To think hospitals should give baby of atopic parents hypoallergenic formula instead of normal formula

[ShineSmile]

... if baby is not taking to breastfeeding for whatever reason, and needs formula milk (normally for a day or two to build up strength etc), the hospital should give baby of atopic parents hypoallergenic formula instead of normal cows milk formula?

(babies of both atopic parents have a 80% chance of allergies, which includes food allergies)

Tired no need to act so superior!
I did a lot of internet researchlike most people and when my sons eczema got bad and everything online pushed me towards cutting things out of his and my diet. But the specialists I saw did not encourage me to be that hasty. I am just trying to give a different perspective .
I told people my experience - my son had a strong reaction to wheat the first time it was given to him - I left it out of his diet for a month until he had Allergy tests. He had a mild reaction to the skin prick test but the specialist was happy it was not a full blown histamine reaction and I could wean him slowly on it which I did. He is now fine with wheat. My point was that many people might not have sought further advice and self diagnosed a full blown wheat allergy and kept their child off wheat for years.

Which is why I think the original ops idea is not a good one. Just because you are atopic does not mean you have a milk allergy and it dangerous to assume that from he start.

Bodicea, are both you and your partner atopic?

Bodicea, off topic, but may I ask how you weaned him onto wheat slowly? What exactly were the reactions? And how long did it take for him to stop reacting?

We had a plan from the dietician which involved various stages when we weaned back on to dairy. It could well be similar. Depends if you do it through the health professionals I guess.

Yes we are both atopic shine. There is a strong history of eczema, asthma and hayfever on both sides. I have pet allergies.
His reaction was nettle sting like bumps that started in the nappy area and progressed to more of his body within an hour of giving him wheat. His body went completely red and stayed like that for a few hours. I gave him antihistamine ( he had already been prescribed ) and fed him. He projectile vomited his feed (rare for him) and he started shaking and went temporarily pale white with blue lips and starter shaking his arms in a strange way so I rushed to a&e with him. By the time I got there he was bright red again but seems fine. He was observed for a few hours and was fine.
It was his first baby biscuit - heinz biscotti.
I have weaned slowly letting him have little nibbles of things rather than a full meal of something. He has never reacted since.

That's very fortunate, Bodicea, but I daresay very few babies are as lucky as your son to have barely a reaction after the first instance. Indeed the reactions can become more severe.

I'm not sure it's wise to tout gradual weaning as a universal method of curing allergies when individual circumstances vary so widely.

I am not touting anything. I suggested seeing the specialist not self diagnosing that is all! I think we all know it isn't wise to get medical advise of the internet!!

Bodicea, you have been v v lucky indeed, and it's probably a orn off scenario.

My DD had wheat, very very small amounts in banana biscuits, and then after a couple of months a bit of chappati, pastry etc. as she has multiple allergies, it took us 5 months to realise wheat was causing most of the hives! They didn't even come on the skin prick test so we didn't even think it'd be an issue.

Sorry that is supposed to read one off case.

Just to mention another possibility here:
if I was expecting a baby who was likely to be allergic and who might need supplementation (and I realise that's more hindsight than the OP had at the time) I think I might seek out a possible local donor in advance: www.facebook.com/HM4HBUK. I know some wonderful women (some of whom are themselves dairy-free because nursing children with CMP allergies) who've donated milk in similar situations.

That's very interesting puddock I wish I had known about that as I was very worried what I would do if I couldn't breastfeed for any reason 2nd time round. I also like the idea I could be able to donate and help as I am dairy free for dd (she's combined feeding still)

Not wanting to wade into the debate about how best to diagnose allergies, but surely if a baby is going to be allergic to normal formula, would it not be best for this to be discovered whilst still in hospital? So giving them hypoallergenic formula just in case could delay diagnosis as well as possible waste money on specialist formula for babies who don't need it?

pobble yes we have successfully reintroduced wheat and soya for my son, but only with dietitian supervision after he had clear results on the skin prick tests

DoJo, my baby was allergic but it wasn't picked up. Baby's don't always react at 1st exposure, and also baby's tend to get baby acne too, so it is just put down to that.

Tired, can I ask how you reintroduced wheat in particular?

I've got to do that next week and we've been told to do it with weetabix, starting with quarter and increasing to 1. I am expecting a reaction though sadly, even though skin prick was clear.

A quick google suggests the cost of donor BM is $4/oz. reallytired please let me know where you buy your gold!
The costs of a milk bank are all fairly fixed (room, equipment, staffing, recruitment and testing of donors) irrespective of if the milk is used or discarded on the use by date. Of course priority has to go to the sickest NICU babies, but luckily the consultant took the view that if there was milk available it was better that it was used. The hospital strongly encourage mums on SCBU and NICU to express, so they can supply their own babies needs ASAP. It was made v clear that it would only be available as a v temporary option, one aliquot was all I needed to keep BG up until my milk started to come in.

shinesmile I have no idea how you put a price on sanity/sleep/quality of life, but I agree all are in short supply if there are serious allergy/intolerance issues.

shine that sounds like what I did. He did get severe eczema flares the first couple of times we tried (6 months apart) but 3rd time lucky aged 3 there was no flare and he can now eat it without issues

bakingtins

I donated my milk to Queen Charlottes. They test the donors for a range of diseases (like Aids, hepatitis), the donor is given special bottles and someone comes and picks up the milk. The milk is tested for bateria, and if it passes it is paturized before use.

I went to a la leche league talk by Gillian Weaver and I think she said it cost £52 per fluid oz to process breastmilk.

There is a world of difference between milk from a highly controlled milk bank and buying milk of some random on the internet.

That was charge to buy it prescription only from a hospital milk bank (in the States, couldn't find it in UK, presumably not normally for sale here)

I fundraised to help set up our local milk bank, and would happily have volunteered as a donor but not acceptable because I've had transfusion treatments in the past. You have to transport the milk in yourself here and the milk bank is a room with freezers, no full time staff, it's part of the NICU staff job to maintain it. What do they do to it for £52/oz? (genuine question, not having a go)
Even at that price it would be £400 for the amount I had (which I would gladly have paid). The liquid infant omeprazole is c£100 a bottle, not to mention NHS time and resources. The cost to us of 18m of misery is difficult to even start to calculate.

bakingtins
Its a long time since I attended the talk. To be honest I am not sure what they do for £52 a oz. I imagine that they must be factoring the salary of a nutricionist, equipment costs, having an office, advertising, collecting milk, screening, paturization. I guess that the costs rack up when running a NICU. Thankfully we have the NHS in the UK.

Hullo,

We're just going to move this to the allergies topic at the request of the OP.