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He's allergic to me - help!
I just found out that my baby is allergic to my breastmilk - the dairy and/or soy in me more specifically. I am an emotional mess. I was told to feed him Nutramagin or Alimentum (sp?) for 2 weeks while I eliminate all dairy and soy from my diet (which will last for 6 months). I am clueless about formula:1. Do you make a batch and refrigerate it or always do individual bottles?2. If he doesn't finish a bottle can you save in fridge for later?3. How much should he eat (he's 5 weeks)?4. Do I still give Poly Vi Sol with formula?5. What water do you use - tap or filtered?6. Temperature of bottle?7. Do I pump 8x day to retain supply? 8. Washing ok or do you have to sterilize bottles? What else do I need to know? Anyone else go through this?
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Re: He's allergic to me - help!
I'm really sorry about this. Don't think of this as him being allergic to you! It is not your fault.
No experience, but I would talk to a lactation consultant about keeping up your supply while you're formula feeding. Pumping 8x/day sounds about right, but are you sure you need to stop BFing while you cut out dairy/soy?
As to your questions:
I think you can make a big batch of formula in a pitcher and pour it out as you need it. Once the baby drinks the formula (their saliva mixes with it), you can't use it anymore.
I would use filtered water. Temperature is up to your baby's preference - we never heated ours (for formula when we were supplementing or now when I pump and DS has BM at daycare).
Washing bottles in the dishwasher should be fine.
Is Poly Vi Sol the Vitamin D supplement? If so, no, you don't need to use it. They get enough Vitamin D from the formula.
Good luck - this will be over in two weeks and you'll be back to BFing soon!
TTC #2: BFP 12/17/11, m/c 1/7/12 and D&C 1/12/12
baby blog/cooking blog
My DS has a milk protein allergy. fortunately I didn't have to stop BF the two weeks it took to get the milk protein out of my system. I have been off diary for almost 8 weeks. It gets easier, but you just have to watch for hidden diary (and it is everywhere!) thankfully there are a lot of websites that offer support - www.godiaryfree.com is one that I have found helpful. Look for parve (kosher) labels on food (you can google kosher symbols for a good explanation). You can find a lot of good vegan recipes for things like cakes and such - if you have a sweet tooth like me.
To add to the issue - my supply started to tank. So I have to occasionally supplement with formula when I run out of pumped BM. I emailed both simalac and enfamil and got samples of the Nutramagin and Allumentium (I know i butchered the spelling!!). He seems to like the Allumentum better, but they both stink like rotting feet wrapped in a dirty dish towel.
feel free to PM me if you need help/support!
FJC
I'm so sorry to hear this. I know it must be hard but formula is just fine for your baby and it sounds like you'll be BFing again soon.
I second BH's recommendation on the Dr. Brown's formula pitcher. It makes life so much easier. Also, get yourself a bottle brush for about $3 at Target. Since we don't run the dishwasher everyday, we hand wash the bottles alot. I just get a large plastic bowl and fill it with sudsy hot water and soak everything and then wash it with the brush. I also love this drying rack. They usually have these in stock at Target.
You may not need to keep him on only formula for the full two weeks. I cut out dairy when DD was 2 or 3 weeks old, and I think within a few days enough of the dairy was out of my system that she wasn't in as much pain. (And I still try cheese every three or four weeks to see how she reacts - by 3 months old, she'd have some nasty pain an hour after her first feeding and it would lessen every feeding after that.)
1. Since we didn't commit to switching to formula permanently, we've never bought anything big enough that we could make a big batch of formula in. We're strictly a make-as-you-go household.
3. Just to be safe, I'd suggest making a bottle bigger than you think you need to see how much he takes. He might only want 2 oz. per feeding, but maybe more. I'd rather waste a few ounces of formula at first to find out what he wants. I found when I wasn't feeding DD enough she'd want to eat every hour and a half and that was exhausting.
4. Save the vitamins for when you go back to BFing.
5. I always use the filtered water from the fridge.
6. DD isn't picky. Honestly, I'll give her bottles straight from the fridge and she doesn't mind. (Some friends of my FIL were horrified by that - said cold liquids promote gas. I said she's just as gassy when she BFs, so as long as she's happy I don't bother with the warming.)
7. Definitely pump whenever you would feed him - and freeze it! Your son may eventually grow out of his dairy sensitivity. I froze quite a bit while we were doing various trials of formula v. breast milk and used it up a bottle here and there. One bottle with cow milk sugars in it here and there was much more tolerable for DD's stomach than getting it all the time with no break.
8. We put everything in the dishwasher once we settled in to a routine.
DD tolerates it when I drink Lactaid milk now, though she never reacted as strongly to milk as to cheese. Also she seems to tolerate parmesean cheese (and no other cow cheese). It's weird, but you may find some things in your diet work for him over time. I have a friend who had to cut out milk, but her son was ok with her eating yogurt and cheese. I'll never understand how this works!
The biggest thing to remember is that you'll get through this, your son will do better soon (even if it feels like forever to you know), and remember that he's not allergic to YOU.
I'm so sorry!
My DD had a cow-milk dairy intolerance and I was cow-milk-dairy free till she was 9mo old. I was never told to stop BFing her, though! I'd ask for a 2nd opinion on that, call an LC and talk to another pedi in your practice.
You still need the calcium, so start taking a calcium supplement and introduce goat and sheep dairy products. Be careful, however, b/c those share 92% of properties with cow milk. Goat milk/yogut (Wegman's has them) worked well for me.
I kept BFing so I have no advice on formulas but definitely keep pumping to keep up your supply if you def. have to stop BFing
I'm so sorry! We got off easy - C has a mild milk intolerance and I've only had to cut out obvious dairy. My bff's daughter had issues with soy and dairy and had to be on hypoallegenic formula for 6 months. However, now (10 mo old) she's actually able to have milk again. My friend was in a unique position to keep her supply up because she has twins and continued to bf her son, though.
I don't have any formula suggestions, but if you haven't already you should check out the non-dairy options for yourself at Whole Foods or MOM's. There's much more than soy - rice milk, almond milk, etc. Coconut milk ice cream is sooo good! I ate that even before I went off dairy. There are a bunch of soy/milk free mommies on the bfing board and the AP board as well. I think the AP board even has a daily or weekly check in post.
Good luck!
I don't have much more to add than what's already been said. DD is exclusively formula fed, so I can't help you with pumping, but we are a make-as-you-go family so that the formula is basically room temperature. At night, we pre-fill the bottles with water, then measure out the formula into paper cups. When we do a middle of the night feeding, it makes it much easier to make the bottle that way. Also, we use tap water because I've read our water is pretty safe. There's also something about fluoride in the water being a good thing, and bottled water doesn't always have that.
Separately, I just wanted to say I hope this is the reason he has seemed inconsolable the past few weeks! I bet he will be a happier baby now. As a friend once told me, it's all about the gas.