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Allergies and intolerances

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Original poster

Please help me work out what my DD may be allergic to

20 replies

ButteryJam · 22/08/2013 14:15

Hi,

It's my 1st post in this section, so please bear with me. My DH and I are not allergic to anything except hayfever.

My LO has been very very fussy and colicky since birth, and she is now 3 months. I suspect she may have reflux (HV wasn't sure) and she has been doing explosive diarrhoea every other day, which the GP said was normal apparently! The osteopath I took her to said that she felt her digestive system wasnt quite right and suggested I try cutting out some food.

So two weeks ago I cut out all dairy from my diet and I'm not sure if it has made a difference. HV suggested I slowly reintroduce dairy and see if it makes any difference. She suggested starting with cheese, then butter, then milk.

How long should I give inbetween each item?

I've also noticed that sometimes she gets a rash around her eye or on her face. She's had that since I've been off dairy too. It may be eggs but I need to eat them again and see.

Thanks for your help! I'm a bit lost with all this and no idea what to do to help a screaming and rather upset baby Hmm

OP posts:
NothingsLeft · 22/08/2013 20:05

I assume your BFing if you are cutting this out your diet? Kellymom has some good info on allergies you may find useful. It is a bit of a mind field.

DS is allergic to dairy and soy (40% of babies allergic to dairy are also allergic to soy), so may be cut both out as a trial. I would give it at least a month of being completely free of both before reintroducing. It takes two weeks for the proteins to leave you body and another two for theirs.

Our gastro pead said to try very small amounts over a week, start with soy, then dairy but stop if he reacts. If your worried about eggs too cut them out for a month too.

gretagrape · 24/08/2013 15:09

Hi, my 5mo son was diagnosed with cow's milk allergy at 8 weeks (through my breast milk) and when I cut out dairy we didn't see any improvement for around 6 weeks to be honest and it was probably 8 weeks until we could definitely say his symptoms were improving significantly.

We were advised not to reintroduce dairy until he starts on solids because if he does have a reaction then you could be looking at another few weeks to get his system back to being dairy free.

In the end we moved to Neocate as he seemed to be reacting to other things but we could never be sure what.

If you think there is an allergy you really need to push for a referral to Peads so you can get a proper diagnosis and then referral to an allergy clinic for when you start weaning. They probably won't do proper tests until 6 months because of the risk of false negatives/positives with a younger immune system but most clinics are so booked up that you need to get in the system as soon as possible. (our son was referred in May and we have the appointment at the end of September).

gretagrape · 24/08/2013 15:13

We were advised not to reintroduce dairy until he starts on solids because if he does have a reaction then you could be looking at another few weeks to get his system back to being dairy free.

That probably didn't make sense - it should have said:
We were advised not to reintroduce dairy until he starts on solids because if he does have another reaction through your breast milk again then you could be looking at another few weeks to get his system back to being dairy free.

monstergoose · 25/08/2013 21:38

What gretagrape said, would recc getting advise from a paed rather than your HV/GP who often aren't that well informed. It took us about 4-5 wks to see a real difference but it's not something to do lightly as particularly soy is in everything (its used as an emulsifier and also soy flour is in most breads) so you do need to be very vigilant, and eating out can be a pain.

It's massively worth it though, my screamy unhappy baby who cried after every feed was a different child once we started to see a difference, I just wish I'd acted sooner and not believe the HV who just told me all babies cry and vomit Hmm

CaptainJamesTKirk · 25/08/2013 21:42

Has advice changed re: weaning? And osteopath saying your DC's digestive system wasn't quite right?

Is your DC just 3 months? My DS certainly wasn't eating cheese at 3 months?

I'm confused sorry.

CaptainJamesTKirk · 25/08/2013 21:44

How often does the rash around the eye appear? Is it definitely rash like or is it little spots from tears, rubbing etc...?

Original poster
ButteryJam · 25/08/2013 22:11

Captain, not very often tbh. But then again I haven't been having eggs that often either. And yes it is definitely rash.

