September 2016 Moms
jennlynn777
member
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And the journey continues...
jennlynn777
member
DISCLAIMER - Long post! Do NOT take anything I say in here as medical advice. This is my own personal journey.
Quick back story - Luke suffered from severe silent reflux from birth. He was taken off the breast, switched to 2 different formulas, and 2 different reflux meds. He was on Elecare and taking Nexium until his GI dr. said he believed it was a milk intolerance and we could start weaning him off his meds. once he reflux was under control.
So during the holiday season, towards the end of Dec., Luke came down with a "cold." He had a runny nose and seemed generally unhappy. Luke had been off his reflux meds for almost a month at this point. I ended up calling his GI Dr., who just happened to be on call at the hospital, and he said it sounded like he was more than likely just sick since he had been fine off his meds for such an extended period of time. He suggested I have him see his Ped. Well if it was only a cold I would just get him through. The runny nose disappeared, but he began spitting up everywhere ALL the time! On me and daddy, on the floors, in grocery store, EVERYWHERE. He had to be changed about 7 times a day or more. Not to mention the spit up smelled very acidic. Then I noticed his throat started to sound hoarse and mucousy. He also began squeaking again when he was drinking his bottle. I was praying perhaps he not gotten over his cold?? However, the signs were not in my favor. He was fussy all the time. I finally made an appt. with the GI Dr. and he said we needed to put him back on his meds. and up them. I was so sad. I didn't want my poor boy dependent upon reflux meds to be happy. For his own comfort though we put him back on the meds and after about a week his fussiness started to subside a bit, but he was still spitting up everywhere and it still smelled of acid. So here is where I intervene....
I had enough of him struggling, taking medication, and the GI dr. making assumptions instead of having him properly tested for allergies. So I grabbed a pen and paper and I started making a timeline. I wrote down the things I ate while I was breastfeeding. Then I wrote down all of the ingredients in the 2 formulas Luke has been on. I found a common denominator. CORN. CORN syrup, CORN! Wtf....
So because I, as well as 2 of my children, are allergic to the B protein in cow's milk I decided against tradition formula and don't get me started on Soy. Plus I wasn't 100% certain there wasn't some other ingredient in the billions of ingredients in formula that wasn't also causing an issue. I needed something more natural. But what??? So I did some research and read a TON about goat milk. Raw goat milk seemed to be this huge thing. HOWEVER, in the state of Indiana raw goat milk is illegal for human consumption. Plus, it could have bad bacteria in it that I don't want my little guy to have. I wasn't taking any chances. So I found an ULTRA-pasterized powdered goat milk that wasn't illegal AND was nice and clean. The downside was that it wasn't fortified for infants. It was missing lots of good stuff a baby needs. With a little more research I found the perfect goat milk formula recipe designed specifically for a baby suffering with reflux. Plus we added a multi-vitamin and probiotics to get his gut back on track. The recipe has everything he needs, and the best part is that it is said to mimic that good ol' breastmilk. YES!
So I went to Earthfare and bought everything I needed and whipped up a batch. It smelled yummy so I gave it a little taste. YUM! Tasted like french vanilla cappuccino. JFYI Elecare smells foul and taste foul! I was glad to be giving him something he might actually like. His first bottle he gulped down! I got a few burps out of him, and then the waiting game began. I observed his behavior and listened to his tummy. He seemed perfectly fine. Success?? Maybe! So for 3 more days he had nothing but this special formula. The first night he slept for about 5 hours uninterrupted but still seemed to have his days and nights mixed up. The second night he slept 7 hours straight from 5pm to 12am!! He is sleeping at night now??? What?!? On day 3, he slept from 6pm to 3am. He slept 9 hours!!!!!
He barely spits up! He automatically set himself back on night sleeping! Sleeps through the night! No more fussiness! Poops every day instead of every few days!
SUCCESS!!!!!
It took me a bit to decide if I wanted to share this part of our story because I didn't want anybody judging me for choosing goat milk. Please keep in mind that his milk is NOT raw and is fortified with 100% organic ingredients at the correct specifications for a baby under 1 year of age. I have spent many a night in tears feeling like I had failed my baby. He was born this way and it had to be my fault. The Dr's seemed to prefer a quick fix, but I knew there had to be a cause. Anyway, hopefully I didn't bore you guys terribly. I am just so excited he is thriving so well!
