Milk Allergy: suitable substitute and general advice please

[technics]

Hi everybody, This is my first post so please be gentle

I have a 10 month old son and in the last few months ezcema has appeared, mostly over his tummy but it is slowly spreading to his legs, arms and neck. I have been to the drs and spoken to hv and they have said it is certainly not food related but have not suggested what the cause could be. DS has been prescribed diprotherm(sp?) and oilatum bath. DS was exclusively breastfed to six months and is now blw. DS is still bf but I do use some dairy: about four bottles of formula a week when he's at nursery, yoghurts and the odd bit of cow's milk when making porridge pancakes.

Anyway, I've read a lot of threads on mn re ezcema and I'm now almost certain this ezcema is caused by a milk allergy. DP has only recently told that he in fact had a milk allergy as a child, DS is very mucus-y/snotty and of course the ezcema.

I was thinking of cutting out dairy for a couple of months and seeing if there was any change. So my questions are: can I buy a formula substitute from the pharmacy (I don't want to ask the dr to prescribe it because she has said she is certain the ezcema is not food related and I don't want to tell her how to do her job!). And what can I use as a substitute for it in his food i.e. yoghurts, and small amounts of milk when preparing meals.

Thanking you all in advance and look forward to receiving any advice

Kif? I agree that I don?t feel that dairy is vital to overall health either? although I love a good cheese and cracker feast. If you eat a well-rounded, balanced diet, you should be fine.

Turniphead? it sounds like your child had a time with milk poor thing. From what Technic says, her boy is only suffering from eczema and eliminating milk from diet and using alternatives to see if that is the problem is hardly a restricted diet. My friend however has her son on an extreme vegan diet and although at 7, he is very smart and mature, he?s a little washed out. Crazy.

My dd was ignored by 1 GP at our practice and I was palmed off with cream, the next dr I saw took on board my findings around the milk (even though I had this diagnosed by a kinesiologist) and has now referred us to a dermatologiust because she is concern about a major food fropu such as diary being eliminated with a rubber stamp from conventional medicine - she also wants me to have the support of a dietician.

All I know is that my dd's face and eyes were swollen and the rash was horrendous - now we have no dairy and the rash has imporved and she doesn't swell. Cutting out what you think is the offending product for a matter of a couple of days can produce real results - stuff that you can take to the doctor and look for answers. Keep a diary if necessary. I worried myslef crazy about calcium deficiency but cutting it for a few days is not going to be harmful.

Hi again technics. I'm so glad that our advice last week was helpful and that your ds's eczema is already lots better.

As far as cutting out soya goes, I would be inclined not to cut it from your diet if he seems to be improving whilst you are still having it. I cut it out for about 3 weeks when I first wanted to eliminate likely allergens, and it is very hard to avoid! On the flip side though, I would try not to increase your intake significantly, so perhaps avoid substituting cows milk with soya in your own diet, but go for rice/oat/nut milk instead. I did give dd soya yogs on occasion, and would have been comfortable with her having one a week if she had wanted it. I'm not sure of the 'official' line on this, but this is based on my own experience/intuition/research/common sense.

I do hope that your GP is more receptive when you go back to see him. My GP also took a lot of persuading from both me and my hv to refer us to a paed, despite a whole list of symptoms. GPs are notoriously bad where allergies are concerned.

Sorry, haven't read all of the thread - just the beginning and the end.

My DD - now 4 - had quite serious eczema as a baby. Not severe, but quite bad. (We never had to wet wrap, but that was partly because the worst stuff was on her face anyway, which was very often cracked and bleeding).

If your DCs eczema is bad, you do need to think about steroid creams. I'm sure, like me, your knee jerk reaction is - how awful, there must be something organic that can sort it - but there just wasn't for us. The only thing that kept DDs eczema under control was a hydrocortisone cream. Used properly and judiciously it is a real blessing.

