I think I'm going crazy, how do I know what shes allergic to?

[Kama82]

Can someone refer me to a good source on food allergies in toddlers?
I just can't find any good information and I dont know what to do.
A little background: my daughter is breastfed, she was in the NICU for 3 days and I was pushed to supplement even though it was not nessecary. We did formula with breastmilk for about 6 weeks before my milk finally fully came in. She always had green/foamy/mucosy poops. I asked her peditrician about it and he said the color of the poop did not matter one bit. I explained that it was runny/foamy and mucosy and he said not to worry about it as long as she was pooping (and boy did she ever she pooped 8 or 9 times a day). She was a very high needs, fussy, demanding baby. She had her happy times but she had to be held and rocked and made comfortable constantly.

She got a few tastes of solids at 6 months but didn't start really eating until about 13 months when she was in daycare part time. They gave her cows milk there, which we discovered was causing bloody rashes on her bum, it tok almost 3 months to figure out the cause, once we cut out the milk it stopped.


In may we went and had an extended visit with my mother, her house is probably the most allergenic house you can imagine. Dogs, cats, dust, lots of perfumes and air fresheners, harsh chemical cleaners ect.
She was fine until I used this citrus soap on her, she broke out in hives really horrible hives. They lasted for over a week and came back a little bit at a time after that. While she had the hives she had some yogurt (which she had previously tolerated) and it caused her to break out wherever the yogurt touched her skin. It has gotten worse and worse it seems like if she even looks at any type of milk product now she breaks out in a horrible rash, sometimes hives.
Hummus causes her to break out. I think its the lemon juice because the other day I made her pancakes and put lemon juice in them and bam horrible rash. It just seems like no matter what I feed her she breaks out in a rash and or hives right after.The only thing she can eat with no rashes is fruit and vegtables which give her really runny smelly poops if she has too many of them. She also seems to do ok with gluten. At least it doesn't cause her to break out in a rash, she eats bread and rice and never gets a rash, but she has constant poop issues so I wonder if maybe she is sensitive to that too.

How do I figure out what is causing the reactions? She has a rash right now and I don't even know what caused this one. Is it even possible to react to milk in a way that causes rashes/hives? Her current pediatrician told us its not possible she is allergic to milk and that she possibly has a slight lactose intolerance combined with sensitive skin.
Well to anyone who got this far thank you, I really appriciate you reading and offerent your expereinces/advice.

edited to add: Could this continue to get worse? I worry that at the rate it seems to be going now that it will become life threatening. I am terrified I am going to feed her the wrong thing one day and she is going to go into shock. I have heard of certian allergies getting worse with exposure (like beestings). Are food allergies like that?

[cat19]

Our lifeline in figuring out food allergies has been twofold: 1) getting a good allergist who has experience dealing with young kids with multiple food allergies and 2) joining the forums at kidswithfoodallergies.org. The forums are truly amazing; the main one is free with an associate membership; the sub-forums are about $25/year and the best money I have spent in the past year.

I also highly recommend Scott Sicherer's book Understanding and managing your CHild's Food Allergies. Our local library has it, but I'll be buying it for myself.

What you can do on your own starts with keeping a journal of what and when your child eats (and anything you eat if you're nursing), other foods she touches, any reactions she has, and any other possible allergen exposure or useful info. So, for example, you'd note that you'd been playing outside (possible pollen exposure), at daycare around toys that other kids might have mouthed with milk on their mouth, etc.

If you suspect milk and it's getting more serious, CUT milk from her diet and her environment. Don't use any soaps or products without thoroughly checking the ingredients; if you can avoid it and use just water for baths, that's better for many allergy-prone kids. Avoid nuts and shellfish (most allergists recommend this for allergy-prone kids until somewhere between age 3-5).

If you also suspect citrus, avoid it; I would also pulls sesame and all foods containing it as that's a very potent allergen in virtually all hummus (often listed as tahini). I'd also check the label on the soap she reacted to if you can, to see if it has anything like milk, buttermilk, nut oil, sesame, and so on; all of those can end up in soap products.

I'd hope your allergist would give you an epi-pen jr prescription; our allergist feels any kid with food allergies and/or any kid prone to contact reactions and/or any kid prone to systemic hives (not just localized where the allergen touches) should have an epi available.

[nylaboo]

My DD is now 2 and we have had quite a time figuring out what she is reacting to. And she seems to be more sensitive each time she gets a cold or sick. It is so very tough to figure it all out. I have had her tested three times -- the first was through an ND who did the O.G. Carroll testing and she tested positive for potato. Then after being sick for several weeks in January (and not eating any food other then breast milk) she started reacting to just about everything, it seemed. So I had her tested through a different ND using the Vega testing. This came up positive for a number of things, including dairy, corn and peanuts. We did the elimination diet for several months and tried to introduce these things back with minimal success. Recently I had her tested by an LAc where she again tested positive for all sorts of things. But this time we have been doing NAET treatments and it seems to be helping.

