To think antibiotics could have caused my baby's CMPA?

[GingerMaman]

DD was given formula a couple of hours after birth for about two days, because she wasn't sucking on the breast. She had it and there was no visible reaction. After two days she started BF and was fine.

At day 4 post birth, consultant insisted she is put on antibiotics as a precaution because they couldn't find a cause for her not wanting to feed initially. We put our foot down and said no, we wanted to wait for the blood test results to come back 1st. They threatened us with contacting Social services (!), so we gave in. She was started on them, and two days later blood test and cultures came back negative thankfully, so they stopped the antibiotics.

She was then ebf but one or two times we did give her formula as a top up. She reacted to that but we weren't 100% sure it was that and tbh weren't really aware of CMPA.

Fast forward to weaning stage and we found she is most definitely CMPA. Am I being unreasonable to think that the antibiotics may have caused the CMPA, as there was no reaction to formula pre-antibiotics?

[trixymalixy]

Yes YABU. It's possible it's the cause, but you really have no way of knowing. there are so many theories about what causes allergies and the reality is that noone, not even the experts have a definitive answer.

My DS has multiple allergies and I have in the part wondered, if I had done or not done x, y,z would DS not have allergies. But it's pointless, there's no blame to apportion. It's just one of theses things.

[trixymalixy]

Ugh, loads of typos!

[VivaLeBeaver]

Dd had cmpa. She never had antibiotics. She had the odd bottle of formula as a baby and didnt have any reaction. But when we weaned her she reacted and had to have goats milk or soya milk.

So I think sometimes you just get it.

[VivaLeBeaver]

I also think that the research about abx causing allergy problems is all to do with protracted abx use rather than a couple of days use.

[PuntCuffin]

Far more likely that she was sensitised to the cow's milk through receiving formula. You wouldn't generally see signs the first time they are exposed to an allergen, but with repeated exposure, a reaction becomes more likely.

[IAmOptimusPrime]

I really think antibiotics played a big part in my sons milk allergy and other food allergies. At 10 weeks he went in to hospital with suspected meningitis and was pumped full of iv antibiotics for 4 days.

I think they killed all the good stuff in his gut and although I breasted for over a year I think the damage was already done. He had a huge reaction to dairy in a breakfast cereal at 6 months but had tolerated one or two formula feeds before that. But then formula is broken down to make the cmp more digestible.

I don't think all allergies are cause by antibiotics and antibiotics are definitely very important. A few years later an allergy consultant I spoke to said that we should have avoided all dairy and eggs for at least a year to allow the gut to heal.

If I had know that I would have been more careful and I wish I had given him probiotics as a baby too.

My ds is now nearly 8 and is very lucky to have outgrown his peanut and tree nut allergy, something I was led to believe would not happen. He can cope with small amounts of baked egg too. But as others have said there is no real way of knowing and I wouldn't have done anything differently.

[GingerMaman]

Thanks all

IAMOptimum - I gave baby probiotics but that didn't seem to have done anything. The thing is as soon as she had formula afterwards she came up with a reaction straight away. So I think it's unlikely that she had the allergy before the antibiotics went in.

[IAmOptimusPrime]

This article explains it a bit. Again I'm not saying antibiotics are the devils work but it does explain it a bit. I give my ds optibac probiotics, I'm sure they are helpful but realistically I know they are not going to cure him! But hey anything is worth a try.

[somethingwillturnup]

Am I the only one that's incredulous that they threatened you with SS because you wanted to wait on the results of a blood test?!

Sorry to derail...

[OodlesofOods]

Ds was v ill as a small baby and given some heavy duty ABs. He has a CMPI snd we were told by Paed& dietician that the ABs could cause a lactose intolerance but not CMPI one.

[WooAGhostCat]

Right . . . .
You know CMPA is caused by lack of specific enzymes?
ABs has no effect on enzymes.
AB will not cause CMPA

[noblegiraffe]

My DS was pumped full of strong antibiotics for 5 days as a newborn due to Group B Strep. No allergies, despite his dad being allergic to eggs. I don't think it's as straightforward as that.

[trixymalixy]

Gingermaman, you don't react on first exposure to an allergen, you may not even react on the second or third exposure.

In my DS's case he had had humous many many times before he reacted to it. So just because your DC had formula before the antibiotics without reacting does not mean that because he reacted afterwards the antibiotics are to blame.

[eragon]

my son had antibiotics, but genetically speaking he was a very high risk for being an allergic person.
he reacted to first ingestion/exposure to many foods.

However you could equally point at breastfeeding causing his allergies as that was in fact his first exposure through my milk.

truth is that although there is a study to indicate antibiotics as a possible cause, its one of many possible causes.

no one knows. and no one has a crystal ball to pin point which infants develop allergies.

another thing to consider is that my teen daughter is now allergic to two different types of food with no signs of being food allergic before.

allergies are very complicated, if it was easy to pin point cause we would have a working cure by now. so yes you are bring unreasonable.

[GingerMaman]

Something, yes, threatening with SS really upset us, and we were ready to make a complaint, had it not been that everyone else in the hospital was just too nice, and we were way too tired to make a complaint. And now I can't remember the lady's name, though can picture her in my head.

[deakymom]

my son did not have antibiotics he is intolerant to milk wheat oats soya and allergic to eggs

did you exclude cows milk and products from your diet while breastfeeding? if you didn't the cows milk protein would still pass through via bm

most intolerances show up around 6/8 weeks rather than straight away

i developed intolerances at age 28 i had two children following that one without long term intolerances one with both my sons were sensitive to cow's milk but that is not my intolerance! they are now trying to blame the fact i could hardly touch milk during my pregnancy for why he is sensitive but with my other son i ate nothing but chocolate really milky chocolate drank loads of milk he was still intolerant

the fact is they don't know what causes it probably won't and people clutch at straws to find out "why" and really its just luck of the draw move on and deal with the problem rather than pinning the blame on someone/something