Anyone know what could be causing this ?

Could definitely be a dairy allergy.. my friends daughter had something similar and it cleared up so quickly when she tried cutting out dairy. Worth a try to see at least xx

Could certainly be an allergic reaction. I would keep a food diary for a while to see when it occurs and if you can pinpoint a specific food/ingredient he had before each occurrence.

CMPA (dairy allergy) mummy here of a 20-month old boy who also has non-IGE (delayed reactions) allergies to pineapple and mango.

Thank you , not sure how to cut diary out as he has a bottle of full fat milk in the morning and for bed still as he still needs it , what’s an alternative that. I could give him for this ? X

it’s always red , not sure what food or drink it could be some days are better than others with his eyes but have been like this for maybe over a month x

That's where the food diary comes in, keep it detailed and log everything he eats/drinks. Then see if there's anything specific that he seems to have whenever it flares up/gets worse.

Had he recently started having anything new that he didn't have before? Could be environmental as well, pet dandruff, dust, nature (though a bit early in the year for pollen), laundry detergent, fabric softener, different shampoo, bath soap, etc.

If cutting out dairy, then in terms of alternative milks the following is in order of nutritionally best: soya milk, oat milk, coconut or almond milk, pea milk. Make sure the alternative is fortified with vitamins and iodine. When trialling my son on alternatives we tried Alpro Soya growing up milk, Tesco's own soya milk, Oatly barista oat milk, Tesco's own/ASDA yellow carton oat milk, Tesco's coconut milk and I believe Tesco's own almond milk as well (though it's been a while so can't be too sure of the particular ones). We settled on SMA Little Steps Plantygrow in the end

That's pea protein with cereals and soya lecithins as the emulsifier. When that became too hard and too expensive to get here in Northern Ireland, we switched to Mighty Pea Milk sweetened (too much sugar in our opinion) and now unsweetened.

Coconut milk wise there's also Koko brand coconut milk I think x

thank you I’ll keep a diary of what he eats but I’m also gonna stop giving him dairy and give him oat milk as an alternative see how is he on that for a week and see if I see a change if not then it must be something else , I think recently ever since he’s had the problem he started to eat more fruit than anything mostly blueberries and raspberries he loves them not sure if it may be one of them maybe but I’ll try the diary thing first and see if anything changes thank you x

If it is the dairy, then you could see changes right away but do keep in mind it can take about 4-6 weeks for the milk proteins to fully leave the system. You would also need to make sure he doesn't have any food items with dairy (cheese, yoghurts, chocolate, cakes, butter) to fully trial if dairy is the issue. Then if you do see improvement after that period you can do the milk ladder to gradually reintroduce dairy to see where his tolerance lies (can Google imap milk ladder). If he reacts at any point, stop and stay on the step that he could tolerate. I would then also inform GP and ask for dietician referral, just so that it's recorded on his medical record as well x

okay thank you for the advice xx

That being said it could just as easily be the extra fruit, either allergic reaction or just because of the acidity in some fruits. If he's anything like my son, he probably touches his face, including around the eyes with food hands, so could just be contact reaction. Though generally that would just disappear after a few hours.

Also note if there's any other symptoms possibly, gastrointestinal (constipation, diarrhea, mucous/blood/grittiness from undigested dairy in poos, sick, nausea, tummy cramps), respiratory (heavy or wheezy breathing, congestion), hives, rash, eczema. Symptoms can be solitary or any combination thereof really x

he has eczema and does struggle to poo , he has more diareah than solids and 6 times out of 10 it is gritty , he does rub his eyes when he’s eating also xx

and he’s also had problems with his breathing for a while now he’s on an inahler due to always having a cough constantly and when he does it’s quite bad with it

Did most issues start around the time he started drinking whole milk instead or in addition to breast milk/formula?

I would definitely go dairy free a while by the sounds of it. Feel free to message me privately. My son went dairy-free at 7 weeks old, weaned dairy-free and we've only just passed step 1 of a slowed down version of the milk ladder a few weeks ago. I know what a minefield it can be, even once you're used it, but I'm quite well-versed in it now x

Might sound a bit weird but is there any mould in your house?

My son’s eyes get itchy and puffy and red at his nanas house so I peeled back the wall paper in the room he was sleeping in and sure enough there was mould growing underneath it!

It was growing above the windows under the curtains too aswell as in cupboards/built in wardrobes. Since cleaning it and repainting it, we saw a drastic change in him

Not saying you have mould or anything but might be worth a check since it’s really really common during the winter

he’s always been okay with drinking milk untill past recent months I think

yeah there is mould around my window and I’ve reported it many times to the landlord and tried cleaning it but thyre not doing anything about it so I’m going to take it to the council as I’m hoping to move also x