Baby Allergies

The saga of food intolerances and allergies continues in Baby N.

A few weeks ago we tried giving Baby N some cow's milk-based formula.  He developed hives all over his face, his eyes puffed up.  It was bad, like we-probably-should-have-taken-him-to-the-hospital-bad (but we didn't because he was acting okay, and his breathing was okay)   We gave him infant/children's Benadryl throughout the day, and the next day too.  No more cow's milk formula for you!

Soy formula?  We stopped that months ago because we noticed that as we increased the amount of soy formula we fed him, that he was developing a diaper rash.  His eczema never really went away either until we finally stopped feeding him any formula.

Hopefully in a few weeks we will have a referral to an allergist, to have Baby N tested for cow's milk, soy, and whatever else the doctor decides he should be tested for (maybe rice, and corn?).  In the meantime, I've increased my pumping again, in order to exclusively feed N breastmilk.  I am again, sleep deprived on a continuous basis, since I am pumping every 3 hours again, but Baby N is happy, and mostly eczema free and diaper-rash free.

In any case, the more I read about allergies in babies, the more complicated it gets.  Dr Google and baby-forums have a lot of information about possible allergens related to baby formula.  It's a good thing I'm not a hypochondriac.  Dr Google can make any parent nervous with tales and stories of worst-case scenarios, and what-ifs.  I'm just glad that, allergies and food-intolerances aside, that Baby N is otherwise happy and healthy!