Allergies, Eczema, Hives ... OH MY!

When our son, Keyan was 2 months old he developed a rash all over his face. Our family doctor first shrugged it off as baby acne. After a while it only got worse and spread from his face to the rest of his body - it was really itchy, red & inflamed, and would ooze clear liquid (pus).

He was then diagnosed with atopic dermatitis - a.k.a eczema. He was referred to a local pediatrician who then sent him for allergy testing. We found out he was allergic to cow's milk and eggs. As time went on we added wheat, chicken, goat's milk and soy to his list of allergies. To date he's lost some, gained some ... the list stands at cow's milk, eggs and salmon. Non-food allergies include pacific trees, grass and cats.

Over time his eczema has improved, although he still gets the occasional flare up. Very rarely does he need to go on antibiotics or oral steroids anymore. He is very aware of what causes his flare ups, as well as what he is allergic to.

When we found out we were pregnant with Lily, one of our first thoughts were "I hope she doesnt have eczema or allergies like her brother!" Like Keyan, at 2 months old she developed what seemed to be baby acne. She was also a fussy, pukey baby like her brother. It was those few things that made me wonder if she was going down the same path.

I then made the decision to breastfeed her for as long as possible, as well as cut dairy and eggs out of my diet completely. In my mind her 'symptoms' disappeared within a couple weeks. Fluke? I'm not so convinced.

By the time Lily was 7 months old I decided to slowly add eggs back into my diet. With no reaction from Lily, I did the same with cow's milk. Everything seemed okay, I didnt notice any reaction.

About a month ago I started giving Lily Nutrigrain bars, they contain a small amount of dairy. I thought that was a good start to see if she could tolerate it. No visible reactions. A couple weeks ago I gave Lily her first bite of cheese, she loved it! Again, no visible reactions. Next would be yogourt and cottage cheese ... no visible reactions.

On May 24th I made myself a smoothie. Lily was going nuts for it so I gave her a sip. No second thoughts because she's had milk products before. A couple hours later we discovered a big hive on her chest ... milk related? ... quite possible.

I thought about what I was going to do next. I decided to give her a couple of days without cow's milk products and see what happens. As I expected, no more hives. After those couple of days I gave her a nibble of Nutrigrain bar here, a nibble of cheese there.
Now we're discovering Lily is itching her skin more and has dry, red patches on her arms. They resemble eczema quite a bit.
Below: the first picture is from her scratching; the second picture is a close up of one of her dry spots.

Tonight we ate out. I brought home some good ol' Mickey D's. Lily had her very first cheese burger! Within about 5 minutes of her eating her cheese burger we noticed a big hive right beside her eye brow.

Our plan of action now - wait until Lily's 12 month check up with our family doctor. I'll let our doctor in on what's been going on and hopefully she'll send her for some allergy testing. By that time she will be old enough to get the skin prick test done, in our experience it's alot less traumatic then getting blood taken ... in fact, it's not traumatic at all.