Well, crap. DS apparently allergic to dairy.

[s_gosney]

So I gave DS some yogurt today for the first time and he broke out in hives and threw up. He had maybe 5 bites of the yogurt.
I am going to lose my mind.
I have so much to do in the next 3 weeks (end of semester), and I need ds to start in daycare this summer, and now I have to add food allergies into the mix?!?
Ugh. We will see the ped soon and will probably be referred to an allergist (we almost had to go that route after the amoxicillin reaction that some of you will remember).
So, spam me with info that I need to deal with this.

ETA: Sorry, this probably should've went in the bitching post. I'm at work and can't get ahold of dh and just needed to vent.

[JBaxter]

just curious but was the yogurt flavored or plain?

[s_gosney]

Good question. I should've mentioned that. It was apple yo-baby. He's had apples many times without incident.

ETA: I just remembered that it is actually the yogurt/cereal blend. I looked at the ingredient list and it has rice and oat flour in it. He has had both types of cereal previously though...so probably the dairy?

[BeachBum]

probably....but could be cinnamon?

[JBaxter]

It may be the dairy but I know a couple people with real issues with cinnamon and a few other spices

[spanannie]

probably....but could be cinnamon?

Good call. My baby got a big rash around her mouth when I gave her something with cinnamon. Hopefully it's that and not the dairy!

[s_gosney]

probably....but could be cinnamon?

Hmm...that's interesting and would definitely be better than dairy. We are talking fully body hives though and his face looked like one giant hive. Could it really all be the cinnamon?

[DrSally]

I'm sorry. DS's milk allergy started with hives all over his face, vomitting, resp. symptoms, etc.
Dairy is hard. Your allergist will do more testing and give you more info. Just read labels very carefully. Dairy is in so many things, even McDonald's french fries.

[JTsMom]

Wow, poor baby! I really don't know much about allergies, so maybe I'm totally off base here- wouldn't he have reacted to the milk in your diet if you're bf, or the dairy in formula if you ff if it was that strong of a dairy allergy? Or is that not enough to trigger a first time reaction? Sorry, again, I know very little about this stuff. :o

[lizajane]

dylan was allergic to dairy- he used to throw up. but he outgrew it! so that is good news! it is possible. :) hang in there.

[s_gosney]

Wow, poor baby! I really don't know much about allergies, so maybe I'm totally off base here- wouldn't he have reacted to the milk in your diet if you're bf, or the dairy in formula if you ff if it was that strong of a dairy allergy? Or is that not enough to trigger a first time reaction? Sorry, again, I know very little about this stuff. :o

Oh, don't be sorry! I know very little myself. DS is BF, although he did have a few bottles of formula in the nicu with no reaction. He was spitting up a lot then, but there was no clear sign of reaction. Generally speaking, I eat/drink very little dairy. I have pizza 1x per week, drink no milk, eat some cream type sauces, and have a rare bowl of cereal or ice cream. There were a couple of times when ds was younger that I thought his spitting up was related to my dairy intake, but peds have always basically told me that unless there is blood in the stool, it's a non-issue.

Liza--dd too spit up dairy when she was young. She's fine with dairy now though except that cheap ice cream makes her need to head to the bathroom.

I guess it's really the hives that freak me out. If he had just thrown up (which he did as well....did I mention that already?), I wouldn't be nearly as freaked out. The hives though, and the ped's advice to give benadryl and watch for tongue swelling...that totally scares me.

[JTsMom]

Yeah, I'd be freaked out too! That had to be really scary to watch. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you that it was just the cinnamon, but it does seem like dairy could definitely be a possibility.

[MamaMolly]

snip...
I guess it's really the hives that freak me out. If he had just thrown up (which he did as well....did I mention that already?), I wouldn't be nearly as freaked out. The hives though, and the ped's advice to give benadryl and watch for tongue swelling...that totally scares me.

This. Until you have seen the doctor and *know* (one way or the other) avoid, avoid, avoid dairy. Because I don't want to scare you, but Benedryl isn't going to do anything for tongue swelling. You'd need an Epi-pen at that point.

DD also reacted to yogurt, and the doctor at the Urgent Care tried to convince me it was the blueberries in the yogurt, or pink eye (she got the yogurt in her eye). But no. Blood tests have confirmed otherwise. DD has a dairy allergy (among others). Her numbers have gone down in all of them so there is hope that she will outgrow it.

I'll be honest, it was really craptastic at first but now I feel like I have a better grip on it. Luckily we live in a world full of dairy alternatives and lots and lots of very creative people have walked this path before us. I can find or make an alternative to just about anything, and it is usually so yummy no one would ever guess it is free of DD's allergens.

One of the best resources I've found is www.kidswithfoodallergies.org and also our very own ILoveTivo (Julie) who has answered endless questions about allergies.

Please, please feel free to PM me with any questions, if you need a shoulder, recipies, name brands of foods we buy for DD, what ever. I'll help with anything I can.

[DrSally]

Agree with Molly, avoid all dairy for now until you see the allergist for testing.

FWIW, I EBF (he had a few bottles of regular formula the first few weeks) and ate everything. DS only developed his dairy allergy at 6 months when I mixed in some formula with cereal b/c I couldn't get anything with the pump. After that I noticed his cheeks would get red when I ingested dairy, so I cut it out of my diet. You can definitely be fine with it and then develop an allergy later.

IMO/IME hives are a serious symptom and indicate a possible allergy (along with gastro and resp and skin symptoms). Molly is right, if there are breathing difficulties, benadryl isn't going to help that, you need an epipen. So be very careful about what you feed him until you see the doc and get testing/epipen.

There are a lot of options, it just takes more time, effort, and creativity. We basically had to bring DS's food with us everytime we ate out or were on vacation b/c we never knew if they used their pans/utensils for cheese/butter, etc. He would have a reaction with even trace amounts of dairy.

Also, he outgrew his dairy allergy at age 2, and is on his way to outgrowing his egg and mustard allergies. Peanut, the doc said would prob be lifelong, but he's never had an exposure, so we really don't know.

The other thing that testing will do is give you a baseline number so you can see if his numbers are going down.

[s_gosney]

Thanks, Molly and Sally for the info and thanks Molly for the link you pmed me. It is all very helpful (overwhelming, but helpful). :)
Hopefully he'll outgrow it, but for now we'll just work with it.

Thanks again!