My baby's skin. Please help

[Monkeyseesmonkeydoesn]

I'm posting for traffic as I'm feeling at a loss.

Baby is almost 16 weeks old. Formula fed since 2 weeks.

From around 10 weeks old, he developed a red, blotchy rash on his face. It was made worse with aveeno etc. Dr prescribed cetraben and hydrocortisone and called it baby eczema.

The hydrocortisone seemed to clear it.

The following week he developed another rash on his tummy which Dr said was fungal. This cleared with anti fungal cream.

The following week a rash on legs, torso and arms appeared. Circular in appearance (bit like ringworm). Dr prescribes hydromol and stronger hydrocortisone.

This seems to take the redness and dress away but were left with these circular patches. Plus his poor face is always red, blotchy, bumpy and seems to flare when he's had milk, is tired, cries, hungry.

Any ideas. It's likely two things going on?

I've contemplated a milk allergy but he has normal poos, isn't sicky etc.

Yeah our boy also had this, CMPA (and soya). But our doctors & HVs were monumentally shit.

I was BFing and everyone was saying ‘trace amounts in your milk will be fine’ so we both ditched dairy and soy but it kept flaring up and 6 appts later they still just kept saying it’s baby eczema. Sending me away with stronger steroid cream.

I stopped BFing at 7.5m and started using aptamil pepti and using baby kingdom cream and it’s totally gone at 8m.

I still have the steroid cream and if I notice a flare up starting I put a thin layer of cream and then it goes.

Our DCs face looked like yours, even leaking clear fluid, itchy, bad sleeper because he was uncomfortable, farting lots, lots of boogeys.

I hope your GP isn’t as shit as ours but they made me feel neurotic going back 6 times with absolutely no effort into finding out the cause they just wanted to treat the symptoms. Wouldn’t refer to dermatologist or allergist.

Milk allergy.

My son has cmpa and soya allergy. There is a whole host of symtoms which indicate cmpa, you don't have to have all of them! My son had awful, awful wind which remained until we removed soya. 60% of babies with CMPA will also be allergic to soya.

Itll take 3 weeks after switching formula to see full results, they'll be reluctant because the prescription formula is expensive so they'll likely fob you off with any other diagnosis unless you're very firm.

Negative allergy testing doesn't mean no allergy - the skin prick tests only pick up IgE allergies, not non IgE.

Also as PP have said, HVs and sadly most GPS are monumentally shit when it comes to allergies. We started our journey journey covid hit and just ended up paying privately to get seen - it was a 6 month min wait to see an NHS dietician, well worth the £75 in my opinion. She could also have prescribed formula had we wanted it but DS is ebf

Yes DS was also intolerant to soya and egg. We saw a dietician, it was helpful. We also had a referral to the allergy clinic who said his skin issues weren't hives, and referred us to dermatology. Who took one look at said they definitely were hives and referred right back. By the time we received a second allergy appointment he'd stopped having severe reactions and the dietician was leading on milk ladder etc. 🤦🏻‍♀️

In short, professions seemed to bounce non IgE allergies around a bit. Dietician was most helpful but honestly didn't tell me anything I didn't already know. Nonetheless I think medical records need to be complete and you do need to a for the referral so it's officially noted.

Just thought I'd update. Baby definitely has a cmpa. we've been given nutragimen and have been referred to see a dietician. Just a mix of 20% nutra saw an almost immediate improvement in his skin.

My LG has CMPA/soya allergy with eczema and terrible chest/nasal problems. She has never had gastric symptoms. We also thought she had baby eczema as CMPA was not diagnosed until she started weaning at 6 months (previously ebf). Once I took dairy out of both our diets her problems cleared up. Hydromol was great on her skin whilst healing. She's now 2.5 and working on ladders and can tolerate all cooked dairy but not yoghurt or milk yet.