Dairy Allergy likely... but what else? Please help!

[2012mama]

Hi There,

I have a 7 month old little girl who is likely to be allergic to both diary and soy.  When she was 4 months old, I gave up dairy, soy, and gluten for the second time.  The first time I did elimination, I only gave up dairy and she continued to have major symptoms (extreme eczema covering whole body with weeping sores, fussiness, extreme gassiness). 

I went to a paediatrician a month ago because I wanted to give up breastfeeding (for many reasons!) and wanted to switch her to formula.  I trialed soy, and hypoallergenic formulas and she would have nothing to do with them.  Even when I mixed less than an ounce with 6 oz of EBM, she wouldn't drink it.

The ped we went to suggested we trial her on Good Start, which is partially hydrolyzed dairy formula.  She went wacko-bananas!  We have been dairy and soy free again with EBM for 4 days and she is still so fussy I can hardly stand to be around her.  She is constantly kicking her legs violently so that they pound on the floor, she pushes away from me, she is constantly whining and screaming but not crying.

Sometimes when she is fed she gets large red patches of skin all over her eyes and scalp.  She has had this for quite some time and I haven't been able to correlate it to a specific food(s).  It disappears shortly after feeding but I have never heard of this happening to any baby and was wondering if I should cut out even more foods from my diet.  I'm not sure what else to cut out.  I trialed adding gluten to my diet before giving her the dairy for 4 days without effect.

How long will it take to see improvement of her extreme fussiness?

Thanks for any input and suggestions!

   

[ENMS]

(((HUGS)))

Sorry I don't have answers for you really. I wish I did.  I'd think it can take up to 2 weeks for the proteins to get out of her system maybe?

Do the red patches occur when you breastfeed or when she was bottle fed the good start?

Good start is not really a hypoallergenic formula though. Have you tried more than one hypo allergenic formula? There are a few out there maybe she'd take one over the other? There are also elemental formulas that you could try? I know my DS wanted nothing to do with Alimentum but did great with Nutramigen AA (elemental).

When you were EBF on your elimination diet, was she ok or did she still have symptoms?

[2012mama]

Thanks for the reply!

The red patches have been all the time, both breastfeeding and EBM.

We tried Alimentum and I bought a can of Nutramigen but didn't end up trying it after her reaction to Alimentum.

When I was on my elimination diet before, her eczema completely cleared up and she seemed much calmer.  She had a huge growth spurt and learned how to stand, sit, and crawl all within a week and was waking herself up doing each of these in her sleep.  It was a horrible summer. but now we use a safe t sleep and she's sleeping wonderfully again.

The Good Start, although not hypoallergenic, was suggested by the paed as a challenge.  Challenge failed!  I feel foolish for even trying it because we are definitely paying for it now! 

[ENMS]

I feel foolish for even trying it because we are definitely paying for it now! 

don't feel foolish... the ped suggested it! now you know it's not an option right now.

IIWM, I'd probably continue with BF until the symptoms go away, and then if you still want to try formula, I'd try Nutramigen or one of the elementals. I've heard of lots of kids liking one and not the other.

[Buntybear]

When I was on my elimination diet before, her eczema completely cleared up and she seemed much calmer. 

Hi, so this was when you were dairy, soy and gluten free?  And you are back to that now but she is still having symptoms?

Olly has awful eczema, we now think that that was the egg allergy and he was getting that through my milk. Maybe egg is the next thing to trial?

How is she doing with weaning onto solids?