"No one showed any care"

We took our then 3 week old baby to St George Hospital Emergency Department recently at 3pm for facial rash due to suspected cows' milk protein allergy. We were there seeking a second opinion from our GP who had dismissed our concerns earlier that day. Like our GP, the doctor at St George Hospital Emergency Department also refused to believe us when we voiced our serious suspicion that our baby was allergic to cows' milk/soy protein based on the fact that our baby got an immediate facial rash and diarrhoea each time they breastfed after I had consumed dairy/soy products. The ED doctor refused to listen and seconded our GP's opinion and said that they were certain that the rash was just baby acne caused by my hormones in the breastmilk. I didn't believe them but my husband took their word for it. We took our baby home and continued breastfeeding and kept my diet as normal but my baby’s symptoms continued to worsen and they developed severe eczema all over their face and body. I could no longer breastfeed my baby because they were reacting to my breastmilk every single time yet I could not pinpoint what food was the culprit after being told by the doctor at St George Hospital that it was not the dairy.

After that first Emergency Department visit and weeks of debate, I finally gave in and let my husband give our baby some regular cow's milk baby formula because they were having constant diarrhoea and rash from the hypoallergenic rice-milk baby formula we put our baby on as a precaution. Within one minute of drinking the new formula, they vomited the whole thing out and developed a rash all over their body and was frantically rubbing at their face non-stop. We rushed our now 12 week old baby back to St George Hospital Emergency at 8.30pm due to a severe allergic reaction from drinking only 20ml of cows' milk-based infant formula. Our baby was seen straight away in Triage and admitted to ED for monitoring. But they kept them there for more than 5 hours with zero nursing and medical interventions.

Apart from the vitals they performed in Triage, they only took our baby’s blood pressure and temperature once in the entire duration of their stay. Our baby was hooked to an oxygen saturation probe but no nurse came back to check on them to see if they were any better or worse. My husband buzzed for the nurse to come and feel their face because it was icy cold while the rest of his body was warm and we also told this nurse that their ears were sticking out like a little monkey (they were not born like that!) but we never heard anything back. The top of our baby’s lip was also starting to swell but we had given up buzzing for the nurse because no one showed any care.

The doctor had promised to give our baby some antihistamines but never gave them any. Once their rash and swelling subsided several hours later, we were told by the same doctor that our baby was well enough to go home. We requested a prescription formula script but was told that it was the GP's job not theirs and that they had no experience or knowledge about prescription hypoallergenic infant formulas. But they refused to consult the paeds ward because they said the paediatric doctor only looked after children who were actually admitted and my baby was not unwell anymore. We were told to feed them the old hypoallergenic formula again which was not appropriate due to continuous diarrhoea. I feel the doctor could have consulted with the Australian Prescriber which is on every NSW Health Hospital computer/intranet or the on-call pharmacist or the paediatric ward for advice on what to prescribe but flat out refused. I asked them whether a doctor would be able to prescribe it at another hospital if we took our baby there and the doctor said no, do not do that.

My 12 week old baby needed a script that we could fill as soon as the shops opened in the morning but the doctor told us to look for a "good GP" on Google Search. At 2am. Besides telling us this, I couldn't help but overhear them telling the other parents in the adjacent bedspace to Google the condition which they had diagnosed their child with. ...’Mesenteric xxx..’ a condition related to swollen abdominal lymph nodes which can cause pain. Wow. I even googled it out of sheer curiosity once my child was settled and sleeping in my arms. I felt sorry for the those parents. Of course everybody uses Google all the time but telling emotionally and physically exhausted parents to Google something when its past midnight I feel is far from professional.

We went to a GP the very next day to get a prescription formula but like the Emergency Department doctor, this GP also had no clue about prescription baby formulas. They sent my husband to the pharmacy next door to ask which formula he should prescribe while our baby and I waited in his office. My husband came back to his office with a piece of paper scribbled with the pharmacist's recommendation and the doctor prescribed it that way. But afterwards my husband said the pharmacist gave him 2 options and told him to choose one. This is so ridiculous and dangerous. On the back of this new prescription formula it says "not suitable for babies with anaphylaxis to cows milk". Do swollen ears and cold face count as anaphylaxis? Better not ask the doctor at St George Hospital. Based on my experience, they will tell me to Google it.