Frustrated CMPA mum venting but also hoping for advice
So baby has been suspected CMPA since about 3 months (the delayed reaction and vomiting kind rather than the instant blood in nappies kind). I am exclusively breastfeeding, although have tried nutramigen which he hands down refused. Sidenote - we are constantly pumped full of carinogenic shit from all angles every day and yet they can't find a way to make dairy-free formula taste just slightly better???
We are now at 10 months and started the dairy ladder just over a week ago in my diet with a malted milk biscuit in the morning, building up to 3 within a few days. Baby got very congested and snotty, with a rash on his tummy so I stopped dairy. I then got a bad cold and he is still unwell, it has also been very hot so I'm hoping it was a heat rash and a cold. So, I phoned the health visitor to get advice about whether to try the allergens directly in his diet that he hasn't eaten yet before restarting the dairy ladder again, given that there's not that long until he's a year old. He also has a suspected sensitivity towards soy, so I've been putting tofu off now that I'm back at work incase there's a reaction/hospital wait/blah blah etc. So, in my mind it makes sense to wait until he's over this cold, try the soy and shellfish (he's been fine with all others) and check for reactions, THEN start the dairy ladder so no confusing crossover reactions happen? This is what I asked the health visitor, who admitted it's sort of out of her expertise and to phone the dietician to ask about that.
Phoned the dietician, got a receptionist who barked down the phone at me instantly that I wasn't to relay the whole thing to her but did I want her to ask for a dietician to phone me back? No, I'd like an all inclusive trip to the Bahamas please Ms Receptionist... yes obviously?!?!? Wait all day and get a call back. Yippee, some answers I thought! No... "dietician's assistant here, dietician has said it's 12 months for dairy". I tried to explain that it was dairy in MY diet via breastfeeding, which has been the NHS, previous visit to dietician group thing and health visitor advice FROM THE START. "No no no, dietician says 12 months to introduce dairy to his diet", absolutely not listening to what I was trying to explain and just talking over me. I was out at the time so just said thanks and bye basically, but had I been home I would have insisted on speaking to the dietician directly rather than being palmed off by the assistant who wasn't listening. I actually feel like putting a complaint in, I'm feeling so frustrated by it all!
On top of all of this, baby has been biting me non-stop (have tried the "no biting" and physically moving away, nothing works), have tried the disgusting formula, and to top it off baby bit me so hard that he drew blood from my nipple 2 nights ago and now I can't pump from that side, and feeding him very little from there as he is still trying to bite the already injured nipple!
Thank you if you've got this far, feeling extremely fed up with all this, ignored by health professionals, sore nipples and generally just not very mumsy at the moment. If anyone has been through similar and can advise on the diet or nipple stuff please send it my way!