Milk allergy and coeliac?

[Klinda]

Hi all, hoping for a bit of advice. My 2 yo son has a milk allergy that was diagnosed at 7 months (any contact with milk brings him up in hives). He is on a dairy-free diet but does eat soy. He frequently comes up in random hives and also has the odd bout of random mucuousy vomit. He is very small for his age and because DH & I and DS1 and DD are both big the doctor wants him to be tested for coeliac. Does this sound like this could be the root of problems?
We have a hospital appointment with the gastro paed's next week to do blood test but as have waited for ages for this I want to know if I should be exploring any other routes?
TBH not sure he fits the whole coeliac description as he is never bloated and he eats TONS of gluten.
Any advice gratefully receieved!

Firstly, I thik it's great that GP is testing for coeliac disease simply because so many GPs fail to consider it a possibility even when patients have 'classic' symptoms. Given the symptoms you describe it does sound rather unlikely that this is the problem but symptoms really do vary greatly from person to person. My DD was diagnosed just over a year ago aged 9 and until a few months before her diagnosis she had never had any symptoms whatsoever (she ate like a horse, never had any problem gaining weight, no gastric symptoms etc etc) so I was amazed when her test came back positive. If it does turn out to be coeliac disease, this would account for the 'failure to thrive' and possibly the vomiting but definitely not for the hives. The hives are most likely due to skin contact with something containing milk or, failing that, something else he's allergic to. My DS (4) is allergic to milk, wheat, eggs and nuts and often comes out in hives, mainly when we are out and about eg at soft play, cafes, restaurants etc. We just give him some Piriton and within 20mins he's usually fine (we do also have epipens as he does suffer with anaphylaxis if he eats something he's allergic to). He suffered with prolonged reflux until he was gone 2 and would regularly throw up all his food after taking ages to eat. We were told that this was common in children with allergies as the oesphagus becomes inflammed. He has thankfully outgrown this now and only vomits when he's unwell.

Can I ask if your DS has had any allergy testing or seen an allergy specialist? Cow's milk protein allergy and soya allergy do often go hand-in-hand so it is possible that soya is causing the problem. What milk replacement are you using? It might be worth considering removing soya from his diet and keeping a detailed food diary to see if this makes a difference. However, I would recommend discussing this with a dietician first.

Thanks for your reply freefrom, DS has had allergy testing and came up as allergic to milk, eggs (a bit) and cats (we had two and had to re-home them :( ). The dietcian we saw did mention that Soya could be a problem too but because he isn't puking all the time and needs the calcium they recommended we keep him on it. He was initially put on Nutramigen but this made him puke, so we switched to neocate which was fine, but as he has just turned 2 we have now moved onto soya milk although he only has it on cereal and won't drink it.
Interesting what you said about allergies making oesophagus inflamed and causing puking as DS is sick very easily - any bug and he vomits for days, frequently retches etc.
Wish we were seeing a general paed and not a gastro paed as not sure his problem is gastric...still I think it is worth exploring the coeliac route as could explain his small stature. All very puzzling.

Just to add that my DS is 4.5 and still on Neocate. We plan to move on to oat milk when he's 5 with the occasional bit of soya milk thrown in (he's definitely not allergic to soya thankfully).

freefrom can I just ask why you don't use much soya milk? Is oat milk better? Just trying to find something DS will drink as worried about calcium intake.

Personal choice really because I worry about the phyto-oestrogens in soya milk. I know the recommendation is that it's safe over the age of 1 but I personally prefer to give him fortified oat milk. He hasn't tried either yet as he's still on Neocate but that's the plan over the next 6 months.