If your baby was allergic to dairy....

[MyCatReallyIsAGit]

....when were the symptoms obvious?

DS has reflux and has done since he was born. He’s EBF, but has had the odd bottle of formula with no discernible side effects. We’ve been weaning for a couple of weeks now and I’m starting to wonder whether he might have eczema - he has had a patch of dry reddish skin on his neck for a couple of weeks and now appears to have some on his tummy. It is clearly mild as it doesn’t seem to be bothering him but the only non-fruit/veg food he’s had is dairy (yogurt).

Do you think this sounds as though he could be sensitive to dairy or am I overreacting?

Formula is cows milk based too

Both my girls have CMPA, soya and egg allergies. Both EBF. Eldest daughter had raw, open eczema on her face from about 3 months and my youngest has had blood in her stool from about 6 weeks. Absolutely possible your son could have an allergy but with mine it was VERY obvious from a young age. Hope that helps x

Thank you - that is reassuring, although I’m sorry the symptoms were so bad for your girls.

I had assumed he was ok with dairy as we saw no obvious reaction to formula and it was so infrequently given that we would have done. But I did think I saw an increase in reflux symptoms and odd looking poo on days when I’d eaten more dairy myself. I might be reading something into nothing, though.

There’s a bit of a history of allergies on my side, nothing extreme or formally diagnosed but some asthma/eczema in the family so I’m probably overreacting.

DS has similar on his neck/chest; with him it's a dribble rash. We try to keep the area as dry as possible and use aveeno and it has almost gone now.

Yes my DD was EBF and would not lie flat, very unsettled, cried constantly had green poo that looked like someone had sneezed in her nappy with streaks of blood! Arching back when feeding, refusing to feed. No rash though

My baby has a suspected dairy allergy - she had obvious and severe eczema on her face from almost as soon as we started weaning, and her face would go bright red and super itchy and she’d scream whilst eating or just after eating foods that were affecting her - we think it’s milk, but might be other things too. A very small patch of non-itchy eczema doesn’t sound at all like an allergy to me, but obviously I’d keep an eye on it in case it worsens.

At 3-5 months my ebf dc had terrible eczema because I was still consuming dairy. At just over 6 months dc had a full on anaphylactic reaction to a baby porridge that had milk powder in it. First time eating anything with cows milk. It was utterly terrifying.

Sounds like an intolerance maybe rather than a true allergy, I really hope it is just an intolerance. Of course that can still be horrible.
Also the milk proteins in formula are broken down to some extent through the manufacturing process which means they are less allergenic than something like yoghurt.

I know this sounds a bit mean but our consultant said if I was worried about a new food possibly causing a reaction I was to rub a very small amount of it on a patch of eczema, say on the arm. Wait 20 minutes to see if a reaction occurred, if not then repeat the process with a larger amount, of no reaction rub a very small amount on the lip.

Thinking about this now it does seem bonkers but it’s how I found out dc was allergic to a few other things.

Thank you - some of these sound scary. I wasn’t concerned at all about the patch on his neck as I’d assumed it was a continuation of dribble rash, but then found some patches on his tummy (too low to be dribble-related) and one on his back. Am using lots of Aveeno, which seems to be helping.

I think it’s just something to keep an eye on at this stage. It’s definitely not bad enough to warrant a GP appointment but I wasn’t sure what the advice would be around weaning with possible eczema.

@IAmOptimusPrime, that’s actually a really good tip!

My dd2 is 7.5 months old and developed eczema 2 weeks before weaning began at 6 months. Not the worst case, but all over and with bad flareups.

She was bf, with one daily formula bottle. GP suggested giving up dairy (me) and it does seem to have helped. She’s had yoghurt once and did have a flare up 2 days later, but then has also had them with no obvious cause.

Unfortunately, with non-IgE reactions (ones that take a couple of days to show up rather than immediate severe or anaphylactic reactions) there is no confirming test, only what you observe, so we’re groping around for definite answers still. I think was pp describes would be an IeG immediate response, such as the pin-prick tests identify, so may not be relevant to you. Also, I thought an intolerance was unlikely because she’d done 5.5 months fine, but the GP said it wasn’t unusual for things to show up then with no previous indications.

1% hydrocortisone cream got rid of the flare up, and so far Dermal 500 has been the best Moisturising cream for us for keeping it under control, but worth trying several to see what suits. Hope you get things sorted