To put my 6 week old on Soya Formula?

[lifesjoys]

I'm dairy free as I can't quite cope with it, it gives me a bad stomach.

My son is on cow & gate comfort as he struggles with constipation but it hasn't helped.

I come from a family with dairy intolerance, I have a brother with a protein allergy from cows milk.

I also do not believe that as humans, we should be using another species milk, it's weird (but that's my opinion).

So I've been looking at SMA Soya to put my son on, wibu to make that decision myself without consulting a gp?

Gaviscon - probably causes constipation nearly as often as it helps with reflux. But you're worried about vomiting, and pooing, and unsettledness...I'm another one who thinks this sounds like he may well actually be heading towards a prescription formula for cows milk protein intolerance.

Has the OP actually said that she wants to breastfeed?

Whoever said

User babies born with a true form of lactose intolerance wouldn't suit bf-it wd kill them

Is talking utter shit. My DD is diagnosed lactose intolerant and was EBF & is still BF at 22 months. She's still very much alive.

My DD was CMPI, her symptoms were persistent projectile vomiting and screaming in pain after feeds (not normal wind discomfort crying). It took three GP appointments and for her to be bleeding from her bowel before I got a pediatric referral and Neocate on prescription..... Point I'm trying to make is that getting a CMPI diagnosis is very difficult because it's hard to separate out normal baby issues like colic/constipation from CMPI until the symptoms are very severe, so be prepared that your GP might not help initially. With regards to getting donated breast milk, CMP passes through into breast milk. As I breast fed I had to go dairy free too. So unless the donated milk is from someone on a dairy free diet it is not going to work. Someone will ask why I had Neocate if I could breast feed??. Because Neocate tastes disgusting and babies who are not used to it can easily reject it, so I mixed fed. Weaning fully onto bottles was a doddle when the time came.

OP- yes once it's established you can express so others can help out.
Unfortunately, I found there wasn't much help and support out there and you just don't realise how little there is to start with and then baby seems constantly hungry ('hence why I initially moved onto formula before my son was allergic to it) but then after a couple of weeks, the milk comes in and there's the stage where it seems there is over supply and more than enough to feed and express before it regulates to baby's demand. Sadly, no one tells you this and how hard it is at the beginning.

There are a variety if different types of lactose intolerance, I did acknowledge that in my post. Secondary kactose intolerance is very different from being born with zero if the liver enzymes needed to digest lactose. The extreeme form of this, often linked to ds & other disabilities, can kill. It's picked up early in hospitals & babies put neonate. Lactose intolerance is often misdiagnosed when it's really cmpa/i that many grow out of.

If your ds has constipation only then he's not likely to have CMPI, he would be screaming, projective vomiting, explosive foul smelling, horrible nappies, bleeding from the anus, sore bum and possible skin conditions.

Ds consultant had his stool tested plus his blood, he back back allergy to dairy and casein.

I would be very surprised if a medical profession gave you soya milk on the basis of your child being constipated.

@haveacupoftea yes op has, several times

My son was lactose intolerant. Finally diagnosed at 4 months, having dropped down the centiles from 91st at birth to the 9th. He put on 2lb in three months or something silly. Turns out breast milk (he was EBF) wasn't helping him.

We introduced two bottles of soya a day, rest EBF and it got a LOT better. But this was all under health advise.

I don't think it's an allergy, just whatever is in the formula is causing him constipation....he only screams when tired or hungry.

I wouldn't even say he has reflux either

OP if you want to re-establish breast feeding, it is possible - my son was in NICU and did not start BF until he was 6 weeks old. It was hard and I am no expert - from what I remember we had lots of skin to skin and I put him to the breast with a midwife's help, every time he squeaked! She helped me with getting him to latch. I also hand expressed/massaged my breasts and squeezed out milk to entice him! It was hard and it took a couple of weeks before he got it but once he did he BF until over a year.

