To just give them some cows milk?!

[OhToBeASeahorse]

Last summer DS (then nearly 2) started to get bad eczema. He also pood very frequently but that has been since birth. By September we trialled going dairy free and the eczema disappeared- nappy situation remained.

In March the eczema started to reappear. Ge had changed childcare but they are adamant he isnt having dairy.

DD is 8 months and breastfed. When she was tiny I thought that she was more unsettled when I had dairy so I cut it out. 2.nights ago I had a few chocolate buttons and she was slightly more unsettled last night (crap sleeper anyway).

Its doing my head in checking every packet of everything, they are both dairy and soya free and I thought egg might be a trigger for her too so i dont have that.

It's all so unclear. I'm starting to wonder if DS's exzema is a sun or heat related thing.

AIBU to just give them both a mug ful of cows milk and see what happens? I'm so exhausted thinking about it all.

I was told by the Consultant Allergist I saw for my dairy allergic child that goats milk was too similar to cow's milk and it should be avoided too.

I was also told that if someone didn't take a dairy allergy seriously I shouldn't trust them around my child.

OP - dicking around with this could prolong/worsen/reinforce any allergies your children have and could also be incredibly dangerous. Don't be an idiot and don't be reckless with your kid's health and quality of life. Get some advice, call allergy UK in the morning for free and see an allergist via GP or privately.

You need to get your son referred to an allergy clinic to be tested for the main 8 allergens. Dairy and egg are two of them but there are six others. Eczema doesn't come from nowhere or from heat (though heat can exacerbate it), it usually has an allergic cause or at least allergic triggers. My son was covered in eczema as a baby and turned out to be allergic to dairy, eggs, peanuts walnuts and dust mites. He grew out of the dairy allergy aged 2 and a half (I did the milk ladder). The doctor may tell you there's no point doing allergy testing as there are infinite things he could be allergic to but tell him you want him to be tested for the eight main allergens so you at least know whether you need to cut out staples like dairy and egg.
You also need to make sure you only have them in cotton clothes and bed linen and use allergy friendly washing powder and soap. Normal washing powder and shampoo etc aggravates eczema. There's a washing powder brand called Surcare which you can get in sainsbury's whhch is recommended by eczema society.

@user1471538283

Have you tried goats milk? Apparently even I was small I couldnt tolerate cows milk but settled okay with goats milk. I then drank small amounts of cows milk when I was older. I still cannot stomach too much milk and cannot eat cream.

Most people with CMPA (cows milk protein allergy) are also allergic to goats milk

Also OP please note that food intolerance and food allergies are different things

My LG had cmpa, beef, soya, rye, strawberry, raspberry & pineapple allergies. I bf until she was 18 months. When I reintroduced dairy to my diet I had terrible stomach upsets for a few weeks so just giving them whole milk won't be a reliable test. Lg turns 3 next month and has worked her way to the top of all ladders her only remaining allergy is pineapple. It's bloody hard but they might out grow it. Good luck

YABU anyway- under 1s are not supposed to have cows milk at all, regardless of whether they were bottle fed or breast fed.

Have you heard of the milk ladder? It’s how many of my friends with children who have CMPA reintroduced dairy.

Ask to be referred by your GP to a dermatologist for your child’s eczema.

Baby milk formula is made out of cows milk though, and you can use normal cows milk for cooking after 6 months. We were given special formula for DS with the milk protein removed when he had dairy allergy

So I gave her a bit of a malted milk. Went to bed fine. Very unhappy during the night but has woken up fine again?!?!

@OrangeRug people like you need a slap for your stupidity

@DingleyDel

I really wouldn’t worry about changing your diet for breastfeeding. Despite what mums are told, there is little evidence that allergens in BM are present in enough quantities to cause an allergic reaction in infants. CMPA is massively over diagnosed especially in breastfed infants. There’s a good article in the bmj but it’s behind a paywall but this article sums up the findings. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/04/200413132756.htm

However, their analysis of 13 studies of breastmilk composition suggests less than one millionth of the protein from cow's milk travels through to breast milk, and this would be too small to trigger a reaction in most allergic children.

With the 2 year old id be tempted to just try the milk ladder thing and see what happens if the GP is useless.

Hmm this is interesting, my children both CMPA, very clear symptoms, stools like mucous and if persisted very grainy stools and then blood in stool. lots of snot and mild rashes accompanied this each time I trialled milk in my diet. This was when they were exclusively breastfed....obv just one experience and anecdotal but am on groups with thousands of mums supporting each other with diet and this seems widely experienced. Honestly I would have done anything to have cheese whilst breastfeeding 🤣. My 7 year old has just managed to start toleratng yoghurt which is amazing..we had to use microdosing in the end with her as advised by the dietician. Preschooler can tolerate step one of the ladder, any further and we get the grainy and mucousy stools and snotty nose and rashes. Neither could tolerate soya in my diet when I breast fed and egg also a prob for the second.

OP is there any reason you've not been referred in for dietician support? Milk ladder should be used for reintroduction/ challenges, still will confirm it for you but unlikely to produce an extreme reaction which a cup of milk would have in either of my kids.

My son was diagnosed with potential CMPA when he was 9 weeks old. My doctor told me to go dairy free and then have a major binge on diary to see if anything happened to him as it’s the only way to confirm the diagnosis.

The 6 weeks were really difficult and then when it came to binge day I had two chocolate bars and a huge chocolate milkshake in the space of about an hour, left it for an hour and then breastfed my son.

About 2 hours after his feed his arms and legs came up in the most awful red eczema - they were covered and it looked so inflamed. It appeared over the course of about an hour and I couldn’t believe it!

Needless to say, the allergy was confirmed and I spent a long time checking packaging for ingredients - which isn’t fun at all.

I have known people in your case who have given their older children lots of dairy products just to get an answer one way or the other.

[quote Gc309]@OrangeRug people like you need a slap for your stupidity[/quote]
I don't agree with OrangeRug but has it really taken you 7 months to come up with that retort?

@pastabest lol if you had a brain you’d realise I only came across this recently, and not 7 months ago, so no is the answer to your pointless comment

Doctors know nothing about food intolerance. You need a dietitian. In Australia, you don’t need a referral, just make a booking. I don’t know about going private in the uk.

However, many Australian dietitians do Skype, if you care to look here. www.fedup.com.au/information/support/failsafe-friendly-dietitians-and-other-health-professionals-overseas

Everyone on this list has expertise in food intolerance.