Cmpi and eczema

[Ducky23]

Me again

Wondered if anyone could help.

Ds was diagnosed with cmpi at 4 weeks old, he was put on nutramigen and there has been a massive improvement.

He is now 17 (coming up to 18) weeks old and the other day I took him to the dr as he had some red patches of skin. The gp said that this is eczema and is common in children with cmpi. He prescribed two different creams and some stuff for the bath.

The patches look like they are getting bigger, which I was told they would.

Does anyone know if this is something that is likely to go when he starts eating normal foods? Or is it likely it will stay?

And also, is it safe to put normal sun cream on him when the sun is out or will this irritate it? Is there a specific type I will need?

I do have his follow up consultant appointment next week but thought someone might know on here.

Thanks

Ducky,
Eczema is very common with allergy children. If it starts getting really bad, consider looking further into the nutramigen; the proteins are not completely hydrolised (and are fine for a lot of cmpi kids), but if it turns into a strong allergy you may need to go for something like neocate (more expensive so not the first point of call for prescription). When he starts eating normal foods, look out for any other allergies / intolerances (eg soy and egg). The eczema won't go just because he's eating other foods. My son's eczema is almost non existant when he eats none of his allergy foods (and gets no dust, mites, etc), but comes back badly when he is exposed to his allergens.

I would suggest looking for a sensitive skin type suncream, but most people find it's a matter of trial and error to find a sunscreen that works for their particular child.

The good news is, you've been diagnosed; it takes most of us a lot longer (us for 8 months of being told i was wrong by the docs); now it's just sussing out the details! There's an excellent facebook group Cows Milk Protein Allergy Support which has lots of support and help.

Good luck!

Thank you Mayfair!

Do you know if there is any tests they can do for further allergies?

I will look into the fb group

They can do skin prick, or RAST tests, Ducky, but they will only pick up the IGE allergies, not necessarily the nonIGE ones (we have both types in DS2). The gold standard is still an exclusion diet (for at least 2 weeks), followed by reintroduction & checking the reactions (which can take up to about 4 days)

If you haven't already, I'd start a food diary of everything that is being consumed, the time, and any potential reactions and the time etc. Some things take days to turn up. If i used to eat egg (while DS2 was solely breastfed), he'd vomit for about 4 days. Some of our more unusual ones (and the less severe ones) only came about after much soul searching and diary reading and finally putting the links together. EG ...Who knew that sausage 4 days ago had red pepper in it, which was what set off the explosive nappies and tummy pains ....