Obviously there are lots of other options - I only mention this because you said that you'd like to give BF another change.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

My DS was fed exclusively on soya formula.
The funny thing about the soya avoidance is I remember the health visitors getting very worried about it but there's very little realistic evidence that it's a real risk.
I work in a scientific background and wanted to see the original studies before making an informed choice. I was really surprised how little actual research was done. Most of the 'evidence' online is from somewhat woo health bloggers who all reference each other.
From what I can see the only actual scientific study that has been done and peer reviewed is about 10 years old, based on rats who were given 1000x the usual amount of soya and it concluded that more study might be needed. That one ended up in the DM as a scare story and took off from there.
I'm on my phone so can't find and link but it really did appear to be one of those things that people have very strong beliefs about but based on what they've heard, not actual evidence.
This was six years ago that I looked into it so perhaps more research has been done since but I do remember seeing that wherever I found any reputable scientific body had commented on it, it was to say that there was no reason to worry about soya but more research would be a good idea.

Oh, should be clear, I'm not talking about soya allergy which is obviously a real thing but rather this idea that soya interferes with hormones and might result in infertility.

MsJamieFraser, that's not true. My son was constipated until he switch to neocate. Constipation can be a sign on CMPI as well as diarrhoea/unpleasant poo (which is what my first CMPI child had) both my boys gained weight and were generally happy babies until it came to feeding and sleeping.
They were both very quickly diagnosed as CMPI as my husband can't tolerate dairy either. It won't necessarily be a battle to get specialist formula, unfortunately it just depends on the Dr you see.
OP, whether you want to restart start bf or not you should still speak to the go about your child symptoms and see what they suggest in terms or formula/reflux in the mean time.

How will he get B12?

www.b12deficiency.info/children-and-b12/

Hi OP,
It sounds like you've had a difficult time.
DH's family suffer with issues with cows milk and this was passed to DD when she was born. After trying a number of prescription formulas she was eventually put onto Neocate which eliminated all her symptoms but which she hated!!
While they were trying to figure out what was wrong I was sorely tempted to put her into soy. I was told not to because if a child has CMPI they are often allergic to soya as well.
I would advise you to take your baby to the drs and ask for a trial on some kind of prescription formula and see how he gets on. Good luck

We introduced two bottles of soya a day, rest EBF and it got a LOT better. But this was all under health advise

You got a diagnosis of primary lactose intolerance, and solved it by continuing to give the milk highest of all in lactose? Pull the other leg, its got bells on.

There's a big difference between starting breastfeeding at six weeks when you've been expressing in the meantime and starting breastfeeding at six weeks when it's been a month since you last produced milk.
Whilst not impossible, I think some people are being a bit optimistic and I think expecting to be able to exclusively breastfeed is probably unrealistic.

I'd also second the fact that the bfing behaviour you saw when he was little is often seen in babies with tongue tie. So if you want to introduce breast feeding it would be well worth getting that checked out.

How do you know if bf'ing is working??

You can see swallowing sometimes if you look closely, or milk around mouth after feeds.
But mainly, nappy output and weight gain.

Okay so I've just made the first attempt & he was swallowing & has milk around his mouth....

User where did I say it was primary?

He was diagnosed with lactose intolerance. Also known as lactose overload. He still suffers with it nine years on. With his case (as in the majority of lactose intolerance which is diagnosed post a few days old) it is thought it was a reaction to heavy ABs I was on whilst breastfeeding. By replacing two large feeds a day with soya, and introducing solids, we were able to keep breastfeeding until he was one alongside it.

But of course I'm bullshitting you. Because you know my child, GP, medical history.

My son is on soy formula as we are vegans and it's the closest you can get to vegan formula. The evidence of harm is low however trust me it won't solve your constipation problems!

If you can relactate that would be ideal. I would give anything to be able to EBF. Otherwise if you don't have an ethical objection to dairy it is better to get the GP to prescribe an extensively hydrolysed/amino acid based formula as if he's allergic to dairy there's a good chance he'd be allergic to soy.

My son is on soy formula as we are vegans and it's the closest you can get to vegan formula

And people wonder why vegans get a bad name.