Possible allergy in baby - please help

[FlashBathroom]

Sorry if this is long - I want to make sure I get everything down. NB I have been to the GP who has referred us to a paediatrician but it looks like there'll be a long wait so I'm wondering if there is anything else I should be doing/considering in the mean time. I would be very grateful for any advice.

Baby is 7.5 months. She's been mix fed about 50/50 breastmilk and Hipp organic formula since 4 weeks. We also have a cat.

She's always been a very sneezy baby, and for quite a long time (months) has coughed chestlily a couple of times a day (maybe 4 times?). She always has a bit of a mucky nose with bogeys but not to the extent that it's fully blocked. Often when she's crawling around I can hear her breathing. Very occasionally she's had incidents of chesty wheezing (we've not had one for a week or so now), more often a kind of throaty wheezing - neither of these seem to bother her and she's generally bright and (very!) active, hitting milestones etc. Until a couple of weeks ago she was having difficulty feeding (drinking very small amounts, arching back etc) however this has largely resolved since we changed to anti colic bottles and increased the gap between feeds. Her nappies have always been fine. She's on a low dose of omeprazole for silent reflux.Weve been weaning for about 6 weeks and it doesn't seem to have made a difference to her symptoms.

So.. does this sound like an allergy? Or maybe asthma?! How worried should we be and is there anything we should be doing? The GP did prescribe some CMPA friendly formula, although this was before we switched bottles (i.e. when we were having feeding difficulties too). We tried it today and baby really doesn't like it and I'm in two minds as to whether to persevere - surely if it was a CMP allergy she'd still be having gastric problems?

Any ideas? It's really stressing me out! Thanks!

Be prepared for the paediatrician to dismiss it.

To rule out CMPA you will need to go dairy free and be aware that many of the special dietary formula only have broken down cmp so you may need to try out a few.

Thanks @Thatwentbadly. Do you think it's worth pursuing the CMPA possibility then, given that she has no gastric symptoms?

Not much advice OP, but I really feel for you. My DD is 20 months old and we waited a year for her to be seen by the paediatric allergies specialist. It was such an anxious time. Early weaning can be stressful enough, let alone with the extra worry of allergies. Hang in there, sounds like you’re covering every possible angle for your DD.

For us, the problem turned out to be an intolerance to egg and oily fish. DD seems to be slowly growing out of it, as the doctors had predicted. Interestingly her reactions were never nappy-based, instead we got severe eczema flare-ups and raised red bumps where the food had been in contact with her skin (around mouth and, to a lesser extent, on hands). We did exclude milk for a while and did the “milk ladder”, with support from a dietician, but that made no difference. Like your DD, ours hated the substitute milk.

One thing I’d say is have a look into palm oil allergy, which is in most formulas. Someone we know has a baby with this, it’s very rare but apparently often missed.

My only other thought was possibly mould of some kind? Both my DD and DH always go sneezy and coughy at MIL’s house even though it’s perfectly clean and its occupants have no problems living there. It’s an old house and, having been through lots of possible triggers, we have concluded it’s probably a small amount of mould specific to there. We dose them both up on Piriton before we go and they don’t have the same reactions. Piriton is safe for infants, a pharmacist can explain dosage and it’s also on the packet.

Is it the cat? Quick Google says they're all symptoms of a pet allergy. Sorry.

I really don’t know but 6 weeks is not long for you to be dairy free. Often dairy free formula doesn’t taste nice.