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Original poster

Milk allergy?

8 replies

agri · 21/09/2026 18:30

My Daughter is 9 months old.

We Introduced food at 6 months as per guidelines. About a month after starting weaning, she came out in a massive, full body rash. Docs thought it was a viral rash, but after 2 months decided it was eczema.

Anyway, it didn’t disappear with the creams given to us, instead it got really itchy and didn’t improve.

I gave her yoghurt several times & then one day after having it, her face, eyes and tongue became swollen.
We cut out products with milk in & her skin neatly cleared completely.

Cut to a few weeks later and she had peanut butter (for maybe 5th or 6th time. She had a massive allergic reaction which resulted in her needing 4 adrenaline shots and a nebuliser.

We were referred to the paediatrician, who confirmed a peanut allergy via the prick tests. When I mention the yoghurt to him, he laughed (not in a dickhead way), and said that it wasn’t an allergic reaction and that it was just that she had rubbed yoghurt on her face.

Obviously I’m not an allergy specialist, but my gut tells me he’s wrong. I could try and introduce it again, which I will have to do, but I’m worried she will have an anaphylactic shock. We have EpiPens now, so it won’t be as frightening if anything happens. I have no idea if she rubbed yoghurt on her face or not, but I assume she will have rubbed yoghurt on her face previously?!

I’m trying to work out if I’m overreacting? Has this happened to anyone else where it is just a reaction to yoghurt being rubbed on the face? I’m kind of annoyed that he didn’t test for it when he was testing all of the nuts, but perhaps I am being OTT?

OP posts:
Original poster
agri · 21/09/2026 18:33

Forgot to say that she was having meals with milk in when she had the really bad rash.

OP posts:
smaragda · 21/09/2026 18:49

I would have punched the doctor..how very dare he laugh at you!
As one allergy mum to another, trust your gut..it's very easy to doubt yourself when talking to so called specialists, but WE are the specialists in OUR children.
You actually don't HAVE to introduce milk again, children can, and do grow up perfectly healthy without cows milk...there is a lot of information online about providing calcium through diet etc, but if you really want to do so, I would first rub it on her skin to see if it provokes a reaction.
If no reaction, I would then progress to the milk ladder, again you can find info online, there is a six step one (I believe) which I think is too quick, and then a longer 12 step one.
Big hugs to you and whatever you decide to do...my son went into anaphylactic shock from dairy at 5 months old, and I had to blue light him to hospital, where they had him on a table and worked on him for an hour as his throat was closing up and they couldn't get a line in.
I had no idea he was allergic up until that point.he is now 23, a strapping 6 foot tall and still ana to dairy, but he loves to cook and loves to eat 😍😍

Original poster
agri · 21/09/2026 19:08

@smaragdaThanks so much. It’s beyond petrifying when they have an anaphylactic shock isn’t it. I thought she was going to die, so I can’t imagine how it must’ve felt when they worked on your Son for an hour.

I will go with your idea of rubbing it on her skin and see what happens!

I’m annoyed at myself for not standing up for myself/my Daughter with the yoghurt thing. He dismissed the swollen tongue as well saying there would be no bumps on her tongue if it was a true allergic reaction. I have absolutely no idea if there were spots/bumps or not. All I noticed was that her tongue was sticking out the end of her mouth on a few occasions, which wasn’t normal for her.

We see him again in 3 months, and I will bring it up again with him, but slightly more forcefully!

OP posts:
smaragda · 21/09/2026 19:20

Please bear in mind that if she is allergic, even rubbing it on her skin could induce anaphylaxis...have the EpiPen at the ready!
And yes, when you go back make sure you stand up to him..we are their only advocate until they are old enough to advocate for themselves. You got this mama!!!

Happymchappyface · 21/09/2026 19:30

How are you feeding your baby. If formula fed a milk allergy would have shown up before weaning (formula is cows milk and the proteins less broken down that in yoghurt).

If breastfed then it is possible she has a milk allergy too though possibly nonIgE.

