Cmpa hell

[Darlingbaby]

Hi.
After some advice please.
My second son is now 3w old and showing signs of Cmpa. My first son was diagnosed with it in 2021 and was on neocate until we completed the milk ladder at 1.y o.

I've taken my 3w old to the GP who said they no longer prescribe for cmpa and I will have to buy formula over the counter myself, ie Aptamil Pepti 1 and the only time they now prescribe is if they don't work and paediatrics advise them to prescribe hydrolysed formulas.

I asked if the gp will refer to paeds but he says he only refers if baby won't get on with over the counter formulas first.

In tears writing this. A 400g tin is £14 ish which is ridiculous for a baby who didn't ask for Cmpa.

Is this the standard everywhere now?!

My daughter was prescribed pepti 1 and then alfamino a year ago. I have a friend that was prescribed pepti 1 for her little boy a few weeks ago so I suspect it’s your GP trying to save money.

I had to fight for my daughter’s but got there eventually, can you try a different gp who might be more helpful? Or even complain because that surely goes against the NICE guidelines. Good luck, CMPA is tough! This Facebook group has always been a really good help!

https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1Af2BbeVpr/?mibextid=wwXIfr

I would either go to a different GP or go to A&E. Since your first had a milk protein allergy, chances are your second may also have it. Would it be possible to contact your eldest allergy clinic/team and talk to them. They understand better than GP would.
You have my utmost sympathy, my child completed the milk ladder at age 4 and still doesn’t drink dairy milk.

We went to A&E last night with concerns regarding breathing. He was seen by paediatrics for his breathing which was fine.
I mentioned to the paediatric Dr what the gp shared and he's done a referral to paeds clinic for discussion.
He's also prescribed gaviscon as he believed there to be reflux symptoms but advised to rule out reflux to continue on cow & gate. He was disgusted with the gp for not prescribing anything due to cost.

I'm going to continue on pepti 1 as its opened alongside gaviscon and see how we get on. I'm very aware in my gut it's cmpa as my son had exactly the same symptoms.

Ive made a complaint to my local health board regarding gp practice with concerns they're putting budgets before a child's acute and assessed needs.

@Darlingbabyhow are you getting on? Any improvement?

No improvement on pepti unfortunately but I went back and was actually prescribed nutramigen puramino and the change is night and day! Like a new baby!

The gp who refused to prescribe pepti initially had to explain he mistook cmpa for lactose intolerance hence the advising us to buy it. Another gp gave me the nutramigen no questions asked!

Amazing 👏 👏 👏 well done for being persistent! That is wonderful, I’m so delighted for you. My son is 12 but I will never forget those dark days of CMPA. As a new mum I was told that CMPA doesn’t transfer through breastmilk (wrong), he’s too young to have an allergy (wrong) and he couldn’t be allergic because he’s putting on weight (wrong again). Thankfully my second son did not have an allergy and my third child doesn’t but in this day and age doctors need to be trained in CMPA as part of basic paediatric training. Onwards and upwards for you and baby ❤️

We know our babies best don't we, I think because the first had cmpa and those early days with him of fighting for a diagnosis was so tough I don't want to have to go through that again this time but this other gp was lovely. Completely agree they are dark days, my son is only 4 and still struggles with eczema from cmpa and milk products now unfortunately. I had hoped second dc would avoid cmpa but unfortunately not happened.
Gps definitely need training, cmpa contributes to ppd in my opinion so needs to be trained to avoid such a thing.