Nanny goat formula

[papillonrouge]

Posting this on both the allergies and feeding boards...

I am pretty sure my ds (6.5mo) has a cows milk protein allergy. This is undiagnosed as we are waiting for a referral but he has been ebf until 6mo when we tried him on some formula mixed with baby rice. He instantly vomitted and came up in hives all over his face and neck. Yesterday I treid putting a blob of milk from my cereal bowl on his forehead and within minutes it was red and blistered. He has had excema from about 3.5mo and my brother was dairy allergic as a baby.

I am trying to express as much bm as possible but find this a real drag and would love to give formula occasionally. I understand that goats milk formula is controversial and have read lots of the previous threads on here. Three questions really:

1. I get the impression that the main concern with goats milk formula is that if your baby is cows milk allergic then he is likely to be goats milk allergic too. Is this the only concern? If so, I am happy to buy some and do a skin test.

2. Anyone out there who has a cows milk allergic baby who has tried goats milk? Did your lo have the same reaction or did they tolerate the goats milk? And I am referring specifically to allergic babies here, not ones with intolerance.

3. If goats milk formula is a no go what else would you recommend?

Thanks for any help!

Cool, that sounds manageable . Although if you're still doing the bloody morning feed then no lie ins for ages either. Will get my head around it all - just takes a bit of getting used to when you realise things are not going to be as you had intended!

Doze in bed while you feed!!!

Avent pumps are, imo, rubbish. Hire the symphony, you won't believe the difference. I used a medela swing and t'was ace.

Don't feel trapped, just take it one month/week/day/feed at a time. Just like the early days. Then you aren't trapped. You are giving the next feed/x amounts of feeds because it suits you to do so, and you can revisit that decision at any point.
Get the formula prescribed and in the house, and then you have it for when you decide you want it. Absolutely no reason to feel bad about that, you have had a great breastfeeding career, and may go on to do mweeks/months/years, but of course you wish to start planning a life and building all these demands on you into it.
Get your nights planned and begin the great express in preperation for them. Start early and you will be really pleased to see how the milk starts stacking up. Give some to a friend or family member too, have heard to many stories of power cuts, broken freezers and lost milk

Also, you can do both. Happily you aren't having to be dairyfree [it really really really tested me, I so missed nice tea] so you can breastfeed the feeds you want, and introduce formula for the feeds you want. You are an established breastfeeder and have total control over it now

I absolutely had nights away, and expressed to bank up milk for those nights. After about 8 months, I introduced the formula and hadn't the pressure of needing to express in advance. DD1 was starting school and having time to express was a stress.

One tip, don't expect heaps of magic from the dietician. Like all things in life, they can be...er...variable Have you see a paed or is the gp handling this? Ideally a paed would be overseeing the process, but that said if you are all happy with the diagnosis and management then why worry.

It is rather isolating having any problem at all, I reckon. Praise the Lord for mn!

treedelivery thanks so much - that's all so reassuring and lovely that you nearly have me in tears! I will def give the medela a go and great tip re giving some to friends - the thought of having a power cut and losing expressed milk fills me with horror! And at least I know I can try mixed feeding with the formula if needs be, although for some reason I am a bit wary of these highly processed formulas - DH says any formula is processed so all much of a muchness, but I liken it to DS dating a woman who has had a bit of plastic surgery (normal formula) compared to dating a robot (hydrolised formula). Will need to get over myself .

Good tip re dietician as well - I should already know not to expect too much from HCPs but raise my expectations noentheless!! I have been referred to pead immunologist but apparently earliest appointment will be May so going back to GP today to get some more support/piriton prescribed so I can wean without my heart in my throat and hopefully some formula so I have it in the house as you advise. There has so far been no medical diagnosis - I told the GP what I thought and she referred me with no word of advice and looked at me as though I should hurry along out of her office . Thank god I feel able to ask anyone and everyone who is willing to listen for advice! And absolutely thank god for MN!

Oh you're welcome papillionrouge. My dd2 is just coming up 2, so this is all still very raw and current for me, so I remember the feelings very well indeed.

