Hipp Organic Formula: opinions please?

[EatLessBread]

Forgive me if this posting reads as frantic but 7.5 week old baby is asleep so I have a window to fit 101 things into a miraculously short time.

Here's the long and the short of it:

Baby born via elective, took a while for milk to come in so she was topped up in hospital with teeny bits of Aptamil formula but I did feed colustrum and am went on to bf as exclusively as poss but again, I was topping up some feeds with small formula amounts until milk came in.

Stopped topping up at about 3-4 weeks.

Growth spurt.

Had to top up. Top up turned into more than just 40mls. Breastfeeding all going well other than feeds were v v v long.

Coupled with a dose of PND and a fear of going out due to not wanting to bf in public (very nervous), I spiralled into a very bad, nervous and anxious state.

At the advise of a wonderful mat. nanny, I dropped the 10am and 2pm bf and bottle fed those feeds with Aptamil, last week my baby girl taking up to 150ml at one point. I felt so much better AND got out of the house and I was happy so baby was much happier.

I still bf most other feeds though I topped up with formula just before her half 7pm sleep and her father did the 10pm feed with approx 120ml's of expressed breast milk (EBM).....that in itself took forever to collect each day!

Anyway, a few days ago, my baby's milk spots became much worse as did a bit of dry skin on her face; this has now turned into severely dry, cracked and flakey skin on her face (her forehead, ears, behind the ears and her temples and into her scalp). I am lathering her with Diprobase at the advise of the GP. She looks terrible but doesn't seem to be in discomfort.

On Tuesday, she looked so awful as the dry skin was chronic and the milk spots were getting redder and redder, especially during a feed so I took her to A+E where (cut a long story short) a seemingly 17 year old SHO diagnosed her with a type of excema that is reflective of an allergy to the protein in cow's milk.

WTF?!

I'm not sure that I buy that, especially a diagnoses after 30mins in A+E pediatrics at Hospital. Surely if she was allergic to the Aptamil, wouldn't there be other symptoms too? Such as runny nose, loose poo, dry skin not just on the face? How come it manifested itself overnight almost when she's been on formula since day 1? I was sent home with a pot of Nutramagen formula, told to cut out dairy in my diet as I'm still bf'ing and told that weaning next year would have to be dairy free for the start.....

Nightmare.

I saw this as a reason to go back to breastfeeding full time but baby is feeding constantly now that I've come off the formula and just doesn't ever seem satisfied, especially during the day.

My question to you parents out there is really, has anyone been through this? Is she just suffering from dry skin that babies can get at around 6-8 wks? Also, i clocked Hipp Organic formula in the supermarket the other day and noticed, a) that it's organic (obviously!) and b) that it contains probiotics which, I had heard, can help with skin conditions.

When I went to my GP yesterday , a GP who im v fond of and whom I rate, he said that it was just severe dry skin and said that he wasn't going to use "the E word." He totally poo-poo'd the idea of it being an allergy to cow's milk. I was told to use Diprobase over the dry areas and to watch out for cracking due to the risk of infection.

Can anyone help me or advise me if they changed to a more successful formula or if the severe dry skin is just very, bad cradle cap that nothing but Diprobase, some sweet almond oil and time will help.

Thank you loads.

xx

[Cbcx]

Poor you eatlessbread! My son has cows milk protein allergy that was confirmed by blood test at kings. His symptoms were rash all over his body and dry skin, colic type symptoms, wheezing and terrible poos. You should be able to ask to go for the blood test if you want to rule it out. Knowing for definite made our lives much easier ESP with feeding. When I was in a similar position to you I looked to change milk and routines etc, not sure that was the right thing to do with hindsight. It introduced more variables and more uncertainty. I send you best wishes that you and your baby manage to reach a solution very quickly. Please pm me if you would like anymore info xx

[buggie]

What a difficult time you're having - sounds like as soon as you're on top of one thing there's something else off kilter (having a 3y/o & 3w/o myself I recognise it in myself!).

The constant br/feeding may be babies way of helping you increase your supply after you'd reduced the feeds you gave - May well get easier if you persevere but really tricky to deal with at the moment/with other stresses.

If you feel strongly about using an organic product, then give the Hipp a try, but there isn't much evidence surrounding the usefulness of probiotics in milk, and their typically added before the powder is heat treated so there is some talk that they'd be de-natured before getting anywhere near babies.

Formula milks on the whole are much more similar than you think - if you look up the nutritional values for a couple of different brands you'll see how they are identical in calories (63 per 100ml), protein and other nutrients - even the hungrier baby formulas (it's the ratio of curds to whey that changes in them not calories).

If you think about it, the majority of what the formula companies are shouting from adverts/packaging are because they think it will help them sell the product as much if not more than any benefit they feel there'll be to the infant drinking it. (Don't get me started on follow-on or toddler milks!!).

