To think my baby is allergic to all food?!

[Bluepolkadots42]

DS is a bit over 7 months old and we've been weaning since 6 months. He was combi fed breast and formula for 6 months but is now totally formula fed. No history of skin issues in family. Eldest child is fine. We took him swimming just after 8 weeks old and he came up in eczema like patches afterwards which took us over 3 weeks to sort out. I tried numerous different moisturisers etc. Eventually oilatum sorted it out. He's been swimming again a number of times since and no further issues as we apply oilatum before and after swimming.

Occasionally he will get mild dribble rash on chin and under neck as he is quite a dribbly baby.

Since we have started weaning however he has a permanent rash all over his neck and chest/neckline. It seems to go down overnight and then flares up during the day. This morning I noticed it hadn't gone down at all on his neckline and has continued to get progressively worse as day has gone on. See pic. He has also had patches come up on his inner wrist and cheeks too where food has made contact with the skin.
For the last 4 days I've been smothering his face, neck, under chin and chest and inner forearms with vaseline before every feeding time. This has definitely helped his face but the rash on his chest has never been so bad.
A typical food day for him is:
Porridge- either oats made with semi skimmed milk or baby porridge from cow and Gate. Served with banana or stewed apple or mashed berries.

Lunch- some finger food like cucumber sticks or melon and then mashed broccoli or peas. Maybe some Greek yoghurt if still keen.

Dinner- mashed sweet potato and carrot, Greek yoghurt and fruit like Berries or banana or stewed apple (whatever he hasn't had earlier in day).

Today he tried some scrambled egg at lunchtime. The chest rash was already bad prior to him ingesting egg.

Has anyone got any advice on what to do? Or experience of this? Did your baby grow out of it or is this confirmation he has an allergy or intolerance or just very badly prone to eczema?!
His skin reacts to everything from cucumber sticks to satsuma juice. There doesn't seem to be one thing that triggers it.
We wipe him down with just water on a flannel after every meal.
He is bathed properly 3 times a week with no product in water then we apply oilatum.
I'm applying oilatum to his face, chest, chin and under chin every night atm.

Have you been to the doctors?
My son was the same and we were referred for allergy testing and dermatology.
He has grown out of it now mainly. He still gets some reactions if he is run down.

His was tomato, egg and dairy that reacted in testing.

Ask for a referral to the paediatric allergy clinic.

The consultant we saw was really clear that we should not cut any foods out (without her direction) because that can cause an allergy.

Sounds more like sensitive skin than a true allergy. Chances are he will grow out of it. But best consult GP if in doubt.

The only way really to know for sure what he is/ might be allergic to is skin tests. You might have an idea based off experiences like this and you’d probably be right but there might also be things you’d have no idea about.

My DS had a similar rash all over him when he was a newborn and I could never work out what it was because obviously he wasn’t weaned at that stage. When he was 4 months old, I had a chicken satay and kissed him, and he blistered badly where I had kissed him. It was an obvious reaction to peanuts but the skin tests also showed up allergies to eggs coming through my milk (the cause of the permanent rash) and random things like dust mites, lentils and sesame.

I haven't contacted them yet @ofwarren but will be phoning first thing tomorrow as we are clearly not managing it well at home. We did actually try him on baked beans last night- the reduced salt and sugar ones. He wasn't keen at all and I think only ate 2 beans, but potentially some of the sauce got down behind neckline of bib and could have made the existing rash much worse. It's reassuring to know that mainly your LO's allergies don't cause him any issues.

Thank you @sudocrem that is helpful to know that we shouldn't try cutting anything at this point. Hopefully the GP will put any referrals needed through quickly. I imagine the wait list for paeds allergy stuff is probably huge.

@snacksize I'm really hoping it is just sensitive skin.

Thank you for sharing your experience @Glamorouslady I didn't know lentils were something that could cause an allergy! I guess anything can cause one though.
I have dust and pollen allergies so wouldn't surprise me if he has those but to my knowledge I don't have any food allergies and neither does DH or my DD. Hopefully we can get referred for skin testing and then we can get some answers.

Maybe try changing washing stuff? My littlest nephew had a similar rash and after a lot of experimenting, we figured out he was reacting to a combination of his dribble and the washing powder.

