Narrowing down Food Allergy

Hi L.!

When my daughter was 5 months old she had a terrible rash around her mouth. She would also break out on her abdomen. After leaving several things out of my diet & then reintroducing them, we discovered she had a dairy allergy. No cow's milk, yogurt, cottage cheese, cheese, etc for me as long as she was being breastfed. I also cannot give her any of these dairy products until after she is 18 months old. She is almost 10 months old now & I will notice a slight outbreak if I eat a couple of chocolate chip cookies - the milk in the chocolate chips seem to be just enough. Maybe try switching your daughter to soymilk for a while & leave out other heavy dairy items for a little over a week. Allow her system to get it out & rash to clear up. Then let her have a small amount of dairy & see what happens. I have a picture of my DD that shows how bad the rash got. Send me an email if you want more info or would like to see the picture to compare. Good luck!

T.

Does she eat strawberries or strawberry jam/jelly? My son had rashes from anything strawberry that would last for about a week. According to his doctor, many kids have that type of reaction to strawberries. Good luck on finding the culprit. It can be so frustrating!

L.,

I'd have to agree with Kirstin. The rash you described sounds as if the culprit might be drool. Although it's hard you'll need to keep the area as clean and dry as possible as it can develop into something worse.

If you can find it, use a bit of Johnson's Baby Cream on the area to help keep it dry; vaseline works great too but it doesn't smell as nice.

When my children hit the drooling stage I found that a little flavored lip gloss or chapstick worked wonders; virtually stops the drooling and they swallow the saliva. This was okay with their pediatrician. It does have one side effect - my daughters (now in college) are lip gloss and chapstick fiends. I spend more on this stuff than I do notebook paper. ;-)

Hope this helps. Blessing to you and your growing family!!
Connie

My son's allergy to cows milk started with a rash around his mouth and under his chin. That was the first thing that allerted us to this allergy because he was breast fed and we hadn't started adding anything to his diet. We then started bottle feeding with B. Milk and then we changed to formula and he immediately got a rash, we took him to an allergist to get tested and viola that is what it was. He is now 6 and has slowly outgrown the allergy although he doesn't drink cows milk still he drinks soy but he can now have cheese and other products. Get her tested immediately.

Hi L.,

the problem is, it could be anything - any food or any enviromental thing he is exposed to. best way to determine is to use a diary to see what he is eating and what he is exposed to. you will have to keep him off a substance for 2 weeks to know for sure. but best way to figure it out is to see some kind of naturapathic healer - they will make it much easier to determine. good luck.

How about toothpaste? It could be irritating her skin. That would be the area that would be affected. Just a thought.

Hi,

I am a mom of 4 and grandma of 1 and one on the way... Yeh!
and a Nutritional Consultant working with children and adults in the Lincoln Area.

The reaction you described can be caused from several food reactions, but the bottom line is toxic body burden.

I would encourage you to watch www.sharethecause.com/live.

This is a 10 minute documentary which outlines what we are facing as moms. The Environmental Working Group did a study several years ago that firmly documented that our children are toxic in utero and being born with a body burden higher than should be of an adult.

You can go to www.ewg.org for this 'umbilicalcord study'.

I would be happy to assist you in correcting this challenge. I work with all whole food, natural nutritional products that are backed with studies and safe for young children.

Also, the culprit for the rash in and of itself could be eggs.
If you have recently started egg products at 12 months, this is a typical reaction if the body cannot break down the food and the body reacts.

However, it can be an overall reaction as eczema which is basically the body ridding itself of toxins through the skin.

I would be happy to chat with you further. I can be reached via the documentary if you have any comments or questions.

Have a great day.. L. M.

Hi L.,

When we were trying to narrow down the food allergies, a doctor finally told is that you have to keep your child away from the suspected food for two weeks. My son turned out to be allergic to peanut butter. We had taken him off of it before for 3 or 4 days> When the rash around his mouth didn't go away. we assumed tha wasn't it. When we kept him off peanut butter for 12 days, the rash went away and has never returned.

Check also, Wheat, soy, milk, nuts, and eggs.

My son and daughter both get the same thing but they get it from ranch dressing or ketchup. Its something about acidic sauces. Its the stuff that ends up on the outside of the mouth that makes them break out. My daughter gets the bumps and my son gets a welted rash all around the mouth and chin, just as you explained. i thought the same as you but noticed the rash would be in the exact pattern that the ketchup or ranch dressing was around his mouth. Hope this helps and good luck.
S.
Mother of 18 mo old and 6yr old.

