Nutramigen & ezcema

Mammy A

Hi all, Im new here and also a new mother. My son is coming up on seven months old and has had eczema since he has been about a month old. Recently we visited an allergy nurse specialist and she has recommended ' nutramigen baby formula ' to eliminate a dairy allergy.
My sons eczema is not bad however when he is cutting teeth it does get quite raw and red. However it does not interfere with his eating / drinking, it does not interfere with his sleep and it does no interfere with his fantastic bubbly personality.
I am not keen to switch his formula to one which I know nothing about and as he is such a good eater its proving even harder for me to make this decision.
Does anyone know anything about this formula or its side effects - it comes on prescription only - all opinions greatly appreciated
Thanks

Orion

HI. Congrats and welcome to Boards. We can't give medical advise here so nobody is going to second guess a specialist nurse. I would recommend talking to your GP about Nutramigen - only he/she can prescribe it anyway.

Has your child been actually diagnosed with eczema? I found with my girls that Silcocks Base is fantastic when washing them. Also, make a pot of chamomile tea and put that in his bath. It helps moisten the skin and alleviate the dryness associated with eczema.

As for experience with Nutrimigen - I haven't any. Over to others for their experiences with it.

I'm splitting this out to it's own thread as it's a new topic really.

Mammy A

Many thanks for your reply.
He has been diagnosed with eczema and at the moment we are using Epaderm both in the bath and to moisturise his skin. He has also gotten Hydrocortisone cream for when it is very angry.
Thanks for the tip about the camomille tea.

Orion

It can be a curse. I'm on a topical steroid myself at the moment. Luckily my girls only needed it occasionally and not for years now. I can understand your reluctance to switch formula. Hopefully someone here can add some experiences.

Moonbeam

Nutramigen can be bought over the counter.
My youngest is on it,there are no side effects the allergens are just relly well broken down so the body doesn't react to them in the same way.
Your local phn can give you advice.
If you get it and try it you have nothing to loose.
It differs in price from pharmacy to pharmacy but should be about 13 euro and if it works get it on prescription so you can claim it against med1.

SuzieD

Hi everyone,

I don't know anything about eczema medication so I can't contribute to that part of the discussion.

But I've discovered a range of organic clothing with 'silver-soothe' to ease the itching at night:
http://www.econatural.ie/Default.aspx?tabid=155

I hope your children get relief from their symptoms.

Best wishes, Suzie.

Mammy A

Hi all, many thanks for your input.
We are on day two of the Nutramigen, its been an experience so far. He point blank refused his bottles yesterday and his food, I thought I was doing the right thing by giving him his bottle first, thinking that hunger would be enough to make him take it but no such luck. Today he has taken his bottle but nowhere near as much as he would have usually taken. He is still refusing his food as well, all apart from Rusks!!
Here's hoping it gets easier from here !

LegacyUser

Did you swap to a full Nutramigen bottle straight away or did you gradually change the some scoops to Nutra? I think the best way is to start by changing 1 scoop of powder to Nutra the first day and then increase to 2 the next day etc.
This because Nutra really taste VILE. If you haven't tasted it yourself you should. Just to experience what the baby has to drink before getting used to it.
My youngest took to this by gradually changing but within a week he's fine with it.
The older boy was much older when we tried to change him onto Nutra so he fully refused!

Hope your baby will be better once he's been on Nutra for a while.
Do keep in mind that it will take approx 2-3 weeks before the milk proteins (the normal one, not like Nutras hydralyzed) have left his body and that the best results might not be shown until then.

Moonbeam

Do not mix formulas with out consulting a medical professional first.
It can be dangerous.

Mammy A

Hi all,
We put him straight from his Aptamil 3 to the Nutramigen as directed by the Allergy specialist, I really thought we were doing well today until this eve when the poor little sausage vomited everywhere. I don't want to immediately blame the formula but it's the foremost reason in my mind. Im hoping its just his old formula leaving his system perhaps.

As for me tasting it, the smell was enough to put me off, I don't blame my little man for refusing it, it really is a foul smelling liquid!!

Thanks so much for all the opinions, its great to read them.

cbyrd

My little lad has problems with dairy, from about 3 months when he went to bottle completely, it gave him slight eczema too, You also have to be careful about he other dairy in his diet, yogurts cheese and added millks in baby dinners biscuits and so on.. He had silent reflux too and we were advised to switch to the thicker formula but then figured out that the colief drops and gavisgon worked better. .

I switched ben to rice milk as soon as he was done with bottles. i tried him on soya but he just spat it back at me. He has littlestar jelly pots instead of yogurts, raisins instead of chocolate. He's 15 months now and i always know when he's had something with dairy.. even if its only a slice of bread with butter :rolleyes:

They do grow out of it and i know he's able to tolerate the little bit he does get but there are some things that will kill him with pain and then i'll notice the backs of his knees will get red..

Be very careful with the silicocks base, it was recommended to me by the phn and i used it for ages but then the consultant said to stop using it as it can thin the skin and irritate it more.. i was advised to bath once a fortnight in lukewarm water and only use soap if necessary, as babies don't generally get dirty. Even water has a drying effect on the skin so go easy on the washing.

Non bio washing powder, and use half the recommended amount of softener. . perfumes colours all these thing can irritate baby skin.

He's older now so he gets a bath once a week and a quick dip in the shower every other day. .
Aveeno is great too, and if you want good soft skin, put some porridge oats in a little bag in the bath when it's filling . Hope it's some help..