We then looked at a battery of other things. Quite frankly I think you can go mad looking for "the cause": for us there wasn't one single cause that could be eliminated and suddenly she looked like a lovely rosy pink baby instead of a scrappy angry blob.

You moisturise - and it may take some time to find a cream that works well - we had rubbish results with Eucerin, but Double Base was much better. We did cut out dairy, but under the drs instructions and guidance - don't cut out a major food group for babies without proper medical support, or on a whim. My DD was much better on soy formula (we checked out the infertility point, and had to wash/wipe her teeth after every bottle). She could tolerate dairy better the less "raw" it was - so cream was the worst, then fresh milk - the best was hard cheese.

You then have to look at washing powder (Surcare is best but doesn't get things clean, and we used to do a double rinse on it as well to get rid of any residue). Central heating was another trigger, as was cold weather. Also any time DD was ill or upset - teething, mild cold, very over tired etc, she would get a flare up - it was like her body simply could not cope with keeping the eczema in check as well.

So basically you have to work out through trial and error what your DCs triggers are and gradually you get a regime going that contains it. And as you can't avoid some of these - the cold, being ill, that's where the hydrocortisone comes in.

If it helps, my DD's suddenly cleared when she was 2 and at 4 she is the prettiest, prettiest little thing .

Anchovy - there's a bit in the middle of the thread where technics says she had reduced dairy in her diet for the last few days, and is using a hypoallergenic formula when her ds needs it, and his eczema has improved massively already.
(thread has got quite long to read start to finish)

Thanks - that all sounds good.

I'm just a bit wary of advising people to mess around with dairy/formula without talking it through with a dr or HV and having their ongoing support.

My HV used to phone through to the local hospital to update herself on current thinking, which was hugely helpful.

hi

sorry to jump in here but need some advice before i go mad, my dd1 was milk intolerant until she was about 3 when she started to have a yog every morning she still wont drink milk and has only in the last few months started to touch cheese!

ds is also milk intolerant and i breast fed him until he was 15 months, so i too was milk free, he then went on soya milk and about three months ago started refusing soya milk altogether, i have always challenged him every couple of months with a piece of choc, a tiny piece of cheese in his food or anything which has a small amount of milk in, because after seeing a dietician with dd1 she advised me to challenge her it would turn into an allergy instead of an intolerance! anyway yesterday he had a milk over load, half a home made pizza, which he has had before and he gets a runny bum, and dry skin on his arms! but last night he also had a muller vanilla yog like his sister had, he has never had this before, and last night he was sick, is this the milk ,bang to the head, or a dreaded bug????????

ps sorry to ramble but i have a phobia of sickness, i have younger baby as well, and i feel like i am the worst mother ever for subjecting him to this please help me

sorry to hijack

mumtoo3 - there's no way that any of us could know for sure, but milk did used to make my dd throw up. If he doesn't come down with a bug then try offering another yogurt next week and see if the same thing happens. Good luck.

thanks just never had this with dd1 but will see how he goes i use to think i was a bit of an expert on milk intolerances, but this has thrown me totally!!! just praying the girls are okay and we dont get it if it is a bug, as its dd2 christening on sunday.

Oh, and for those of you who were doubting that goat's formula is illegal, here is the info confirming it. I thought I had posted this already, but just realised it was on another thread.

goats FORMULA is no longer available...

goats powdered milk is
nanny goats milk

do they like the taste of goats milk? my dd1 hated the taste but she was 5 when she tried! i amthinking my 2.2 year old may try it!

Technics- {shock} at the price of nutramigen I had it on script (a months supply)but dd2 refused it so just use soya for making up breakfast and BF the rest of the time I'm dairy free.

If you would like anymore nutrimigen I have 7 completely unopened (sealed)tins of nutrimigen 2 ( the second stage version for older babies like your ds I'm in devon but could post if you needed ( probably about £ 10) although I would say try your GP again as a first option if she's still resillent come back as it will still be taking up space in my house.

