Breastfed infant with recurring hives....?

Question

My 5 month old has been getting hives on his arms and legs over the last week. Not covered with hives, just a few here and there. He also has some eczema on his back. My 4 year old has a peanut allergy. I thought my 2 year old had a milk protein allergy. With her, she had mucus and blood in stool at 8 months. I cut out all dairy from my diet and hers. It seems to have resolved itself and she is now on dairy with no problems. Do you think it could be dairy that my breastfed-only 5 month old is reacting to? Should I be cutting it out of my diet? or is it more likely to be environmental? Any information would be appreciated!

Answer 1

YES, you should be cutting dairy out of your diet, particularly since you know your other child has had milk protein allergy  I didn't learn until having my second child that my breastfed babies would receive both the proteins of the foods I was eating, and the antibodies I was producing to the foods I was allergic to.  

Babies are much more sensitive -- I might not have been eating enough dairy for ME to vomit (as I do due to my intolerance when I get more than a moderate amount) -- just enough to produce a few pimples on my chin.  But for my sons, THEY'D react by wheezing, getting rashes, spitting up excessively, and experiencing GI pain/colic.  You can read more about what I learned here, starting about halfway down the page: http://www.beyond-food-allergies.com/inf...

All this isn't to say that cutting out dairy is the end-all problem solver.  But, from what you wrote in your question, it's a great place to start.  You may want to keep a food diary for yourself, and a record of the places you've been going, the chemicals or molds you may have been exposed to along with your kids.    This might reveal some other foods or environmental items to avoid.  Dr. Doris Rapp's book is great for this: http://www.amazon.com/This-Your-Child-Do...  The subtitle is "Discovering and Treating Unrecognized Allergies in Children and Adults."  It's her charting recommendations I'm thinking of -- she has less information about allergies in the BF infant.

Now, as an aside, you might want to consider cutting out peanuts, too, just to be careful.  My older son was only exposed to peanuts in utero, then through my milk for the first five months of his life, until I realized they were causing problems for him.  After that, I never ate peanuts while nursing him (he nursed for 16 months), and never gave him peanut products . . . until he, at age 3 1/2, got some peanut oil in another food by mistake, and we had to go to the ER.  Here's an interesting article about peanuts that's really got me thinking . . . http://www.deanesmay.com/archives/007598...

I hope some of this is helpful!