Quick back story - Luke suffered from severe silent reflux from birth. He was taken off the breast, switched to 2 different formulas, and 2 different reflux meds. He was on Elecare and taking Nexium until his GI dr. said he believed it was a milk intolerance and we could start weaning him off his meds. once he reflux was under control.
So during the holiday season, towards the end of Dec., Luke came down with a "cold." He had a runny nose and seemed generally unhappy. Luke had been off his reflux meds for almost a month at this point. I ended up calling his GI Dr., who just happened to be on call at the hospital, and he said it sounded like he was more than likely just sick since he had been fine off his meds for such an extended period of time. He suggested I have him see his Ped. Well if it was only a cold I would just get him through. The runny nose disappeared, but he began spitting up everywhere ALL the time! On me and daddy, on the floors, in grocery store, EVERYWHERE. He had to be changed about 7 times a day or more. Not to mention the spit up smelled very acidic. Then I noticed his throat started to sound hoarse and mucousy. He also began squeaking again when he was drinking his bottle. I was praying perhaps he not gotten over his cold?? However, the signs were not in my favor. He was fussy all the time. I finally made an appt. with the GI Dr. and he said we needed to put him back on his meds. and up them. I was so sad. I didn't want my poor boy dependent upon reflux meds to be happy. For his own comfort though we put him back on the meds and after about a week his fussiness started to subside a bit, but he was still spitting up everywhere and it still smelled of acid. So here is where I intervene....
I had enough of him struggling, taking medication, and the GI dr. making assumptions instead of having him properly tested for allergies. So I grabbed a pen and paper and I started making a timeline. I wrote down the things I ate while I was breastfeeding. Then I wrote down all of the ingredients in the 2 formulas Luke has been on. I found a common denominator. CORN. CORN syrup, CORN! Wtf....
So because I, as well as 2 of my children, are allergic to the B protein in cow's milk I decided against tradition formula and don't get me started on Soy. Plus I wasn't 100% certain there wasn't some other ingredient in the billions of ingredients in formula that wasn't also causing an issue. I needed something more natural. But what??? So I did some research and read a TON about goat milk. Raw goat milk seemed to be this huge thing. HOWEVER, in the state of Indiana raw goat milk is illegal for human consumption. Plus, it could have bad bacteria in it that I don't want my little guy to have. I wasn't taking any chances. So I found an ULTRA-pasterized powdered goat milk that wasn't illegal AND was nice and clean. The downside was that it wasn't fortified for infants. It was missing lots of good stuff a baby needs. With a little more research I found the perfect goat milk formula recipe designed specifically for a baby suffering with reflux. Plus we added a multi-vitamin and probiotics to get his gut back on track. The recipe has everything he needs, and the best part is that it is said to mimic that good ol' breastmilk. YES!
So I went to Earthfare and bought everything I needed and whipped up a batch. It smelled yummy so I gave it a little taste. YUM! Tasted like french vanilla cappuccino. JFYI Elecare smells foul and taste foul! I was glad to be giving him something he might actually like. His first bottle he gulped down! I got a few burps out of him, and then the waiting game began. I observed his behavior and listened to his tummy. He seemed perfectly fine. Success?? Maybe! So for 3 more days he had nothing but this special formula. The first night he slept for about 5 hours uninterrupted but still seemed to have his days and nights mixed up. The second night he slept 7 hours straight from 5pm to 12am!! He is sleeping at night now??? What?!? On day 3, he slept from 6pm to 3am. He slept 9 hours!!!!!
He barely spits up! He automatically set himself back on night sleeping! Sleeps through the night! No more fussiness! Poops every day instead of every few days!
SUCCESS!!!!!
It took me a bit to decide if I wanted to share this part of our story because I didn't want anybody judging me for choosing goat milk. Please keep in mind that his milk is NOT raw and is fortified with 100% organic ingredients at the correct specifications for a baby under 1 year of age. I have spent many a night in tears feeling like I had failed my baby. He was born this way and it had to be my fault. The Dr's seemed to prefer a quick fix, but I knew there had to be a cause. Anyway, hopefully I didn't bore you guys terribly. I am just so excited he is thriving so well!
Re: And the journey continues...
ive definitely heard of goats milk as an alternative to formula, so do not think you're weird at all for choosing that. I'm so glad he's doing better and I hope he continues down that path. It must be such a relief!