Hi Jojay
Sorry to hear that you and your little one are going through this.

Just wanted to say that when you mention the tomatoes to your GP definitely also mention that your DS is wheezy too. This needs to be looked at as allergies and asthma need to be closely monitored. Hopefully it might help speed things up for you.

It's interesting that the eczema is more on his face than body. Do you wash his bedding in a different way to his clothes? My dad sometimes used to react to changes in washing powder. A bit random but I thought that so thought I'd mention it.

Also, it seems that tree pollen season has already started. My DD who has loads of food allergies as well as pollen and cats, seems to be worse with eczema in the summer than the winter due to hayfever. When her eczema is worse, she also seems more sensitive to other allergens so seems to get more weals and also wheezes more. Incidentally, we were told that wheezing on the out breath is the one to be aware of. (I hope I've remembered that correctly )

Good Luck with your appointment and let us know what they say. And fingers crossed you get one soon.

take care

Just wanted to say that neolara is right about the eczema, hydrocortisone 1% is a waste of time. You need a stronger steroid ointment and you need to keep applying it for at least 4 days after the eczema appears to have gone because it takes at least this long for the lower layers of skin to heal. Otherwise it just keeps coming back. If you can get a referral to dermatology that will really help as in my experience most GPs are useless when it comes to treating eczema.

mumat39 is also right about the link between asthma and allergies. Untreated or poorly managed asthma can make allergic reactions much worse so you need to mention this to the specialist. In my local health board region they don't normally diagnose asthma until age 5 but because of my DS's allergies his consultant prescribed him a preventer at age 3.5 as he was concerned about his reactions getting worse.

You both sound quite right about the 1% cream. After 7 days the skin is 95% healed but the moment we stop we're back to square one again. I'll try to get a telephone appt with the GP and see if she'll refer me asap.

As to the wheeze, it's looking like a viral wheeze rather than an allergic one atm as it's when he's snotty that it comes on. It hasn't been severe yet, no steroids required as ventolin has controlled it. GP is aware, and we've been through this with my two older boys. They've both been on various preventors since early toddlerhood due to the severity of the viral wheeze, several hospital admissions each etc etc.

So the wheeze I feel I can handle, but I'm out of my comfort zone with this eczema and food allergies!

Thanks very much for all your input. It's helping to clarify things in my head

Yay, spoke to GP. He's agreed to refer to dermatologist, and said to use the 1% cream for 2-3 wks in the meanitme. He'll also try to get allergy testing brought forward in light of the tomato reaction.

So that's progress - thank you

That's great Jojay. Good on your GP too. I'm sure they're not all as understanding as that.

Fingers crossed the appointment comes through quickly and that your little one is ok until then.

Thank you. yes, I'm very lucky with my GP. The two we see are great, a husband and wife team. With the boys asthma we've come to know them rather too well over the years, a d the receptionist at the doctors recognises my voice before I've even said who I am!