EBF to formula with Milk Alergy

08summerbride · August 2013

Anyone had any luck going from EBF to Nutramagin? Or came up with a different solution to the problem of switching to formula with a milk allergy?

DS is almost 5 months old and is currently EBF. I have had supply issues from the beginning, possibly to to the fact that he had surgery at 1 week old and was on feeding tubes etc and wasn't able to nurse until 2.5 weeks. Anyway....I go back to work on Monday and due to my supply issues, I don't think I am going to be able to keep up pumping. Currently I am adding in an extra pumping session, taking fenugreek, eating oatmeal like a mad woman and drinking water with no real success. So my plan was to supplement, but I tried gerber good start gentle (the liquid and powder) twice both resulting in projectile vomiting 2 hours after eating. Doc said it is probably a milk allergy and he would probably need the hypoallergenic formula if I was going to supplement. DS refuses to take the nutramagin...and based on the smell, I don't blame him. I don't know if adding it to breast milk will help, and supplementing that way, or if there is another option. I am nervous that I won't be able to pump enough, I don't have a stash built up, and I don't know what I am going to feed him when the BM runs out

.

PipSqueak0313 · August 2013

My LO was on a mix of formula and bm starting in the first few days. At 3 weeks, with ds not gaining weight and him frequently acting like his tummy hurt I switched him to a soy formula. Immediately after switching he stopped acting like his tummy hurt and he started gaining weight. At 3.5 months he got a bottle of the milk based formula and he threw it back up within 2 or 3 hours. At his 4 month appt the dr said to treat him as milk allergic.

I know I have read that many milk allergic babies also have problems with soy, however, if ds is reacting to the soy I dont know it. FWIW, ds was finally able to latch on and nurse around the 3 month point so the amount of formula ds is getting has dropped from 75 percent to maybe 1 percent.

PepperBug · August 2013

I have never transitioned to formula, but when we transitioned my son to cow's milk from breast milk at a year, we mixed a small amount of cow's milk with the breast milk for a few days and then gradually increased the percentage of cow's milk over the course of a few weeks until it was all cow's milk. He still nursed at night and in the morning, and we had no problems with transition. Perhaps you could try that with the formula?

08summerbride · August 2013

PipSqueak0313 said:
My LO was on a mix of formula and bm starting in the first few days. At 3 weeks, with ds not gaining weight and him frequently acting like his tummy hurt I switched him to a soy formula. Immediately after switching he stopped acting like his tummy hurt and he started gaining weight. At 3.5 months he got a bottle of the milk based formula and he threw it back up within 2 or 3 hours. At his 4 month appt the dr said to treat him as milk allergic.

I know I have read that many milk allergic babies also have problems with soy, however, if ds is reacting to the soy I dont know it. FWIW, ds was finally able to latch on and nurse around the 3 month point so the amount of formula ds is getting has dropped from 75 percent to maybe 1 percent.

Did you do anything special to fix his latch or did he just of eventually figure it out?

JenniD2 · August 2013

I'm just curious. Have you looked into Similac Alimentum? It's almost the same thing as Nutramigen but without the probiotics. When we had originally learned that DS has a Milk and Soy Protein Intolerance, DS absolutely hated Nutramigen. With our pedi's ok, we switched him to Alimentum, and he took it just fine.

I have also heard that some babies will only eat the Ready-to-use over the powder formula.

MrsWindyCity · August 2013

No advice yet but we'll be in this boat shortly. DS is officially out-eating what I'm pumping starting this week. He does have a milk allergy and at our pedi appointment he gave us a few samples of Nutramigen to try. We haven't tried them yet but we likely will this weekend. I hope you can figure something out! I would probably try mixing it with a small amount of breast milk and see if that helps.

PipSqueak0313 · August 2013

Did you do anything special to fix his latch or did he just of eventually figure it out?

I kept putting him to breast at random times with and without a nipple shield for what I called practice feedings. I did them during times when he was calmer and not starving. So times like when he wanted to comfort suck or mid feeding. This took a lot of the stress and frustration out of the mix. I also found that he could latch in a laid back nursing position but he couldn't latch in the cradle, cross cradle, or football positions. He's also picked up nursing in a side laying position. I can move him into a cradle position if I need to now. He did pick up latching on with the nipple shield first and then after a couple of weeks I was able to get him to latch without it....and once he figured out latching without it he wanted no part of the nipple shield.
I also used Nuby variable flow nipples on some of his daytime bottles since they do not drip and the harder the baby sucks the faster the flow is. I used them when he was really hungry and therefore more motivated to suck harder. Then after a few minutes I would change it out for a regular nipple so he could get the nutrition. I did this because ds has down syndrome and his mouth muscles were too weak for him to suck from either the breast or the bottle (he needed faster flowing nipples since they dripped at about the right rate when he first started)
If you haven't already, check in with a LC to see if any other issues are noticed concerning your LO's latch.

Xraytiff49 · August 2013

My LO has severe allergies, so much so that I had to stop BFing bc she is intolerant to most everything I tried cutting things out of my diet and it wasn't working. Ailmentum is not the same as nutramigenAA or puramino is the new name, the milk proteins are not broken down as far as the nutramigen AA (puramino) or elecare (another brand for allergies. My baby couldn't tolerate the alimentum and has been on puramino since 12 wo, she seen a GI specialist at that point and she explained all of this to me, the elecare comes in a vanilla flavor I believe if your baby is having issues with the taste, my baby didn't care for the taste at first but after a few days did just fine on the puramino. It has been a Godsend, her first 12 weeks of life were the hardest weeks of mine until we figured out what was wrong. I hope this helps.

strawny0807 · August 2013

We had to put my DD on Nutramigen for cow's milk and soy intolerance. She HATED it at first. She only took 5 oz. the first day, 9 oz. the second day. We called the ped right away and he said just keep offering it to her. He said she'd eventually get hungry enough and eat it. He was right. By the end of the second day she was eating almost like normal. The Nutramigen has made a HUGE difference for her. Also, if your LO has a cow's milk allergy, there is a 40% chance of a soy allergy as well. Best of luck to you!

Want a personalized experience?

EBF to formula with Milk Alergy

Re: EBF to formula with Milk Alergy

Choose Another Board

Search Boards