i tried cows milk on my dd who i thought had a reaction2it before

[mama2leah]

i tried it out yesterday in her cereal instead of rice milk..she ate it after getting use to the different taste
no obvious reaction...
what should i look out for?
how long should i look out for a reaction?

nebody...

she is itching now.

I would have thought that any allergic reaction would have happened yesterday within a couple of hours of her eating it.

How are her nappies and does she have any eczema?

she has eczema, had it since 8 weeks, thats what made us think cow's milk allergy..she has it, but its alot better...her arms were clear, but now have gone red again, and her forehead has a red patch too...

i have a paranoid friend, who has now made me so paranoid, i think everything is a reaction, and she keeps telling me keep away form this food and that food...( her son has bad allergies)

If eczema is the only symptom it may not be a cows milk allergy and it certainly doesn't sound like it if she ate it fine. DS1 had bad eczema when he was a baby which disappeared when we discovered his egg allergy. If I were you though I'd be really careful about just giving your dd something to eat which you suspect she might be allergic to. If she actually was allergic she could have had a severe reaction or even gone into anaphlactic shock! Always test the suspected allergen first on the skin, if no reaction the next day rub a small amount on the lips, if no reaction then wait a day and feed a very tiny drop. If no reaction again then feed but with an eye out for any possible reaction.

i gave her cows milk when weaning her, she threw up, really badly, cheese aswell, and cried alot...i understand what your saying, its so hard to get good advice, the doctor told me to re-try it on her and see how she copes...

so what do i do now?

If she had no reaction, that's great and she's probably outgrown it . Cooked milk is better tolerated than "raw" (for want of a better word) milk, so possibly try stuff with milk as an ingredient and see how she goes, but take it very slowly so that it is easier to notice if she is starting to develop a reaction. If her previous reaction was throwing up etc though, the doctor should have offered an oral challenge at the hospital rather than getting you to try at home, then they are equipped to deal with the consequences of a major reaction if necessary. How old is she?

I dunno, if she ate milk yesterday and today her eczema has flared then it could very well be an allergy. I had horrible eczema as a child and that was (eventually) discovered to be the result of a dairy allergy - I never had any other symptoms.

If I were you I'd leave it til her eczema goes down, then try again with a small amount of milk. If the result is the same then leave it 6 months/year then try again.

How old is your dd? My ds1 outgrew his milk allergy at 3 (but his symptoms were vomiting and hives so it was easier to tell). It does sound like your dd is outgrowing hers, just not sure its happened yet.

she is 9 months, my doctors are useless, they give rubbish advice...
her one arm is red for and itchy, thats all i cn c, she has had boiled milk for 3 days now with her cereal.

so do i lay off the milk? or try again? im sorry i sound like such a useless mother, i don't know what to d for the best.

if its a milk allergy, can it just be eczema that happens to her?

should i try it on her skin? to be honest the weetabix an dmilk does her all over her face, and it seems to be fine...before it was red when i did it at 6-7 months.

Yes, definitely.

i went to c dermatologist today, had an appointment..and she gave me FAR to many medicines, told me to give prition for itching at night, use hydrocotism, and about another 4 creams! i wasn't impressed!

said it is not an allergy, as she no longer has any other signs...

now wat do i do?

mama2leah - the problem is that eczema can be just the external manifestation of symptoms, with other symptoms being stuff you can't see. For example milk allergy can give gastrointestinal problems which can lead to malabsorption of nutrients and poor weight gain. It can also be that although the reaction is only ezcema now, then the allergy gets worse because of continued exposure. For example, we used to give our egg allergic ds1 stuff with small amounts of egg in because he seemed to tolerate them, but then he reached a stage where he reacted to even tiny amounts of egg.

I wouldn't bother with all the creams and stuff for the ezcema, they never really worked for either of our ds's. Sort out the allergy and the eczema will sort itself out.

i don't plan to use any of the things they gave me...

so should i just stop the cow's milk?
sorry i very confused what the right thing to do is.

im still breastfeeding her, but as im pregnant, she has started to self wean herself, so i may need to give her some sort of formula which i don't want really. thank you academic mum.

everyone seems to thinks he doesn't have a cow's milk allergy at all.

mama2leah - my eight month old ds also has a possible cow's milk allergy. He is fully breastfed, and on solids as well. I drink soya milk and use soya for his weetabix, and alpro butter in his vegetables. His main milk is breastmilk.

I had a discussion with my GP this morning about his itchiness. I asked her about piriton (an anti histamine) and she thinks he is too young to have this. She said to use the steroid cream if he is itchy, but only use a very small amount very sparingly, and only use it if he is really itchy. I have a special oily cream to use daily on his skin to keep his skin moisturised. I have also changed to a washing powder for very sensitive skin.

So if I were you, I would not try the cow's milk again for a good few months. You can get a special formula for babies with a cow's milk sensitivity.