BabyWhispererForums.com
EAT => Food Allergies => Topic started by: amy123 on August 27, 2007, 01:26:32 am
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In the last week my dd (10 mo.) has developed a rash around her mouth. It comes and goes, sometimes more severe, seemingly after meals. My guess is that it must be a food allergy (or intolerance). She has always had some mild eczema on her stomach, but never even really enough to warrant treatment of any kind other than a bit of cream. It doesn't seem to bother her... more like a few dry patches. She rarely spit up when younger, but in the last month or two has started to spit up/vomit occasionally (every 2-3 days?) about 1/2 hr to 2 hrs after bf-ing. (Pardon the info, but it doesn't smell like sweet baby spit-up, but more like acidic vomit). She does not usually have firm stools. I'm not sure if that's normal for a 10 m.o. - can't remember those days w/ my now-three-year-old. I've never had allergies and my son hasn't either. I did ask the ped. about the possibility of allergies when I took her in for the tummy dry patches, and she dismissed the idea. Would MSPI develop this late?
So now I have no clue how to proceed. From the bit of reading I've done online, I understand it could be an intolerance to milk/soy protein but may also be other things (e.g., tomato, fruit, bread, etc.) in her diet and possibly through bf-ing. Is the first step a trip to the pediatrician? An allergy specialist? Another specialist? Or is it wise to first try eliminating certain foods from her diet? Would I then also eliminate foods from my diet since she's nursing 4x/day? Which foods?
Thanks for any guidance or suggestions. The whole thing is a bit intimidating to me at this point.
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Hi, I'm sorry your DD has this reaction. It sounds like a dairy intolerance but it could be something else. I would start to cut all diary in your diet and of course in your lo's diet too and see what happends, if you cut it for.. say 2 weeks and nothing changes you can delete the idea of diary intolerance.. A visit to pediatrician is a good idea too, to have a "medical" opinion.
why at 10 mo? well, think about diary as a toxic product with toxins, and those toxins are accumulated in the body and now your DD's body cant process anymore of those toxins, so she gets the reaction. I have seen this many times, so that is why I think this could be a diary intolerance.
when I say remove diary I mean all diary and foods who contains diary too.
HTH and that your DD gets well soon
:-*
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Thanks urbantis! I phoned the pediatrician and she is recommending a blood test. But I understand that those are commonly inaccurate, both false positive and false negative. The nurse there recommended excluding milk products for 24 hours and seeing if the symptoms clear up. That doesn't seem like good advice to me, either, given that my lo doesn't seem to have an immediate reaction. Your suggestion of two weeks (or at least one) seems more realistic, but I'm nervous about excluding all milk products for that long. It seems that allergies are quite hard to diagnose. I wonder if a homeopathic specialist or some other specialist might be more experienced in this area than a regular pediatrician?
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Amy,
Just a quick note...I had a very similar problem with my DS...We know he has an allergy of some kind...but we can't pin it down....we cut things out, reintroduced etc. Our family doc wrote it down to most like an "intolerance" vs an allergy and told us that until it bothered HIM that we should leave it alone...The most telling of signs was the "contact" rash around his mouth and very loose stools...But he didn't get it EVERYTIME....So I was confused as well. Now that he is 28 months the rash doesn't happen as often, but every once in awhile (I've since been told this is telling of a dairy intolerance....)
I hope you don't mind if I lurk a little bit. I'd love to hear what your doc/specialist has to say about things....
TIA Marie
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Abby is MSPI and if you are going for a dairy free diet I would suggest at least 2wks. It can take a week sometimes to get all the milk proteins out of their systems. Also make sure that you eliminate all hidden dairy. I think that there is a list on the MSPI thread in this forum. There is also a great link for MSPI info on the infantreflux.org forum. You could also check out www.thepicfoundation.org It is a website for protein intolerant kiddos.
