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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

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Original poster

HELP ... possible alergy to formula (cows milk based) - advice please

12 replies

koalabear · 21/03/2006 14:00

DS is 4 months old - BF for first 3 months - on Aptimal for the last month. First two weeks she was fine .... last two weeks she has had horrendous nappies (smelly and very watery), and also is vomiting intermitantly. One day she keeps her milk down, and the next day she is vomiting all feeds. We thought it was a bug, but the doctor suggested we try soy based formula.

Please - has anyone experience of this, and does it sound like an alergy to cow based formula?

TIA

OP posts:

Original poster

koalabear · 21/03/2006 15:13

bump

OP posts:

VeniVidiVickiQV · 21/03/2006 15:15

My DD had an instant reaction to formula at 6 months.

It sounds like an intolerance more than a full blown allergy.

When we took her to GP we got a prescription for wysoy milk. She was fine on this. Did the GP not refer for further testing or anything? Seems like they should since its a little onerous.

VeniVidiVickiQV · 21/03/2006 15:17

When i say instant i mean vomiting instantly adn whelts appearing on the skin where the cows milk had touched.

One particular thing we noted was that when people kissed her if they had drunk a milky tea or coffe earlier in the day it would make a red mark on her skin.

Original poster

koalabear · 21/03/2006 15:17

thanks VVVQV

can she have an intolerance where she keeps it down sometimes, and not at others?

how do you test?

OP posts:

Original poster

koalabear · 21/03/2006 15:20

ds doesn't have a severe reaction like you have described - just the vomiting

OP posts:

VeniVidiVickiQV · 21/03/2006 15:28

Well, we didnt need to test - it was a strong enough reaction. However, after a nasty incident at nursery we werent happy with not having anything to combat a reaction and A & E referred us to paediatrician care. After a 6 month follow up visit it was suggested blood tests were done to see if the allergy was still there (small children usually grow out of it) and they tested for a number of other things at the same time - namely nuts etc.

It turns out she also has a mild peanut allergy.

I would go back to your GP and insist on further investigation - in the meantime - try soya milk and see how it goes.

tiktok · 21/03/2006 16:55

Why does the GP think soya is likely to help? If it's a reaction to foreign protein, then soya milk will (probably) have the same effect.

Babies are normally given soya formula when it is diagnosed that they cannot tolerate lactose. I wonder if the GP does think it is a bug, which can leave some babies temporarily lactose intolerant??

Original poster

koalabear · 21/03/2006 20:05

tik tok - i don't know - the doctor just said she didn't know why DD was vomiting for such a long time (two weeks) and said to try it to see if it was better - she also said it might be reflux, but my son had reflux and this is entirely different so i don't think that is an option

with lactose intolerance, does the poo go smelly and running too?

OP posts:

mymama · 22/03/2006 06:03

We had a similar situation with ds2. He was fully bf until 5 months when I was hospitalised unexpectedly for a week. Due to drugs/anitbiotics I was on he had to go on full formula. He had yukky nappies for the first few days and then by end of week he woke up in middle of night bright red and vomiting. My poor dh didn't know what to do (I was still his hospital) and so gave him more formula - more vomiting, hives etc. I was able to return to bf the next day. Allergy testing about a month later showed allergy to cows milk. It was a very mild allergy which he has nearly outgrown (now 2 1/2yrs). Turns out my dh had given him a dose of ibuprofen during that day (thought he was teething) and ibuprofen contains wheat starch (ds also allergic to wheat) and the combination of both had set him off. I would switch to the soy or see about a specialised formula that is suitable for milk allergy.

threebob · 22/03/2006 06:10

Try lactose free formula first, as it could have been a bug originally and then left her lactose intolerant. Given the reaction isn't every time this would seem more likely. Also probiotics are very good at helping a dodgy gut.

Original poster

koalabear · 22/03/2006 14:40

are there any probiotics you can give to a 4 month old?

how do you find lactose free formula? pharmacy?

OP posts:

Chandra · 22/03/2006 14:47

You can get lactose free formula by prescripion. I would avoid soya as much as I can, there have been several posts lately about it not being longer recommended for several reasons one of them for the amount of estrogens (not good for tiny boys) and the other one, which I really don't know how true it is, because of it not being nutritionally correct (apparently very recent news). For what is worth, DS's worst allergy is to soya, our main suspect triggers for it are soya formula and a soya based bath prescribed for his eczema.

But I would do what Threebob suggests, it is very likely to be something temporary. DS used to get like that while teething.

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