Milk Allergy; A Nubcake That Can’t Eat Cake

 Everytime my wife thinks of weaning off breast milk, we get a little surprise.

The first time was this little cutie.

The second time is this little cutie's face swelling up.

Milk Allergy, shouldn’t this be something I read about, something that happens to other people? I was so heartbroken for this little nubcake, who might not be able to eat cake.

He had formula as a newborn, while waiting for Mama’s supply to kick in. It  did not occur to me then that that was likely sensitising him.

That afternoon feed started off so well, rice cereal with cow’s milk formula. First contact with cow’s milk protein since he started breastfeeding. He seemed to enjoy every mouthful, smiling and giggling, for the first 10 mins at least. 

Then he started rubbing his mouth, I thought it was because of all the saliva; he is a rather messy eater. Then he started to rub his eyes. 

Then the skin around his mouth turned red, and worse started to blanch.

And it was the blanching that jolted me. 

Blanching means swelling.

At this point he started to cry, rubbing his mouth and eyes, which had now turned red. I’m glad he could still cry, loudly, no roughness to his breathing, no wheeze. Within minutes his face was covered with hives and his lips puffy.

My heart was racing. Treating adults in a vaccination centre for angioedema/ hives is a lot different from treating your own kid. I had some stock of antihistamine syrup, unfortunately underdosed him. A perk of being an old-ish doctor is having classmates who are by now consultants. A quick call to a paediatrician corrected my mistake. The paediatrician, a lovely friend, checked in on me and Didi a few times until the hives had all gone. 

The above picture was him after his first dose of antihistamine, looking a sight more cheerful. It wasn’t life threatening this time, but it was still very unpleasant.

Cereal with breastmilk, guess it’s the cow’s milk :(

We brought him to the polyclinic the next day and got a referral to see an allergist.

In the meantime, we now had to read food labels, making sure it’s free of milk products. We bought a can of extensively hydrolysed formula, that cost more than $10/100g. That’s Australian M6/7 steak pricing! More motivation for the wife to keep pumping.

After about a month, we finally got the appointment with the specialist. An efficient visit at National University Hospital’s Children Medical Institute, we saw the doctor and did the skin prick test that same day. Tested for cow’s milk, wheat, soy, fish, egg. As you can see above, he’s allergic to cow’s milk. The wheal for cow’s milk was bigger than the histamine positive control.

We’ve planned for a food challenge sometime in January next year. He’s got to conquer a muffin to move up the milk ladder, where we will increasingly challenge him with milk proteins that are less denatured.

We’ll still want to get him a cake for his 1st birthday, but it’ll probably be those milk free, gluten free, egg free abomination, but at least he’ll have something to smash.

Really hoping this beautiful boy grows out of it. I feel so bad for him not being able to enjoy ice cream and cakes with cream with his siblings.