Help! Infant milk worries

[Mum2be]

I'm having lots of worries over which milk to give my baby boy he was bf for one month (I no I'm rubbish) and then I started him on SMA gold he was very constipated and gaining so much weight some1 recommended I change to aptamil so I did for the past 3 months he has had aptamil stage one during the day and hungry baby of a night he is constantly sick and weight has now stopped he only gains 1 or 2 oz every 2 weeks he loves his milk , the docs think he has reflux so have prescribed him milk called nutramigen lipil !!!!! He hates it and to be honest it smells discusting I don't blame him I mean he will drink it as his hungry but I feel bad that I am give my growing boy a milk free diet

Bad mum ?

Do I just continue with the lactose free milk or go back to aptamil ? My partner has just said he doesn't think baby is being sick that much so I shouldn't use the new milk ........... But the doctor prescribed it . Now I'm questioning my self a, I over reacting about his sick and is it really bad enough to remove milk from his diet

Has anyone else had problems like these ,

I'm counting on you guys to keep me sane

Hollie

[Convex]

You aren't rubbish! A whole months bf is a great job.

We use hipp organic but it does contain dairy.

I'm sure someone with more experience of reflux will be along soon but I didn't want to leave your post unanswered. The early days with a baby are hard and you are doing a great job I am sure.

[Mum2be]

Oh thanks well I found a aptamil one which is 50% less lactose which I was going to try but the doc recones this new one will do the job , im just concerned that as his not lactose intolerant y am I removing it from his diet. Iv just look up this new milk am it sounds pretty good doesn't seem to be any down sides apart from the price and the smell

[nabz]

Hi there

just thought il let you know the exact same thing happened to my daughter recently started mix feeding (she is 7 months old) and was constantly throwing up!! projectile vomit everywhere but she was in no pain just throwing up :S so i new it wasnt reflux and my gp said the same thing. i then realised it was aptamil formula she was on, i think it may have been too heavy for her? im now on stage 3 cow and gate and the vomiting has completly stopped. this formula requires more scoops so i assume that its not as heavy as aptamil. perhaps you could try buying a small box and testing it out?

and your not rubbish! your doing whats best for your baby

nabz x

[Mum2be]

Wow that does sound the same Riley is in no discomfort what so every he is very happy and so strong , the thing is as iv already tried SMA , aptamil and this new one would it be right to try cow an gate as well does it affect them keep changing ? This new one says it breaks down much quicker than regular formula there for I suppose even if it's not reflux it would help him ? But I still want to get dairy into his diet can I manage that another way when weaning ?

Thanks

[nabz]

personally i think its only reflux when babys in pain but im no GP! thats exactly how saf was happy still playing just throwing up on me after every meal! hmm i only changed from aptamil to cow and gate so not sure..perhaps do it slowly to not upset his stomach? how old is he? have you seen a difference in him since the prescribed formula? if hes stopped throwing up then perhaps its worked :D otherwise im not too sure on sma as never used it but im really not a fan of aptamil even though i know its mums number 1 brand, cow and gate has helped so much, my washing has deffinitly gone down and she doesnt need to be changed after every feed!

nabz x

[Fuschia]

A lot of people seem to have problems with hungry baby milk, it's an old fashioned formula, casein dominant (firms curds in their stomachs) where most modern formulas are whey dominant.

Nutramigen lipid has hydrolysed proteins as well as being lactose free.

As a cows milk PROTEIN allergy is much more likely than a lactose intolerance, it would make sense to drop the hungry baby milk as a first step. As the gp isn't really am

Infant feeding expert, can you get referred to a paediatric dietitian?

[Strawbs]

My son has a cows milk protein allergy and refkux and is on neocate. Very similar to the milk you have been prescribed. It is also disgusting and it took months for my son to get used to it. He has never had the rec amount so was out on neocate spoon by his dietician that is associated with his allergist. There is an aptimal brand as mentioned above but apparently (according to gp) 50% of children with a cows milk protein allergy still react to it. We tried soy formula and he is allergic to that too (apparently 40% of allergic kids will). Only other option is goats but not avail on prescription and was advised not to try as he reacts to dairy and soya.

At 10 months he now only has two bottles a day and takes it fine.

What are the other symptoms besides projectile vomiting? Is he screaming, have either runny or hard poo? Baby strawbs is on domperidone for his vomiting, meant to be 3 times a day but over the last two weeks he will no longer have any kind of soft food and I've noticed it has stopped so I've cut him down to once a day. He is also on omeprazole for his reflux which we are trying to cut down but that's not working..

I would ask to see an allergist but be aware they did scratch tests in my son that both came back negative for cows milk and soya so we tried to reintroduce and he reacted immediately so he was taken back off..

Happy to talk you through anything you need to know..

