When Milk Hurts; From Stomach to Skin, Milk Allergies Can Hurt in Multiple Ways, Leading to Months of Needless Suffering by Infant and Parent; Could Unexplained Rashes and Vomiting Be Caused by What's Inside Baby's Bottle?

GAITHERSBURG, Md. -- While peanut allergies among school-age children are widely recognized today, there is an even more widespread and elusive allergy affecting babies in their first months of life caused by the only food available to them: milk. With a surprising array of symptoms and infant patients unable to tell the doctor what hurts, many of these babies suffer for months before proper diagnosis and relief.

More than 100,000 babies each year are estimated to suffer from milk allergy and related gastrointestinal tract diseases caused by proteins found in dairy and soy milk. Many outgrow this allergy during toddler years and early childhood. However, others face a lifelong struggle against milk protein allergies that may manifest into debilitating diseases like eosinophilic esophagitis or gastrointestinal reflux disease.

These infants cannot digest the complex protein chains found in regular baby formula, and their bodies react with an array of symptoms such as moderate to severe skin rash, persistent and often bloody diarrhea, frequent and sometimes violent vomiting, respiratory problems like wheezing, poor or no weight gain, and an overall failure to thrive. Some breastfed babies also suffer from milk protein allergies as the mother's diet passes to her infant in her milk.

Milk protein allergy is difficult to diagnose because the symptoms mirror those of other more common childhood ailments and do not manifest consistently among suffering infants. Some babies exhibit skin rashes or respiratory problems. In fact, research shows 50-70 percent of infants with atopic dermatitis (skin rash), and 20-30 percent of infants with respiratory problems like wheezing and/or coughing, were suffering from milk allergy.(1)

"Parents suffer along with their babies when the source of the symptoms cannot be determined and resolved," says Howard Lossing, executive director of nutrition products and services for SHS North America. "In talking with parents, we find infants with moderate to severe milk allergies can suffer for up to four months from onset to proper diagnosis without effective treatment."

The treatment for these infants is to remove milk protein from their diets. This is achieved by either strict diet elimination of milk protein for nursing mothers or use of non-allergenic amino acid-based formula in place of regular infant formula that contains the complex milk protein chains. Hypoallergenic and nutritionally complete Neocate Infant, the first and only amino acid-based formula specifically designed for infants, has been a pioneer in providing relief to these babies for over ten years.

"I recently treated an infant who, from his first days of life, suffered from projectile vomiting," says Dr. John Moissidis, a pediatric allergist at The Asthma Allergy Clinic in Shreveport, LA. "With soy and lactose-free formulas he only got worse, experiencing skin rashes, swollen eyes, diarrhea, vomiting, and respiratory problems. By nine months, when he came to me, he had already been hospitalized twice for pneumonia. Testing showed he was actually suffering from multiple food allergies, including milk and soy. I switched him to Neocate Infant, an amino acid-based formula and, within a few weeks, he improved dramatically."

This week, the manufacturer of Neocate Infant released a new reformulated version of this "gold standard" formula. A clinical trial just completed in the U.S. showed that infants transitioned well to new Neocate Infant formula from current Neocate Infant. The new formula was well tolerated with no adverse events noted. Overall, mothers preferred the smell, color and ease of mixing of the new Neocate Infant formula.(2)

Neocate Infant is clinically shown to provide relief of milk allergy gastrointestinal symptoms like vomiting and diarrhea in three days and relief of skin rashes (like atopic dermatitis) in 14 days for a vast majority of milk allergy sufferers.(3)

Parents can order Neocate Infant from the company at www.neocate.com or from their local pharmacy. While Neocate Infant does not require a prescription, infants using the formula should be under the care of a physician or dietitian.

Neocate Infant is produced by SHS North America, a clinical nutrition company specializing in the manufacture and distribution of medical foods and infant formulas for the dietary management of genetic, metabolic, neurological, allergic and gastrointestinal disorders.

(1) Host, A. Cow's milk protein allergy and intolerance in infancy. Some clinical, epidemiological and immunological aspects. Pediatr Allergy Immunol 1994; 5 (5 Suppl):1-36.

(2) SHS internal clinical project #1430, 2005.

(3) D. de Boissieu et al. Allergy to extensively hydrolyzed cow milk proteins in infants: identification and treatment with an amino acid-based formula. J. Pediatr 1997; 131: 744-747.