Cows Milk Allergy?

[MillyBeans]

Morning all,
My son is just under 7 weeks old and has the following symptoms: Vomiting curdled milk during and after feeds, acid rising in throat. Choking and gagging. Coughing and sneezing. Inside of nose swells and he struggles to breathe inmediately after feeding. Extremely restless sleep unless being held upright. Unable to settle. Under eyes go puffy. Arches back even though no trapped wind. Little spots on face. Belly gurgles during and after eating. Dry, scaly skin on forehead (perhaps eczema?)

We suspected severe reflux, but now believe that this could be caused by a Cows Milk Allergy. Has anyone else experienced this and if so, does this sound like an allergy?
I have our 6 week appointment with the GP today and will raise this then and request a trial of Cows Milk free formula.. but in the event that the GP is reluctant to prescribe (even though I have a baby that struggles to breathe) is there anything I can buy over the counter? We're desperate now.. my partner and I have been holding this little one constantly for over a week now to try to help his pain. I've been referred to mental health services due to this and my partner is having to take leave from work which we can't afford.

Any information anyone has around their own experiences would be so greatly received. Thank you in advance x

Hello. My LO had exact symptoms and we got a trail of Aptamil Pepti. He was so much better after this maybe about 60% better. I’d push to get a prescription. Or you can buy Aptamil Pepti from boots over the counter but it’s expensive but if you wanted to try a small tin and see how he gets on and if he’s better then demand them to give you it on prescription x

Sounds like CMPA to me, my son was the same and we were fobbed off for ages...

Then we took him to a different GP and within seconds he was certain it was that and prescribed nutramigen, as pp said it was about 60% better but we were sent to a specialist regarding silent reflux and put under a dietitian for about a year with regards to his CMPA!

It was awful, the whole situation but getting the milk, assessments and advice helped massively.

Fingers crossed you get sorted, if you feel like it's a possibility then just outright ask, they don't like to prescribe the milk as it's expensive. Ask for a trial prescription to try to rule it out.

Good luck 🤞🏻

That sounds like quite a bad reaction - push for amino acid formula as formulas like nutramigen still has dairy in. Amino acid formula like Neocate hasn't been anywhere near a cow so will definitely help rule out CMPA if he still has those issues.

Thank you all so much. We've been given Nutramigen on a 4 week trial so fingers crossed this helps him. If it doesn't, I'll push for neocate @CardiganBlobby. I've got a call with the GP in a week to see how it's going and a consultation with a private GP in early December for his take on things too.

Great news.

Hope things start to improve.

Oh also, I was meant to say in my original post nutramigen can be very watery, if you find this perhaps mention it when you speak to the doctor again they can prescribe carobel, it's a thickening agent which helps to make it more filling.

Let us know how you get on. Took a few days for my LO to get used to the new formula x

We were put on nutramigen initially and things improved for a few days before they got worse again so keep an eye out! Symptoms came back for us, not quite as badly as the first time but I think would have escalated to the same point if I hadn't pushed for new formula.

I also would note that if you use carobel as a thickener, it also contains potential allergen soya so could cause other reactions if LO is sensitive to that too. If you can manage without I would recommend that but obviously use it if needed!

There is a good FB group for CMPA too - a lot of what I have learned had come from there so would recommend that too.

My daughter is nearly 13 now, which a life threatening milk allergy, so it’s a long time since she was on formula but from memory, nutramogen does still contain dairy and it still made her very poorly so don’t assume it’s not CMPA if there’s still a reaction. I BF until she was 18 months in the end and the only thing that she could tolerate was neocate, as that is 100% milk free. Good luck

We had very similar and used a formula which is not available in uk (as I'm not in uk anymore) but which is similar to nutramigen, yes they contain dairy but it is hydrolysed which means it's broken down so much they can tolerate it. We also were prescribed Zantac, this was pre- re call. So with that double pronged attack she improved a lot and by 4 months it got a lot better.

I hope you see light soon, I know it's awful. Well done for advocating for your baby and keep doing so.

I'm so overwhelmed by your kind help. Probably a bit emotional through lack of sleep, but here we are! He's now had 3 bottles of the Nutramigen and will NOT drink it at room temperature so we're having to warm it up a smidge. Once warmed though, he seems quite happy to drink it. We've not really seen any differences just yet but it's early days and apparently it can take a couple of days for the stuff already in his system to clear off.
If this doesn't make things better for him I'll definitely push for Neocate. I've got a call with the GP in a weeks' time. Would you say that was enough time to see if the Nutramigen is going to work?

If nothing works it really will be a case of holding this little guy upright until his reflux subsides. He started on omeprazole a while ago but the constipation was unreal and he cried constantly so we weren't prepared to continue putting him through that.

There's a lot of trial and error at this point and I know how hard it is, I spent a lot of time crying with him!

I think a week you may see some improvement but I think maybe 2 to know for sure, I sort of swapped around a little bit and wished I hadn't. If I had stayed with the first one I would have seen improvement but just had to wait. The taste of nutramigen is foul so takes a little while for them to get used too.

If reflux is an issue too ask for the carobel, the watery it is the more easily it is brought back up iyswim. Maybe the the thickener will help keep it in his tummy, my son tried omeprazole too and made things worse IMO. We did use baby gaviscon for a little while but every other day or something so not to cause constipation.

It's so hard, I completely understand and topped with lack of sleep it feels like you are doing everything wrong! But you are doing great and trying your best and this stage won't last forever.

My son now drinks milk! I never thought I'd see the day!!!

Carobel Instant, 135g https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00ARV1LIW/ref=cmswwrcppapiglttfabcNCE8AMFVCJ3FWZRK2RM1??encoding=UTF8&psc=1

@arcof

We had very similar and used a formula which is not available in uk (as I'm not in uk anymore) but which is similar to nutramigen, yes they contain dairy but it is hydrolysed which means it's broken down so much they can tolerate it. We also were prescribed Zantac, this was pre- re call. So with that double pronged attack she improved a lot and by 4 months it got a lot better.

I hope you see light soon, I know it's awful. Well done for advocating for your baby and keep doing so.

That was my point - they can’t always tolerate it. My daughter couldn’t.

There are milk free formulas out there,Sma has one.

It can take up to 6 weeks for the cow's milk to clear the system so unfortunately the reflux and vomiting will not stop in a week. You should see significant improvement re rash and swelling - if you are on antihistamines be careful as that may suppress any bad nutramigen reactions which you ideally want to be aware of as soon as possible.

We were also put on a 4 week trial of nutramigen but had to change after a week so hopefully you will know by then whether or not it is working for you. Good luck and moisturise the dry bits after every nappy change!

Going through the same thing currently. Any updates on how you got on?

Also watching with interest. How are you getting on now @MillyBeans?