Just a second here for doublebase. In the summer also found that regular suncream s caused very bad reaction in my DD, even the sensitive ones etc, had ROC suncream on prescription for her it is fab! (but v expensive to buy so get it on prescription)

Hi all, thanks as ever for your comments, advice and experiences. Just wanted to catch up with you all and update generally.

OK here goes! kif: from what I've read if you having problems from drinking cow's milk, it's highly likely you will experience the same problems drinking goat's milk. I agree dairy is not essential for a (balanced) diet however as DS is 11 months and drinks formula for the two days he is at nursery during the week, I think it best I find a substitute that will provide similar nutrients etc until he is a little older. I'm unsure whether rice or oat milk is sufficient for this or indeed whether he can go without as he is bf at all other times but this is something I will look into.

Turniphead and amidaiwish thank you for your tips. I completely agree with your posts too, self-diagnosis is not a good idea! Just to recap, after my first appt with dr, she wasn't interested in finding cause of eczema just treating symptoms. I am currently just trying to see whether eliminating dairy would show that this is what is causing the eczema so that I can be referred to a nutritionist who can suggest/prescribe a suitable alternative for the two days when DS is in nursery (i.e. not breastfed) as i'm not happy giving him cow's milk formula on those days as it appears to be giving him eczema. atm I'm not too concerned with the consequences of eliminating dairy from his diet as he is blw and breast fed at all other times, apart from his two days at nursery a week (i.e. atm he doesn't need diary in his diet anyway).

jumparoo I'm very envious! I was fobbed off by my first dr too and saw another dr today (will explain below) and was fobbed off again!

csws honestly I cannot believe the results already-not only has the eczema just about disappeared but he is so much more happier after a day at nursery and sleeping better. unbelievable. GP more receptive? hmmm see below.

Anchovy well the eczema isn't baaaaaaaaaaaad it's just bad . With the eczema almost disappearing after eliminating cow's milk for four days (and DP's milk allergy), I find it hard not to see a link there however I'm not happy trying to diagnose or resolve this myself. I completely agree that you can go round in circles trying to find a 'cure'; while there may be a link btw the eczema and cow's milk I'm really not sure whether there really is, whether it's the whey/casien/GMO etc etc - all I want is a referall!!

Doris I know I started to feel a bit faint in the pharmacy! I can't believe I actually asked the lady to check her stock to see if they had a bigger tin and when she said they didn't I said 'oh ok i'll take the small tin, how much is it?' Thank goodness they didn't have any of the big tins in stock!! Anyway, thanks so much for your offer, unbelievably kind that somebody i don't know is not only trying to help me with my problem but offered to take the time to send me formula in the post, thank you. At the moment, however, I'm really not sure i know what to do so I am going to try one more time for that referral!

So, if you've got this far, well done! The long and short of it is i had an appointment with another dr today. He seemed to fully take on board everything I said although was still reluctant to refer me. He suggested I keep a food diary (good idea) and try another formula as (in his words) it may be that DS is allergic to something in Aptimil and Farley's, the formula I have used so far, but not necessarily all formula. Well yes, I was thinking, it's the COWS MILK in the formula he seems to be allergic too!!! He said that going from Farley's to Nutramingen would be like going from a bicycle to a Mercedes when there could be in fact a Vauxhall Astra that would suit DS well. What a great analogy eh!

Anway, I'm going to try one last time, this time by speaking to another one of our hvs, apparently she specialises in nutrition. In any event by the time I do get referred DS will probably be over 12 months and be able to cope with oat milk for two days of the week!!

In the meantime if anybody has any further thoughts, they are all gratefully received. I hope this message posts ok it's taken me ageeeeees to write!!

not a problem technics as i said tis taking up self space, good luck with demands for a referal!

FWIW DD1 had 'allergy' testing for cmp and it was negative however she still has a swollen abdo and stomach cramps when she eats it(just like my dh), and she is not allergic just intolerant so even with our referal we were none the wiser.! We'll just keep trying every so often!