Poor little DD covered in hives after her first taste of formula

[FantasticDaisyArtichoke]

Hello, this is the first time I have done this but it looks like lots of fun.

Sadly my question is not a very fun one. My gorgeous 6 month old DD has only ever had breast milk (and a few root veggies as we started weaning 10 days ago). I am going back to work soon so I need her to take formula (please do not suggest that I express at work, I try my best to be a good parent but not an angel). Yesterday I gave her some Cow and Gate stage 1 milk. She only tasted about 5ml (she is not keen on drinking from bottles) and within two mins her whole face had gone bright red with raised white bumps like insect bites. They went after 30mins and a breast feed. I then tried Aptimal and the same thing happened .

What could this be? Lactose intolerance? I would be very grateful for any relevant advice or experience.

Bump - I know I am new but I could really do with some advice...

i would be wary of trying to diagnose lactose intolerance yourself...i would definitely take your DD to the docs ASAP ! if it is to do with the formula, then, you can be advised

and welcome to mumsnet !

Message withdrawn

Oh bloody hell!
Yes,off to doc's asap.

Hello btw.

Sounds like cows milk protein allergy

DD had this.

I think you need to keep b/feeding for a while adn take her to your gp.

My DD has wysoy SMA (soya milk) but there are other types that she could get. We get ours on prescription too.

You poor thing - I sympathise totally. You may find some good advice looking on the allergy thread - there are lots of LOs (mine included) that get hives from formula/food. FWIW I'd be inclined to go to your Dr & see if you can get an alternative formula (nutrimagen or neocate?)and a referral to an allergy consultant asap - I tried going alone & it rally wasn't worth it. Good luck

"really" wasn't worth it I tried soya and DS became quite severely allergic to it over a couple of months (apparently quite common) If you have allergies in the family I'd go straight to the Drs, no messing.

Oh poo. I know that you are all right about going to the doctor but I had been clinging onto a vague hope that someone would say "Don't worry Daisy that happens to all our DCs when they first try formula and is in fact a sign that you have a perfectly healthy and robust little girl..." Oh well, fantasy bubble burst. I will take her to the GP in the morning.

One question to those with DCs with cows milk allergies (in case that turns out to be the problem). Did your DCs react to dairy in your breast milk? I eat a LOT of dairy. I mean tuns. Two large tubs of yoghurt a day and lots of milk and cheese. I am a dairy fiend. DD has never had a problem with my milk. Does that suggest it is something else?

Thanks for the advice and the welcomes .

this happened with my second son. I waited about a week before trying a different brand but same thing.He would even come up with red blotches on his legs if I dripped some on there.

After a few weeks / brands I spoke to the health visitor who said it was because it was a formula and 'not a natural product'...hmmm I thought... She said she was sure he would be fine with cows' milk and why didn't I try him with it on his porridge as he was 6 months the following week (not sure what age recommendation is now - might have changed with new weaning guidelines)

Silly cow I thought - he is obviously allergic to milk and all sorts of hassles lie ahead. But she was absolutely right and so rather than search out some obscure formula he could tolerate I continued to breastfeed until 12 months, with cows' milk on cereal and cooking, switching to cows' milk completely at 12 months. No problems whatsoever.

But he did contine to show mild reactions on his face with some weaning foods - for example apple, tomato, tuna I think. Same health visitor gave me a book about some food intolerances to foods with salicylates (not sure of spelling)and sure enough they were the things he was reacting to. Not sure if the formula thing was in any way related tho part of her thing about formula was that it was full of plant extracts to bump up the nutrients to make it more like breastmilk levels.

A pediatrician did look at him and say he had quite sensitive skin - drawing on his arm with a pen (nib retracted!) left a clear red weal and he did have mild excema.

Anyway he is 4 now and seems to be fine with all food, skin fine etc so fingers crossed.

FDA - agree with the others, get reaction checked, but maybe you don't need to give formula at all if you are going to continue BF while LO is with you.
I can never seem to get my links to work on here so have cut and pasted from Dr. Jack Newman's 'What to Feed when the mother is working outside the home' info sheet:

'Myth no. 4: If the baby is to get milk other than breastmilk, it needs to be artificial baby milk (infant formula) until the baby is at least 9 months of age.
Not true. If the baby is breastfeeding a few times a day and getting fair quantities of a variety of solid foods, infant formula is neither necessary nor desirable. Indeed, babies who have not had infant formula before 5 or 6 months of age often refuse to drink it because it tastes pretty bad. (If you want to convince yourself of how little we know about breastmilk, ask yourself why it is that, although breastmilk and infant formulas have the same amount of sugar, breastmilk is so much sweeter). If you want to give the baby some other sort of milk, homogenized milk is acceptable at 6 months of age, as long as it is not the baby?s only food. In fact, if the baby is taking good quantities of a wide variety of foods, breastfeeding 3 or 4 times a day, and growing well, homogenized milk or 2% milk is good enough, but also not necessary.'

HTH. Good luck.

