Milk allergy advice needed -

[Lazzareo]

Hi,

My daughter was always a sicky baby when she was breast fed and when we eventually gave ger formula at about 6 months old she had this terrible reaction where she struggled to breathe and eventually threw up everywhere, the second time we tried her she had a worse reaction which scared the life out of us as at one point she couldn't breathe at all.

At this point we found out that she was allergic to milk and since then she has been on Pepti formula for the last 2 years and she's been fine as we have totally avoided all dairy products.

4 weeks ago our son was born and he is currently being breast fed and again he is turning out to be quite a sicky baby. The problem we have now is that we are terrified of trying him with formula milk in case he reacts the way my daughter did and we just don't know what to do. My wife can't breastfeed for much longer due to another medical reason so we have a dilemma.

Our health visitor is useless and really doesn't get the severity of the issue so I was hoping for some advice on two fronts: -

1. Is there any where that we can get professional allergy advice to help us with this dilemma?

1. What would you reccomend as a way forward. Do we try him with formula in small doses? Should we do this under doctor supervision, etc, etc. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks, Steve.

can I ask what the medical reason for stopping BF is?? I only ask because obv breastmilk is best for him and because if it's a matter of a specific medication or something then many HP's are very fond of saying certain things shouldn't be taken whilst breastfeeding when in fact they are fine.
there are not many medications that you can't breastfeed on, save some strong anti-cancer drugs and things like that.,
so if it is that then I would really recommend researching it further to make sure that stopping breastfeeding is absolutely necessary.

now, should it turn out that it is necessary I would speak to your GP.
they iwll know the history of your daughter- presumably they've been prescribing the pepti for her? they ought to be able to arrange allergy testing for your son if necessary, and prescribe hypoallergenic formula as well.

But, I do think it's worth trying him with a small amount of formula first. some babies are just sicky, so it may not be an indication of anything else.

does your daughter see a paed or allergy specialist? if so contact them and ask the best way forward with your son

I have just had the same dilemma as you. My son is 2.5 and severely allergic to milk amongst other things. My daughter is now 10 months and I have been weaning her but have avoided anything my son is allergic to. She has been exclusively breast fed with no formula at all since she was born.

We had an cooked egg challenge for my son at hospital recently so I used the same method to try milk with my daughter. Namely, put milk onto her arm and wait half an hour, if no reaction then rub a little on to her lip and wait another half hour, again no reaction try a little on the tongue. If no reaction at all then I gave her some yogurt to try (obviously you would do all this with formula). Luckily for us she seems fine with it.

I know when I first realised my son might be allergic I rubbed some cheese onto his back and it came up in a massive red weal so with him it had an immediate effect.

The only other thing to do is park outside A&E and give your son a bottle of formula. At least your're in the right place if you have a reaction.

Just to second thisisyesterday, if your wife can possibly breastfeed for longer it might help your son. If there is a history of allergies in the family it is even more important to try and get to the six month mark being exclusively breastfed. At least you'll know you've done everything possible to avoid potential allergy problems. I breastfed my son for 20 months and he really benefited from it even though he does have allergy problems. I can tell the difference in his health now I have stopped. The consultants at the hospital also place a lot of importance on breastfeeding.

i gave up dairy myself whilst bfing, after trying ds with formual.

He improved loads. I am still bf at a year, and although its been very hard for me it really is the only thing that has worked after no help from doctors or health visitors.

Actually, although not likely to be a popular view here, there is an article in bmj where it was found that breastfeeding does not help protect against allergies(reference is Kramer, MS et al (2007), Effect of prolonged and exclusive breastfeeding on risk of allergy and asthma: cluster randomised trial, British Medical Journal, 335: 815-B818) - sorry I can't make a link as I have access to the journal via my work.

I should also add however, before anyone thinks I am anti-BF, I'm not and still BF my own DS2 who is nearly 10 months and has severe dairy allergy and I'm dairy free myself.

Obviously though the least scary option is to continue BF, but if this isn't possible I'd second the idea of trying with formula whilst sitting outside the a&e department. Is your dd under the care of a consulant allergist? If so, it should be easy to get a referal for your ds to the same one. We have done this. You may be able to get pepti for your ds immediately without trying standard formula since we were advised that as ds1 has an egg allergy to assume ds2 also did and not give him eggs until he is past 3 years. I suspect the same cautious approach may be necessary in your case as your dd's reaction was so severe. You have my sympathies, its a difficult position to be in.

