Hi moms, I need HELP!!! I do not know if I am posting this in the right place. If I am not please correct me and tell me where to post it that I will get the most help.

I have been on the boards a lot talking about my baby girl and all her problem with reflux. Well I exclusively BF and since I am a SAHM I have not pumped or even tried to give my baby the bottle. The breast helps soothe and comfort her and it has worked for me. I have been eliminating stuff from my diet but I guess not enough.

Well last week Wednesday I decided to stop BFing. Keira has not been gaining weight and I thought it would help if I knew how much she drank. So I decided to stop and since all my older 3 kids all had problem with dairy I gave her a bottle of soy. I had last feed her the boob at 5am and tried the bottle all day. Finally by 3pm she had only taken 3ozs so I gave up. I went back to BFing. On Friday I had a GI appointment. Good thing. By 2pm she had done 5 stools all FULL of blood. Looks like she has been allergic to protein and all kinds of stuff all this time. Looks like the bottle of soy I gave her made her bleed. So the doctor said I have to either stop BFing or give her this formula called Elecare. Very expensive mind you. $30 something $ a bottle. Anyway not the point. It was either this or continue BFing and stop eating everything. I have to eliminate whey, soy, diary, seafood, nuts and a whole bunch of other things from my diet. It would be like eating nothing. But the GI said that I can successfully feed her once I stay hydrated. She will get everything she needs. This is sooooooooooooo really hard to do. I mean if you read the ingredients to ANYTHING they have that stuff in it. The GI said I would love him as I will lose so much weight.

So I got the formula and have been trying to feed her with the bottle. She is refusing it. Will have nothing to do with it. I have tried plain water, sweet water, breast milk, formula, formula with sugar, juice, you name it. No luck at all.

The only reason I want to stop BFing is that I feel so guilt all this time feeding my baby and I have been the one hurting her. I FORCED her to take the soy bottle (thank God it was only 3ozs) and look what that did. I do not want to be the problem why she is hurting any more. I do not want to make any mistakes and just think she will be soooooo much happier on the bottle of this special formula.

I have tried leaving the house. Tried cup feeding, spoon feeding.. NO LUCK.. HELP!!!!! I ate salad last night........... No dressing and she is in pain today. I do not know what to eat and what not. It would be sooooooooooooooo much easier on the bottle where I know she will be getting what is best for her. I hate to give up BFing and I know she loves it, but what to do?? How to make her take the bottle???

Oh I have tried different bottles and nipples too. NO luck.

Please help........................:hissyfit:

OH, I forgot to write, I have also tried someone else feeding her and me OUT of the house. No luck there either. She cried until I came back home.

OK you said you tried al types of bottles and nipples. Have you tried playtex nursures with thte cylicone nipples? We have been using them since day one and nothing else. I hope she starts taking the bottle soon. Good luck.

I'm so sorry for your struggle. Poor little gal. My 4 month old son will not take a bottle either, so I have to keep bfing. I'm currently on the Dr. Sears elimination diet because he is also allergic to something in my breastmilk. It is really, really hard to follow the diet - it's only turkey, lamb, rice, baked or boiled potatoes or sweet potatoes (salt and pepper only), pears, diluted pear juice, rice milk, calcium supplement and I'm still taking my prenatal vitamin. I still have 8 more days before I can start adding other foods (1 every 4 days), but the diet is making a big difference though, so I will definitely keep it up. Unfortunately, I cheated on the diet last night (had chocolate-covered blueberries!) and today is HELL!!! Bloody stools, lots of spitting up and fussiness. I'm starting to wonder if maybe he doesn't have reflux at all but just food allergies. Anyway, we've had some success with cup feeding and spoon feeding, but only when baby is relaxed and not overly hungry. You might try breastfeeding a little bit, then when she is satisfied but not stuffed, try to bottle, cup or spoon feed her - only a little bit at first, and then slowly you can start breastfeeding less and using the other method more until she gets comfortable with it. Also, have you tried nightfeeding her a bottle? When she's really sleepy, maybe she won't notice the difference as much. Those suggestions didn't work for us, but maybe you'll have more success. If she won't take a bottle or you decide you want to keep breastfeeding, I'd be happy to help you with the diet. Private message me if you'd like...

Oh, I forgot one thing. I know you've tried different bottles and nipples, so this may be useless info.

Another mom suggested that the nipple we were trying was too slow, so we got the stage 2 nipple and he actually tried to drink out of that one. We got the playtex nipple that looks like a mini-breast (rounded with a nipple poking out the center and a rough ring around the nipple) and use the playtex bottles that bend so we can feed him more upright. Bottle feeding still didn't work for us though. But we did have better attempts with these bottles/nipples than we did with our Dr. Brown's....

Thanks for all the help so far. I am using the "mam" bottles and nipples as this is what her binky is. She will suck a little then stop. I am going to write privately as i need help with the diet. I really hate this and deserate.

I am breastfeeding too and my K won't take a bottle either:hairpull: tbh i haven't tried that hard as i know it is too late in the day for that !! I am trying to introduce a sippy cup but she tends to chew on it rather then drink from it.

