Strange Dairy Allergy?

[Dulwich Born And Bred]

My ten months old son has an allergy to dairy. When he was given formula for the first few days of his life, he used to vomit it all back up, I was concerned and tried my best to breastfeed him after not being able to in the beginning, luckily I was able to breastfeed.

However I am trying to wean him off the breast now but he seemed to have an rather strange dairy allergy. Firstly I consume lots of dairy in my diet but he is fine with that, no rashes, no funny stomach and no horrible nappies.

Yet formula, chocolate ( that was a family member letting him have a taste!) ice cream, fresh cow's milk, fresh goat's milk etc and he comes out in a horrible horrible rash that covers his face and body.

BUT he can eat toast with normal butter on it, butter croissant , and lasagne that has white sauce and cheese. I am confused as what kind of dairy allery is that?

He does not have an appointment for Kings until October but I really want to get it sorted now as I am trying to wean him off the breast and it is getting hard sorting his diet out. I have ordered oats and hemp milk to see if he will have that.

Has anyone else come across this kind of dairy problem?

[GinaG3]

Could it be a be lactose intolerence as opposed to a milk allergy, this may be why he cannot drink milk products but is fine with butter. Is this something you have ruled out? Or of course it could be a mild milk allergy (or he could be outgrowing the allergy) meaning he can eat small quantities of dairy produce but not fresh milk itself.

My mother suffered terrible allergies with all my siblings, she found similar occurrence with my younger brother. My brother was allergic to everything under the sun. Animals, dust, pollen, wheat, diary, everything. He miraculously outgrew this at about 3 years old (it is actually quite unusual to carry a milk allergy especially throughout your whole life). I hear many similar stories. I hope you find a solution.

[Fuschia]

Lactose intolerance is rare in babies but can develop as we get older, if lactose intolerant even breast milk won't be OK

Cows milk protein allergy is more common in babies and is often grown out of.. small amounts of cows milk protein MAY pass into breastmilk but not necessarily... butter is fat, contains only traces of protein anyway... and I think the processing in heating milk to make a sauce, and processing for cheese, may change the structure.. also if he is starting to outgrow the allergy, that would explain why he is starting to tolerate cheese sauce etc...

http://www.theallergysite.co.uk/dairy.html

http://www.kellymom.com/babyconcerns/food-sensitivity.html

http://www.drgreene.com/qa/lactose-free-milk

http://www.calgaryallergy.ca/Articles/English/milkallergyhp.htm

[edanna]

Just to say that until you can get proper advice you should try to make sure he's getting enough calcium. See www.eatwell.gov.uk/asksam/healthydiet/milkanddairyq/#07738347281

[Dulwich Born And Bred]

Thanks everyone. It is just so confusing because if goat or cow milk comes near him, it is like he has a sixth sense that it will not be good for him and automatically starts gagging. With the goat milk he never even got to try it properly as just a drop touched his lip and he broke out in a horrible rash.

I was surprised that the ice cream/chocolate gave him a really horrible rash all over his torso and face. Plus we tried a cereal ( with water) and the cereal had something in it that made him have a rash also.

He ate some of my toast that had butter on it, and was fine, and a lasagne ( shop bought). I have not tried him on anything else though.

With regards to the calcium as I am still breast feeding I am not overly concerned about that, though I have pasta with added calcium, orange juice with added calcium that I give him and he does love canned fish ( with bones) so he should be ok. I would not wean him off the breast until I am happy that he is getting all his needs met in the way of vitamins/minerals. ( I also don't think he will be giving up the breast without a battle anyway). I had just presumed a dairy allergy would mean avoiding all things with cow/goat milk.

Plus October is just a very long time to wait as he will be over one and I really was hoping to reclaim by body back but then.

As for the health visitor, I refuse to go to them for any advice and my GP is not much use, he just referred us to Kings.#

I guess I shall have to wait until October!

[EDmummy]

Had the same with baby no. 1. I gave him soya formula when I needed to go back to work and anything and everything else that was a source of calcium. He outgrew the allergy by the time he was about 6. I am lactose intolerant (from about 6yrs old) so I was concerned initially that he had that but as Fuschia says it is unlikely at that age and would have trouble with breast milk.

There are plenty of websites which can advise you on high calcium, zero milk diets for infants. Doctors are not dieticians so you may ask to see one as a follow up to seeing the specialist if they do not suggest that automatically.

