Hi All,
I'm hoping to learn from your collective wisdom as I am new to the world of allergies!
I have a 3 month old daughter who has recently been diagnosed as having a milk allergy after going to the doctor with a bad ezcema outbreak on her head/ear/cheeks. The doc did not do any kind of tests but made the diagnosis from seeing the ezcema. She is breastfed apart from one bottle of formula a day. All diary has been eliminated from my diet for a week now. I was told to put her on Neocate for her one bottle of formula but she hated it. I tried mixing it with my milk etc but gave up after 2 days as she was so unhappy and she remains on her old hypo-allergenic formula. The ezcema has improved but not gone. There is also a new patch but much less serious.
Since birth she has always had tummy troubles with bad wind (farts) and stomach cramps but these have now calmed down considerably to the point that she hasn't had any cramps for 2 weeks and there is much less wind. We have also just moved country (3 weeks ago) so she has had to cope with lots of change in terms of environment, climate, water etc etc. The reason I started supplementing her with formula is that early on she had problems with weight gain. While she is now gaining weight she is still skinny and on the small side hence my reluctance for her to skip bottles and feeds in the fight to get her to take the Neocate. Otherwise in general she is a happy baby - just small, farty and with a flaky face but with endless smiles and curiosity!!
I am now trying to decide how seriously to take the allergy diagnosis. I plan to stay on the elimination diet so the large majority of her diet is diary free but do I need to also get her off her bottle of formula (which I am reluctant to do because of the weight gain issues)?
So my questions are:
- my understanding is milk allergies is rare in breastfed babies. How common is it for allergies to be misdiagnosed? Ezcema can be due to variety of reasons, no? (and we have just moved country so there has been lots of new things she has been exposed to) Her stomach issues had begun to calm down and it seemed like she was 'growing out' of them. She has only been given formula in the last month to supplement and its introduction didn't seem to cause any exacerbation of her tummy and gas problems.
- is there a kind of sliding scale in terms of allergies where one is allergic but not v allergic so can tolerate a small amount of the thing you allergic to? Could it be that she has a milk allergy but not a v severe one?
- if she has a milk allergy why is it that the ezcema has only developed now? Is it explained as a delayed reaction?
- if the ezcema persists how long do people think I should give it before I act and persist in trying to eliminate the formula? What if it persists but is getting better and under control rather than any worse?
I guess I am trying to work out the best path between juggling risks to her in terms of weight gain (if i eliminate the formula) Vs allergy exposure. I would love to hear any thoughts, opinions, advice, experiences that people have.
Many thanks in advance