BLW dairy allergy?

[PlanetTeaTime]

Please no judgement as I feel bad already

This is the first night that we have started weaning, my daughter is 6 months and we have decided to do Baby Led Weaning. I made a spaghetti bolognese from scratch for dinner and put some on her tray to eat/play with

When we had finished ours my partner said he'd bought some cornetto so we decided to have one, my little one was transfixed so I put my ice cream in front of her to feel, she stuck her hands in it and then her face for a second (tbh I'm surprised anything went in??)

About ten minutes late she came up in a rash around her belly button, down her side and on one of her arms :-(

Feel like such an idiot, I didn't think it would do any harm. I'm now thinking perhaps she has a dairy allergy

What do I do?

I'm a first time mum and I'm not sure

She was wearing a nappy and then she was wearing one of those giant bib things that look like they should be used for painting/art

It could also be something in the bolognese sauce as tomatoes can also be an allergen.

Is she formula or breastfed? Formula is made from cows milk so a dairy allergy would have shown up already if they are having that

What's the bib made of? If there was bare skin underneath then it could also be a reaction to that

@dementedpixie

Thanks for responding

She's been breastfed from birth, I did wonder about about the tomatoes but my partner said they usually get a rash around the mouth? I'm guessing he read that somewhere

What do you think the right thing to do is? Should I go to the GP or try dairy again to see if she has another reaction?

@dementedpixie

Sorry, I checked and the bib is made from polyester

I don't think the GP would be able to diagnose anything on the basis of a baby maybe eating a tiny bit of cornetto.
Babies with CMPA get a reaction even from breastmilk, if the mother eats dairy small amounts get into milk and can cause reaction - so if she has never had a reaction before it is unlikely to be that.

You can get oral symptoms from oral allergy syndrome but if its not just an oral allergy you could get symptoms elsewhere

@HungryHippo11

I don't think the GP would be able to diagnose anything on the basis of a baby maybe eating a tiny bit of cornetto. Babies with CMPA get a reaction even from breastmilk, if the mother eats dairy small amounts get into milk and can cause reaction - so if she has never had a reaction before it is unlikely to be that.

Hi thanks for your reply

She does have eczema, but it's not severe just a few patches and I've just made sure to always be careful with soaps and things. Am I right thinking that can be a sign?

I have tried to read up on dairy allergies but I don't know whether it the lack of sleep or what, but I'm struggling to get my head round it, you seem knowledgable so I'm really hoping you might be able to help me

I gave her some toast this morning with a tiny bit of butter on it, she really is just playing more than anything else but she did put it in her mouth a few times. Within 10 minutes she has a rash on either side of her arms, it went down within another ten minutes. To me, this would point to her being allergic. But because she's breastfed does that mean she can't be allergic because she would have had a similar reaction when feeding from me?

I'm sorry if I sound stupid, I'm sure struggling to understand it.

Not all babies with CMPA react through breast milk, it can be discovered on weaning. It’s worth keeping a food diary and making an appointment with your GP

My DS’s CMPA was discovered upon weaning, reacted strongly (wheezing/hives) to a baby yogurt then a couple of other things. He never reacted to breast milk but looking back he had awful eczema which was probably a lower level reaction.

I would keep a food diary for a week and take photos of the rash as it appears and take notes on what it’s like, how long it fades etc. If your baby does get a strong wheezing reaction though I would avoid dairy altogether until you see your GP.

Yes I tried to book in with the GP today but couldn't get through, I will try again tomorrow morning

@MayEye

Can I ask, did your little one grow out of it? Do you take out all traces of dairy from their diet or do you keep exposing to build up some kind of tolerance?

Obviously I'm sure the GP will advise but I just wondered since you've experienced this

I don't understand why this has happened, neither me or my partner have any allergies, neither do our parents or siblings. I thought this kind of thing was heredity 😔

Also, if she's allergic to dairy, do you think there's a chance she could be allergic to other things like nuts? Fish? Etc

My son is now 10 and has grown out of it - when he was about 6 or 7 I think (third child details are sketchy ) he was diagnosed with allergies to loads of other things unfortunately- peanuts, nuts, eggs (though has grown out of this one too) and lots of tree/ grass pollens etc so he has bad hay fever in the summer.
Because his reaction was quite severe and worsened each time of exposure, and because his skin was bad, we completely eliminated dairy and he was retested over the years until they felt he was stable enough to do a milk challenge. I think if it is CMPA you would need to eliminate all dairy, and if you intend to continue bf all dairy in your diet also.

I’m more than happy to answer any more questions

Thanks @MayEye that's brutal. I'm going to call the GP today hopefully it's not :-(

If she has eczema she’s at slightly higher risk of developing food allergies. My son had extremely mild eczema for a few months as a baby. He’s now allergic to eggs and cashews and we carry an epi pen.

He reacted once to a Cornetto-type thing and we think it was cashews. He’s definitely not allergic to dairy, so it wasn’t the ice cream, but some ice creams have egg in them too. Have you checked all the ingredients? Has she ever reacted to dairy before?

Unfortunately breastfed babies are not immune to allergies, which can develop at any time. We don’t have any food allergy history in our family either.

DD had a dairy allergy with similar symptoms and she'd grown out of it by 18 months. These things don't always last!