Allergy and the Six month EBF rule

[mammagemma]

Hi all

My daughter is almost 24 weeks. Both me and her dad have allergies (more severe in me) and she had some baby eczema over summer. I've been exclusively breastfeeding since she was born. However she never goes more than 3 hours at night and I am completely exhausted, particularly as breastfeeding has always remained challenging. The plan has always been to intro formula and mix feed after 6 months as I will have to return to work before a year and expressing has never been particularly fruitful. However I know the official advice to prevent allergies is ebf for 6 months. If I introduce one formula feed at night at 24 weeks instead IOC 26, do you think this will be undermining all our hard work to date?! She has always gained weight well on 50th centile.

The cause of allergies is poorly understood and there is no definitive link between ebf for 6 months and allergy prevention. There is currently a big study underway to try and better understand any link between age of weaning, type of weaning and allergies.

So basically, do what you feel is best for you. My niece was ebf for 6 months and still has allergies so there's no magic bullet.

I doubt 2 weeks will make much difference tbh. Especially as it will just be 1 bottle a day.

Sorry to hijack slightly but could you tell me more about this study, noblegiraffe? I'd be really interested in it.

I'm yet to be convinced of the link. I ebf for six months, DS never had formula and he still has CMP and egg allergies at 3. I suppose you could argue that his allergies might have been worse if he had been formula fed but either way I don't think two weeks would make a difference. Good luck with doing what feels right for both of you.

Its the Eat study

also Leap study

Thanks all! x

Can I just say that unfortunately the 'formula-fed babies go longer between feeds' thing is a myth! My dd went 2hrs between feeds when breastfeeding then 2-2.5hrs on formula! At 14wks she has just started to stretch out to 3hrs. She does generally sleep longer at night 10-4 give or take an hour, but still occasionally wakes at 2am.
Just thought I would share this in case you were relying on formula to give you more sleep ;-) It does work for some tho! Lol

Have you started weaning yet? I think I'd go with introducing food first and see if that helps her sleep longer before going with the formula, but that's just me. At 24 weeks you are well within the guidelines to begin offering food.

And the reasoning behind formula is that it's a form of dairy, so if you are EBF then it technically counts as a food. There would be no difference, allergy-risk-wise, between giving her some formula, and giving her some baby cereal made up with cow's milk.