My friends son ended up in hospital after giving formula but found he could have goats milk formula - don't know much about allergies but he thrived on it,We used it for ds as he is intolerant too! Hope you find something that works!

Joycey29, goats milk formula is not licensed in europe and not recommended when children have cows milk allergy as the proteins are so similar there is a >95% chance of having a reaction. This may be different when talking about an intolerance rather than an allergy, but when our ds2 had an anaphylatic reaction to cows milk they wouldn't even test him for goat milk allergy because the chances are so high. The same goes for soya formula (although this is not recommended for boys below a year anyway) - there is a 45% chance that children with cows milk allergy will have soya allergy because the proteins which cause the reaction are so similar.

Oh great - thanks Academicmum, 21 months of bitten nipples and droopy boobs for no reason . I did have my suspicions about the advice though, out of all my friends I breastfed the longest and have the only child with allergies. Oh well, ds seemed to enjoy it....

I have always been told to BF my subsequent babies (1st has dairy allergy) for a year and that if they avoided milk altogether then they would have less chance of developing a milk allergy themselves.

Where are you based, Steve?

I would advise against trying formula on your own, even outside A&E, given your DD's very bad reaction.

If I was in your position I would go to the GP and ask for a dairy-free formula, and for a referral to an allergy clinic for testing. They probably won't do this until yoru DS is a year old but you might as well get on the list.

Basically I was told, only BF, do not give any dairy, and if anything goes wrong with BF to go straight on to a dairy free formula.

Lazzareo/Steve,
Only just seen your message, so not sure if too late. My own DS is dairy and egg intolerant and I had great problems with him being a sicky baby before he was put on hypoallergenic formula by paediatrician. About to have 2nd DC and intend to bf again.
My advice (if not too late) would be for your wife to cut out allergenic products from her diet - most allergenic are egg, dairy, soya, gluten, treenuts (walnuts/pecans) - you can get good lists online. It can be quite tough - but tell her to spoil herself with dairy free chocs and lots of yummy nuts, jelly - there are nice things you can have instead of the dairy-laden treats (which I for one normally love). I have known this to really work - unfortunately, with DS we left it too long and by the time I was cutting all this out my diet he was on hypoallergenic formula (we had Nutramigen) and it had such a great effect I stopped bfing at 4 months. this time I hope to perservere even if it means cutting all the allergenic substances out.
Hope that helps.

Lazzareo, I would really strongly advise against your wife following a severely restricted diet herself without the input and guidance of a good dietician. Without this she could compromise her own health by missing vital nutrients. I reackon though that you probably won't have too many problems getting hypoallergenic formula for your ds given your dd's history. We really had to fight for a referal for ds1 (allergic to eggs, peanuts, cashew nuts and almost all tree nuts), but it was really quick for ds2 (even though he's still under a year) who is allergic to dairy.

feed him Soya formula. if this does not work you can feed him normal soya like alpro-soya. This is what we did with our DD.She was just like your DD and DS. She threw up cnstantly and was always having breathing difficulties.

She was perfectly fine with the Soya-formula from Cow n Gate. Sma do it too.

My DD cant eat no dairy products. No cheese, milk, yogurts etc...
#But alpro soya do all of these too.

Hope this helps.

If your wife is drinking/eating dairy. this is why she they are allergic to the breastmilk. Dont feel like you can not do anything. The Doctor can help as he prescribed my DS with the soya formula.

There are issues with soya formula and boys below 1 year. Soya contains certain compounds which mimic the action of oestrogen in the body (so-called phyto-oestrogens). There is some evidence (albeit debated) that these phyto-oestrogens can affect sexual development in boys and impair future fertility, especially when given in such large doses to a child who is still developing at a very rapid rate. I've read previously that boys drinking soya formula are exposed to something like the equivalent amount of oestrogen-like compounds as found in 5 contraceptive pills on a daily basis. This is in addition to the fact that many cow allergic children are also allergic to soya (which is in itself highly allergenic). This is why hypoallergenic formulas (pepti, nutramigen, neocate) are usually recommended before soya. The dieticians also don't like soya very much because it contains large amounts of sugar which can be really bad later for teeth. You'd really be best to get a referal to a consultant allergist and I'd be really surprised if you don't automatically get a prescription for one of the hypoallergenic formulas. Another thing is that if you need to move to these eventually, it will be much easier to introduce your ds to these sooner than later since they taste vile.