I know it is a little bit of drive, but I recommend that you go see Dr. George Bensch or Dr. Greg Bensch both in Stockton. Awesome with allergy issues. My family have been patients of theres for years. Good luck. I don't want to scare you, but you want to get her in. Sometimes after you are exposed to something for so long it can move down the throat and close the airway. It may not be an allergy, but I would schedule and appointment asap.

Hi,
Consider the pesticides? My son seemed to be allergic to strawberries, but only sometimes so I wondered if it was if he ate tooooo many, or... Then we found out it was the pesticides he was reacting to. We now only eat organic and he's fine. Good luck! My little son seems to be allergic to white rice. Who would guess?

we went thru the same thing when my daughter was younger. ended up eliminating all kinds of foods and kept thinking we'd found the culprit, but it would keep coming back. turned out to have been contact dermatitis. whenever there was a new tooth on the way, the drool factor went way up, combined with a messy eater and a pacifier meant a rash. i got vigilint about washing and patting dry, and then a bit of nipple cream (!) around her mouth.

Does your daughter use a pacifier? Sometimes the face rash can be from too much pacifier use.

Hi L.,

I see that no one has suggested a blood test. Your doctor can request an infant allergy analysis and it will come back in about week. It will only test for the top 10 or so allergic foods but those are the major ones and you don't have to keep guessing and eliminating food.
J.

I would suspect a non-food allergy. My brother, when we were little, would get a rash around his mouth when he got really stressed or excited. does she wipe her mouth with something? Have you changed that something? what about fabric softener? toothpaste? pillow case? Vaseline in a thin coat will prevent anything topical from making contact with her skin, including milk, if it's a topical allergy.

I just have to chime in on this one. It does sound like the rash might be other than food allergy related. But while you are looking at the possibility of food allergies, I have to mention one that might slip your attention because it's so prevalent in much of our food these days. Corn turned out to be the cause of our adult daughter's hives. She breaks out almost immediately after eating corn or any food with a corn derivitave in it. If you look carefully at food labels, you are going to notice that there is 'high fructose corn syrup' in almost everything these days. I think the one that surprised me the most was when I found it listed in saltine crackers. It's difficult to buy any bread in the stores that doesn't have it. I did notice that Costco now has some of their own bread boldly marked that it doesn't contain corn syrup... so at least some producers of our food are getting the idea that it isn't such a great idea to put it in everything. Just last night I found I had made the mistake of not checking the label when I purchased a cake mix for a dessert we were serving. I bought the one on sale at Raley's because it saved me over a dollar on the mix... but it had corn syrup in it, and within a half hour our daughter was saying she had to go home and take some Benadryl because she was itching so much. Believe me, it isn't fun having to read all the labels so carefully in the store to find the product we want that has been made without corn syrup. It has brought me back to more good old fashioned home baking.

I'd agree with the previous posts that this might just be a drool issue. However, that said, it IS possible for a milk allergy to cause just a rash and no other symptoms. That is the case for our third child, however the rash was not around his mouth. It started on his forehead and then moved down to his cheeks too. Our second child did get a rash around his mouth that then spread up to his cheeks. That turned out to be an egg allergy. In both cases, their rash went totally away within a few days of the food being eliminated, and it didn't come back (except when we tried that food again to be sure).

It could be that tomato and watermellon were not triggering the rash, but were simply aggravating it by irritating the skin that was already broken out. That might explain why you saw some improvement after eliminating them. Identifying food allergies through elimination trials can be difficult and frustrating. It's easy to make a false conclusion, and if there are multiple allergies, it can be impossible to figure out the culprits that way. Unfortunately allergy testing is not usually accurate until closer to age 3, so that probably wouldn't help either.

Don't count on the pediatrician being helpful with diagnosing allergies. The first time (with our second child) I was told by more than one doctor that eczema is not usually caused by allergies and that we should just treat the symptoms and wait for him to outgrow it. I found that advice very frustrating and didn't follow it. The second time (with our third child) I knew better, and didn't even bother asking the doctor "could this be caused by a food allergy."

Follow your instincts and be persistent. Good luck!

- D.

Hi L.,

This may sound crazy but some children are getting rashes from the water we are showering them in.From all the chemicals.

You may want to considerate that also.

Check out this site. www.nikken.com/ninamarie

Have a great evening.

