It all started after DD turned one, we started noticing these little red dots (we would later learn they were hives) on her face and by her eyes. At first we just thought it was baby acne or something along those lines. A few weeks after DD turned one she got a stomach bug, we cut out all dairy and stuck her on the BRATS diet, the red dots went away. When she started to feel better we celebrated with scrambled eggs and a sippy of milk the next morning, a few hours later the dots were back. Once I saw the dots I realized she was having a reaction to either the eggs or the milk, but I didn’t understand how.
She had been eating eggs for months, but I don’t remember seeing anything until recently and she was on regular formula with no problems. No one in our family has an egg or dairy allergy. Well to be truthful DH has a low tolerance but that didn’t come around until he was older. We immediately cut out all dairy and egg for a few days, then were going to introduce one at a time to see which one caused a reaction before calling our pediatrician. In the mean time, this Momma is freaking out because guess what I find out? There’s dairy and egg in everything!
Fast forward a few days, the dots have cleared so we decide to try egg first. We again give her scrambled eggs for breakfast and wait a few hour praying the whole time it’s not egg. A few hours go by, a few more, a whole day and no dots, cue happy music and dancing here. Ok one obstacle down and now for the dairy part. We give her a glass of milk and a few hours go by and nothing, a few more and wait! There it is…a few red dots and by the end of the day, they’re back in full force, not only that but a wicked diaper rash decided to show up as well.
It’s now time to talk to our pediatrician and see what we need to do. She suggested a blood test but warns they are not very accurate. We get the test results back a few days later, negative, but warns that just because it was negative doesn’t mean she doesn’t have an allergy or an intolerance and that we should just go ahead and cut dairy our of DD diet. Since then we’ve had our ups and down, dairy like many things is in almost everything and goes by many many names. We’ve since learned that most brands of bread have dairy in them or are made on equipment that may have had dairy on them. That soy/coconut yogurt is more expensive than gold and soy milk works well in most cooking substitutions. We’ve also learned that DD mood is more stable, she is getting less diaper rashes and sleeping more peacefully through the night now that we have gone dairy free. We’ve also been lucky enough to find not so horrible prices on soymilk if we buy in bulk and have relatives that live close to a store that sells many dairy free chocolates.
Thank you for sharing your food allergy story with us! It’s amazing to see how health and mood can be drastically improved by changing a food diet!
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