Any advice on starting to express for a 9 month old? Poor sleeping bottle and dummy refuser with CMPA!

[MaggieLeChat]

My nearly 9 month DS2 has cow's milk protein allergy that was diagnosed when he reacted to the dairy foods I had started to wean him on at 6 months.

He is breastfed and I am getting to (past!) the point of wanting to give it up, mostly because he feeds constantly through the night. It seems by co-sleeping, feeding to sleep and feeding lying down I have created the situation where he just has to have my nipple in his mouth whenever he wakes at night. I've ended up here as he has always been very unsettled and wouldn't sleep lying down/anywhere but on me or just next to me - I now realise this was due to the CMPA as he was squirming, in pain and windy. Most nights he wakes every 90 mins. I am knackered and more than a little fed up. I also have a 2.5 year old and am at home full time but will be starting at university in October so need to try and sort night times out in the next few months.

I'd like him to take a bottle/cup to give me a break and some time off, as well as prepare him for nursery. All attempts since he was a few weeks old have failed. The added difficulty now is having milk to give him in a bottle as he has refused the neocate formula. I'm struggling with delays with the NHS and their processes (feeling very frustrated), and still waiting for a different milk to be prescribed. The dietician has recommended soya formula next which I'm not happy with due to the link with reproductive issues, highlighted on the NHS website as well as other places. I'd like to try Aptamil Pepti but this request has been refused so far. I don't have an appointment to talk to the dietician until September so everything is relayed through the health visitor = part of the reason for delays and frustration! I may just buy a tin of the pepti milk to give it a go, but at £25 it's a massive dent into our weekly budget.

I may have to try and build my supply up to express but can't find much information or advice about doing it at this stage...anyone out there have any tips or suggestions? So far I've only managed a few drops with my Tommee Tippee pump so advice on whether to buy/rent a new one too. Again cost is an issue.

I'm feeling more and more despairing of ever sorting this all out. The key for me is to get him taking milk from somewhere else and then work on the sleeping issues. Help!

[BugaAB00]

We were in a similar situation where my DS was diagnosed with CMPA at the same age, and we also exclusively breast fed and co-slept with him sipping non-stop practically through the night. Exhausting BUT, at 9 months he will have started solids and by the time you start Uni in October his solid food intake will be considerably more. DS started nursery at 12 months and didn't take any milk there, just food. He had milk in the morning then again after nursery and bedtime. Alpro 1+ soya in his cereal for breakfast. Our dietician said at that age if he had three good feeds a day it was fine, make sure he gets lots of calcium and iron in his food (green leafy veg), we gave him vitamin supplements too for a time.

I didn't express because there often wasn't anyone else to give him the express milk except me, so pretty pointless. And babies diagnosed with CMPA after 6 months rarely take to the hydrolysed formula milk as the taste is disgusting compared to breastmilk. DS wouldn't take it even in cereal disguised with tons of fruit puree, I tried giving it in every form imaginable before giving up.

I kept the co-sleeping and night feeds going, what worked was having DH take him first thing in the morning so that I have a solid hours sleep before starting the day, and I went to bed early too.

Expressing is tiring and can generate more work, and ironically so does worrying about the issue. I would find a way of making sure you get enough sleep, and the rest will work itself out. Come over to the allergy board if you haven't already, they were a fantastic source of support at what was a very difficult time for me.

[MaggieLeChat]

Thanks so much for answering my plea...I'm in a rush but will reply later. Interested in other stories too as makes me feel better to know these things do work themselves out.

[lucy101]

We found my ds had this and after six months he refused the neutramigen (I couldn't fully breastfeed). However my husband also had a cows milk problem... but was fine with goats. The NHS dietician refused to believe this was the case! She wanted my son to go onto soya but I thought we should try goats (nannycare) first so I did... and it was fine. Interestingly although the nannycare was fine he can't have fresh goats milk or yogurt (cheese and butter are fine) so now (at 3) he has uht goats. You may want to try this before the expressing (which is hard work). Have you taken dairy out of your diet? I wonder if this could be affecting him. I do remember reading ways to make the hydrolised formulas more palatable (I think it was with a little vanilla).

[BugaAB00]

I won't give him goats milk if it's confirmed CMPA. The risk of cross reactivity is very high. Soya isn't too great before six months and we only started giving it at 12 months mainly for cereals and as a cold drink.

Take heart that he may well grow out of it. DS was reacting to trace amounts on high chairs used previously used by other babies and is now showing signs of outgrowing his milk allergy.

[MaggieLeChat]

Thanks again to both of you for taking the time to reply.

It seems that my idea of trying to express may well send me over the edge, because of the additional time and effort needed.

I had a call from my HV today and she reassured me that they wouldn't prescribe soya formula if there were any doubt, and that the advice I've seen is for babies under 6 months. It's worth a shot. I know deep down that I have to give up breastfeeding for my own sanity. I've been amazed that I've got this far as have found it difficult many a time over the last 9 months.

I also know that there's unlikely to be a miracle quick fix to all the issues around sleep associations and constant waking. I do already try and get as much sleep as possible and my DH is fantastic at getting up with both DS's every morning so that I can grab some sleep before he goes to work. I'm not so great at going to bed early in the evening but at the moment we're not getting both boys asleep much before 8.30-9 before DS2 wakes again for a feed at 10-10.30 so I only have an hour or so every night to get stuff done or have some time relaxing with DH. DS1 didn't sleep through until he started walking at 15 months - but he was FF from 6 weeks and took a dummy so DH was actively involved in settling him. DS2 screams for an hour (our limit so far) if DH tries to comfort him in the night. This is probably all best saved for a thread in 'sleep'...

Lucy - yes, I'm on a dairy free diet and it has helped.

He's intolerant rather than allergic as the reaction is hours/days after - wind, mucusy diarrohea, nappy rash and eczema patches - sorry, I've been a little confused as to the correct term. He hasn't been formally tested and not sure they will with these symptoms? We last 'challenged' him a couple of weeks ago and got the same reactions within 48 hours.

I'm fully expecting that he will grow out of it so will keep trying but have been pretty down about things not improving, and worry about how I'm going to cope with full time study and rubbish sleep - hence my post. Love Mumsnet and have been on here for years but this is my first request for help. Will pop over to allergies (and sleep!) for more help as and when.

[carolinementzer]

Hello, no advice on alternative milks I'm afraid - My DD's has CMPA and I just breastfed her til she was 2. However, I do have advice on how to night wean breastfed baby - My husband did night duty for 5 nights then she slept 9 hours straight and a few weeks later 12 hours straight. Baring in mind she would before wake every 90 minutes and snack all night on me.

Also, the remarkable thing about this was that after we night weaned she ate food better in the day, and she only needed a morning and evening breastfeed. The extra sleep I got meant my milk supply was good and we were all alot happier. Here's my blog post about how we did it if you're interested mydaughterwontsleep.com/2014/02/06/is-breast-best-when-it-comes-to-sleep-apparently-not/ - good luck !