Help with weaning/allergies/general 7 month old chaos!

[Onelittleone216]

First time poster… My LO is nearly 7 months old and I can’t see the wood for the trees currently! We’ve had nearly a month of weird illness/allergies since starting weaning. Please see below a timeline to see if anyone can help with seeing the bigger picture and what I can do to help him!
He developed reflux symptoms around 8 weeks which was treated with omeprazole and breastfeeding modifications. We weaned him off the medication at around 20 weeks and he’s never had the screaming episodes etc since.
At 4 months we introduced an occasional bottle of formula after being EBF before then. He now has a bottle before bed every other night when my husband does bed time.
A month later he started to develop eczema. This is usually well controlled with cetraben twice daily and hydrocortisone for flair ups. GP didn’t think it was related to the formula introduction as it was a month after we started it.
We started weaning in the middle of December (as he was about to turn 6 months). When given dairy this didnt appear to bother him but I’m not 100% on this, he’s not been himself throughout weaning and his eczema has been more pronounced overall. He had whole milk in porridge and as liquid for purées, and Greek yogurt (only tastes really aside from one day where he ate a fair bit of banana porridge).
Coming up 2 weeks ago I gave him egg and he had a definitive allergic reaction to it- his face got a big rash (like hives) almost immediately and his eczema really flared in the night after. We have been referred to an allergy clinic by the GP but it could be a long wait to be seen. I’ve given up egg for now.
2 days after this he developed a cold and his first 2 teeth popped out. He was miserable for around 5 days and has since recovered aside from a lingering cough. However he has been doing a lot of green mucusy/mint sauce consistency poos ever since with only slight improvement in the last day or two where he may go a few hours without doing one, but they remain green and vinegar smelling. Prior to being ill he was pooing around once or twice a week (no constipation or pain, just big poonamis)!
His eczema settled down a bit so we carried on weaning with ‘safe’ foods but he didn’t want to consume anything except some apple sauce and sweet potato purée. This weekend we gave him a tiny lick of peanut butter (as I’d read a research article that said that babies with egg allergy and eczema benefit from early exposure to peanut as a way of potentially preventing the allergy) unfortunately he appeared to react to it, but not as immediately or severely as the egg. It was a slight facial rash an hour or so after the lick and then his eczema flared again, and more worryingly it’s now on his face which it wasn’t before.
We’ve paused weaning for a couple of days to regroup as I’m really stressing about the whole situation!

My questions are:

1. Could he have CMPA? He isn’t a classic case as we can normally manage the eczema, doesn’t normally have green poos, and he doesn’t have bad reflux symptoms anymore (he’s still a bit vommy but this just keeps improving as he gets bigger). He also doesn’t appear to be allergic to formula unless it is purely manifested as eczema. Can you develop CMPA having tolerated dairy before? I also consume a fair amount of dairy every day and he breastfeeds a lot.
2. What do we do about weaning whilst waiting for the allergy clinic to get in touch? How do we help him enjoy it again? I was thinking of starting from scratch! Do I avoid all allergens??

Please help a very stressed FTM with a sad little baby!

Hi, I’m no expert on allergies or a medical professional but I just wanted to say a couple of things from experience (I have 3yo and a 9mo)
Teething and colds can often cause frequent and muscy nappies I find. They’re swallowing a lot of snot and saliva. Could be total coincidence that you’ve also started weaning.
My youngest had a really long spell of frequent green nappies, we even had blood in them at one point whilst she was ebf and before we started weaning. The GP ruled out anything sinister because she was content and didn’t have a sore stomach or seem in pain when passing poo. Only thing I could perhaps link it to was that I’d been on a long course of antibiotics which might have upset her via the breast milk. GP also said it’s not unusual for breastfed babies to do green poo.
My youngest also has eczema. It’s not bad but it has flared up recently. As an adult with eczema I know mine is worse in winter and also when I’m run down. My baby has had back to back illnesses all winter so I’m certain that is contributing! Assume you’re not using soap and or harsh detergents?
It sounds like you’re doing all the right things. At this age there is a lot going on for babies - teething, developmental milestones, weaning, fighting off and catching illnesses they’ve never been exposed to.
I’d keep going with weaning, maybe offer some simpler things for a couple weeks to grow confidence. Not just purées either. Mine is currently obsessed with humous on everything (toast, wraps, pitta, cucumber sticks, cracker breads)

