Baby has hives - don't know what's causing them! Help!

[Faybells]

Hi there,

I had previously posted this On a different board, did not know there was a soecific allergy one!! New to mumsnet, pls bear with me!!

I'm wondering if anyone else can shed some light or share their experiences with me regarding my baby's hives....this is a long message im afraid! But if you've had experiences with allergies and hives, I'd be grateful for your input.

My son is 7 months old. He developed eczema at around 3 months old. We tried homeopathy and natural creams first before trying steroids or petroleum based products and, thankfully, his has been eczema free for a while now. He is exclusively breastfed, and I didnt change my diet.

However, around the same time I noticed he would break out in isolated patches of hives - small mosquito bite-type white bumps over red areas of skin, that clearly irritated him. They would come up and go down within about 20 minutes & only seem to come up due to contact irritation, e.g. perfume or baby wipes.

But over the last month or so they have become quite severe. We started weaning and noticed larger patches coming up on his arm...but there was absolutely no pattern with the food we'd given him, so we started to wonder if it was the disenfectant wipes we'd used to clean the high chair.

then while we were on holiday in centre parcs, he had a very severe reaction after our second day of swimming. about 20 minutes after coming out of the pool (I had rinsed him immediately after) he started to come out in hives. We took him to the changing rooms to get him ready to go home, and by this point his whole torso and under arms were COVERED in hives, almost joining up. The rest of his body was pale, he went limp and became unresponsive, barely able to open his eyes. I was nearly hysterical and tried to get out of the changing rooms to take him to the medical centre but could not find the exit!! there was just rows and rows of changing rooms doors and lockers. It was my worst nightmare. My partner put some olive oil on him as a last attempt at trying to help him where we were, and thankfully he started to come round, and within 5 minutes he was awake and alert again, atlhough was still covered in hives for an hour.

we have been taking him swimming once a week since he was 9 weeks old and he had never had a reaction like this before. The only thing that we could see was different was the fact we had taken him two days in a row, and he had also been wearing a body suit that we used the day before - perhaps this was saturated in chorine? He also had used a rubber ring.

a couple of weeks later we gave him his first bit of dairy, cheese, for the first time, and he came out in hives again, not as bad as the centre parcs occasion but still quite severe, covering his chin, neck and chest.

We have seen a paediatric allergy nurse specialist and our GP who have both seen pictures of the cheese reaction and agreed that it was a very severe reaction. They prescribed antihistamine drops and told me not to go anywhere without them. The allergy nurse thinks that it is a dairy allergy and told us to keep him off dairy until a year old. But I am still eating dairy in my diet, and see no pattern to his reactions and my diet. The eczema has gone without my need to stop eating dairy.

But, although I agree he had a severe reaction to dairy, I am not convinced that his other reactions can be due to dairy. She argued that he must have eaten something that day to cause it. I just dont agree. Even from the early age he had reactions to baby wipes and perfumes, and the swimming pool incident was so severe I just cant imagine that he had 'eaten' something early that morning (breakfast was a few hours prior to the flare-up) to cause such a massive reaction hours later.

Although there is no easy answer, I am now petrified that I still am in the dark as to what is causing these massive reactions. Thankfully we have hd no more for a few weeks now, but I'm on tenterhooks wondering when the next one will be. The nurse would not test him as he is too young.

I guess what I'm really wondering is if anyone else has gone through anything similar, how they coped with it, and whether anyone has any similar experiences that would help me figure out other possible causes for my baby's hives. I do wonder if I should push for further tests or referrrals to really get to the bottom of it, as I just dont feel dairy is the main culprit.

Thanks for reading - know its a long one!! :)

My daughter has always suffered allergies and eczema with hives. She reacted badly to peanuts early on which began her to receive a series of skin prick tests. These helped us eliminate foods to which she was also allergic too but she was older than your ds approx 3yrs. From our experiences she had allergies to many things, foods and environmental not always severe. Dust and pollens aswell ect. Obviously your ds had quite a serious reaction swimming. A diferent type of chlorine, maybe, to what he is used to or have you thought about latex, just a long shot, his swimming aid?? Our dd has latex linking allergies to kiwi melon banana ect but not yet to latex but has been told not to put balloons ect in her mouth incase it develops. My dd's eczema started when she was only weeks old. She itched constantly and had tummy problems a lot. It makes it difficult when lots of things can be causing it.

Hello Faybells

When you saw the allergy nurse and she said she thinks it could be a dairy allergy, did she actually do any skin prick tests?

It sounds like you're not sure that it is dairy as you DS has been fine with it in your diet. The fact that he has eczema does mean that it is possible that he has allergies, but without testing you can't really be certain.

If you are in contact with the allergy nurse, could you ask for an appt for proper testing, which includes Skin Prick Tests and also possibly blood tests depending on the results of the skin prick test.

Some people suffer with urticaria (hives) after viral infections which can come up out of the blue, or so it seems, a while after the virus has cleared up.

Some, reactions can also occur hours after an allergen has been ingested so it could have been something that he ate at breakfast :(

Also, some people suffer from something called idiopathic urticaria, which is basically the name for hives with an unknown cause.

My DD had a very bad reaction to a baby rusk at 6.5 months and she also had the joining up hives that you describe and went from crying loads to being very listless suddenly. It's a really scary experience so I'm so so glad that your little boy recovered from his 'episode'. My DD is allergic to a long list of foods and also gets virally induced urticaria.

As you have just started weaning, it might be worth going really slowly. So introduce a new food every 5-7 days and start with small amounts and gradually increase the qty you give.

If you suspect a food, maybe avoid it until you can have it tested. And if you notice a reaction starting, give some anti-histamine as soon as you can. Don't be afraid to use it. According to everyone I've asked anti-histamines are safe for long term use even in young children.

Also, ask your GP for a referral to a Pediatric allergist if your allergy nurse can't organise further testing.

Apologies for my long reply. I'm just jotting down the things that jumped out at me from your post and also the things that I've gleaned over the last 4 years. Sorry if it seems a bit disjointed. It's the state of my head at the moment

I hope your DS doesn't have too many more reactions and I hope you get some help soon. Take care. xx

Just to add that some people suffer with a reaction to the cold called cold urticaria meaning 'cold hives' so just wondering if your little one had got cold in the pool?

I do think that you need to push for a referral to an allergy specialist including allergy testing (skin prick and blood tests) to try to get some answers. Don't take no for an answer on this, check out the NICE guidelines re: allergies and wave them in your GP's face if necessary!

I was going to suggest cold urticaria my baby gets That.

am hoping that the homopathic and alternative stuff didnt have any nuts in btw.

sorry for the unhelpful comment, but natural with allergies isnt always safe for everyone.

I 2nd the idea of getting a refferal for a pead immunologist allergy clinic. ring the anaphylaxis campaign helpline for info on nearest clinic and name of doc , take this name to gp and ask for help.
good luck.

Thank you all for some great advice. I did eventually convince the allergy nurse that there could be more going on here than a dairy allergy!! She has recommended a referral to an immunologist which my GP should be sorting out for us :) hopefully we will get to the bottom of it soon. Thanks again so much for ur help. It's so confusing at the moment and tips, ideas, and support very much appreciated x

Since your ds went limp (which suggests a drop in bllod pressure) I would suggest you need an epipen asap. It is reassuring to know that you have something to powerfully help him should the need arise,.

ime you have to really push to get one as they are expensive.