Alternatives to Nutramigen

[mommywillwin]

DS's dairy allergy has been confirmed recently. He's 7.5 mths old and I am still breastfeeding and plan on continuing until he reaches 12 months, however the dietician has expressed concerns over his calcium intake, since he can't have any cow's/sheep's/goat's milk or milk products. She recommended Nutramigen to be added in cooking such as porridge, custards, and sauces. I added some to his breakfast porridge this morning, and he burst into tears, and absolutely hates the taste. I tried it myself and it really is foul. Paediatrician recommends soya formula only after 12 mths due to recent research on hormonal effects. Are there any hydrolysed milk substitutes for babies that are more palatable?

Thanks in advance

Pepti Junior is usually considered more palatable than Nutramigen (let's face it, eating shit is probably more palatable than Nutramigen!).

Alternatively, if it's just for calcium, and not for his main drink, then rice milk with added calcium (all supermarkets seem to stock these days) is fine.

Soya formula isn't usually recommended until at least age 2 you know, not 12 months I'm afraid.

Thanks very much! I will look into the Pepti Junior.

Interesting about the soya formula not recommended for under 2's, as the NHS booklet I have from the allergy clinic actually recommends soy formula for babies over six months who won't take hydrolysed formula and that it's to be avoided by babies younger than six months dues to the risk of soya allergy. I suppose it's like being between the devil and the deep blue sea...

Thanks for your help

I'd agree that as long as you are exclusively bf, then you should be able to use calcium-fortified rice milk for cooking etc.

However it may be worth persisting with Nutramigen in food in case you need to use formula as his main drink at any point. My (dairy-allergic) DD refused it at first, but since she has been about 10 months old she drinks it mixed 50:50 with soya formula (which is quite sweet so disguises the taste a bit). It still tastes absolutely minging even mixed up, but she loves it I haven't tried her on Nutramigen alone but actually I can't think why not now, she would probably drink it.

I had wanted to exclusively bf but found I had to supplement a bit with formula at about 8 months when she went to nursery as I couldn't express enough.

The paed recommended soya formula to supplement the bf, but I couldn't bring myself to give it to her because of the scares, so I would really water it down with calcium fortified rice milk. When the dietician found out she didn't approve (as the rice milk doesn't contain much apart from the calcium), and prescribed Nutramigen instead and recommended mixing it with the more palatable breast or soya milk in ever-increasing quantities until she got used to the taste, so I did this and she now happily drinks the 50:50 formula mixture.

I guess you could do this with his food as well - use a mix of Nutramigen and rice milk to begin with?

Sorry this is a bit rambling - good luck

mine had neocate

Hi

My daughter (2 yr) also has Dairy & Soya Allergy and we live on Rice Milk now - she also has Coeliac & lots of Allegies so keep to the breast milk as long as you can coz we have tried everything and nothing seem to agree - we're under Great Ormond St. Hospital and have been advise not to keep trying all the different milks/food etc as it can take up to four weeks to clean out of the system and you only making the matter worse ......... sorry mum brain!

Hi there,

My lo is 10 months old and has only recently got Nutramigen prescribed as she's breastfed. I persevered with it as she turned her nose up at it to start with and she will have it now but I mainly use it on cereals and when she's at nursery.

I was told it's not brilliant to cook with so I use rice milk as others mentioned.

I'd persevere and mix it with some ebm and hopefully he'll take it eventually.

Good luck!