Thank you so much for your considered and helpful reply! I type this having just done a night feed (when do they stop?!), and I really needed to hear Im doing the right things!
I did put the green poo down to the teething and cold initially, just got worried as we’re nearly 2 weeks into it and it’s only just starting to let up a bit. Reassuring to know it’s ok for it to go on a while. He’s not in pain with it, happily passes the poos with no crying and he hasn’t got the reflux screams or anything the rest of the time. Just feel sorry for his sore bum with the nappy rash that doesn’t get chance to heal 😢
We don’t use soap or harsh detergents no. Just started last night putting oilatum junior in his bath to see if it can help, otherwise he was just bathing in plain water, and only every other day.
It’s an age I didn’t expect to be hard, not sure why?! But he’s had a shocker since 4 months and the sleep regression. Split nights, terrible naps, grumpy day times and now this run of illness/teething/allergies. I’d been hoping that weaning would help with sleep but not so far 🙈
Yes to houmous, I love that stuff too!

My first had an egg allergy - steer clear and when you eventually see an allergy specialist they’ll give you a plan to reintroduce egg. My daughter had quite severe reactions and grew out of it if it helps you feel optimistic. You’ll be advised to start with egg that’s barely egg - like a shop bought cake made with powdered egg and then you introduce “ proper” well cooked egg in something like a homemade made - eventually you get to scrambled egg or similar.

my second has CMPA. It was REALLY obvious when I gave shop bought formula as this triggered tummy ache and diarrhoea. She couldn’t tolerate any shop bought formula and I had to quit all dairy whilst bf. Again the reintroduction is similar - starting with something heavily processed containing powdered milk.

It would be really hard to avoid all of the major allergens but keep going to the GP about eczema etc and keep telling them that you are not confident with feeding your baby as this may help with getting a dietitian involved.

It’s tough! And the sleep deprivation makes everything harder. Metanium cream is best on nappy rash if you’ve not tried it? And just letting him have nappy free time where realistic. The green poo thing went on for at least a month when we had it! I think once the intestines were a bit aggravated it took a while to calm down and I’m sure the necessary ibuprofen for the teething etc didn’t help. Go to the GP if it gets worse or you’re worried, they can send off a poo sample etc.
Keep persevering with a good nap routine, they will make a difference to night sleep if he can crack them. Illness and teething do make them short in my experience though.

You’ve good advice on allergies above too.
You got this mama!

Ok thank you, that does make me feel better that he could grow out of it! I love eggs, gutted I can’t give them to him 🙈
I feel like I’m overthinking everything hence the CMPA rabbit hole. We actually realised it was closer to 2 months into giving some formula that he got eczema so I’m a lot less convinced it’s that.
Im going to avoid the other allergens for a couple of weeks, and keep pestering the GP. Good to know they could get me in touch with a dietitian. I rang the allergy clinic that we’ve been referred to, to get a rough timeline, and although he’s marked as urgent it could be 3-4 months!! He could be nearly 11 months before he’s seen which is crazy. They did say if ‘he gets worse’ then the GP can request us to be moved up more, but what I don’t like about that is ill have to take a risk giving him things that could make him poorly so that we’re seen sooner.

Thanks for your kind message. Yes we’ve tried metanium but his bum doesn’t stay dry enough for long enough for it to work it seems! Once the poos decrease in regularity I think it will work, and we can do bare bum time without fear of green poo everywhere!
Hadn’t thought about the medicines further aggravating everything! He had 5 days where he didn’t miss a dose as he was so miserable.
Thankfully naps have recovered somewhat now he’s not poorly, and night time sleep is improving (no split nights in a week 🎉), it’s just a mindfield of what will come next 🙈

My daughter has 20 food allergies and I can not tell the difference between her allergy, teething, cold/viral illness and anxiety poos! If anything tips her from her equilibrium she get stinky loose mucus nappies.

I can remember the allergy free baby and toddler recipe books it's the one that also has a family cookbook as the follow up. It starts from a position of no top 14 allergens in the recipes but gives suggestions about what allergens could be included if safe. My local library has a copy so you could look there to try it without paying for something that might not be helpful.