I have eliminated dairy/soya and egg ( and for K too!) and this seems to have helped, i would suggest trying these first as they are the top 3 allergys and then i think wheat is next. It is hard but i have a list of alternative things i can eat and a good allergy cookbook full of reciepes if i ever get time to cook them!!

If they have a allergy to dairy it is highly likely they will be allergy to soy too hence the bad reaction to the formula.
I can say i spent many a hour wondering if it was something iate to make her bad or something she ate and so on, try not to beat yourself up about it as there are so many variables.

Also would the dr prescibe allergy meds to see if they help???? K is taking Nalcrom and Ceterizine for her reactions and it helps.
Good luck :hug:

what are you giving her in the bottle ? is it breastmilk or formula? If it is formula she is probably just used to your milk and doesn't want to quit! Naomi won't even drink water prperly from a cup or bottle, so you are not alone. If you are worried about how much she is drinking, you should weigh her before a feed and after a feed and that will tell you roughly if she is getting enough. Does she vomit? if she does, this would explain the no weight gain. Breastmilk is best for reflux babies tummies and I would encourage you to keep going if it suits you, but not if you really want to stop. Its up to you afterall...just a suggestion.

It is formula I am trying to give her. I want to stop breastfeeding so I do not have to worry abou what i am eating is going to hurt her. This way I know what she is getting is best for her. I do not want to hurt my baby any more and this diet thing is sooooooooooooo hard. I will so ask for meds if they have some that will help on my next GI app.

I can only talk about my experience and just know that it isn't this way for everyone, but I have a lot of guilt over giving up breastfeeding and this is because I gave up because it was getting too hard, Parker would much around, and not take much and fuss all the time, and I was sure he wouldn't be getting enough, and I thought well if I give him a bottle, surely he will drink that and he will be fine...right?

Well he wasn't. This was about the time he stopped eating for good and he refused the bottles. For me the key to get him to eat was to get him on the right medication, and from there it was a battle to teach him that food didn't hurt anymore.

So what I am saying is, it may not even be what you are eating, it may be because there if food in his tummy when you feed, so he screams, he may still do this with a bottle, he may also refuse the bottle. I successfully breastfed my older son and I could not beleive how different it felt. You may find with meds or the right meds. you will have a lot better result at either B/F or bottle.

Definitely get the reflux treated because that will make for a happier baby, but I think you'll have to deal with the allergy issue as well. I've learned today that even with the reflux meds, if I eat something Roman is allergic to, he's going to have a nasty reaction. And my mom keeps telling me to put him on formula since the diet is too hard. Problem is, most formula is soy or milk based, so it's going to cause the same problems. I haven't tried the specialty formulas, but I understand they are quite expensive and taste terrible. But, if you can find it at an affordable price and get baby to eat it, that's probably a great option! I can say from experience that the diet is really really really difficult. I am dreading the next ten days of the same 6 bland foods over and over and over....

I am so sorry for what you are going through. I know how you feel. When I figured out that Sebastian was reacting to proteins in my milk, I felt like I was poisoning him every time I fed him. I was trying to cut food out of my diet, but I could not handle the thought of it taking weeks for all the proteins to get out of my system and his. I wanted to know for sure that he was not getting anything that would make him sick. I felt bad that I was not successful breast feeding, but the thought of my milk hurting him was worse.

My mom bf my brother and sister and neither one of them would take a bottle at all. She tied leaving my sister with her friend, thinking she would eat when she was really hungry. It did not work and she just screamed until her friend gave up and called my mom to come feed her.

With all the bottles that claim to be just like the breast you may luck out a find something she will take. I sure hope so anyway. Good luck.

my heart goes out to you. i know how you feel...wondering if your milk is hurting your child...and from my experience...people kept saying ( i bet he is allergic to your milk ). UGH.

i didnt go on the total elim diet...but i did the milk/soy/nuts diet for 1 month 1 week (just ate chz again friday 1/12 - to test him)....its terribly difficult at first...but once you get the basic supplies (leichmans light margarine, rice milk and bakery bread (its easy to find even at walmart) it gets easier and easier. i was bringing my own marg and dressing to restaurants....ordering a steak (no butter or seasoning plz) and baked potato and salad. YUM YUM. of course this is just the mspi. Maybe you could start with that and see if you get results? just think fruits and vegetables...but like anything...the more you figure it out...the more "normal" it feels.

i wish you the best sweety! just do away with the guilt..it does no one any good! i know we are all prone to it ....bc we just love the little ones so very very much. know that your breastmilk has given your baby so many benefits beyond any possible intolerances! be delighted in that.

regarding the bottle...i too use the platex nipples. howver...i sincerely encourage you to try the diet....even for a week..just to see how it feels...try the mspi version first...its not as completely overwhelming as the total elim. and it just might work! never know till you try. after you figure out what you can buy at the grocer..its gets fairly easy. its just another way of life. i never thought in a million years i could do the mspi diet. i shocked myself!

HUGS TO YOU MAMA. give yourself a pat on the back for being the best mama you can be!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! wish i could help more.

much love