I have been attempting to see if Jadon can take a formula but it seems like every time I try his reflux flares up. (He also has issues with food allergies, so I've only tried Alimentum RTF and Neocate.) I am wondering--is it somewhat normal for reflux to flare up when going from breastmilk to formula or is this definitely a sign that he has a problem with the formula? He tends to spit up/vomit more and starts wheezing a lot, especially right after taking the bottle. Anyone have any insight on this?

Breast milk, from what I've read, is a better choice for infants with reflux, b/c it's easier for the stomach to digest. There are some hypo-allergenic formulas that have been mentioned in the past, but I'm not too familiar with them. Hopefully someone will have more answers for you later tonight or in the morning.

The wheezing IMO indicates an allergic reaction. Does he do that after either formula or one over the other? Evan definitely refluxes more on Neocate, but there isn't he pain that he used to have so no problems.

It may be a milk allergy. I would also try a hypoallergenic formula, it's the most similar to breastmilk and may have less reaction.

I would not stop breastfeeding. Read Maya's last thread yesterday, they stopped breastfeeding a week ago and she is now in the hospital. Be careful. I tried alimentum and nutramigen (for emergency purposes only) and she took only one once and puked it all up. My ped says it tastes god awful and only a starving baby would eat it. So I tried Isomil, soy and she loved it. The reason i wanted formula is that she is sucking me dry, as she sucks every 45 minutes to relieve her pain, so i wanted an emergency backup and 1 feed a night so i can sleep 2 hours. She loved it, we used it (half breast milk, half formula) for 1 feed on 2 successive nights. She has not had a bowel movement since (8 days now)!!! I am worried.
I honnestly believe breast is best, although it has taken a huge toll on me (sometimes i am so exhausted i feel like i am slowly dying!!). Breast milk is much easier to digest than any formula. If you look at even the nutramigen or alimentum, the first ingredient is corn syrup. No wonder they have a hard time digesting it. And just so you know, when i fed her formula, she did not sleep any better or longer.

I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, and after reading alot of people's stories, if my Maiya was on formula, she would not be doing as well as she is. SHe is doing terribly, but still better than many of the others on the boards.

So be careful and tread slowly with formula, and try to mix it with breastmilk first.

Let me know how it goes


jojo
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Jojo
Mother of Maiya , born July 10th, 2005

My DS is still BF'ing at 9 months +....that is the sole reason i will NOT switch to formula... I've heard too many horror stories of the reflux taking the turn for the WORST once switching over. By the way, Jadon is SUCH a cutie. ;)

Hi
I express breast milk and feed it to sarah by bottle- she wouldn't take my breast. We tried nutramigen for 4 days and she did much worse. I don't know if it was a long enough trial because people say you have to give a formula change about 2 weeks but she really didn't do well with it so I went back to the breast milk. I have to pump before every feed and my breasts are falling apart but I think it is worth it.
Karie

Maggie actually did better on formula for three days. She had pyloric stenosis though so I don't know how it affected the reflux part because by the time we realized what was going on I had dried up.

My DD couldn't stomach formula at all. Because my Bmilk dried up (because of the reflux) we had no choice. We ended up having to go to a perscription formula. 30 $$ a can. Stick with breastmilk if you can. If he needs mor calories pump and add. Atleast until he gets a bit older. My DD was able to eventually switch to neocate afer a while (expensive too)

Sue

If possible I would also stick with breast milk. I gave up at 9 months cause I didn't think Parker was getting enough cause he would fuss so. It was a big mistake. This is when all the allergies came out and you know what he drank less froma bottle than from me so it was a waste to give up.
Rachel

I regret giving up the breastfeeding for Maya. However the doctor that I go to was ignorant and did not diagnose Maya with reflux when she was failing to gain weight and told me to supplement with a bottle. I gave up breast feeding and Maya got worse as she hated the bottle and refluxed more. We got her on reflux meds and Maya improved. We saw a GI and he thought that she would improve further with Neocate as she could have a milk protein intolerance. With Neocate, Maya halved her milk consumption and was heading for tube feeding as she was rejecting the bottle. It was only after a hospital stay and moving onto a high energy milk based formula that Maya is recovering now (hopefully this will continue to be the case.)

So you need to be quite cautious. It was a shock for Maya as a breast feed baby to go to the bottle and in Maya's case hypoallergenic formula was a shock as she was used to sweet breast milk. If your gerdling is milk protein intolerant, then a hypoallergenic formula should benefit them, but Maya obviously did not have an intolerance and was hindered by these formulations. With hindsight, I may have considered a dairy free exclusion diet to test this intolerance, but the thought of that did sound very onerous and I had given up breastfeeding by then anyway There is no clear answer on this, but be guided by the reaction of your baby. I think they do have an opinion on likes and dislikes of formulas and reflect this in their demeanor and weight gain.


Sarah

Thank you all for your input. That is interesting to hear about others' experiences.

