What to do?
The Aptamil product produced an even worse rash, so now it's back to the doctors and/or hospital.
Back to breastfeeding totally if at all possible.
Make sure you take the container for the Spanish stuff with you, so they can advise you as to which one is the closest. Or locate is via Google and order from whenever and breast feed in the meantime. Is there an urgent reason why baby has to be weaned off the breast right now- or can it wait. My daughter had a nightmare doing this when she was due to return to work, as baby just would not take a bottle at all, and my young neighbour is having the same trouble with her little one. How old is the baby?
Good luck at the doc's and keep us informed.
Edit - try to keep up the breastfeeding only until the stuff arrives from Spain (edit due to running out of EF allowance, lol )
We now have some canisters of the Spanish stuff on it's way from Spain.
Reason for changing gradually to formula is that my wife is returning to work in the coming weeks and cannot produce enough milk to build up a store that could be used during the day when at work.
Baby is 20 weeks old ... by the time he is completely off the breast will be about another 7-8 weeks ... if we can find a compatible formula.
OK doctor said try Aptamil Hypoallergenic ... so lets see.
Did he explain what the difference is. Would it not be possible to BF until the Spanish stuff arrives, rather than try something else again. When child has settled you can then try hypoallergenic Aptamil then, rather than get his/her little system all confused?
Unfortunately none of the doctors we have seen, seem to be interested in determine the root cause,i.e. which ingredient is the culprit, they just say try this one.
BF for the time being to let things settle down ... suggested this ... lets see.
Stay tuned.
The ingredients for baby formulas are actually very very similar. There are regulations that require that any ingredient that has been proven to be beneficial to babies, has to be included in all of them.
On the flipside, the most common allergens are proteins:
- cow's milk protein
- soy protein
- nut protein
- peanut (which is a legume) protein
- fish protein
- seafood protein
A baby who develops hives (which sounds like what you are describing) is quite likely reacting to cow's milk protein, and that's why the doctor suggested the HA formula.
Breastfeeding helps the baby to digest their food. Mixing breastfeeding and formula feeding might delay the onset of the allergy, but once you tip the balance (a number of exposures, or less breastmilk more allergenic milk) then the allergy response is triggered.
I would be quite surprised if the new milk from Spain is tolerated now that the allergy is triggered.
I'm curious what brand/style of milk your baby was using in Spain ?
Personally, based on experience, I would go back to breastfeeding fully for 2 weeks before trying something else, to give the baby's immune system and gut a time to catch up and heal.
I work with small babies, and have also breastfed my three children, and I can also tell you that it's possible to wean a baby from the breast in 2 weeks if necessary, so it might also be an option to go back to fully breastfeeding, and give the baby's digestive tract time to mature a lot in 4-6 weeks.. also, from 6 months they can start on solids, and that will make the daycare easier because you could continue breastfeeding in the evening and morning (and overnight) and give mostly solids and only a small amount of formula milk during the day, and it reduces how much breastmilk your wife might need to express.
Has your wife actually negotiated her return to work and got a starting date ? It would be awful if the employer gave notice and she had stopped breastfeeding to go back to work, only to find out that it's not permanent... I've met too many women in that situation in Switzerland !
I'm happy to give more advice about how to combine breastfeeding/bottles/childcare/formula/expressing, via PM.
Was the Spanish product Nidina? In that case, it is the same as Beba.
Are your wife still breast feeding? The rash could come from something she ate. Or it could be totally unrelated to anything either she or the baby ate and be due to weather, clothes or something totally different.
Its would be easier to recommend an alternative if you tell us which brand of formula you were using in Spain.
Infant formula's are 3 types mainly
1)Standard ( Intact protein mostly + rest)
2)Preventive ( partially hydrolysed protein + rest) protein is broken down into small chain in case of allergies
3) Theraputic ( treatment formula) (completely broken down protein or amino acids based etc)
Hypoallergenic recommended to you in in the second category. However it is unlikely that a standard Spainish formula works and the ones available in CH do not. Price increases from 1st to 3rd..
Good luck
Spanish product was/is Nutribin Natal.
Is definitely due to the formula ... rash/hives appear about 90mins after feed and remain for about 5-6hrs.
Thank you everyone for your concern and very useful information.
The Aptamil HA seems to be working well ... no rash now for 4hrs and no smelly vomit (forgot to mention that ... it was really foul).
The Spanish product is stuck in customs pending release but I think we will steer clear of that based on the information about the now activated milk protein allergy.
Your choice of course, but I would still follow Swisspea's advice and allow the baby's system to settle by BF only for the next couple of weeks. Swisspea is an expert in the field and really knows her stuff.
Nutriben Natal is a standard formula, they also have a Nutriben Natal HA. Since the HA is working for your baby just continue.
Importing formula from Spain into CH is not going to be easy. You would need to pay high import duties as Swiss milk is protected and farmer are paid higher than rest of Europe.
Unfortunately my wife is returning to work on the 5th August.
Ideally we/she would have breast fed for much longer, but due to the work situation, this is not going to happen.
Quick status date: still no hives/rash so HA is the way to go.
Observation: VERY disappointing that both the doctor at the kinderspital and the person in the pharmacy (after seeing pictures) did not recommend or even suggest a change to a HA product.
Now it's 2015 and I still found this thread very useful
Glad this was of help.
After all how many times are people told to search the existing material on the forum, before posting a query and if someone has something useful to add, then why not ... helps everyone in the long term.