[Fidgetsmum]

My daughter had a cows milk protein allergy and it was anything with dairy (cows milk) product in so that included butter, milk, cheese and anything with caseine or there was another thing they put in food that doesn't look like it's got anything to do with cows milk, but is a byproduct (I can't remember now what it's called). It's amazing how many things that look like they don't or wouldn't have dairy in, actually do. Shopping was a nightmare.

If he can eat some things (cheese, white sauce etc) but not others (milk) that are dairy derived, from my experience and from what the Kings specialists told us whilst we were referred there, it's unlikely to be a cows milk protein issue, and that includes the scenario of him having had it, but coming out of it. If they have CMP allergy, it applies to all foodstuffs across the board, so we were told (and it certainly applied to my daughter)

It took is 8 times of our daughter being sick for 24 -36 hours at a time after ingesting any dairy product or food containing a dairy product/byproduct before we could persuade the GP to refer us. Because adult 'allergies' have become 'popular', or more well-known, GPs are more cynical than they once were.

I would really really recommend seeing the GP and demanding a referral to Kings. The moment we were seen by Kings, they were absolutely amazing and the advice we got was fantastic.

Oh, and keep a detailed diary (if you're not already) about everything that your son eats or drinks - literally everything. It'll really help the specialists when you do get to see them.

Good luck.

[Dulwich Born And Bred]

Thanks for that FM, I didn't think about a food dairy, though I did take photograhic evidence of his rash ( which I showed my GP hence he referred us to Kings straight away as he could see how bad the rash was) but the food dairy is a good idea. Thanks also for the reassurance that Kings were good with you, hopefully they will pin point his allergy, it will make my life so much easier.

We were given nutramigen which my son refuses to entertain, he took a sip , spat it out and shook his head 'No', cannot say I blame him, it smells absolutely foul. I tried the oats milk today and he is not having that either I will have to keep trying.

The lasagne was last week and he took a few spoons of mine, and he was fine ( I should have checked the packet to see exactly what was in it but I didn't so I can't really say how much cheese/milk etc was in it) and the butter on toast he is fine with. I have not tried him with anything else dairy after his reaction to the goat milk.

It does seemed a strange dairy allery but as a few of you said, maybe he is growing out of his dairy allery and able to tolerate it in small doses.

It is quite ironic because when I was pregnant with him, I craved milkshakes!!

[Mrs T]

My 10 month old son has a similar problem to yours. He had a rash on his face the first few times he had dairy (milk, yoghurt) so I avoided it for a while then I tried it again a few times (chocolate spread, cheese) and he had streaming eyes but no rash - not sure why the change. But he does seem to be able to cope with small amounts - butter on toast, croissants, licks of icecream. He hasn't had a reaction for 3 months now so he may be over it. We have an allergy test next week at Kings.

My friend's baby had allergies and didn't want to wait for their King's appt so they had a private test done which they said was very good and they got it straight away. So you could do that if you want to find out soon.

[Dulwich Born And Bred]

Mrs T, do you know who your friend went with and how much it was for the private testing?

The oat milk is a failure. It is just like water but my son is not having it, it met with a very screwed up face and a head shaking "No".

It just seems weird to me to be ok with butter on toast, croissants but yet reacts badly to just a lick of ice cream, and just a drop of cow's/goat milk on his skin means a rash over his body even though he did not consume it.

I hope your little boy is finally over his allergy.

[amydown]

Hi Heidi,

Here I am - Mrs T's friend :)) We also have an allergy test booked in with King's for October but like Mrs T says, couldn't wait so went private. We went to a clinic called London Allergy Clinic (imaginative name...) just off Harley Street and had a one-hour session with Dr Warner, a consultant paediatrician. This involved him doing a skin prick test thingy on baby's back and I could ask him any questions (and not just allergy-related) about the baby which was great.

The test cost ?400 from memory and you basically have a chat to come up with a list of suspected allergies and then do the test. We tested 15 in total. You get the results during the consultation which is also good.

The clinic decor was rather dated and shabby so when I first got there, I did think I was in the wrong place but after seeing Dr Warner, was really happy with the results.

http://www.londonallergyclinic.com/index.html

Hope it helps.

[Dulwich Born And Bred]

Hi Amy, Long time no see! Hope that little boy of yours is well!

Thanks for all the information you have given me, I am going to check it out now.

I might bump into you at Kings in October then!

