Thinking of trying dd on a dairy free diet - what do you think

[mumtodd]

Hi, my dd is 15 months and has had eczema since she was 2 months old. We tried various creams and had varying success and use hydrocortisone when necessary. When she was 12 months old she had a bad reaction to her first taste of egg so we got a referral to an allergy consultant. She had a RAST test and a skin test and came back negative for everything except egg. She was breastfed til 10 months and has been on formula since. In the last few days I have started introducing cow's milk and her eczema has flared up really badly - the worst it's been since her reaction to egg. The only difference I can see in her diet is the increase in cow's milk. Since her tests did not show she had a dairy allergy could she still be intolerant to it and could it be affecting her eczema?
I am thinking of taking dairy out of her diet to see what happens. Has anyone done this? How long would it be before I would see an improvement?

yes, she could still be intolerant, it's one of the most common allergies. i would definitely try going without, for at least 3 weeks. use goats or fortified rice milk instead. Make sure you check all food packaging for whey, lactose etc etc - all dairy derivatives.

You could also try avoiding wheat as that's the other most common allergen, but don't do it at the same time or you won't know which is causing the problem.

Hi mumtodd - agree with pl, except that I wouldn't recommend using goats milk, as the proteins in it are very similar to those in cows milk, so if one causes a problem then it's likely that the other will too.

Rice milk with added calcium would definitely be your best bet (was recommended for dd by dietician).

You say she's been having formula for 7 months? Ordinary formula is cow's milk. I think if it was cow's milk she'd have reacted to the formula? Does she have other dairy?

Hi, she has been having formula since she was 10 months so been on it quite a while. She has had the eczema all along but since she started on cows milk it has flared up really badly. I thought that maybe as the formula is processed she might have been having a milder reaction to it. She also started eating yoghurt recently too so she had had a big increase in dairy.

Eczema and dairy intolerance are not necessarily linked, but you should definitely do what you think best, taking advice from dieticians, etc.

Removing an entire food source without concrete evidence that it is the cause may not be good for dd in the long-term, so I hope you get some really good advice on here (and elsewhere).

Good luck, todd

MY DD (7) regularly had flare ups until we just cut down her dairy.

She has soya milk to drink and on cereal (but cows milk if its in a family meal like cheese sauce ), less yoghurt/fromage frais and we sometimes substitute regular cheese for goats cheese etc.

Its been enough just to reduce her intake of dairy rather than cut it out altogether.

Hi thanks for the replies. I might try cutting down the amount of dairy she has and see how it goes. Until this recent flare up she hadn't been too bad and the only link I can find is the sudden increase it dairy.