CMPA would you stop breastfeeding?

[Charlotteap]

Hi everyone very worried ftm.

my DS has been ebf since 1 week old, the first week he had lots of formula until we managed to get him latched.

Anyway I gave him milk last week just quarter of a t spoon and he got a small bright pink mark around his mouth but he sometimes gets this if I wipe his mouth a lot and looked exactly like his dribble rash he gets when playing on his tummy. so tried again today but the red mark also had like a nettle rash so thinking milk allergy? the rash appeared pretty instant and was gone within 20 mins and he seemed fine but was still pretty scary

But I rang the gp as I’m still ebf and worried I’ve been causing him problems for 6 months apart from bouts of dry skin he’s been completely fine , the gp said milk proteins can’t pass through breastmilk and when I told him the nhs website says that isn’t true he basically said it was wrong and there isn’t conclusive evidence

I do have problems with my parathyroid so always make sure I have lots of dairy the dr told me not to try eliminating when I suggested it he said could prescribe me a formula but that was it. I then spoke to the health visitor who said he sounded pretty unhelpful and should have referred me to an allergy clinic?

Do I need to switch to formula even though he’s not shown any symptoms? He had really bad dry ankles months ago and also his elbows go through bouts of eczema

Do I need to be referred elsewhere ?

do I still try to introduce other allergens? Apart from milk He’s had egg three times and wheat twice and seems fine but that’s it

thank you in advance

If baby has been diagnosed with CMPA then if you want to carry on breast feeding you will need to eliminate all dairy from your own diet. Can you ask to see your feeding team or a dietitian ?

First, congratulations on your baby!

your post is a little bit confusing as you don’t say how old your baby is.

it reads as though you are successfully BF your baby and have given him a quarter of a teaspoon of maybe cows milk? And you’re worried he’s reacted to it?

you say your baby has been totally fine - but you’re worried you’ve been causing him problems… he sounds like a lovely healthy baby and you sound like a lovely mum.

food before one if just for fun, and humans don’t need cows milk. It’s really for baby cows, not humans. I would concentrate on getting to the bottom of his skin issues and if you are really worried consider dropping dairy from your diet. It doesn’t seem necessary right now though.

Here is a good link to some sensible advice & suggestions.

https://kellymom.com/health/baby-health/food-sensitivity/

Your baby is fine on breast milk, there is no need at all to change him. If he was showing allergies to it (more so than some dry skin) then reducing the dairy in your diet would help (some babies can tolerate more dairy in the milk than others)

The amount of dairy that gets into breast milk is really really small and your son doesn’t seem to be that bothered by it.

switching to an artificial milk (usually made from cows milk but processed to remove the allergens) makes no sense at all:

in almost all situations sticking with the milk your body makes that is designed for your baby is the best thing to do.

my niece had cmpa and my sil had been formula feeding. She relactated to be able to give her baby breast milk, it made a huge difference and sil could eat most dairy products herself apart from actual milk. Niece has fully grown out of her allergy now

I didn't, twice. I cut out dairy and BF till 2 years each.
It seemed really daunting at first. Having to read every label and get used to missing some little cravings. But it hiebstky became fine after a little while.
I didn't want to use the formula so had some motivation and there are FB groups to support and have some recipes.

So sorry everyone , wrote post in a rush with one hand whilst feeding DS - he’s now 6 month 2 week old. Thank you all for the replies , very helpful indeed. The GP was reluctant for me to eliminate dairy due to my health condition but I will push to see a dietician. Hes a very experienced GP but seemed very dismissive today. He’s had patches of eczema since birth but they seem to be on and off and he can go weeks fine

i first gave him a quarter of a t spoon and he got a red small patch around his mouth but looked just like sometimes when he’s messy with food so tried again today and made sure he didn’t get it all over his face and within 5 mins the same bright red mark but this time had little white bumps , he seemed fine and within 20 mins it had faded but was still very worrying.

my gp offering a prescribed formula worried me as I was hoping to continue ebf

I also didn’t know until now that babies can outgrow allergies so that makes me feel a lot better!

How is babies weight gain? Definitely don’t be switching to a prescribed formula, if it was so bothersome I’m sure you would have noticed baby having problems before weaning. You can try and eliminate dairy to see if it clears the skin but you say it clears anyway. Don’t quote me but I’m sure I read that small amount to help build babies tolerance but this could be totally wrong maybe another poster can confirm

OP this sounds like an ige allergy to milk and many GPs are inexperienced with allergies so give rubbish advice.

Be aware the next milk exposure could cause worse signs and there is the potential for anaphylaxis.