Im sorry about the peanut reaction, that’s so scary. There is lots of good evidence for immunotherapy though. I’ve known a few people in trials that have had great results.

PinkWaffleMaker · 21/09/2026 19:55

When they are this young OP there are things you can do to built up their tolerance to allergens that can have a better longer term outcome than cutting them out completely.

My DD would come out in hives if she had any contact with cows milk and sesame from when we first started weaning. The sesame also made her swell up. We went through the processes with a paediatrician etc. She also had bad eczema from very young, 6 weeks ish.

I was concerned that an ig-E allergy to cows milk would be very difficult to manage as she got older.

They recommended that we look at the iMap milk ladder. She could always tolerate hard cheese so that was a start. We kept up the dairy she could tolerate and slowly worked up the milk ladder. Very small amounts to start with and only when she was well. Overtime she was able to drink milk from a cup without getting hives.

After the success of this I read a lot more into oral immunotherapy and started giving her 0.05ml of tahini (sesame paste) from a tiny syringe. This was not enough to cause a reaction and over time we built this up more and more until she could tolerate a whole tea spoons worth!!!

Risk from exposure to allergens removed. She’s now 2 and can eat anything without getting hives and her eczema is pretty much gone too.

I think the doctor was wrong to dismiss your concerns about yogurt but research into how manage allergies has moved on a lot in recent years. I would really recommend looking at the milk ladder and into Peanut OIT. Maybe then you can ask about it when you see the doctor next.

I would avoid rubbing the yoghurt on her skin. Especially in children with eczema they become sensitive to allergens through the skin. The body is designed to meet allergens through the gut, when meeting a food protein through the gut the body is more likely to categorise it as food and safe. When the body meets a food protein through the skin, especially skin with eczema the immune system is much more likely to attack it and develop an allergy.

Original poster
agri · 21/09/2026 21:45

Happymchappyface · 21/09/2026 19:30

How are you feeding your baby. If formula fed a milk allergy would have shown up before weaning (formula is cows milk and the proteins less broken down that in yoghurt).

If breastfed then it is possible she has a milk allergy too though possibly nonIgE.

Im sorry about the peanut reaction, that’s so scary. There is lots of good evidence for immunotherapy though. I’ve known a few people in trials that have had great results.

@HappymchappyfaceThank you! She is breastfed x

OP posts:
Original poster
agri · 21/09/2026 21:46

PinkWaffleMaker · 21/09/2026 19:55

When they are this young OP there are things you can do to built up their tolerance to allergens that can have a better longer term outcome than cutting them out completely.

My DD would come out in hives if she had any contact with cows milk and sesame from when we first started weaning. The sesame also made her swell up. We went through the processes with a paediatrician etc. She also had bad eczema from very young, 6 weeks ish.

I was concerned that an ig-E allergy to cows milk would be very difficult to manage as she got older.

They recommended that we look at the iMap milk ladder. She could always tolerate hard cheese so that was a start. We kept up the dairy she could tolerate and slowly worked up the milk ladder. Very small amounts to start with and only when she was well. Overtime she was able to drink milk from a cup without getting hives.

After the success of this I read a lot more into oral immunotherapy and started giving her 0.05ml of tahini (sesame paste) from a tiny syringe. This was not enough to cause a reaction and over time we built this up more and more until she could tolerate a whole tea spoons worth!!!

Risk from exposure to allergens removed. She’s now 2 and can eat anything without getting hives and her eczema is pretty much gone too.

I think the doctor was wrong to dismiss your concerns about yogurt but research into how manage allergies has moved on a lot in recent years. I would really recommend looking at the milk ladder and into Peanut OIT. Maybe then you can ask about it when you see the doctor next.

I would avoid rubbing the yoghurt on her skin. Especially in children with eczema they become sensitive to allergens through the skin. The body is designed to meet allergens through the gut, when meeting a food protein through the gut the body is more likely to categorise it as food and safe. When the body meets a food protein through the skin, especially skin with eczema the immune system is much more likely to attack it and develop an allergy.

@PinkWaffleMakerThanks so much for this info

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