N. Marie

Have you asked the pediatrician about thrush? Its caused by yeast found in the mouth.

could easily be cows milk. You may want to have her tested for a variety of things. Your Dr can do a blood test and you will know for sure.

Good luck

Hi L., My son is 19 months old and has been getting that same rash off and on for the last 6 months. I found that when he is teething it comes out. When he sleeps he drewls a lot, so I think that is what causes it. Is your child teething? To help I put Auqua4 on it to protect against the salivia. Seems to help him. Good luck!

Hi there,
Does your daughter regularly use a pacifier? If so, the rash is probably from drool and the pacifier. My sons had it and so have many of my friends children. Good luck!

I would take her back to the basics... chicken, bananas, rice and then slowly add foods back in her diet after 2 weeks so that you can figure out what is causing the allergy.

Hi Linsie, we have 20 mo. old girl, when she was 3 mo. she started to have exima on her chicks and legs. I found that every thing sweet is making her worse. We stayed away from all sweets for 4 mo. We find some suplements that cleared her skin, she can eat what ever she wants as long she is taking them. I recomened this to many people, they have good results.
Call me 9216 944 46 75. A..

Try looking for citrus derivatives in the ingredient list as well. Not only citric acid, but anything with citric whatever in it... my kids both had the red swelling around the mouth whenever they came into contact with one of those ingredients. We learned to avoid them for the longest time and it seems like they're growing out of it because we've slowly tried them again and haven't had the reaction we were getting. But watch carefully to make sure the inside of her mouth doesn't swell. Plain oranges won't do it, it's the acid part... and the more chemical the additive, the worse the reaction in my kids. Good luck!!!

Hello L.,

My 11 year old son has an reaction for a rash under his bottom lip, after drinking too much orange juice. Have you considered juices?

Keep a written record of all your daughter eats and also, what makes contact with her face. Maybe you will begin to see a pattern develop between food/something else that rubs her skin; and the red rash. Maybe the problem is on the outside her body and not what is going in it.

Hope you are able to solve this problem soon.

My dd got a similar rash after eating acidic foods like tomatoes and kiwi. We were told by a ped. allergist friend of ours that it wasn't a "dangerous" type of allergy aka peanuts but it might be a bit irritating (my dd didn't show any signs of discomfort). By 24 mos my dd stopped getting the rash and now at 3ys eats tomato products fine.

Probably you daughter is allergic to fenols, the naturally occurring chemicals that give red foods and purple foods their color. My son had the same reaction with the rash, and fenols would also make him hyper and weepy. Now I give him "No-Fenol" from Huston Nutraceuticals (1-866-757-8627) and he eats red foods without a problem. "No-Fenol" is a gentle, enzyme based dietary aid that, taken with food, helps the body break down and properly digest Fenols. There are no side effects, and there is no danger of over dosage because it only helps digest the fenols, and if there are none there, the body just excretes it. I highly recommend it!

There could be something that connects all the foods, such as vitamin C or phenolics. I have taken my kids to a natural medicine office that deals with allergies. It's called Cypress Natural Medicine in Palo Alto. I can give you more information if you are interested. They do non-invasive testing and treat the allergies. My kids (and myself) have had great success there. Let me know if you want more information.

Hi Lysie, My son highly allergic to Milk. I breast fead him for 6 months. Then I had to use Isamil formula after that. He was allergic to both particles of milk which contained caisin and whey. In the beginning we noticed that when my sister gave him a dab of icecream on his pasifier that his face broke out. Then one day the same sister gave him a little piece of cheese. She was baby sitting him and she thought he was going to die. It was a police officer I knew form my job that said, Hey, he's allergic to milk. He had 3 sons himself and one of them was allergic. So it might be that she is allergic to one of the particles in milk causing the rash, but not highly or you would have none for sure by now. I would say that if she is breaking out after some fruits, she might have an allergy to acidic foods that could be causing the rash. Good luck and hope you figure it out soon. Blessings, N.

If melons, cucumber, honey with pollen, bananas, camomile tea are problems that cause itching around the mouth, it might be a ragweed allergy, and ragweed level is high right now.

Hi L.,

It could be a cow milk allergy. My son has a cow milk allergy and a rash was the first and main sign. In fact when he accidentaly grabbed for my taco salad (at 11 months) and spilled sour cream on his skin he broke out in hives where ever it touched (arms, check...). The only real digestive signs he displayed were stools that were not firm and the ocassional constipation. However, once we switched him to soy milk the rash and all digestive signs went away. He has since out grown the allergy (which most kids do by 3 yrs) and can now have cheese, yogurt maid with cows milk, and milk. However he doesn't really like the taste of Cows milk do to the fact that all soy milks are a little sweeter thatn cows milk (even the unsweetened ones). But I'd talk to your pediatrician about your concerns and some advice.