[Bella83]

I have had a similar experience, my daughter is now 8months old. I have never had the blood test but went to see a gastro pead at The Portland, who diagnosed. She had eczema, congestion and was sick lots. At the time I was EPF and dropped all dairy from my diet. The change in her was quick and her symptoms much relieved. Weaning has been fine, I introduced all new foods slowly and have now introduced yogurts and cheese... All fine. Most children grow out of it, I have been told. I am now using Aptamil Pepti formula and all is okay!

Probiotics... I use Udo Blend from health matters, used when I started to wean and will use again when if she is unwell.

Yummy Baby, Jane Clarke is a really good book about all things food and baby!

Hope this helps, feel free to PM me

Annabel

[Norfolkvillas]

My daughter had a (self-diagnosed as took 6m to get Kings appt) cows milk protein intolerance. They do "build up", so the fact that your baby didn't react to formula straight away correlates with my experiences.

I would say that if your baby isn't in in distress then try not to worry too much. My daughter was screaming in pain at every feed and it was more than apparent that something was amiss.

As she's not in much distress, trying Hipp sounds like a good idea, and see how you go. Both my children went through a dreadful rashy stage at about that age and it passed for both.

I'm also a big fan of Udo infant probiotic for general health, not sure about its specific properties for skin complaints...

[JulieP]

Just a thought and I'm sure that the docs wouldn't have missed this, but mine all got a rash on their face between 6 and 8 weeks (they were then exclusively bf) and HVs told me this was related to my hormones. My eldest had this the worst and the HV suggested we see the GP who prescribed some antibiotics as he thought they had got infected. They cleared up quickly after this.

[devsdev]

Mine was mixed fed till 5 weeks and then exclusively formula fed. She had really bad rashes in the those early months as well, but definitely doesn't have any allergies to milk. Bad milk spots and cradle cap (cradle cap stayed mainly on the head but definitely went onto ears and behind ears). Also, as you've said yourself, with an actual milk allergy there would a lot more symptoms.

Oil baby with olive or almond oil and then use a comb (John Lewis type with the little balls so that the comb isn't sharp - ) to loosen the cradle cap. It then flakes off (very satisfying to pick it off the loose bits too, as gross as that sounds). Obviously harder to do this if it's on her face a bit as well, but reducing on the head may help stop the spread. Don't leave cradle cap on as it just multiplies and thickens (from experience with my nieces).

We used Hipp Organic infant milk throughout (due to my personal aversion to Aptimil for a number of reasons). As someone already said, if you prepare according to the guidance using at least 70C water then any probiotics would be killed anyway. Hipp is cheaper, but harder to source (most smaller shops don't have it), so you need to ensure you always have enough in. You can order from Amazon (Hipp official shop is on there) and they deliver it for free. But if BF is working, then keep going for it. As someone also said - growth-spurts=constant feeding, so don't worry that you don't have enough so long as she's growing, pooing/peeing and generally happy.

I hope the new mom anxiousness is less now and you're able to enjoy being now. I remember feeling like I couldn't breathe for about 6 weeks - it's not very fun.

[Bonfire2010]

Hi eatlessbred

We didn't have anything like the problems you describe, but the nurse at our medical practice recommended HIPP milks for my son as he had eczema and acid reflux. It really worked for us and I just wanted to say that although it used to be hard to get hold of, it is now widely stocked - I just ordered some from Ocado as I am due with my second baby any day and wanted to have some on standby in case we have problems again. It is also available in Sainsbury's and I never had any problems getting it when my son was born (in 2010) - and it is on the shelves there now.

Really feel for you and hope things start improving soon x

[Sa16]

Hi,

My son is 7 months and has had very severe skin problems since 4months. My experience is that it can be very difficult to diagnose baby (and adult for that matter) skin conditions. If you feel it is severe and you're not getting to the bottom of it, my advice would be to ask for a referral to the dermatologists at King's. As your baby is so young you should be seen quickly. And from experience, be very cautious about using creams on the face as they can easily aggravate thethe condition. Best wishes and hope you are feeling better soon!

[Sarah9999]

Firstly, well done for persevering with breast feeding, BUT please remember that it's not the end of the world if it doesn't work out.

There's a huge pressure socially to breastfeed, and do you know what, it's not always easy, circumstances for every mother and baby are different, and sometimes (a lot of times) people do need to top up,or it just doesn't work out altogether.

Please, please don't beat yourself up for it not having gone smoothly. Sometimes it's just not as easy as popping the baby on your breast and off you go. You have done brilliantly so far. I know how stressful long bf's and then topping up can be.

Secondly I'm sorry your little one is suffering from dry skin. As another person has suggested olive oil can really help. Some babies do suffer for ages with dry skin and cradle cap for ages. It looks gross but LOADS get it. I'm not a doctor but I'm pretty sure they can't even feel it.

It might be worth trying not to rush to any milk intolerance diagnosis based on your one encounter with the SHO at kings. Maybe just seeing out it plays out over the next few weeks, but trust your own instincts on this one.

Babies digestives systems are still working themselves out for the first 3 months and everything seems to settle down after that. If the dry skin is somehow related, you might find it too settles down.

I wish you and your baby the best if luck. It does get easier (although you never stop worrying about them!)