Eczema and Aptimil alternatives for reflux baby

[shinysarah]

Hi.
My lo is 12 weeks old and his eczema is getting worse.  My HV has advised I go to the docs and change his milk from Aptimil Easy Digest milk to one on prescription from the doctor.  Obviously Im concerned about his reflux/eczema/change in milk and how he reacts.

Does anybody have any similar experiences?

[scarlettsmom]

Hi,
Have they diagnosed a milk allergy or intolerance?  Those symptoms can sometimes go hand in had with an intolerance.  By switching to a prescription formula the proteins are so broken down that there shouldn't be an issue digesting them and most symptoms will go away.  Did they say which formula?  (alimentum/nutramigen or neocate/elecare).  It is very common to go to a hypoallergenic formula and can be very helpful for you LO.  Some people have a hard time getting the prescription, so it's nice to see your HV is working quickly!

[~ Vik ~]

Don't know much about HA formulas as I bfed, but I did go on a dairy elimination diet for my ds' eczema when he was younger!  Eczema/asthma/allergies are all interconnected, so an allergy or intolerance could definitely be impacting his skin.  Dylan's since been diagnosed with multiple food allergies, and since we've gotten all of that sorted (eliminating the foods from his diet and mine) his skin has improved dramatically!

I do know that HA formulas can be pretty foul tasting - if you find that he rejects the taste outright, you'll likely have better luck if you slowly make the transition by mixing it with his current formula, gradually increasing the concentration of the HA formula over a couple of weeks.

Good luck, and I hope that it helps!

[shinysarah]

Thank you both so much....They've basically said that as his eczema is so bad and we found my other lo had multiple alllergies until he grew out of them-it could be the milk. 

The doc seems to not want to swap the milk but the HV was pretty adament to swap it if it doesn't improve and tbh the HV is pretty good at what she does.

Yep the milk suggested was nurtramigen.

That's a fab tip thank you re mixing the milk. he also has reflux so am a little worried about how this will affect him???

[Mashi]

Reflux is very often a symptom of the milk allergy - so could very well be the case that once he is settled onto the nutramigen the reflux goes away. 

[~ Vik ~]

I don't think mixing the milk will give you any troubles - that's how we finally got Dylan to drink soy milk, by slowly mixing it with ebm. Like Mashi said, milk intolerances can cause reflux symptoms so you might actually find that he improves as you make the transition

[Lolly]

The other issue you may find is the nutramigen will be a lot thinner than the Aptamil ED so you may need to thicken it with something like carobel (your GP can prescribe it or you can order it OTC at your pharmacy).

Laura

[shinysarah]

Thank you so much. I'm back at doctors with him on friday and i think i'm going to push for the milk and see how he gets on.

[~ Vik ~]

Good lick! Let us know how it goes