I would actually prefer to continue breastfeeding, but it isn't so simple for me. I do know that Jadon has food allergies--I have only identified for sure milk and orange, but I suspect also potatoes, wheat, spinach, sweet potatoes and tomatoes. I have not only eliminated all dairy, but also most foods! I tried doing only a few foods first, have also tried eliminating only the top 8 allergens, but only on a VERY limited diet which I'm on now (we're talking about 10 foods) does he seem to do SOMEWHAT ok, but it is still touch and go. I had a few weeks where it was going well, and then I started seeing blood in his stool 1-2x/week. I switched up my diet about a week ago and things have been better since then (knock on wood). If things would continue to go well, I wouldn't mind continuing doing this, but I cannot maintain my weight. I am really short (4'11") but I am already under 90 lbs on this diet and it is a struggle everyday to get enough calories.

I THOUGHT also that by putting him on formula maybe he could actually get some consistent relief and sleep better b/c he wouldn't have the digestive problems.

I have only tried hypoallergenic formulas (alimentum RTF and neocate). He has the wheezing problem with both.

Not sure what to do now.

I was worried about my diet in the begining but upon doing lots of research and trials...I found that my diet made no difference with Zac either way. SO all those weeks I was depriving myself, was for nothing. I'm not implying that that is the case with you, however. BF'ing is/can be really tough and it takes a lot to stick it through. Have you ever checked out "Kellymom.com"?? It has very useful info on breastfeeding re: medicines, diets, weaning, etc etc.

I'm so glad to see this post! This is something I'd been considering, but I really don't want to give up on breastfeeding, because of all the allergy benefits.

Right now I'm exclusively pumping, except for two nursings at night, and I only have a manual pump. But in a month I have an appointment with the lactation consultant for WIC who can hopefully issue me an electric pump. In the meantime, my hands are killing me!

Hugs! Those of you who have never had a many food allergic child, will probably never fully understand what it's like. Evan is finally doing better after suffering for 12 mos b/c he's only on Neocate now. I loved that I was able to bf as long as I did, but wish I would've started a more restricted diet sooner, as we might still be bfing. I was under the impression his reflux was as good as it was going to get and there was nothing else I could do, WRONG! It turns out he's allergic to much more than I thought, wheat is actually a big one for him and I had no idea. He did get better w/ me going on the total elimination diet, but I was too tired to continue at that point since I'd been dealing w/ this for 11 mos then. If you want help w/ the TED, I can help you. I was on it for a month and only lost 5#, which would be a lot for you, but you really can maintain your weight on it, you just have to try! Adding oils to your food is the key. I ate turkey, pears, rice, carrots, sea salt, can sugar, and canola and rice oils. I drank rice milk sometimes too, but not often as I'm not fond of it. The continuing blood is something that concerns me. Have you thought of having him scoped? I never wanted Evan scoped as I wanted to try everything first. The problem being by the time we got him scoped, we think we had been using Neocate too long to get a good reading on what was going on inside him. Now we're back to square one as we have nothing new to help us besides his last allergy tests.

Sara, I had a lot of people tell me that diet makes no difference with BFing, so I didn't try to eliminate anything for the longest time b/c I just thought it was a pain. But it clearly has made a difference for Jadon--his diarrhea has stopped, his reflux symptoms have significantly decreased, he no longer has persistent diaper rash, etc. I have been on Kellymom a lot--it's a good site.

Jennifer, I have read every post on POFAK about keeping my weight up--I try to have a lot of oil and I eat all day long and till I'm full at meals and I still am having trouble! Yeah, I am thinking of having him scoped. Our ped GI has been of NO help though. He wanted to do a colonoscopy with no anesthesia and I just wasn't comfortable with it. We have an appt for a 2nd opinion with one of the top ped GI's in LA, but not till mid-Feb... :( Good luck figuring out things with Evan.

Sarah if you only stopped breastfeeding a couple of months ago you might be able to get you milk back if the new formula stops working for her. But you would have to start the process really soon, consult a le leche group.

Joy if you suspect a wheat allergy it would be time to see an allergist if you have not seen one yet or ask for a ciliacs test from your ped. Some of the "reflux" sysmtoms could be a sign a ciliacs.

If reflux is being caused by an allergy - a food resticted diet will help but if your GERDling has other issues causing it restricting won't help. Restricting is the easiest and less invasive thing your your child. Once you ellimitate componits in your BMilk then start looking for other things that may help. Reflux is a symptom of something else. allergy, birthdefect, nurelogical issues.... But to try something to help you child is never for nothing and I commend each one of you for continuing to look and try and research and seek for what will make your child feel better. God Bless you all.
Sue

If you want him scoped, you want him still on mostly, if not all bm, not on the formula. That can mask some of the things they want to look for. Can your ped push up the appt w/ the GI? Ours did w/ the 2nd GI (since we already waited 2.5 mos for the 1st one). What are you eliminating now? If he has problems w/ Neocate, I would suspect corn. Dairy, soy, eggs, and wheat are common too. Corn is a hard one to avoid, but I wonder if that wouldn't help him a lot.

The ladies all gave wonderful advice...I just want to clarify that there is a BIG difference between allergies and intolerances. Allergies are not to mess with and can be ruled out by doing a scope. An allergy is a reaction by the body's immune system, while intolerance affect more of the digestive system and are usually outgrown with time. Allergies to food can be life threatening, and will not cause just diarrhea or constipation. We had Alexys scoped at both ends and it was the best test we ever put her through...and the one we got the most answers from. Scopes are Very reliable in diagnosing allergies.