Keep a food diary detailing everything we found that might daughters early symptoms included being much harder to keep occupied and need to be held and paced around the room continuously as well as feeding aversions.

Have you tested if they react to these food through your diet. My daughter reacted to most foods through me but with fish I thought she was ok until I had a fish heavy day and she reacted. I tested frequency and found she was ok as long as I didn't have fish more than once a week. Over time I was able to increase it to every 5 days

Just a thought based on my experience, if you are still breastfeeding, what has your diet been like? It's been Christmas - mine got green nappies if I ate sugary foods.

Only an expert in allergies can help you for certain though it's possible that the rash wasn't connected to the egg too - seek professional advice

Hi :)

I’ve been there so feel your pain! Not with dairy but my son’s first egg triggered an allergic reaction and his eczema around the same time and it was a nightmare trying to get help (during lockdown)

I ended up raising my voice to a Health Visitor who then got me a call from a dietician (who then got me an appt with the allergy clinic). All the allergy clinic did was test for extreme allergies (which were negative). Dietician will be more useful at telling you about food groups and how to reintroduce certain foods etc.

That is really helpful to know! I’ll get in touch with my health visitor then because I just need guidance on how to do this all safely. His tests might not come back positive either if it’s for extreme allergies, he didn’t have stomach symptoms (unless the green poo is related) or any wheezing/swelling, just a skin reaction.

It’s so hard isn’t it, we’ve been unfortunate for everything to happen at once!
Do you have a link to the recipe book? I’ll look out for it.
Ive never noticed him reacting through my milk, and i eat dairy every day and eggs at least twice a week. Im only currently going egg free to double check that it doesn’t make a difference iyswim!
As a little baby his reflux didn’t seem to have a trigger and calmed down very quickly with medication, and didn’t flare back up when we weaned him off it. I’m hoping because his reactions have been ‘mild’ that I’m not transferring enough through my milk to bother him.

What I would do with each food you suspect direct take out of your diet for 3 or 4 days then have a day where you have a lot of the food. You are probably ok but it's a quick way to confirm without detrimental impact to your diet. This was how I worked through my daughters many allergies. I was so convinced she didn't respond on me eating egg but after 5 days with our egg I had an egg mayo sandwich and within an hour she was screaming. It was a much quicker confirmation compared with the removing it for weeks and getting to a baseline before testing

Something else to look for is if you have a local allergy mums group. My local area has a lovely group that runs a monthly playground and a monthly mums evening and an active WhatsApp group for all chat allergy related and things close by. They are there for all our highs and lows. They also have a library and we can borrow recipe books and related books

It's this book

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Allergy-Free-Baby-Toddler-Cookbook-delicious/dp/0297608363/ref=asc_df_0297608363/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=310873579424&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=10543196067255479119&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1006912&hvtargid=pla-562666269256&psc=1&mcid=67cd1c43935638429d9b846a5d220a2e&th=1&psc=1

I’ve found it my local library! Thank you so much for recommending it 😊
ill look into local groups if this looks like we’ll be in for the long haul with multiple allergies etc.
thanks again for the tips!

Mini update:
The green poos appear to have stopped, we’re back to yellow and a more normal frequency 🎉
Restarted weaning today and he enjoyed mushing avocado around for breakfast, with the odd taste from a spoon, and inhaled a whole bowl of sweet potato purée for dinner with some good attempts at eating sweet potato wedges. Seemed very happy to give it all a go which is a big relief!
Feeling a lot more positive as I’ve found a few allergen free recipes that I’m looking forward to making, and then can reassess trying dairy and gluten (plus the other ones but they are less of a priority) after we’ve got into a good weaning routine again. Going to keep egg and peanut off the table until we see the clinic, but feel ok about that.

Fab update! Definitely get your confidence back with some hopefully safe foods and then start with the allergens. Although absolutely anything can be an allergen my daughter is annoyingly allergic to onions!

For your nerves be careful when giving aubergine and tomatoes as these can give contact rashes just where they touch the skin. It's not related to allergies at all but can give you a fright if you are on the lookout for reactions