Just seen the last two posts put up while I was cutting and pasting Dr JN...
I must say I have a suspicion of formula, it just seems so unnatural to try to make cows milk into something it isn't, i.e. as close to human milk as poss. It just makes me think why not give cows milk - as long as you are still BF most of the time. My LO is very colicky and on the very few occasions I've given formula (when couldn't express enough before he was weaned)it did upset his tum, but he seems okay with cows milk - which he now takes to the childminder, along with a small quantity of EBM and lots of solids.
Hope abusybee is right and your LO will be able to take cows milk - I'd be interested to hear what happens.

i agree with abusybee - If you drink cow's milk & your LO has had no reaction whilst BF then I'd be inclined to think it's something else in the formula. I rarely have dairy - DS had huge reactions if I ate/drank dairy whilst bf.

Hi, welcome! So sorry your first thread is a nasty experience one. The few months from going back to work to the magical 12-month/cow milk landmark were a nightmare for me and ds. I tried expressing at work but it was hopeless, felt stressed, couldn't do it. I've always linked his eczema to formula, please see your doc asap

Hmm. Not necessarily iris. Still worth getting checked out by GP.

Btw the way, if you are feeling brave enough to try again, maybe try the Aptamil ready made in cartons. Costs more but didn't seem to irritate ds's skin.

Sorry I can't help with your 'bubble' either Daisy and I'd DEFINITELY seek medical advice on this one - but, if you've decided to mix feed and still wat to pursue that then there are plenty of different types on formula out there including dairy based hypoallergenic ones.

And while I'm happy to say that I do think breast milk os the most ideal form of nutritin for a baby I have to say my advice would be to ignore the comment below about being 'suspicious' of formula. MN can be a bit bad sometimes for infighting on the breast/formula issue but it sounds like you've made your decisiona dn it's the right one for you.

Good luck with your HV/GP.

Thank you all for the further advice.

FloraFlora - interesting weaning about the cows milk. It would be great if she could take cows milk. Does homogenised mean pasteurised? (am thinking that is a silly question but have to ask it anyway).

Iris - I will heed your warning not to go down the dairy alternatives route alone. That was my temptation but clearly everyone is right that I should go to the GP.

LIO - sadly it was the pre-mixed Aptamil that I tried already.

VVVQ - When you say "not necessarily Iris" is that referring to the theory that if DD was allergic to dairy she would react to it in my breast milk? Did your DD react to dairy in your milk before you found out about her allergy?

Will follow this FDA< will like to know what is suggested for you.

will let you know what happens

I am also a dairy-fiend and my DD1 was breastfed without any reaction to it whatsoever. She also had formula for the first time at 6months, collapsed with anaphalyxis shock and was rushed to A&E in an ambulance with blaring sirens.

Allergic reactions can increase over time - my DD1 had already tasted yoghurt and rice pudding in the 2 weeks before having the formula. She had been a bit sick, but nothing to alarm me as to what was to come. The formula was the last straw, if you like.

So if you are going to try cows milk or different formulas, be prepared - allergic reactions happen very fast and are very frightening.

I would instead, speak to your GP, get a referral to a child nutritionist or similar and take it from there.

On a good note.. My DD1s reaction was so severe that her consultants said she would never grow out of it and the best we could hope for was her 'tolerating' milk powder in biscuits. Fortunately, they were wrong. She has completely outgrown it. So after 4 years of reading-labels and being boring at parties, I now have videotape of my DD1 eating a REAL ICE CREAM!!!!!

Just to come back on this - I would support everyone else saying get some advice before giving cows' milk or other formula alternatives.

I was as surprised as anyone the way it worked out for my son and really hadn't expected there to be a problem with the formula (was very suspicious of the HV's "not natural" viewpoint). Saying that I am now glad in retrospect that it almost 'forced' me to fully breastfeed for 12 months as I think it was clearly the best for his skin / diet.

The reason I had wanted to switch to formula was the whole expressing disaster (as some others had mentioned) so wanted to just give myself a break etc etc. But to be honest by the time this all happened I was down to 2 maybe 3 feeds a day and it turned out to be by far the easiest thing to stick with that. not having to try to express for his porridge was a great relief. If you are keen to mix feed then there re alternatives but do talk to your GP.

Oh dear . I talked to the doctor today and now I am really worried. She said that it sounds like a cow's milk protein allergy. She warned that if I give DD milk products again it could get a lot worse and she could have a reaction like NorksBride described. She referred me to a paediatrician and said that until that appointment comes though (approx 3 weeks) I should carry on breastfeeding and introducing new veg to DD but I must not give her anything with dairy or introduce her to other allergy inducing foods like wheat or oats. She really scared me by saying the hospital may do something called a Milk Challenge where they take DD onto the ward and dab her skin with milk, then if that goes OK they will dab her lips, then feed her a drop etc. If DD is very allergic (which she thought she might be because of the way the rash was around DD's mouth) then she talked about giving me an epi pen to inject DD with if she is exposed . It all sounded very dramatic and she was rather pessimistic (sp?) about DD growing out of it. But I am trying to be positive because DD might not be as bad as the Dr was describing and experiences on this thread show kids can grow out of it and be fine.

I just hate the thought of the little Artichoke being vulnerable and of her going to parties and not being able to run around eating cake like the others. The thought of her having a life threatening reaction scares the living daylights out of me.