X

[Mum2be]

Nabs he is 4 an a half months , he has only had 4 feeds of the prescribed milk but already seems to be better for him

Fruchia I don't think the hungry baby milk was the problem as he was only having one out of 6 feeds but was being sick throughout the whole day not just after feeds , Your right about the lactose intolerance as they said he would be losing weight if it was that and would be pooing lots and his quite the opposite only passing stool on e every 3 days most of the time

Strawbs , Riley was on domperidone for 2 weeks but they told me to stop using it as it didn't make any difference and that's y now they are trying this milk , he passes stool once every 3 days and it's like balls of soft playdoe not what I would call baby poo but the Dr said its not related and Riley's bowel is possibly more developed than that of a 4 month old ! Not complaining its easy to clean up and he isn't in discomfort and his stomach is nice an soft

Thanks for all you advice guys I'm going to see how we get on with this new milk he just had a feed and didn't seem to mind the taste this time x

[pippady]

I've come to this thread really late because I've been doing an internet search on other mums having problems with weaning their babies and vomiting. My 9 month old little girl is still breast feeding but i am trying to gradually cut down her feeds to just a mornign feed. We are using Ellas kitchen pouches and cow and gate number 2 formula. For a while she was fine on the pouches and seemed to be doign really well but now she has started sicking up anything other than the pure fruit purees. The same goes for her formula (she has one bottle feed a day in the evening): it seemed to be going well and in the last couple of days she has started being sick straight after ehr feed so I then have to breast feed her in order to make sure she is fed before bed. Obviously I don't begrudge the bf but i am going back to full time work very soon and am concerned that she seems to be going backwards with weaning. Has anyone had a similar experience and is it just a matter of patience? Fuschia, you seem to have some pretty expert knowledge, i'd be really grateful for your opinion. Many thanks.

[Fuschia]

Hi

Only in so far as I bf 4 and at various points have researched formula because I had a cows milk protein allergy as a child so I do take an interest

Cow and gate 2 looks to be a very casein heavy formula - 80:20

You might just find that a first formula (whey dominant) is more digestible

My children were always very prone to throwing up when they had colds (mucous in stomach) and I think the curds formed by the formula cause the same

I do know from a twins forum I am on that lots of babies suffer when they switch from first formula to follow on or hungry baby and switching back fixes it

I also think I might have read somewhere that where there is an allergy to cows milk protein, that's often to the casein protein

Have you tried a blw approach? No reason you can't try things like sticks of well cooked sweet potato, carrot, watermelon, cucumber etc and you might find being able to gnaw off little chunks, the food doesn't come back up so easily

[fl0wer]

also to reassure you, even b/f babies can pass fewer stools in a heat wave, and they often regurgitate a bit after each feed, and they often put on weight fairly slowly.

My daughter offered goatsmilk formula at one stage of her daughter's weaning - it's rather expensive and rejoices in the name of 'Nanny' - & babies often like goats milk yoghourt [but not before 6 months old]. Some children find goats milk lighter, less likely to form mucus, and skin/nappy rash troubles are less than on cow's milk. Others don't accept the slightly different taste & must have a soya-based milk. There are nicer ones around nowadays, also baby rice for suppertime, all organic etc. Milk has to be offered them alongside any other foods, because milk has to be a baby's main food for its first year of life.

If babies get really unwell there are supplies of donated breast milk [which the hospitals keep, frozen], this is for example when allergies get desperate, not for everyday use obviously.

Not sure how lactose intolerance influences what formulas are OK so I think you would do best to ask a dietician about it. Ordinary nurses and GP's don't necessarily have appropriate background training, NB. It would be a shocking let-down if you failed to get proper help on the NHS as anyone with a caseload from a large mixed population of people would be sure to have experience. I believe it's really common for particular ethnic groups.

Hope this helps.

Please don't beat yourself up about only nursing the baby yourself for a month. You will have given him a headstart with proper colostrum and antibodies from your own supplies and his digestion will be a lot healthier and more resilient than it would have been without your input. Every sympathy with the anxiety about his feeds, but smile into the baby's eyes and praise him & every day allow both of you to enjoy skin-closeness as this will help you [as well as him] to know you are nearby, from your heart beat and voice, your bodily presence. In a week or two he will reach up and explore your face and start to focus and smile a little - it is a magical step....

[shaunag]

Hi Mum2be. My daughter is 2 and a half but has had severe cows milk protein alergy since birth. She also had some reflux but symptoms improved a lot after i cut out dairy and she stopped her reflux meds at about 10 months. To me it sounds like your child has CMPA too. The alternative formulas all smell disgusting. They are basically partially pre-digested cows milk, to varying degrees. The least digested is aptamil pepti, followed by nutramigen and finally neocate. IMO the smell gets progressively worse too! Little ones have an underdeveloped digestive tract so switching formula often causes constipation initially as their body gets used to digesting it. Don't worry about not including dairy in your child's diet; there are a lot of kids out there with CMPA and most of them can't be told apart from other kids-it's just something you get used to and then get on with. If your little one is accepting the nutramigen that is brilliant- mine never accepted alternative formulas and I ended up breastfeeding on a dairy free diet until she was 21 months old (my love of cheese has not yet returned)! Hopefully within 2 weeks this will all have settled down and you will have a happier household all round. However, do go straight back to your gp and demand a referral to see the paeds gastro team at kings- this will involve seeing a paeds gastroenterologist and dietician. GPs are not experts on this and you need to be under specialist care (in fact they are supposed to have a prescription from a specialist to prescribe dairy free formula, but sometimes make an exception; don't mention this when you go back as you will be stuck with no formula until your appointment). The appointments with the gastro team take months so get this sorted as soon as you can. Best of luck.