Cows milk allergy and should I avoid soya formula

[Elderberries]

My baby is 8 weeks old. I am mostly breast feeding but don't produce quite enough and top up with one formula bottle of about 4 ounces a day. Have tried increasing supply but no joy.

Anyway was topping up with normal formula but my baby would throw up violently, have bad wind, screaming and contorting in pain, and I could feel his tummy roiling and contracting quite a bit. He also developed a rash on his face and head which slowly spread to his upper body. He also had red dry skin over his eyebrows. Had this for weeks and I thought it might be a hormone thing with my breast milk.

Then my baby got a cold and his appetite went down and so my breast milk was enough. His rash got a bit better but didn't go completely. When the cold went I got some soya formula and cut out all dairy from my diet. He's got a lot better, the rash has slowly receded after a week and a half (but a pizza mistake I made brought it back a bit after a day).

Had to see a peadiatrician about something else and showed him the remains of the rash and he said it was just dry skin. It's lots of pin prick dots and doesn't look like dry skin to me.

Anyway does this sound like milk allergy / intollerence and is soya formula not great at his age.

I will make an appointment with my GP but I've seen them already on another issue and mentioned rash and they didn't really take notice of my allergy suspicions.

Thanks - sorry it is long.

I would say trust your instincts. They sound spot on to me! GPs often do not recognise food intolerances

It could well be an allergy or intolerance. But soya formula isn't really suitable I don't think (although may not be too bad if its just one feed a day?) - you'll need to do a bit more googling to find out.

The GP could prescribe a hypo formula like Nutramigen, but tbh he probably won't as there isn't a current problem that he can really see (as you're BF and soya FF). Worth chatting to them to see what they say. If you want, you can actually buy Nutramigen from your chemist, but its about £10 for a small tin!

I wouldn't give him soya formula, it's very bad for teeth(once they have arrived) and it mimics oestrogen ( or something, not too clear on the science) so can cause fertility issues in boys. I would ask for a hypoallergenic formula to be prescribed as it does sound like he has a problem with dairy.

I agree with trixymalixy, the phyto-oestrogens in soya (=plant oestrogens) are enough to affect some adults, so I would not be giving it to a tiny baby. Hypoallergenic is the way to go.

Also my DD is allergic to cow's milk and her consultant said to keep her off soya too - apparently the proteins are very similar so if they're tiny and allergic to one they are likely to be allergic to both.

Sorry you're going through this.

Cass I didn't know DD was allergic to cows. Come talk to me in t'other place.

OP you need to get a special fomula prescribed. Soya formula no good for under 1s.

Thank you everybody who has answered. I'm going to make an appointment to see the doctor because of the points you have made about the soya formula and also he seems to have problems with that as well. Last night he was utterly miserable after a formula bottle and he's always fine after a breast feed.

I'm also starting to think he may have asthma or something going on with his breathing which I don't really understand even after talking to doctor in A&E. I'm going to have to write down my questions because I find that when I talk to the doctors my brain seems to work at half speed.

I write all my questions down too elderberries otherwise I end up forgetting something! It can also be useful to take pictures of rashes and reactions as you can guarantee they will be gone by the time you get seen!!

Before resorting to a soya/prescription formula you could ask your Doc for Domperidone, it's an IBS/refux med but one of it's side affects is increased lactation, it's often prescribed to boost milk supply. I'm on it atm and not breastfeeding and I'm leaking, lol. This would boost your supply so you could stop the top-ups :)

Thanks rikalaily - I could ask and see what they say.

Taking photo is a good idea too Trixy.