The blood tests are very inaccurate. And I haven't heard of any for testing for intolerances through blood work. Abby was tested for milk and soy intolerance through stool testing. I had it done through Entrolab in Dallas Texas www.entrolab.com
HTH,
Andrea
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I think an homeopathic specialist would be great. please keep us posted :)
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blood tests are innacurate at this age.my lo is like that wiyh tomatoes,strawberris etc.
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TIA Marie - Feel free to lurk! :) I've also heard that the mouth rash is telling of a dairy allergy or intolerance. Ava was vomiting/spitting up regularly when on dairy and hasn't done so in 4 days now, so that's another big sign for us. She also had the loose stools (much better now!). So I do think it's a dairy allergy. I like the advice about leaving it be unless it's bothering the child.
Andrea - thanks for the input re: confirming 2 weeks. it's been 4 days now and the rash isn't completely gone... I was starting to worry a bit. And thanks for the links. I did print the list of hidden dairy and was surprised about how many things have at least one of those ingredients. It was very helpful.
Andrea/Jennyh - Do you know how inaccurate the blood tests are? e.g., what percentage turn out to be right/wrong?
I've been starting to wonder if wheat isn't also to blame, given that the rash has improved but isn't gone. we haven't cut that out entirely, although maybe i should. (?) I worry that her diet might not be well-balanced if it's missing both wheat and milk. I'm trying to offer lots of broccoli for calcium and am taking a calcium supplement myself too. And I guess we could do rice/corn as grain.
I've called 3 allergy specialists. One wanted to go straight to scheduling a scratch test (on her back, having to restrain her for 15 minutes on her tummy. i know i'm a wimp about these things, but it just seems a bit much/traumatic if not really warranted). The other suggested the blood test, as did the pediatrician, which again I have mixed feelings about. I think I will continue with dairy-free diet for another 10 days and see if the rash is gone then make some decisions from there. I am also keeping her off fish, strawberries, tomatoes (she had a reaction after spaghetti last week) but am allowing soy for now. Does anyone know if I also have to avoid these foods since I'm nursing or is just avoiding milk and all milk products enough (and hidden dairy)?
Thanks to all...
Amy
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Amy,
So if you go wheat free that is gluten free right?? I know that you can get lots of stuff that is gluten free at the health food store. I just had the best homemade cupcake that was gluten free...yummy!!
I am not sure about the blood tests. I am sure though that they don't have many (if any) false positives. Abby had the blood tests for an allergy to rice, peanuts, milk, soy, corn can't remember what else. The blood tests weren't too bad. I did have to hold Abby down while she sat on my lap and she did throw a fit but all in all it wasn't that bad. I would think that if she has the rash that it might be more of a milk allergy and not an intolerance. If you suspect that b/c it is getting better you might want to go ahead and have the blood test done.
I am not sure how they test for wheat. I know that Enterolab does test for gluten intolerance and you don't have to be on a gluten free diet to have it done.
HTH,
Andrea
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We have had to keep eliminating things from my lo2's diet. I happen to read the ingredients on her Baby tooth paste and it had hidden dairy and egg ingredients, Just thought you might want to know.
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Wow - even toothpaste! I've definitely been amazed at how much contains dairy. The list I found even says that carmel coloring is dairy. Crazy...
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Andrea-
I've checked out Enterolab and it looks like a great alternative to scratch testing or blood work. Thanks again for the suggestion.
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Amy, yes that is also what I thought about Entrolab. I didn't want to do anything too invasive until I had tried other things. The stool test was so easy and Abby obviously could have cared less that I was keeping her poo in our freezer, LOL! ;D It really gave me the peace of mind b/c I then had the confirmation to what I had always believed.
But I am happy to say that she has had hidden bits of dairy (gets into her sister's food) and has done okay with them! But I am in no hurry to get her off the goat's milk and onto cow's.
Andrea
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Andrea -
You said Abby had the blood testing too. Was that after the stool testing or before? Did you get different results?
