Will Neocate cure my ebf 5 month old's eczema ? Let me know your experience before I reluctantly ditch Bfing

[thegrandsophy]

Sorry..long. Posted this in allergies as well as wasn't sure where best to put it. In summary, 5 month old ebf dc2 has bad eczema. I have just started cutting out dairy (10 days) but just been to see dermatologist who said I should just switch over to neocate formula as will never be able to restrict my diet sufficiently. Really don't want to suddenly give up bfing but do want itchy sore child to get better. Haven't found giving up dairy that bad and am happy to restrict my diet much further but not sure what to do. Hasn't really improved eczema though. Happy to supplement with a bit of formula as going back to work in 2 months but was planning to keep up morning, evening and night feeds. Was crying last night at the thought of not feeding her anymore (also genuinely scared of how to parent an itchy non sleeping child without access to boob). Am I being horribly selfish to want to continue bfing as recognise probably more for my benefit than hers. Also genuinely worried that I could do it and it doesn't work and then I have given up bfing for nothing. Also what the hell am I going to feed her when she reaches 6 months if I can't restrict my diet sufficiently, presumably neither can she?

I am by no means an expert on dermatology but I think you are right to explore other options before putting your dd on formula rather than bm. And you are not being selfish in the least! Continuing to bf will benefit your dd far more than it will benefit you - both nutritionally and for comfort and security. Well done on cutting out dairy and I hope it starts to show some results soon for your poor itchy baby. Sounds like a tough time for you both. Good luck with whatever you decide to do in the end. Hopefully somebody more informed than I am will come along soon with some more useful advice!

Thank you for the lovely reply. Unfortunately, has started me crying again but in a nice, people are very sympathetic, type way. Probably slightly more fragile than I should be....

You might need to be utterly dairy free for a month or more to see the full effects feeding through to your baby. I know there are many on here who have severely dairy sensitive babies and who have indeed managed to restrict their diets successfully. But it can be very, very hard and requires extreme dedication. I'm sure they will be along shortly x

I knew I hadn't been doing it for long enough. Was wondering how long it takes before you see an improvement. Have been pretty strict for last 10 days and haven't found it that bad (surprising how untempting chocolate is when you look at an itchy baby) but have just realised that have to include Soy and possibly wheat, eggs, fish, nuts, seeds, ?anything else so am probably not being strict enough with the non-dairy side of things. Mind you, now that chocolate is gone everything else seems like a doddle.

Just wondering, would it be of any use to have your dd tested for food allergies/intolerances? Might help you determine which foods you need to cut out.

Stick with BF and get tested for allergies - then you know what to cut out of your diet. i did it, it was fine. (Took a lot of food diary + hospital waiting time to get tested though, because it helps if you have SOME idea as the babies have to have skin prick tests, so the fewer the better..) but definitely worth it...

Cut out one thing at a time for 3 weeks and diary any changes. FWIW - Dairy is usually first most potent allergen and EGG is the second... If you cut out everything at once you won't know what is the cause..

Egg derivatives can be as tricky as CMP to cut out but this should help you modify your diet...

Egg Products
Egg derivatives can be identified on a food label as follows:

• Albumin
• Egg Powder
• Egg Protein
• Egg White
• Egg Yolk
• Dried Egg
• Frozen Egg
• Globulin
• Livetin
• Ovalbumin
• Ovaglobulin
• Ovomucin
• Ovovitellin
• Pasteurised Egg
• Vitellin
• Lecithin (also known as E322, this may be an egg derivative, but it is usually derived from soya. Still, it is important to be aware that E322 is a possible allergen, if you suffer from egg allergy.)

The cosmetic and beauty products most likely to contain egg derivatives are hair shampoos and conditioners.

You need to get a referral from your GP. They should support your decision to carry on BF and get you an urgent appointment with a pediatrician, especially as you are going to weaning onto solids soon, and that could make things very difficult, which they should appreciate!

Meantime, moisturise a few times a day to keep the eczema at bay wherever possible - by minimising scratching... I used Oilatum prescribed by the GP, works a treat.

This was from a consultant dermatologist onwardsmummy -not the GP so presume she knew what she was talking about. She is being RAST tested on Thursday but the consultant thought that the results were likely to be fairly inconclusive at this age. She is not being skin tested - not sure why not.

The problem with moisturising is that some of the creams I have tried seem to make her eczema flare which makes me sound even more paranoid (epaderm, oily cream, aveeno). In fact had been getting things under control using steroids and olive oil only then thought I was being a bit paranoid and tried her on some epaderm again over the weekend for it all to flare up again. And then Aveeno again yesterday as I was told off for not using proper emollients. And feel selfish keeping her on breast milk while I try and find the culprit when it could all be made miraculously better with formula if I wasn't so precious.....

I was in the same situation - I disagree that you're being selfish by continuing to BF.

Yes I think creams are probably not suitable for everyone. I guess olive oil is unlikely to make it worse ..? If olive oil is working can you continue with that? steroid creams will help the itch/scratch cycle i was told so long as you use them sparingly, should be fine...

good luck on Thursday!

I wouldn't assume that her eczema would just disappear if she were having formula instead of bm. From what I understand, removing food triggers can help reduce the severity of outbreaks but is unlikely to 'cure' the eczema - you'd probably still need to use the steroid creams & olive oil from time to time to control it. So please don't beat yourself up over this. Continuing to bf is helping your dd in many ways. And if it helps you to keep her more comfortable, then all the better! Not selfish at all.

BTW, I think the reason skin tests aren't used with severe eczema is because it's difficult to differentiate any allergic reaction from the existing eczema flare-up.

my ds3 who is 18 months is dairy intolerant and.allergic to eggs. I still breastfeed. just restrict dairy, eggs and soya (allergic to soya also). his paedetrician has always encouraged me to breast feed-we did try him on a formula but was not interested so I am still bf with all professionals support apart from a new hv but that's a whole different thread.

That's really nice to hear. Did you give up fish, wheat and nuts as well 3 monkies at the start? I do have to go back to work in 2 months so I was thinking of introducing her to some formula then in any case but just feel I have to make a decision much sooner than I had planned. I can see the science behind the neocate idea. Feel I may be viewed to be a bit martyrish if I insist on diet alone. And would like some access to neocate if she needs it as rubbish at expressing. But fed last one until 11 months and didn't occur to me that wouldn't do the same.