any experience of the medical profession, allergies and kids?
J is allergic to dairy: symptons: when i have too much dairy he gets eczema on his back and chest. when he had cheese he got face rash/eczema and then tummy troubles, the runs and bad nappy rash (bleeding). he's still got the face eczema which i think might be from the tofu. and when they gave him some (yuck) formula in hospital he was sick. i think it's fairly conclusive!
plus the slow weight gain which could be herititary or could be due to allergy.
I'm going to have to give up dairy and soy so i need to see someone too.
and i wonder what the chnces are of having him tested for other food allergies. We have a lot of allergies iin thefamily - T and i both have hayfever and i have eczema and kiwi allergy too.
Cabbagepatch
I can't help with allergy problems but for bleeding nappy rash, have you tried Sudocreme. It was the only thing I found that helped daughter as a baby, and I tried everything, old wives tales, the lot.
Cleared it all up within 48 hours, never had a problem after.
Kathy
Sudocreme was a "non herbal" product I did use and like you say CP it cleared nappy rash in the blink of an eye!
Greenman had asthma/excema as a child. I breastfed him and he was fine up until he went to school and started to take the mandatory milk quota and eating cheesy school meals. At the time I never made the connection and wasn't as well informed as I am today. It wasn't until he was into his teens that he stopped taking milk, the asthma/excema stopped. The doctor never mentioned anything about allergies or intolerances but I think it's becoming more widely known now so hopefully you'll get a "clued up doctor."
Greenlady was fine with dairy but over the last few years has become less tolerant and now can't take it at all. The oldest could take anything (still does) and Coco was a born vegan (vomited all animal products from new born) so they're all different.
You mention slow weight gain but what are you comparing him to? Is he lively, smiling, active, pulling himself around furniture etc? Coco was a slim baby, slow weight gain (according to health visitor), she was always the livliest child and is now the largest of all my children at 5'8 despite being vegan. I found it hard when everyone around me, medical profession included kept saying I wasn't doing things right and even they tried to make me give her medicine so she wouldn't be sick when she had dairy. I think the allergy tests can be useful but the one I had didn't include food, it was animal hair, dustmites etc, non of my children have had 1.
Aqui
the calendula oil clears up his nappy rash so as long as that works, i'll keep using it.
slow weight gain - it's what the HVs all say (although i have no faith in them) and he is falling off the bottom of even the breastfed growth charts. i'm not too worried about it as he's happy, active and starting to pull on the furniture! it's just one of the things that struck me when googling about babies and allergies. i was very small as a bbay and child too - always the smallest in my class, so I'm pretty certain that it's due to heriditary but there's always that little doubting voice!
I've just been reading too many things about anaphilatic shock and have got myself all in a worry again!
Kathy
How's he doing Aqui?
Aqui
we went to the doctor on friday and she's prescribed some lotion for his eczema and is sending us to hospital for them to take blood to test him for some of the common allergies, including dairy. then it'll take about a month to get the results.
in the meantime i've finally given up all dairy and nuts and i'm keeping a food diary and noting any possible reactions he has to look for patterns.
his face eczema has gone from red rashy to orange dryness. not sure if that's good or bad, but i've got my eye on it.
he's quite fussy at the moment, but he seems to be going through a growth/development spurt/possibly teething/separation anxiety too!
he's so cute - he reaches up to you when he wants to be picked up and he cuddled me earlier!
fish
ime sorry to hear of your nippers troubles,look on the bright side though,it could be worse! my jack had a cows milk allergy when a baby,it actually caused him to 'die' 30 times a month till we found that it was thw milk allergy.he had to wear an apnia allarm and would stop breathing every day,some times 3-4 times a day! we had to do a course on cpr at the hospital,he was put on the CONI plus scheme and one time nearly got a trip to hospital in the air ambulance as we live in a remote area!
kaz
That must have been awful Fish - has he grown out of the allergy now?
There does seem to be an increase in intolerances and allergies or is it because we are more aware of the symptoms?
Kathy
There is an increase due to the "unnatural" diets most of the population consumes, but there is also more awareness these days too, mostly due to the Internet I think.
