Formula and eczema?

[catski]

My son was exclusively breastfed until he was 5.5 months old, and then I started to give him a bottle of formula at 11pm and 3am so I could get a little more sleep. We've been doing this for about a month now and recently I've noticed patches of dry reddish skin on his arms and legs. Could this be eczema, and if so is it related to the formula? We also started weaning two weeks ago - could that have a bearing on it (we've only been giving him root vegetables and a few fruits)?

I don't really know what I should do - stop giving him the formula? I don't see my health visitor until december, and to be honest I don't find her that helpful anyway (I'm in sweden and we have a bit of a communication problem).

Any advice would be gratefully received!

Formula increases the risk of excema, but it can also appear in exclusively breastfed babies.

It's a tricky time of year to study it because turning on your central heating can make a huge difference. You can stop giving him formula and see if his skin improves.

In the meantime, you should probably moisturise his skin.

Thank you ExplosiveScience - I am keeping it moisturised with aqueous cream.

It could well be the time of year. My ds' eczema always gets worse in the autumn. I would up the ante and go for Aveeno rather than aqueous cream, and take a look at what you've been feeding him. My ds' eczema improved immeasurably when we cut out oats (not that you are giving your ds oats obviously - mine was somewhat older at this stage). Maybe try cutting out a few things and seeing if there's any improvement?

This happened to our DD at around 4 months when we started giving her an occasional bottle of formula.

Didn't realise it was eczema at first. Only went to the doctor when it had got quite bad. Wished we had gone sooner and saved DD a lot of itching and us a lot of worry.

I'd suggest you take your DS to the doctor who should be able to confirm whether it is eczema and suggest suitable creams/treatments.

We ended up having to use a whole arsenal of different creams every day (at one point we had 9 different creams to apply to different bits of her after each bath). Blimey - I'm glad all that's behind us.

What we found helped reduce symptoms was to switch from normal formula to goat's milk formula. Didn't stop eczema completely but did seem to reduce the problems.

Good luck!

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Happened to ds2 the same day he got his first bottle of formula! I was so annoyed as that bottle was only "back-up", there was a bottle of breastmilk in his bag as well but the creche decided to give him the formula as he wouldn't drink the EBM cold and they thought you coudln't heat it! Cue mad year of expressing like billy-o to keep up with his demands.

defintely stop using the aqueous cream a study at sheffield children's hospital showed that half the children using it got worse!

I don't think I can get Aveeno here (just checked on the swedish chemist website) but will ask in store tomorrow what they recommend. In the house I also have sudocrem, a zinc salve and a zinc/vaseline salve - would any of those be better than the aqueous cream? We're bathing him with a little baby oil and sometimes some halos and horns baby wash - does that sound ok? I really don't know anything about how to look after this condition as neither my H or I have had it before.

Thanks for your replies so far - some great information for me there.

I had the very same problem when I stopped b/f.
We changed from SMA to Aptimal.
We also don't bath our DS every night and do not use bubble bath etc. Aqueous cream can be used in the bath instead of soap.
We now just massage a little emmolient cream on his skin after bath. Although still has the old dry patch (he is now on cows milk)His skin is much better.
Good luck. I think alot of it is trial and error.

Now I know I definitely can't get Aptimal here - I brought a big tub back with me from the UK! Have just run out (after using it for two weeks) and recently switched to a swedish formula, so I'm not sure if it's the Aptimal or the swedish one which is causing the problem.

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Can you get porridge oats in Sweden? You could put some in a piece of muslin and let the tap run over it when you run his bath. It's quite soothing, Aveeno is based on finely milled oats for its soothing qualities. You can avoid soap altogether, your ds probably doesn't need it unless he's managed to get into something really dirty.

You can get Aveeno products shipped from the USA (with difficulty), it's what I used to do before I found a UK online supplier. Some websites on this thread.

Yes, in fact I have some porridge oats in the house, so will try that - thanks bran. Thanks also for the link to the other thread - I didn't realise Aveeno wasn't readily available in the UK.

Aveeno bath and shower oil, and one of the moisturising lotions (Skin Relief I think) are both quite widely available, but the rest of the range isn't.

Ah I see - and presumably I'm just supposed to use the babycare range? I saw on the website that the moisturiser specifically for eczema wasn't recommended for children under two.

My ds2 suffered from eczema that wasn't diagnosed until one of her scratches became infected (our hv said just dry skin) and left her with a horrible wound on her forehead.

We were sent for allergy testing at the local kids hospital and turns out she was dairy intolerant. She was put on hypoallergenic milk (nutramigen) which really helped and given mild steroids which we used on the worst parts.

If its any reassurance she's now just turned 3 and eats and drinks anything she likes with no ill effects.

Lots of babies simply have dry skin but if moisturisers aren't working and your health visitor isn't much help I would take her to your GP and ask about the testing.

DS was over 2 when he developed eczema, so I haven't tried the babycare range. I didn't even realise that some of the moisturisers were for over 2 only. Perhaps it's the menthol in the that particular moisturiser that's the problem, the over-night one doesn't have menthol and I think it would be fine. The baby one is probably ok too, I just haven't tried it.

If he's also very sniffly it could be a milk allergy - not uncommon in boys (such as my DS). It is NOT the same as lactose intolerance and usually only lasts a couple of years max. Pressure your GP into having him tested (my GP didn't believe me that it was an allergy but referred him to hosp anyway - turned out mother's instinct was better than 7 years' doctor training).

See here for more info: food.gov.uk/eatwell/healthissues/foodintolerance/foodintolerancetypes/milkallergy/

In the meantime you could try (1) using soya formula such as Wysoy; (2) cutting out all dairy from your own diet for about 3 weeks. If no improvement you know it's not the dairy causing the problems.

PS if he has a milk allergy don't bother with other animal milks as the problem is casein, a milk protein to which the body mounts an immune response (like when you get a bug). Other animal milks contain a similar sort of casein to cows' milk.

Good luck! xx

Same as Mrs Henry, I had to pressure for testing. At one point he wouldn't even see DS2 just kept telling us he had diagnosed eczema even when I told him over the phone about the open wound on her forehead.

I eventually went to the surgery and told receptionist I wasn't moving until she was seen. To be fair she was shocked when she saw the state of her.

They referred us to the hospital who contacted me an hour later by phone and told us to bring her straight in. It was them who diagnosed the infection in her wound and immediately gave us allergy testing.

Two weeks later (after antibiotics, numerous lotions and potions and a change of milk) her skin was glowing.

Thanks for the info - that's very very helpful. In the absence of anything better I've been slathering aqueous cream and a zinc oxide cream we have here and have stopped the daily baths. Skin still dry but not as sore looking. Am wondering if its the cold weather we've been having. Will see how it goes over the next few days and see if i need to switch to a soya formula.