Anyone had any experience with nanny goat formula for a baby?

[MacMac123]

Hi, just posted about Neocate, am exploring all options with my 3.5 month old who is covered in eczema and my GP has referred to an allergy clinic but we can't get an appointment. He meanwhile is scratching himself until he bleeds.
I'm considering trying nanny goat formula. As a child, i had eczema and had to have goats milk (when I was 6 or 7). I know all the stuff about the labelling/EU legistlation with this nanny care nanny goat formula from new zealand, which is why its an 'unoffical' alternative here.

Has anyone actually used it with a young baby? It says on the packet it is nutritionally complete but my GP who is stuck in the dark age anyway seems to think I might as well be giving the baby diet coke from her reaction to that suggestion!

Some paeds are recommending it. I saw a paediatric osteopath who highly recommends it. She says she has seen babies go from having terrible ezcema to none at all as soon as they switched to the goats milk formula. My boy has ezcema and I'm getting him tested for cows milk allergy.

My sisters were put on it right from birth back in the sixties. The issue was excema and congestion for both of them. Ped Dr recommended it. I didn't know you could still get it. Breastfeeding might have helped, but mum couldn't for some reason.
It's the large proteins in cows' milk that are the problem -- people have the enzymes, not the milk. The goats' milk proteins are smaller or more easily digested for some other reason.

I used it for both my kids, it was easily available in local health shop.

williams...I would be interested in any facts to back up what you know. I would be surprised if it was still on sale if it "failed on health and safety grounds"

oops didn't realise this was such an old thread!

I have been using it since my baby was a week old and she is fine. It is the closest milk substitute to breast milk and the reason the GPs in the UK don't recommend it is because all formula's in the EU have to be based on cows milk. Some health workers and GPS are familiar with and those they aren't! look at you like you have fed your baby coca cola as macmac123 said! (they should be lined up against a wall and shot mind you!) Many of my friends have used it mainly for their babies who have reflux and it cleared up overnight. Other friends have used it to sort out skin problems which it also has helped with. We buy it in bulk from www.vitacare.co.uk as they deliver, its the same price really as buying it from a health food shop. My father is a Dr in NZ and did research on the product and it has all the vitamins and minerals you find in SMA, aptimal and cow & gate. I say try it!

nannycaremum, you are actually incorrect.

all formulas do not have to be based on cow's milk, there are several that arent'

goat's milk formula is also readily available elsewhere in Europe

the reasons for it being unsuitable are explained further down in the links I provided when this thread was first started (a year ago)

The legislation has changed as I purchased the goat milk from local pharmacy in London and online just this week (May 2010). My 7 month old seems to love it. I breastfed until 6 months and with weaning have been introducing formula. He was never happy with other formula I tried. The following link has details of nutritional benefits.
[http://www.vitacare.co.uk/default.aspx]

We love Nanny!

At 6 months my DD had terrible eczema from head to toe - in my sister's words she looked like a 'burns victim', in addition to horrific colic.

The GP eventually referred us to dermatology and for food allergy testing. There was a 10 week wait. We were getting no sleep as DD had to sleep in our bed with each of us holding one of her hands to stop her from scratching herself raw. Even at that, she woke up every half hour through the night for 2/3 months.

We couldn't wait 10 weeks, so had her tested for food intolerance privately using vegatesting - based on acupuncture. We were told it was cows milk that was irritating her, and that we should replace her formula with Nanny. 2 weeks after removing cow's milk and using Nanny her skin was completely clear and the colic stopped. I couldn't recommend it more.

We've since seen Dermatology - who as others have said, treated us like we were feeding her coke. But the dietician had no problem with it at all, and said she couldn't understand why it wasn't sold and recommended more. She had known many mums who had switched and seen their babies transformed. She said that nutritionally it has everything other formula's have and makes a lot more sense than giving your baby soya 'milk'.

Our DD is now 11 months, bursting with energy, healthy, happy and thriving. We're about to move on to the follow-on version.

Julia I'm glad you had a good experience However, medical professionals need to base advice on research rather than anecdotes and unfortunately there isn't much about regarding goats milk.
I went to an allergy study evening where they said that because goats and sheeps milk is so similar protein complex to cows milk that in most cases it will make no difference. They don't recommend keep swapping between milks either. The prescription formula are smaller amino acid chains and thats why they are prescribed instead.
I am sure the allergist was happy because it probably saved some money and it was a good result in your case which is great

the nhs doesnt recommened soya milk for infants any more.

they recommed the 'allergy' milk formulas with differing levels/%of protein chains/lactose etc.

i certainly would never go to a vega machine testing, and certainly as cows milk is a major problem for many, removing the cows milk would have made a difference, as would replacing normal formula with specialist allergy formula from the nhs.
as most allergy problems are from the most common foods in the diet, milk cause was a very safe bet!

vega testing has been proved time and time again to be a total con, and in some countries is banned, for that very reason.

as far as i know, the problem with the nanny goat milk is that is doenst comply with the strict health and safety standards for the nhs. pead immunoligists want this milk removed from supermarket shelves.

its incredibly annoying that parents have to watch their child suffer while they wait for that first appointment in hosptial ........esp for anything allergy related these days, as the nhs spread of allergy care is thin to say the least.

and of course, while parents wait they start forking out for alternative practitioners. which can be dangerous, for instance, pead immunologists see kids with (sometimes) milk allergy who have seen such alternative people, and the kids have rickets.

rickets if caught early enough can be halted, but if ongoing for years is permanant damage.

and of couse, NAET is not considered reliable testing, and in fact last year a man died after being 'cured ' of his peanut allergy, and then given peanut to eat.

so, personally, i look forward to a time when such alertnative practioners are legally refused to practice. .........its just a small dream of mine....

Hi, just wanted to add to this to say that we used Nanny Care with DD and it was fine. I think there is lots of scare-mongering about it and it doesn't really make sense. However, we also have a fab GP (Walthamstow) who was previously a dermatologist and she sorted DD's eczema within a few weeks compared to months of terrible scratching till bleeding etc. She said very few cases are linked to dairy intolerances and ultimately it is a kind of immune disorder. Essential for us was keeping the skin moisturized (especially in hard London water), not being afraid to use the steroid creams and hitting flare-ups before a scratch habit sets in. Get GP to prescribe Epaderm (expensive and gloopy moisturizer but def the best). Anyway, I'm sure you know all this but it's so hard when you see them so uncomfortable and just don't know what to try next. Hope it has worked out ok for you.