Temporary Weaning to Formula

Hi-

I had the exact same problem as you. My daughter developed terrible eczema at 6 weeks and it took us until she was 6 months old to get some improvement. I did an extreme elimination diet like you, and only saw minor improvement in her skin. With the guidance of our pediatrician and allergist (both of whom I respect and trust) I ended up weaning her to Similac Alimentum, and her skin completely cleared up. I bathe her daily, then immediately slather her up with vaseline. I use hydrocortisone ointment periodically for any flares. I also had to "sleep train" her while weaning her. My husband and I ended up making her "cry it out" at bedtime b/c no soothing techniques worked within a decent amount of time (and we were just too exhausted). The first night, she cried for close to an hour, and it was painful...but then she started sleeping through the night for 10-12 hours and was happy. It took her a while to sleep train, but it was worth it; she's now a happy baby. For middle of the night waking, I would check in on her to make sure she was OK and that diaper didn't need changing, and then let her cry it out again. It was incredibly painful, but it did teach her self soothing, and now she can sleep through the night.

Best of luck.

There is a fabulous family of nutritional supplements that have worked wonders in eliminating eczema - it's safe for infants and for nursing/pregnant mothers, and was formulated by the same food scientist who was on the team who developed ProSoBee and Enfamil formulas. I would love to tell you more about it and have you talk to other moms who have had great results. You can use the kids' product for your baby, or use the adult product for yourself. It's awful to have a little one so uncomfortable, and it's heartbreaking to give them medications and steroid creams. There is another answer out there! It's a great company, 20 years of success, well-written up in business magazines, and feeding 41,000 kids world-wide through its humanitarian arm. Feel free to email me, and I'll give you my phone number. We can talk, go on-line to check out the company, and do some phone calls with other moms. Love to talk to you!

Hi J.,
Before stopping BFing I'd make sure you checked out all other possible causes first-especially since it is a great way to comfort your child. Has your child been allergy tested? Have you had your house checked for mold? Have you only washed all the laundry in hypoallergenic detergent? Is there a children's hospital near you that you could see a specialist? Maybe it's an autoimmune problem. I can't imagine what you're going thru seeing you baby so unhappy. I doubt it's your milk and I'd hate for your supply to drop (pumping is not as efficient as bfing).

Bestof luck to you and please let us know what happens.

R.

I am not sure about weaning, but I was wondering if you tried the medicated cream Desodine(prescription) or hydrolatum (over the counter). These helped my son. Desondine has been a life saver. Whenever he has any sign of dryness I use it and it goes away within a day or so. It doesn't stay away long, but it works while he uses the cream. You may have already tried these. Good luck it's so hard to see them uncomfortable.

hi J.,
Please don't stop breast feeding as a possible solution. At 6 months if you stop for 3 weeks your supply will drop and you may not be able to start again. My daughter didn't have any skin problems but she was a month premature with a large hole in her heart that caused failure to thrive. The nutritionist never discouraged my breast feeding in favor of formula.

You can also call LaLeche League http://www.llli.org/WebUS.html for more info on feeding and weaning.

Good luck getting to the bottom of the cause.
D. C
Mom of 4: 16, 14, 11 & 8

The allergies could be anything. My son is very sensitive to sweet potatoes he gets a rash and a friend of mine is allergic to potatoes and chicken (he gets itchy). It may take a little bit to get him to switch to formula. It could be the bottle, the nipple, the temp. of the formula. My son will only drink his formula cold and uses the playtex fast flow nipple. It took about two weeks to ween him completely, but that is because I did it really slow. As for the allergies, make sure your sheets are pure cotton. Some people are sensitive to sythentic fabrics. Make sure you wear cotton as well. What are you washing your fabrics with? As for the temperary nursing, it might be hard to get the baby back on the breast. Some babies are not interested in nursing anymore, but it will be okay. Your son got 6 months of breastmilk, which is great. Don't feel bad if you can't go back to nursing. I'm sorry your son is so itching. Eczema is cruel.I wish you the best. My husband gets eczema from stress and temperature changes in his body. At nightime the histamine levels increase which makes things worse. Good luck to you.

I really hope you are able to find another solution - the ingredients in formula are pretty nasty compared to breastmilk. If you do have to do it, you could consider homemade formula - sounds crazy but I have a number of friends who do it. There's a recipe in the Nourishing Traditions cookbook and all kinds of info online at www.westonaprice.org - it's the closest you can get to breastmilk's nutrition and doesn't have icky stuff like corn syrup solids!

you have to do whats best for you and the baby, if you are stressed then the baby will be stressed. These days formula had everything you need to give your baby all the nutrition he needs. I would say just do half and half for a couple of days to get him used to it.

