Alimentum and Nutramigen are both extensively hydrolyzed formulas and can be
used for allergic kids as a supplement.  The most hypoallergenic is probably
Neocate, as it is basically hydrolyzed into elemental amino acids.

There seems to be a mini-epidemic of this kind of allergy to food proteins,
including babies who are "allergic" to their own mother's milk.  (More
probably allergic to some foreign protein in the milk.)  These kids seem to
have hematologic evidence of allergy with elevated eosinophil counts, plus
they often have hemorrhagic colitis and hemorrhagic esophagitis.

I've been doing general peds for over 20 years and this seems to be a new
sort of diagnosis.  I suspect we may have written these kids off as fussy
babies and  just kept on with regular breastfeeding or, in an artificially
fed infant, with a formula switch or two until they just grew out of it
(which most of them do within a few months).

Linda Shaw MD

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