There is also a blood test, which I am curious to do (Igg test, I think?). I would start with finding an ND in your area who will help you with the tests. If you have an allergy to something like corn it is in everything, and could cause a reaction to all sorts of things (i.e. soy milk). You may want to figure out what kind of test you want to get then from there find an ND that can do the test for you. Every traditional doc that we took her to was no help. They just called it eczema. Best of luck to you! What area are you in? You might want to try your local tribe for a recommendation too.

[cat19]

Also--WHY does her current ped say she can't be milk-allergic?

[nylaboo]

Originally Posted by cat19

If you also suspect citrus, avoid it; I would also pulls sesame and all foods containing it as that's a very potent allergen in virtually all hummus (often listed as tahini).

Cat19 -- is sesame a common allergen?? I suspect DD is reacting to it, but I wasn't sure. She had a bunch yesterday (that I made) and was itching all night. But she also had buttermilk pancakes (which she is usually OK with) and a bite of corn - which is a no no. So, hard to know.

[Kama82]

Her doctor didn't really give a reason just that "milk allergies are unusual she might be lactose intolerant".
Thank you so much for all the information. A ND might not be an option for us, we have state health insurance (medical coupons) and I don't think they would cover most of that. My husband and I are both full time students so we are broke as heck most of the time
If anyone doesn't mind saying, how much does it cost to go to an ND to get tests like that done? I mean we might be able to come up with $200-300 for our daughters health we would of course spend any amount of money we could but $2000-3000 just would be impossible for us atm we just don't have that kind of cash.
As far as an allergist. I would be very interested in having her see an allergist however the money issue again, I think I would need to be referred and how can I get a referrel from a pediatrician that thinks its impossible a child with her symptoms is allergic to milk?
I think we are going to switch to a new practice and start seeing a LPN my husband sees that he really likes instead of the pediatrician, we have had nothing but bad luck with pediatricians and her current one also now wants us to sign some paperwork we don't want to sign (anti vax stuff).
The soap that she reacted to was an organic soap that I got at a co op there were no ingredients listed but when I called they were able to give me the ingredients. If I recall correctly the only oil in it was coconut oil. It did have all kinds of orange and citrus acids and extracts though. It also did not have any milk products in it.

[Kama82]

So I just dug around a bit and found the ingredients to the soap that caused the first batch of hives.
Soapanified organic oil: palm, coconut, olive, palm kernal, natural essential oil blend of: organic orange oil, orange peel and roasemary extract
I couldn't figure it out then, I still don't get it now. She has eaten oranges and never reacted at all, she has had olive oil and never reacted. I have never given her coconut but it also isn't an ingredient in anything else that is causing the problems and I dont really know what palm oil is and have never seen it in anything else either.
Also whatever it was in the soap that caused her to react she is VERY sensitive to it, as in, I put her in her carseat (fully clothed) after her bath, the hives cleared upa bit but the next day when we put her back in that seat they came back (even though she and her clothes and my clothes ect had all been washed, the only potiential expsure was to whatever residue came off her skin the day before, we couldn't get it out enough to make her not react. We ended up getting a new carseat.

[cat19]

Sesame allergy is as common in some parts of the world as peanut allergy is here; here it's common enough that there is a push to add it to the top 8 allergens that are covered by the labelling laws. Until then, though, you can't count on a food label noting sesame separately and clearly; it could be in there under natural flavors or spices.

On the soap: it could be something in the soap or it could be a cross-contamination issue. For example, if they made a batch of almond soap and then next made a batch of the soap you have, and she was allergic to almonds, there could be almond in the soap you have even if it's not an intended ingredient.

On the recurring hives; with a very bad reaction, it can recur for a while even without additional exposure becaause the person's immune system is going nuts.

Milk allergy is pretty common in children; I'd ask the pediatrician for a referral just based on the hives, even if he/she doesn't believe it is from milk. A quote from Medical News Todaythat might help convince your ped:

Cows' milk is the most common cause of food allergy in infants and children, affecting approximately 2-3% of infants internationally.2 The major symptoms of cows' milk allergy include skin rash, wheezing, vomiting, diarrhoea, constipation, failure to thrive (put on weight) and distress.3

And, yes, with the reactions you describe, I'd look for an allergist and an epi script, though it sounds as if your ped woudl not be likely to help with the script.

I know others here have has good experiences with alternative medicine, but the reactions you describe sound like classic IgE allergies to me, the type that allergists are trained to identify and manage. Alternative testing is not proven to identify IgE-mediated allergies as much as traditional allergy testing.

[Kama82]

Thank you again Cat19, I think I am going to try to get her reffered to an alergist based on that information. You have given me a great base of knowledge to start researching with which is what I really needed.

[Sweetjane]

Based on those symptoms I would definitely go see an allergist ASAP. I would stay away from the more commonly allergenic things like eggs, nuts, seeds, dairy, citrus, berries, corn, soy, wheat until you can see the allergist. I would also switch to a fragrance free soap that is not made with any of those allergenic items. I would also avoid soaps made with herbs and flowers as that too can be allergenic.

Best of luck. I know it is so difficult.