If affordable, I'd go to a private allergist but make sure they don't "blanket test" him (test for lots of potential allergies to foods he's never even eaten). They should be able to give you good advice on what to do about dairy, breastfeeding etc.

If private isn't an option, ask your GP to refer you but it will be a long wait.

Absolutely, keep introducing all other allergens regularly, in accordance with recent studies such as the LEAP study. Doing so can prevent further allergies developing.

My son has many food allergies (including dairy) so I'm unfortunately quite experienced.

We found out at 5 months when dairy fell on his skin and he got lots of hives. GP told me it wasn't an allergy. It was (hives aren't normal) and his next reaction was more severe.

And yes my niece had a really bad egg and dairy allergy , had to be rushed to a&e due to the swelling. And now she’s 6 and eats both completely fine

I didn’t stop BF DS when he was diagnosed with CMPA, in fact DS hated drinking the formula he was prescribed that I carried on BF so that he could have something to drink other than water. We hid the formula in his food.
I wasn’t told to eliminate dairy from my diet and DS grew out of his allergy before he was 2 (diagnosed at 6 months when we started weaning as had rash on his face like your DS)

I eliminated cows milk and egg and that was tough but my thinking was I’d rather provide breast milk than completely processed hydrolysed formula, It was not like normal formula. Because of my thyroid my supply shot down so tried with the formula, had to force it down him he didn’t get much benefit from him, his weight didn’t go up (as he was failure to thrive due to my supply) so once I was treated for my thyroid I pumped and gave bm instead. It’s entirely your choice but this was what I did and I’m happy with my choice. Make sure you take a good supplement that contains calcium incase you aren’t getting it from other sources. My dc has pretty much outgrown at age 10 but it was really tough in the early days esp as alternatives were dire in those days. Join a dairy free group on here they will suggest normal food alternatives really saves time.

Oh never answered original Q!
I kept BFing until he was 2.5 but cut out dairy from my diet.

He was getting bad eczema due to it being present in my milk but if that’s not happening to your dc then you may not have to eliminate. I would check with the allergy consultant.

Your GP is giving you incorrect advice I would ask to be referred to the nearest paediatric allergy clinic. That’s what I did.

@Lauren0401 thank you , his weight gain is great I actually had the health visitor out just before he turned 5 month as I thought he was gaining too much 😂

@Alloveragain3 thank you , that is super super helpful. I will definitely not give him anymore, me and husband already agreed to ring some private clinics tomorrow as we know how long referrals can be. Regarding the blanket test it then wise to try and give him most allergens before going to see one ? DS hand / wrist was also red with hives where the milk had touched. Thank you again

thank you everyone if needed to go dairy free I will definitely try it as I definitely don’t like the sound of a super processed formula. His eczema patches come and go, we were at the dermo last week for something unrelated and showed his arms whilst we was there and got a few emollients to try. Since he was young he’s always had a really dry flaky scalp/forehead the kind where skin flakes off if you rub it and DS really struggles with scratching it , he has a few weeks where he doesn’t stop itching and making his scalp and forehead bleed , the dermo said to just use the emollient but it wasn’t anything like eczema and just dry skin. But don’t know if that could be related it gives him really bad restless nights when it’s bad.

Off topic slightly but we had recently booked an all inc holiday for October and he will be 9 month ish any tips with cmpa will it be manageable?

also if anyone knows any clinics in South Yorkshire

really appreciate everyone’s advice

My DD was similar, had a reaction to cows milk around six months when we were weaning. In hindsight it probably contributed to her reflux when she was tiny but as she’d grown out of that by then I didn’t eliminate dairy as she seemed ok with my milk and only reacted to milk she ate herself.

She’s 3 now and mostly outgrown it. The only thing we don’t give her is milk to drink / ice cream / yogurt. She’s fine with it in cakes, butter in sandwiches etc.

She also still has one bf a day so it didn’t interfere with how long we fed for!

@Charlotteap 100%, offer as many foods as you can before the appointment. This is not only because this potentially decreases the risk of an allergy but also because if he does have a reaction, they can then test and this test would be useful.

It's best to offer them one by one. For example, offer tahini (just sesame) rather than hummus (which has sesame and chickpeas) so if there's a reaction, you know what to.

We kept a daily food introduction diary. It's daunting but so worth it.

When we had my son tested at 7 mo they tested for the top 8 allergens and he was positive to all of them. After a lot of stress and food challenges we found out that 3 of these results were false positives. It was only afterwards that we discovered why blanket testing is a bad idea and not recommended.