Baby spots/rash - could this be an allergy?

[pippabg]

Hello,

I'm hesitant to come on Mumsnet for medical advice, but I've been to a GP and felt I was dismissed. My baby keeps getting red spots on his torso and I don't know what it is. They come and go and are in different patterns. Could this be an allergy?

He's really difficult at the moment. Despite a good first 6 weeks of solids, the last two months he's refused solids apart from yoghurt and some fruit purees. He's waking up at night screaming and very difficult to settle. He seems to have had a cold for a good month, but HV said it doesn't look like a viral rash.

He's still on aptamil stage 1, never had any problems with CMPA, so would be confused if it was a milk/dairy allergy. If it was another food, I'd be confused because he eats so little!

Any ideas? I'd like to go to another GP with a good set of questions. The one I saw just said babies get lots of spots and rashes because their skin is sensitive, but it gets better. I just seem to think it's something else...

Looks sore.

My kids have various intolerances and rashes can look similar. Also get rashes on their face.

Id consider cutting back to one type of fruit for a few days and pureeing your own for a while if there's any additives at all. Would avoid yogurt too. Some kids can tolerate certain dairy things and not others.

My kids have an intolerance to a fruit that's commonly used to help colour food. Even in the very small amounts, they can get massive rashes. I only suspected it because I get a rash with it too so had avoided. Their dad was not careful but they now know to check themselves.

Also want to add, many creams are extremely stingy on already sensitive skin so test any on small area. My middle, who gets the worst rashes, went through about 15 creams til we found ones that didn't. We use exeskin balm. It's been great on my contact dermatitis too.

Doesn’t look viral to me with my limited paediatric knowledge. I’d want that looked at by a consultant, so push for a referral

Does he have any other symptoms when it comes up?

Can you start keeping a food diary of everything he eats, and when the rash occurs so you can take that with you to the consultant?

I know this is a fairly recent post but have you found out what’s causing this? My 10 month old has something similar

Not really. I went to another GP and he looked at pictures and said it looks like Hives and it is just a normal skin reaction to a virus. But when I googled hives, it doesn't say anything about viruses! He thought food allergy unlikely, but said I could keep a diary. I'm so confused...

Viruses are the most common cause of hives in small children but it's usually at the end of a virus and doesn't last for too long.

How long have the hives been happening for?

https://www.healthychildren.org/English/health-issues/conditions/skin/Pages/Hives.aspx

Hi OP- my son had a very similiar rash when he was around 6 months that lasted for months. He was also very snotty and seemed to have a cold. The rash went away but came back in other forms a year later with symptoms like wheezing (during colds). He was also a very irritable baby. We had him allergy tested and found out he had a dust mite allergy- the rash and other symptoms are now controlled with daily antihistamines. Can you push for allergy testing?