milk allergy causing a rash?? update

rslhmg

So DD has started real milk, we talked to her pedi about a possible allergy at her 1 yr well baby yesterday since the 2 occasions we had given it to her resulted in severe diarrhea and a slightly bloody stool. They told us to confirm an allergy we needed to give it to her one more time, and I feel horrible for listening. We gave her 2 ozs of real milk and she has had diarrhea and now a horrible rash. She went from no rash to a raw bottom in a couple hrs. We are changing her pretty frequently and keeping rash cream applied, but my poor girl is just miserable, I feel awful for her and I'm kicking myself for listening to the Dr. Unfortunately for them to chart it she had to be given milk again, but I hate
having to see her feel so miserable

just an update, they will not refer her to an allergist, said at this age its not accurate because she may still grow out of it. They called in a prescription strength rash cream for her bottom and told us we have to trial and error soy milk. I am almost afraid to start soy milk in case she has a reaction to that as well. Going to wait until she's all cleared up from the milk reaction before we do anything since she has plenty of formula.

mcarter127

Wow, that is TERRIBLE advice regarding allergies!!! I am so sorry your ped doesn't know better, they certainly should!!!! They can a absolutely get a rash from an allergy & it will likely get worse each time she's exposed which is why you never "test" a possible allergy at home. The diaper rash is likely from her poop being very acidic. When kids have a GI reaction to a food it causes them to not be able to fully digest it & it goes through them very quickly & their stool contains stomach acids & can burn their skin. I would try to keep her bottom bare as much as possible to let it air out. You're already changing her frequently & applying a barrier cream when she's in a diaper. 

Milk allergies are really common & usually don't cause any serious problems but you still want to avoid all milk products & anything containing milk as well. Start checking labels because a lot of things contain milk that you wouldn't even think about. Was she BF before this? Did your ped give you another option as an alternative to cow's milk? 

Usually they'll recommend waiting about a year & then doing an allergy test to see if they've outgrown the allergy. In the future, I would not take any advice regarding food allergies from your ped. Ask to see an allergist. DS1 has tons of food allergies & we were told an allergy was "impossible" to have before 12 months of age. Well, he'd already had a severe allergic reaction requiring an ER trip by his first birthday so I guess that's not the case.  I'm sorry you're having to deal with food allergies, hopefully she'll grow out of it soon!

rslhmg

They did say to change her to soy milk if she had the same reaction the 3rd time. This is the first time I have had any issue with her pedi. I am trying to let her bottom air out a bit, but its a little difficult with her diarrhea. We have been trying to keep her on the clean diaper for as long as possible before closing it up, hoping the diarrhea calms down today so she can go bare bottom for longer then the few minutes we can keep her still over the clean diaper. I feel like a bad mom for listening, and I'm also a little confused about the allergy itself since her formula contains nonfat milk and we have never had an issue with it.

rslhmg

Oh also, she was only breast fed for 7 wks, my milk completely stopped and nothing could get it going again. And her normal Dr is on vacation so we saw someone else in the office yesterday. We hadn't seen her before, not sure if she's new or was a nurse practitioner since we saw all the mds and 1 nurse practitioner in the office prior to picking the one we wanted as primary for her. I am waiting on the drs office to call me back about seeing an allergist.

mcarter127

You are not  a bad mom at all! You were just listening to your drs advice. Ask to see an allergist for testing for food allergies. Oftentimes kids are allergic to dairy & soy. Some kids don't show an allergy until cow's milk is started even if they've previously been on formula. The milk in formula is partially broken down so that may be why she didn't react before. Good luck & I hope her rash gets better! 

rslhmg

Getting very annoyed with her drs office, been getting the run around about an allergist referral all day! DD is currently on passport because my job is dragging their feet about making me permanent, cheaper to keep me as a temp forever ugh, which means no benefits, and passport requires a referral to see any specialist. I am now on my 4th call with the drs office and still no referral because DD has not had a history of allergic reactions. Pardon my language, but no ***. We just discussed the possible allergy Monday, I did what they told me, causing my poor baby to suffer and they won't sign a piece of paper for an actual allergy test to avoid having to put her through more trial and error. I will be so glad when her primary physician gets back from vacation. He never give me this much crap about referrals, he always has us in ASAP and actually listens when I say we have a problem.

Mrs. Alice

We experienced a similar reaction when my boys started WCM.  Diarrhea and then horrible diaper rashes, like their skin was burned by the acid in their poop.  It was awful for them.  I tried 3 times over a few months to make sure it just wasn't a fluke and each time the same reaction occurred.  The third time one of them broke out into an allergic rash on his head and neck.  We eventually saw an allergist when they were 20 months old and no surprise they both tested allergic to milk and several other things.  I BF them until 12 mo but they did fine on milk based Neosure supplementation starting in the NICU.  They also seemed to have been okay with other milk products in moderation like yogurt and cheese.  I hope they outgrow it one of these days!  They currently drink soy milk.