Hi - I am new to the list and am so glad to find other mothers coping with
a milk allergic child.  Our daughter Michelle was put on soy at 4 weeks
after severe cramping after every feeding.  She then was diagnosed with
a liver disease which required surgery and a special pre-digested formula
(milk based).  She did ok on that, but later when we started her on solids
she started getting rashes from any milk containing foods.  So back to
watching the labels.  We never worried about it too much, it was just a
rash and our pediatrician never seemed overly anxious - her liver is his
major concern.  Then she had an anaphylactic reaction which scared us to
death - racing to the hospital wondering if she would be breathing at all
by the time we got there.  She had one other anaphylactic reaction in Denver
when we were there for a checkup on her disease - the hospital at first
dismissed us.  We KNEW what was going on, but did not yet have an epi-pen.
 We gave her benadryl and rushed her to the ER of Children's.  They wanted
to just observe her ... until she began dry-heaving and swelling like a
balloon.  They made us stay for several hours after she was stable - then
I asked for some isomil and they gave me a bottle of what to me tasted
like a milk formula.  Of course I didn't taste it until after Michelle
began to swell up.

The point is, the fact that our pediatrician and this hospital did not
take Michelle's allergy seriously nearly cost her life.  Has anybody else
had problems getting other people to believe that this is life-threatening?
 Michelle is 2 1/2 years old now and I worry every day that I take her
to the babysitter.  I think I have convinced her babysitter that this is
serious business, but would she react quickly enough in case she got milk,
or would she wait and see.  As many of you know, anaphylactic shock moves
very quickly from coughing to not breathing.  The thought of school really
makes me nervous too.

Any hints on getting folks to take this as seriously as is needed?

Kportra