I know is not my business but...

[Chandra]

...I'm a bit upset about the following:

A colleague has a baby who has been sufering with eczema and who recently had a bad reaction to his first contact with baby formula after a few drops fell on her skin (face swollen, puffed eyes and eczema went wild), as a result, my colleague has been asked to extend BF and to "avoid milk".

After all we have been going through with DS's eczema and food allergies, I asked if I could help but was told that she was already on the strongest creams "even having hidrocortisone!" so no further advice given from my part as she didn't seem interested anyway.

We were having lunch at work the other day and she mentioned she had just started weaning, so I asked if she had been given the guidelines for weaning allergic children and she just told me that all advice varies and she didn't need any extra advice, she said she only needed to avoid milk but someway she thinks that "milk" means just "milk" but cheesse, yogurts, etc are fine, forget about milk hiding under the names of cassein, whey, etc so common in baby products.

So, I wouldn't offer any further non asked for advice but I am furious at the stupid HV who is providing obviously insuficient advice and has made her think that seeing a GP or even a peadiatrician about the problem is not worth it as the problem "will disapear by itself in a couple of months" .

That is sooooo sad. I can understand why you are angry. I guess not everyone is like me (for example) and needs to know everything! If I think that there is a problem with my children, I do as much research as I can and make a trip to the dr's/paed/specialist to make an informed choice about the way forward.

It makes me shudder to think of where I would be if I followed such ill informed advice.

We were told the same about eczema and the only thing that was needed was to find him the right treatment, waiting was only an extension of his misery and certainly things were getting worse with time instead of better. These years have ruined all my blind faith in physicians.

Mine too Chandra, mine too. My dr wonders why I ask for a second opinion on the important stuff or get a referal.

My dd was allergic to formula and 'raw' cow's milk but not to cheese or yoghurt... something to do with the processing...
FWIW I bf her till she was 2 -- by then she wasn't allergic to cow's milk anymore

blue jelly , I think chandra is pointing out that the HV hasnt got a clue about the difference between classic food allergy and intolerance, and may be making a very serious mistake with the advice she is passing on to this mother. The infants symtpoms sound like classic allergy rather than intolerance. This is a very tricky area, and very worrying.
I havent met many HV who are in any way allergy trained. I ended up explaining the whole intolerance v classic allergy to my HV. After that if any parent had any problems with allergy, they passed on my contact details to them. I even did a few house visits to give these mums a bit of support. Which I loved, but in the end the HV really needed to update their knowledge . But with little interest , nothing is going to happen.

Hi all, agree and understand frustration. I'm now pregnant with first and have had eczema all my life (I was born bright red!) and am now 30. My allergies have extended and I have eczema, asthma, all year round hayfever and oral allergy syndrome. I have noticed in my booking in book with my midwife, she has recorded this as 'all allergy syndrome'. For goodness sake!

I have completely lost faith in the NHS as regards the care and treatment of eczema - my hands look like a 50 year olds and on a bad day, so do my eyes. I just wish more of the hv's, dr's and consultants I'd been treated by had been more educated - and I feel so sorry for your colleague's child - she is going to make its life so much more difficult than it needs to be.

surely if the baby was allergic to yoghurt then the mother would know?

perhaps she's just sick of the world and her sister giving her advice? I can't say i blame her tbh. I followed all the advice with ds and he still has eczema and asthma.

Chandra - I know you are saying everything with the best possible motives. I would just back off though. Most people don't like getting advice unless they ask for it.

I have a friend whose two children had excema - first badly as a baby but grew out of it quickly thankfully. Her daughter developed it more slowly but it lasted longer. I did notice that this friend seemed to be "off" with any advice but came to realise that it was more that she felt so upset by the whole thing and that she was at fault as they inherited itfrom her. Not a logical reaction but a pure emotional one. Perhaps your colleague is a bit overwhelmed about so much advice.

Hopefully she will realise sooner rather than later though!

Buda - that's what I meant to say! You phrased it better than me!

Why thank you Dior!

SenoraPostrophe, DS is allergic to all milk products (sheep and goat milk inclusive) with exception of caseine. We suspected the allergy from the very beginning and had several GPs & HV dismissing our worries saying DS didn't had the allergy because he didn't have diarrea or projectile vomiting. We spent several months waiting for him to be tested after a reaction to peanuts (yes months! actually just got the appointment for June, that means 18m in the waiting list!). So, we went abroad to have him tested and, while we were there, we asked for some extra tests for other things we suspected and... bingo! DS was allergic to milk, but the allergy manifestations were eczema, a bloated tummy, severe constipation and excessive passiveness. Since we removed the milk I have a different child, definitively more active and full of life, but who has a delay in movement development of aprox 6-9 months thanks to an undiagnosed allergy to milk!

Dior, the only "advice" offered where the two questions mentioned in my inital post. But I thought and did the same you suggested, backed off and won't offer any help again. I hope that if she gets to question the advice of her HV, she will probably ask for help, but until then.... she is heading for the same we had , not angry about her attitude, she is just a first time mother who has trust the judgement of her HV.

You can't help some people! She might come to you when she realises the truth...