Some babies have a genetic make-up which means they don't digest some things very well, fructose for example, and that is only found out at weaning. Your decision to ring the GP sounds very sensible. Hope they get to the bottom of it.

Hi, my little one had multiple allergies as a baby and the rash looks similar to your little one.

My son was allergic to dairy, peanut butter and raw or cooked egg. He wasn't officially diagnosed until he was 13 months as it took months for dermatology testing.

He grew out of it at 2 years. He still gets a little eczema now and then on his wrists and backs of his legs. He does have sensitive skin but using an emollient usually sorts it out after a few days.

Certain foods (acidic) can cause a rash but it (usually) doesn't mean you are allergic to it. Acidic foods like tomatoes, pineapple etc.

Whilst you are waiting for a dermatology appointment you can keep a food diary. I would advise serving food individually (so like just broccoli rather than broccoli and potatoes for example) so you have an idea of what might be causing the rash.

Try not feeding him any dairy.
cut all weaning foods that contain cows milk so no yoghurt or semi skimmed milk.
Reduces so much eczema for so many people and it sounds like he is having lots of cows milk products.

My DS was like this. We moved houses several times and never actually got to the front of the referral line. Anyway he's 12 now and has grown out of all of this. I can't remember how long it took exactly. But he definitely seemed to get rashes for most things until he was 4 or 5 then it stopped.

The tomato thing rings a bell - I’m sure when I was weaning my kids, I read something about how most people are allergic to tomato but it’s very mild and most people get used to it.

Yeah the lentils seemed really random until I worked out that he was allergic to nuts AND peanuts and peanuts are legumes, as are lentils so it makes sense he’s sensitive to others in that family.

I’m allergic to tomatoes. They’re actually a nightshade. So are strawberries.

So could be these and/or milk.

My nephew has very sensitive skin and reacts to direct sunlight.

Get a referral.

Sorry, pressed send too soon!

Get a referral. Make sure they take you seriously and you can get skin prick tests for all kinds of things.

DD was like this when we started weaning, rashy and scratching till she bled. It was a long haul but we did a very detailed food diary and exclusion system and found she has several allergies, backed up by the blood and skin prick tests.

Products/things that worked for her allergies and eczema:

• finding out the root cause
• avoiding heavy chemical creams such as that lardy white type bath ointment they prescribe
• moo goo skin cream
• nothing at all in the bath, lukewarm, 5 mins or so only, pat dry lightly and moisturise while damp
• Vaseline before meals to prevent dribble rash

Also I was breastfeeding so have to eliminate all her allergy foods from my diet also whilst she was still little and sensitive

You need to get him to the docs and it properly investigated.

It's probably dairy as you seem to have a lot of it in your meals list, but obviously you need to find out with medical advice.

And while it might appear to be skin only, it might affect his mouth/throat as well. My son used to have worse reactions sometimes although the eczema was the main symptom. You really need to have him seen and not try to manage it on your own.

I have a friend who is allergic to oats and it presents largely as skin irritation. Knock the daily porridge breakfast on the head for a week and see if that helps?

Could it be sunlight? Or washing powder? IT’s not always food, though it’s the go to.

although you're looking at diet, his rash also coincides with hot weather and warmth/sweat might be making it worse. . I suggest pure cotton clothes and bedding only, as few as possible; launder them
with a hypoallergenic product. don't add conditioner or use a perfumed tumble drier sheet.

I found E45 cream lighter and gentler than vaseline.
Two of our children had eczema as infants but did outgrow it.

My daughter presented exactly like this when we started weaning, seemingly allergic to everything we fed her. she was allergic to the hydrocortisone and lanolin (which is in lots of creams including e45). The right cream to use is really trial and error, what works for one, doesn't for another. My daughter used Doublebase in the end, but my son had Aveeno because Doublebase did nothing for his eczema. My daughter also had to have a suncream prescribed too until she was 4 as she was allergic to that too.

Does he dribble much? My DD was a terrible dribbler, and had eczema on her chin, neck and top of her chest because of it. She had a dribble bib on constantly, changed every hour or two which is what resolved it in the end for her, along with the changes in creams.

Maybe keep a food diary and take photos. It was invaluable for us because we could see the pattern. Paediatrician and GP found it really useful too. My daughter was allergy tested for everything in the end, but only had a allergy to milk and the creams, all of which she seems to have grown out of (nearly 10 now).