-amy
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we have a range of allergies here :(.i know you have to have had gluten in the diet to be tested for gluten intollerence.we do a food diary here and some foods she can have but then they build up in her system and we have to stop again.
my youngest has no gluten,soy,milk,fruit at the minute and is doing really well.we use prescription bread and corn pasta.she also has hydrolysed formula.
i dont know the percentage of false poss/neg but i was told wait until after 2 yrs for more reliable results.
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Amy,
I went ahead and had the blood testing while I was waiting on the results from the stool testing (it takes about 2wks). The stool testing was for milk and soy intolerance and the blood testing was for allergies. I knew that the blood work would come back negative b/c I knew deep down that she wasn't allergic to milk or soy. I wasn't suprised when the stool test was positive for both of the intolerances. B/c I knew that was the problem all along.
Andrea
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Blood tests can be unreliable but for us gave us a starting point when James's eczema was so severe that we could not tell what he was reacting to. James had his first RAST test at 11 months and then it was repeated at 23 months.
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Thanks to all for the comments and ideas. For those who are following this thread and are interested: Tomorrow we finish up two weeks of completely dairy free (okay, except for a rice krispie treat that I ate in a weak moment!) Unfortunately, her symptoms are not gone...
1. She stopped spitting up for the first four days that we were dairy-free, but then started again (only about once a day, usually about 15-30 minutes after the 3 p.m. feed). Which leads me to wonder whether she's reacting to soy (I didn't discover and start using some of the soy alternatives until about day 5) or, possibly, just that babies spit up sometimes and it's unrelated to any intolerance/allergy.
2. The rash under/around her mouth is not gone. It has seemed to come and go, and dh says he notices it more after dinner. I thought it could be gluten, but I don't think this type of rash is typical of a gluten allergy. Anyone know about that? Again, it could possibly be the soy. I did see it come back a bit after she had a cup of soy yogurt. But tonight for dinner, it was grilled chicken, steamed broccoli w/ a bit of SmartBalance spread, wheat toast (again a tiny amount of SmartBalance), and avocado. As far as I know SmartBalance does not contain soy, and I know it's dairy-free. So, now I'm wondering if the rash isn't just teething/drooling/humidity/heat. We have all of that going on here right now.
So I think I'm going to eliminate all dairy AND soy for about 4 days and see if that clears things up. If so, I'll have that answer. If not, I will reintroduce milk and see if there's an increased reaction. Then we'll go from there and decide whether to have blood tests/stool tests or whether to go with the teething rash hypothesis.
-Amy
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Amy-
I hope that you can figure out what is causing the problem. The process of elimination really SUCKS! >:( Yeah, the spitting up could be unrelated to the allergy/intolerance. Not sure about the rash. I do know if the drooling is bad it could cause a rash on some lo's faces. HUGS!
Andrea
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Good luck Amy, I'm in awe of your ability to stick with all this...way to go! and yes I'm interested in the outcome! Keep us posted :-*
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Good luck
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Amy, good luck! ;)
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Thanks all for the well wishes! Possibly the last update for this thread... and I think (knock on wood) that it's good news.
The bottom line is that I'm probably an over-anxious mom and the rash was due to drooling/paci use and not allergies! After two weeks dairy free and one week completely dairy AND soy free, we didn't see much difference in anything. My dad suggested putting petroleum jelly on her chin and that seemed to help tremendously. (Do I always have to make things more difficult than they are!? Although, to my credit, dh did have severe milk allergies as a baby, so I knew dd has a high chance of it.) However, she did develop a constantly runny nose and stuffy nose at night the same day we reintroduced milk, so we're not completely out of the woods yet. Hoping it's unrelated, but we'll see.
I have to say I have gained a tremendous respect for those of you who shop/cook or eat dairy-free and/or soy-free all the time. I have learned a TON about food and the vast number of things that have dairy/soy in them. This thread was a light in the fog. Thanks again to all.
-Amy
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I am SO pleased to hear that she doesn't have those dreaded allergies! Rather be safe than sorry! Yeah for AVA! :-*