OP posts:
Original poster
ButteryJam · 25/08/2013 22:18

Thanks everyone! I am BFing. And looks like I need to urgently see a peadetrician

OP posts:
CaptainJamesTKirk · 25/08/2013 22:23

I am such a fool! I get it now... You are breastfeeding and you are the one cutting out the food!!! I thought a just 3 month old eating cheese was a bit .

Right. My DS had a 2 week period at about 2-3 months where his pops were green froth and violent! My GP told me this was normal and it's digestive system developing. When it didn't improve I tried adding colief to expressed breast milk at GP's recommendation. Didn't help either and then bizarrely went away by itself... So maybe go was right about digestive system developing.

Keeping a food diary yourself might be useful but this is a long process. Have you returned to your GP?

CaptainJamesTKirk · 25/08/2013 22:24

Pops? Obviously poos!

CaptainJamesTKirk · 25/08/2013 22:24

Google colief too... It might be worth a go?

CaptainJamesTKirk · 25/08/2013 22:26

And one more question... Are you perhaps eating too much fruit? IIRC my SIL had to cut out strawberries and juices from her diet because it was affecting the baby.

vvviola · 25/08/2013 22:34

Another one chiming in to say it took a good few weeks for lack of dairy to take effect. I think it can take about 4 weeks for all the dairy to be out if your system.

I'd definitely push for allergy testing as soon as it's possible/feasible. DD was done at about 8 months (not in UK) and that identified egg as another issue that we hadn't realised (she'd only had egg once, and we wrongly assumed that it was only the milk in the scrambled egg she had reacted to)

Original poster
ButteryJam · 26/08/2013 11:19

Thanks! Will push for an allergy test! Yes I do have quite alot of fruit, mainly because of the yummy innocent juices and because I can't have milk I tend to have more. I've also started a food diary today.

I accidentally ate something which had milk inside it after 2 weeks of being dairy free Hmm. Do I have to start the diet all over again?

OP posts:
tatt · 27/08/2013 10:06

first thing I would avoid in your diet is added sugar, as that probably causes more problems than milk intolerance in the mother. Mine reacted very badly if I ate grapes. Secondly I wouldn't avoid a food group without good cause and if two weeks of dairy hasn't made a difference I'd go back to eating cheese but add probiotics to your diet.

Rashes on the face are often some saliva or sick they have got on their hand and then face.

NothingsLeft · 27/08/2013 12:28

I would just continue with as before and sick it out for an extra week or so. Probiotics are milk based and usually made from a culture of dairy. I made this mistake & DS would react to them.

Definitely push for a referral, GP's are not great with this type of thing I've found.

vvviola · 27/08/2013 12:43

The thing is tatt - dairy proteins can apparently take up to 4 weeks to totally leave breastmilk (I think I got that from Kellymom when I first gave up dairy), so it can take a while for an effect to be obvious.

That said, OP, I don't think (from experience & after being reassured here at the time) that a tiny bit of dairy on a once off instance will mean you are right back at the start again.

Good luck! (But maybe look at a multivitamin with added calcium if you are concerned you won't get enough calcium elsewhere. I was ok getting it mostly through diet & fortified oat milk, but it was something I was aware of - and still am because although I'm back on dairy, I've kind of lost the taste for it)

tatt · 27/08/2013 19:03

it is possible to get dairy free probiotics e.g. www.goodnessdirect.co.uk/cgi-local/frameset/detail/868507_Higher_Nature_Fructo_Oligosaccharides_Powder_200g.html

(found on google, not a recommendation) but those of us with allergic children do tend to see allergies everywhere when most of the time they aren't the problem. It's very difficult to get enough calcium without dairy so supplements are the easy answer if avoiding milk. Kellymom suggests 3 weeks but then links to a page which admits they dont really know.

Original poster
ButteryJam · 27/08/2013 20:57

I haven't seen much of a difference in the past two weeks, instead dd got worse. I think citrus is a complete no no and I have removed that from my diet.

Today I had some cheese and I'm going to see whether she reacts to it or not. I am really looking forward to having milk (fingers crossed).

OP posts:
tatt · 28/08/2013 08:34

when you move on to yoghurt make sure it's live yoghurt and you'll get probiotics in the yoghurt.

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