If you are using fluorinated toothpaste on your daughter, or accidentally getting fluorinated toothpaste from brushing your teeth on your hands then touching your daughter, she may have Perioral Dermatitis.

One of the possible causes of Perioral Dermatitis is fluoride weakening the resistance to bacteria on the skin around the mouth (where you are likely to have a bit of left over tooth paste.)

You might also try getting a blood test done to eliminate the most common of food allergies.

My 4 year old gets this rash if I don't make sure that her mouth is rinsed off with water (not wet wipes) and dried after brushing her teeth. It is a bacterial infection that usually won't go away on its' own.

It often happens just from the drooling at night and the face staying wet all the time. Try a bit of hydrocortisone cream a couple times a day.

It may not be a food allergy, only a skin irritation. My little one (16 mos) had a similar issue a few months back. After consulting with our ped, trying to find the culprit(s) and failing, our ped suggested that in the absence of other allergy symptoms, we put a little vasoline on his skin before feeding and clean his face immediately and thoroughly after eating. We didn't always do the vasoline, but did stick with the quick clean. No more rash. It also could be a drool rash, if she has been teething.

But if you are still the least bit worried, take her to a specialist in allergies. The guessing game could be very frustrating and unproductive.

My friend's little boy had a rash like you describe, and for him it was a residual reaction to a virus he had just gotton over. I don't know if that's possible with your daughter, but maybe you should check with your doctor.

Hi L.,
Narrowing down food allergies is tough. I know, I have had to do it 4 out of 7 times. With dairy usually you would see other symptoms as well, like diarrhea or constipation and then congestion and coughing. It could be a grain. We buy multigrain breads these days and it could be in there. I have a daughter allergic to corn and just a little bit and she is scratching. I would eliminate all grains except rice for 2 weeks, then add 1 back at time. Only add 1 each 3-4 days, after you are sure it is okay. Sugar is another big one to eliminate. Fruit sugar can be bad as well. Apples are a common culprit. I could go on, contact me if you would like to discuss this further. Blessings to you, your family and the little one on the way.
By God's Grace,
Stac

Does she us a binky/drool? Is she teething right now?
Its sounds very much more like a "spit" rash caused by a constant dampness, and not a food allergy. The fact that the rash is also on her chin and beneath her nose follows the "drool" rash trend, as the spit usually drips down and off the chin and gets smeared all over the mouth area. If she uses a binky, chews on things for oral comfort, or is currently actively teething I would lean towards the likelihood that it is just a wet induced rash. VERY common, lots of children get it at times during their lives when the spit is excessive.
Try to keep the area dry by patting it with something soft and absorbent on a regular basis - you can also smear vaseline all over the area in order to create a moisture barrier between spit and skin.
Really, just take her to the pediatrician. The doctor can look at the rash first hand and be able to say much more definitively wether it is a food allergy rash or just one caused by drool.

consider impetigo
my son had it and it was irritated more by certain foods
there is a cremee that works wonders

hey hun just a thought: i had a cat who was allergic to his plastic bowls :) i don't know if people can be allergic to plastic, too...
:)

My daughter who is 23 months now had what sounds like the same rash around her mouth. We figured out it was from her bottle and it being hot and staying wet right there in that spot. It caused a rash that kind of came and went at different times but I just tried to keep that spot as dry as possible. Hope this helps.

This could very well be an allergy to cow's milk, unless you are giving her raw milk. Regular pasturized milk has had all of the good nutrients, bacteria and enzymes taken out of it and leaves you basically with a processed food. The cows that this milk comes from are usually not eating grass like they are supposed to they are not, but instead are fed grains and other things that cows are not supposed to eat. On the other hand, raw milk (especially here in CA) comes from cows that are grass fed and extremely healthy and so is their milk. It would be a wonderful addition to your child's diet. To read more on this subject and other nutrient dense food I would urge you to go to www.westonaprice.org.

Another suggestion to get rid of that rash would be to treat it with a high quality coconut oil, one that is food quality from a place like Whole Foods. Put it right on the rash and it should clear it up.

Hope this is helpful,
M. S