P.S. Did your son have an allergy to dairy?

[amydown]

Hi Heidi,

Yes, Daniel did have a dairy allergy so no weaning onto formula! He seems fine with buttered toast (and chocolate, oh dear). He also had potato and house dustimte allergies so was worth getting the tests done.

x

[woofmarkthedog]

Both...

My two boys both had similar & Soya formula did the trick

The clinics were very wishy washy as to why

They are 9 & 6 now & in rude health

W**F

[Mrs T]

Had the test today. Turns out he's not allergic to peanuts (yay! peanut butter on toast for lunch!) but he had a slight allergic reaction to milk and egg. I'm allowed to try him on milk and if he has a reaction then I should wait 6 weeks before trying again. Because he'd had a worse reaction to egg previously and still shows signs of it, we're to avoid egg til he gets retested at the hospital in 6 months. So not too bad a result. Although I would have been a lot happier if I could have given him eggs on toast instead of peanut butter as it's a lot harder avoiding egg/milk.

I'm glad I wasn't wasting their time at least!

[Dulwich Born And Bred]

Amy, a potato allergy?! Never heard of that, poor Daniel! It is reassuring to hear that even though he handles butter on toast like my little man, he still has a dairy allergy. How will you be weaning Daniel off the breast? I am still breastfeeding at nearly a year old as my son likes to drink and he is not happy with just getting his calcium in food, he wants a feed in the morning and evening, orange juice with added calcium is not cutting it. I am not going to try soya yet as I get bad stomach pains with soya so I don't want to try it on him, plus all the horror stories about hormones in Soya has put me off.

Woof, glad to hear your kids are ok now, I have no doubts ours will be also.

Mrs T, I keep wanting to give my son peanut butter too but won;t for fear of an allergy reaction so I think I will wait as you did and have the test first. Least you now know what he can and cannot have.

Just two more months and I will find out also, least I can then plan his diet around his allergies once it is confirmed.

[Mrs T]

They only test you for the things you think he might be allergic to. Our son had a reaction after eating egg and peanut butter, and dairy. I was pretty sure that he wasn't allergic to peanut butter but avoided it after that just in case. My friend (who's a bit of a worrier!) had her son tested for lots of stuff - some of which I don't think she had any reason to think he was allergic to. Mind you he was found to have a severe peanut and egg allergy and has to have an epi pen with him at all times so she was right to have worried! I'm not recommending you lie to the doctor though obviously!!

[Dulwich Born And Bred]

It ok I won't lie but I will be honest because he has come out in rashes from cereals, so it could be a number of things. Since I have some allergies, they probably will test him for some other things other than dairy. At least I hope so.

An epi pen? poor love, that is some serious allergy!

[susyp]

prob a bit late for me to post this but my daughter has a milk allergy and I initially went private to Dr Sloper at Ealing Hospital (where I lived then) - now I see her every 6 months for retesting through the NHS. If you find somoeone who does private and NHS you can see them quickly to get tested privately and then enter the NHS system. Our private consultation only cost ?120 and we had 3 different tests and she had several others a few weeks later. My daughter was initially allergic to Soya too - she is on Neocate special milk. She also had problems with wheat when being weaned. IF they offer you Nutramigen don;t take it - it is much cheaper but has broken down cows milk in it - Neocate is entirely without any cows milk . My daughter was ok on Nutramigen for a while and then started vomiting it up - the GP wouldn't change her prescription and this was when she was 5 months old so she was having nothing else - I rang Dr Sloper in a tizz and she faxed over a new prescription to my GP. Think a lot of people make a lot of money from allergy testing so make sure you get a proper consultant.

My daughter is now fine on everything except cows milk and is due to be retested in September - I think the allergy is waning although it is still there.

good luck!

susypx

[Otto]

Btw - if your child is diagnosed with a milk allergy you can get a doctor's prescription for FREE soya or a milk substitute - A thrift Scot told us that and it was true!

[susyp]

yes sorry should have mentioned that - the stuff we have is on prescription. Can be hard to get them on it - we mixed it together with breast milk and over a day increased the proportion of the new formula (it's not nice) until she drank it straight as it were. But she was only 4 or 5 months old then. She won't drink soya milk - it is revolting. Are there any nice soya milks out there?

my husband gave her parmesan yesterday unbeknownst to me and she was fine so I am hoping her allergy is waning too!

susypx