How do I lick this?

I fear that my baby may have become allergic to my dog. Sebastian is almost 10 months old and if Rudy our Staffordshire Bull Terrier now licks him he comes up with terrible raised red welts. He doesn't seem to have any other symptoms of allergy - no sneezing etc, just this reaction to him licking.
What can I do? Obviously, I'll try to stop the dog licking the baby - but as he starts toddling they'll be sharing each others space more and more.
Is there anything I can try to make dog and baby less reactive?
How can I be certain this a saliva allergy? What else could cause these symptoms? Could the baby be allergic to something that the dog is eating? (Rudy is eating Wagg complete food at the moment.) The baby is quite allergy prone - he also gets a rash from the carpet, even upstairs where Rudy is not allowed. My older children have no problems being licked by the dog by the way!
The baby's skin reacts almost immediately after the dog licks him. Perhaps he's just got a very rough tongue?
Linda Parker, by email

Nick Thompson, holistic vet, advises:
You're right – it's either Rudy's saliva or the food he's eating that are setting off Sebastian's skin reaction.
The way to tell, therefore, is to put Rudy onto a hypoallergenic diet with a single protein source e.g. fish. Your vet will be able to organise this for you. My choice would be for a natural diet, of course! If the reaction persists after four weeks of the new diet, then you can try a chicken based diet to be belt-and-braces sure.
If Sebastian is allergic to Rudy, then there is no way, I'm afraid, of changing the proteins in Rudy's saliva. You'll just have to hope Sebastian grows out of his hypersensitivity. Homeopathic treatment of Sebastian may be very useful for this and his other allergies. I would strongly urge you to consult a good, qualified homeopath.

Your puppy's immune system seems to be hypersensitive which means he is prone to develop allergies. You may not be able to stop the puppy coming into contact with much of his environment - carpets, grass, dust, saliva etc but you can probably change the way in which he reacts. This should be possible by getting his food right. You don't say what you are feeding him but as the adult is on Wagg I suspect that the puppy is also on a supermarket brand too. I recommend a higher quality food which is hypo-allergenic. Feed an adult food which is lower in fat and protein than puppy foods, don't give any treats for now and feed as little as possible. That should be helpful but you may need some ongoing professional advice.
Best wishes
John Burns BVMS MRCVS Burns Pet Nutrition

I am emailing John to point out that Sebastian is actually a human baby rather than a puppy. But who knows maybe some Burns may sort him out!

I don’t think it is very hygienic to allow the dog to lick the baby so you should try to discourage that. The dog’s saliva does contain high concentrations of anti-bacterial enzymes (discovered by Sir Alexander Fleming who came from Darvel in Ayrshire as I do) but there are likely to be lots of bacteria too. You could probably reduce the amount of bacteria in the dog’s saliva by following the advice on feeding which I gave for the puppy.
As for the baby, I recommend reducing or eliminating dairy foods, proprietary formulae. Even juices whether natural fruit based or sugar based can cause allergy-type reactions. If the baby is being breast fed these recommendations apply to the mother too.
John Burns BVMS MRCVS; Burns Pet Nutrition