Goats milk?

[JessUKUS]

Hi everyone. My son was put on prescription milk at 6 weeks old and is now 5.5months. He has never drank the neocate well and is now at his all time low. I cannot let my son not consume milk any more! They asked me to try another hydrolysed, Pepti, but he won't take this, neither will he take Alfamino or any other. I've read so many things about Goats Milk, conflicting advice, most of which is old. Now it is approved for use in infants in the EU, I have looked at the vitamins etc on the back and compared to to the likes of Pepti, etc and it has more of many of the vitamins, and more calcium, folate etc, so unsure where the issue is? I am aware, becauE people telll me that cows and goats proteins are similar, I tried him on 2oz this morning, as it tastes so much like my breast milk (he has 2 bottles a day of ebm) and he took it fine and so far no reaction.
Any advice would be so much appreciated, I can't see him not eating like this anymore!

[SherbetSaucer]

We’re humans we shouldn’t be drinking the milk of any other animal. Cows milk is designed for the needs of baby cows, goats milk is designed for the needs of baby goats etc!

[JessUKUS]

Not a helpful response. Breast milk isn't an option.

[MAFIL]

The vast majority of people who are allergic to cows milk protein will also be allergic to goats milk protein I am afraid as they are structurally very similar indeed. Goats milk based formula is ok as an alternative to regular cows milk based formula but it isn't hypoallergenic. It is true that it was previously not recommended in the EU and that ruling has now been reversed, but it can now be sold alongside the usual formulas like SMA, Cow and Gate and the like as an alternative to them for healthy babies, not as an alternative to prescribed hypoallergenic formulas. If your baby has CMPA then unfortunately
he is likely to react to the goat milk soon, even if the first feed or two seem ok. If he doesn't react then he is either very unusual or the diagnosis of CMPA was incorrect in the first place.

I can't offer any first hand advice on getting a baby to take hypoallergenic formula as I breastfed, but I have read of people adding a tiny amount of vanilla essence or other flavourings to make them more palatable. Or, depending on the severity of the situation, some people seem to have success with mixing the hypoallergenic stuff with regular formula and gradually increasing the proportion of hypoallergenic formula. Obviously I wouldn't suggest you do that without checking with your health care provider that it's safe in your particular circumstances, but I do know a couple of people that this has worked for.

The other option if you absolutely can't get your baby to take any of the prescribed formulas particularly as he is nearly 6 months now, is soya. As I am sure you are aware, this is no longer recommended as the first choice for babies with CMPA but it is still sometimes prescribed for those who absolutely wont drink the alternatives. Unfortunately something like 30-50% of CMPA individuals do also react to soya ( again because of structural similarities) but there is less cross reactivity than with other animal milks so don't rule it out completely. The other issues are that it isn't felt to be as nutritionally complete than standard formulas, but once baby is on solids this is less of an issue, and it is very sweet so you would need to be absolutely scrupulous about dental hygiene if you opted for soya. The other, oft quoted concern is the phyto oestrogen content which has been suggested may increase the risk of infertility, particularly in males fed on soya milk as infants. This has never been proven but the recommendation is that it should be avoided under 6 months as a precaution. So clearly it isn't the best option, but nor is it as black and white as people often say.

I hope you find an answer. I know how difficult dealing with food allergies can be and it must incredibly stressful when your baby wont feed at all. People can be very blase about things like that. Neither of my boys would take a bottle and there are times when I seriously thought I might kill the next person who told me to "just keep trying" "they won't starve themselves" or that I just needed to "show them who's boss". I imagine you might be getting the same kind of comments right now, and its worse for you as I only wanted mine to have the odd bottle for convenience whereas you really need your baby to take something.
I wish I could be more positive about the goats milk - and who knows, your baby may be one of the very unusual ones - but I would urge caution. Definitely talk to your doctor and/or dietician as depending on your baby's particular circumstances there is a risk it could provoke a serious reaction even if the first bottle seemed ok. Hopefully they can come up with something a bit more useful than me - I just wanted to let you know that somebody is "listening". Good luck.

[INeedNewShoes]

My understanding is that goats' milk is highly unlikely to be tolerated by a baby with CMPA.

At 5.5 months you are so close to weaning I wonder whether you could possibly up the EBM to 3 bottles a day (I know this isn't easy) and then really go for introducing nutritionally rich foods along with a vitamin supplement.

You could use soya milk and oat milk in food preparation (I have significant reservations about soya milk as a milk replacement in bottles and oat milk won't be nutritionally rich enough in bottles - but might be ok 1 bottle a day in addition to EBM).

DD has allergies. I BF her until 2 but from 12m we were down to 3 feeds a day and if I had to be away from her for a feed she had oat milk (fortified with calcium).

I ensure her diet is rich in green leafy veg and the very little processed food she eats (bread, breakfast cereal, soya/coconut yoghurt) is fortified.

In your shoes I would want a detailed plan drawn up with the dietician and their view on whether formula is definitely necessary if you are giving two feeds of breast milk a day and can introduce a varied diet.

[Dreamscomingtrue]

My grandson hasn’t been able to tolerate cows milk, but is fine with goats milk, cheese and yogurts. He’s 3 now but has been on this diet since he was six months old. Recommended by his health visitor and doctor.