I am sorry to hear your little one is suffering. I breast fed both children, now 21 & 26 yrs old. Had a difficult time with youngest. He, too, had allergies , including eczema, not as bad as your little one. But, I remember creaming him up with the steroid cream constantly. He also developed asthma, which I was told can go hand-in-hand, so keep an eye out for that. His asthma did not materialize until he started playing organized sports. t, I contacted the "leLache League" (not sure I am spelling this correctly, sorry) for advice with his allergies and breast feeding problems. Do not know if they are still active, but they were extremely helpful, supportive, and I believe they could definately offer some sound advice for you. If they are still around - try them! The internet was not around for me - my doctor in Boston helped me connect with them. Best!

Sounds EXACTLY like my son. He is allergic to fragrance, and when he gets warm at night (sweats even a tiny bit) the sheets would make his eczema flare up severely. I had to switch to hypoallergenic detergent, eliminate fabric softener completely (it stays in the machine up to four loads later) and wash everything in the house over to get rid of the scent. You don't need to buy any of the mom-who-works-at-home-selling-shaklee/arborne anything, there are perfectly fine brands in the supermarket.
I had to be vigilant about MIL "helping" with laundry when she watched my son ever, she without fail would find the old stuff, which she thought smelled better. Yes, it smells nice, but it will aggravate his skin. I ended up having to get it all out of the house.
So, now we still use the hypoallergenic stuff, and rinse twice, and his skin is mostly under control. Rarely, he will get a flare up. I did have to limit my dairy, but it was mostly the laundry. Try that before you switch him to formula, I think you might be glad you did. Butter him up good with some lanisoh (nipple cream), use aveeno oatmeal in an ocassional bath (overwashing will flare it too, use a washcloth to wipe him down) eliminate using scented baby wipes all over him, etc. I think you might find this works, and you can keep giving you baby what nature intended. If you want more answers to what worked for us, contact me privately, I would be happy to help, it made such a difference to my son, his was very severe.
Good luck
D.

Hi J.. I feel for you! This is not fun. You'll be doing sleep training and changing your little guy's diet at the same time.

Your hubby might have to take over at night and feed him with a bottle. Will he take a pacifier? That might help him get back to sleep.
If you are still nursing at night, try slipping in a pacifier and perhaps he can get used to that so he'll take it after a bottle.
When my DD was younger we literally used the stroller IN the house. I took it into the nursery and rocked her in it til she fell asleep.
I hope this helps and good luck to you!

J.,
IMO the cause would not be breastmilk. Excema can be caused by being dehydrated and things on the skin that are drying. A little known fact about creams and lotions and soaps are that they have HIGH content of alcohol and sodium lauryl sulfates. I would look to find a skincare product for your dS that does not contain any sulfates. I would recommend California Baby (can be found at Whole Foods) or via their online site. perhaps, talk to your pedi about adding in a bottle or sippy cup of water. I might also try adding avocado to his diet or maybe a little olive oil to those smooshed carrots or green beans. Sounds like he would be of age to mash it up in those cute little cheeks.

First off there is nothing wrong with you. Your breastmilk is NOT "bad".
Second, have you thought of laundry detergent,soap and lotion used by those that immediately care for him, or what about are the windows always open at your house? Something from the outside is breaking him out? Once it starts it is having a hard time healing because it starts all over the next day?
As far as soothing to sleep without nursing maybe a paciifer while you still hold him tight close to you in a DIFFERNT hold (or same whatever you think is best) than nursing usually happens. The different one, because then dad and grandma can do it too and he won't get confused?
Start with a little from the breast then a little from the bottle or visa versa,then more on to syringe feed, (not the needle kind, the medicine giving kind!) then finish off with an actual bottle.

Good Luck

I could think of a few things to try to maybe help with a few of your issues.
~ you sleep with a blanket (so it has mommy's scent)that your hub and MIL can use next to them when they are feeding the bottle.
~ try using cotton clothing all the time.
~ pacifier by the same company as the bottle you are using.
~ have Daddy take over the night feedings temporarily.
~ use a humidifier on low to keep moisture in the air for skin releif.
~ we used 1/2% hydrocortizone throughout the day(for eczema) and auqaphor healing cream at night. Aquaphor is thick and greasy, so we used inexpensive cotton pj's.

BEST WISHES FOR AN EASY AND PEACEFUL TRANSITION!

This is just my opinion, and I have no medical background, but it seems that if you have eliminated all allergens from your own diet, how could another food be less allergenic than your breastmilk? I'm wondering if you could get another opinion on this one. Maybe investigating all possible environmental cause (including where DH works- bringing home something? and MIL's environment) before going to the extreme of coming off the breast for 3 weeks? I know you're looking for support, but as a mom who's done a lot of research around bf'ing, and done a lot of work with bf'ing moms, it doesn't feel right that your milk would be the cause. I would (and this is just me!) stick with the homeopathic remedies and nurse away. Your milk provides protection, and an allergest may not know how rare it is for a child to be allergic to your milk. I know it's terrible to wait, and homeopathic rememdies take longer than medical treatments, but if they are making progress and improvements, it may be worth sticking with and avoiding the formula and suffering you're going through.

okay this wil sounds wierd buthave you tried putting breastmilk on his skin?
Also have him checked for allergies and you too.. that seems to have merit. My Husband breaks out with acne when he eats chocolate..he is allergic to it..

Unfortunately, everything I would have suggested, you've already tried. Our daughter had eczema as well but luckily after we finally started seeing a naturopath, we tried cutting out dairy, wheat and soy and it cleared right up.
Where is your sons eczema? Our daughter also had pretty severe diaper rashes which was the final straw for us. That's when we knew the pediatrician wasn't helping.
Anyway, on top of cutting out those foods, we started giving her probiotics and if her skin was flared up we put comfrey leaves in a tea ball in her tub.
This may be a silly question, but have you tried other lotions or washes or detergents? Again, I don't know where your son has it, but think about it in relation to what touches him. When I was in middle school I started getting very bad eczema on my hands. It got worse in high school and we couldn't figure out why it was happening. I finally saw an allergist who asked me "what normally touches those parts of your hands?". After thinking about it, I realized that it was from my trumpet. I had switched to trumpet in middle school and because of marching band in high school, was playing it much more. Once I graduated and didn't play an instrument anymore, it went away.
I know none of this answers your question about formula, but this is the only thing that you didn't mention that you tried already.

First I want to tell you I have had eczema most of my life. Not one western medicine doctor or dermatologist has been able to help me. Yes they gave me those yucky, greasy creams, ointments, lotions, ect with steriods in them which helped however I had it on most of my body & it took forever & someone to help me put on these medicines 3x a day! EVERYDAY!
Not fun at all & was only a temporary treatment.
Finally when I was 23 my mom begged me to go see a homeopathic doctor which I was resistent to because I did not believe in them at all. But after her annoying begging for several months & me not being able to take it anymore I gave it. He helped rid me of eczema 100% when no one else could help. I found out from him I am allerigic or better yet sensitive to yeast, wheat, white sugar & dairy. Once I stopped eating those things especially breads (yeast) & alcohol my skin started clearing by 2 weeks the rash was gone and stayed gone until I stupidly ate bread and sugar.
I regreted that & stopped eating them once again & the rash disappeared.
I now have a 20 month old & took him to see the same doctor at 10 months old. He at 6 months old had a B.O. issue which is not normal for a baby. Found out he had some food allergies also to wheat & dairy, once I stopped giving them to him his B.O. went away & never came back!
The doctors name is Dr. Mark Mincolla, Ph.d the name of his buisness is Maximum Health and Healing he is located in Cohasset, MA (although he did recently move, not sure of the address) but check out this website it will give you lots of interesting info. Why not just look into it, right?
www.maxhealing.com
Good luck and best wishes!

my daughter has eczema too! We had to switch to a natural laundry detergent, Arm and Hammer Essentials and that seems to help, and i wash all mine and my husband;s clothes with it too, all our sheets and towels. it actually has a really nice subtle citrus scent. She also takes a probiotic vitamin. She is 2 so I am not sure what they make for a 6 month old for a vitamin but there might be something in a liquid form.

I am not really sure if its something in your breast milk, my advice is that it is something environmental.

and the only lotion that has worked for my daughter is Renew from Melaleuca. The Eurcerin stung her when we used it.
http://www.melaleuca.com/ps/index.cfm?f=ps.productDetail&...

Also, there is a company called Weleda, they make a diaper rash cream that helps with other skin irritations and is also natural, you can find it at places like co-ops.

You poor things!! I don't have much advice to offer except stick to it. He will get used to the bottle and if it helps with the eczema, he should get less fussy. I feel for you both. I had a similar situation for myself- itching I couldn't stop or explain- turns out it was a reaction to a medicine I'd been on for years, but I was miserable for some time. I pray you'll find an answer soon. Have you looked into B.E.S.T. It's helped me with many issues that seemed uncontrollable!!