Now, about that formula head trip thing. I actually took it the totally opposite way. To my mind, the hydrolised formula seems so so much better than regular formula. All the digestive hard work that babies struggle with in when takin gcows mil formula - all that is done for them. So they are digesting something that comes in neat packages of amino acids and nutrients, with ease and no stress.
I actually couldn't go to a regular formula now, even if she could tolerate it!

Remember, they don't add anything to the formula. They begin the digestive process and break it into it's constituent pasts for the baby. So it isn't more processed, it's almost less - from the baby's point of view.

And yes I could sell sand to the desert

Sounds as if your baby is very allergic. So sorry . My DD who is 15 weeks has a severe cows milk allergy and she has been [prescribed neocate formula, which is completley synthetic. I know that might sound horrid - but when they are as allergic as mine is there really is no choice. We're not at the stage of weaning yet but we are being referred for allergy testing and specialist dietician's help. She has also seen a dermatologist. As she has both gastric and skin problems, so the feeling is that she is likely to be allergic to other things as well. Your DC really does sound very allergic and I would not recommend experimenting with foods yourself. Another thought - it could be gluten that's the problem. When I was still BF I was told that any dairy or soya I consumed would effect my milk and trigger a reaction in DD, so if you've been eating dairy when BF, then it might not be a cows' milk allergy? Press for a referral to a specialist allergist/gastric paediatrician. YOu need to find out exactly what is going on and try to get it nipped in the bud ASAP. We've been told that most kids grow out of cows milk allergy by 18 months or so. So that's something we are hanging on to! If you are in London and are interested, I can give you the details of my consultants - PM if you like. Good luck!

I would agree that May is not good enough and would push for an urgent referral (say you're worried about a severe reaction).

Yes, you're right that I certainly don't NEED to term BF, but it's an easy way to get nutrients into him and not have to worry about ensuring that his diet has stuff in to replace regular dairy nutrients such as calcium. Therefore you don't need to feel that you have to do this if you don't want to :)

I have hired the Ardo pump from my NCT branch. Seems pretty good, and very comfortable.

I BF my other boy to 15 months and didn't feel trapped as by that point he doesn't need to be near me for bfing any more than he needs to be near the fridge, or a glass of apple juice. His diet was so varied that BM was an addition to his main diet, not something that he had to have access to at all times. I would not want to have left him for more than a night as I would have become engorged but I could easily have nights out, etc.

Just take it a bit at a time and don't feel pressure to do anything at any time, just go with the flow :)

Just read a bit more of this thread in between cleanign up vomit . May is NOT good enough. Your child sounds severely allergic and could have a very serious reaction - reactions tend to get worse after repeated exposure. If you had hives and instant vomiting the first time DC had milk, and then skin instantly blistered when you applied it to DC's forehead, the next time could be a lot more serious. Don't want to scare you, but it could. Normally I don't agree with lying to HCPs, but if I were you I'd exaggerate - swelling lips, difficulty breathing. That kind of thing should get an instant referral. If still no joy, take to A&E?? Again, not generally advocating lying, but just say that DC had a reaction but that it had calmed down by the time you got to hospital. Your GP or whoever is being rubbish and you need to get results. Good luck

Treedelivery - loving your take on the hydrolised formulas . Now I see it differently it seems so much better!

Organiccarrotcake - thanks for your words of reassurance too.

In both your opionions, when is it ok to stop bf and not offer any kind of formula if you are happy they have a varied diet and are getting the nutrients milk would provide in other ways? Because I am concious that he may not take the formula anyway - have been told it tastes pretty grim.

Good to know both of you have managed nights out/away.

I saw a different GP today who was much more helpful. SHe wouldn't prescribe Piriton as apparently at this age if you are concerned you have to take them to A&E - whilst I obviously want to do what is safest for DS, I really don't want to end up back and forth to A&E too often. And she has to speak to the paediatric immunologist before prescribing the formula so is calling me back in next few days. She didn't seem too optimistic about any advance on May though - apparently allergy specialists are severly oversubscribed.

cardamonginger - I too am surprised that he hasn't reacted to my bm as I continue to consume dairy, although I think the eczema probably is a reaction of a kind. Do milk products contain gluten? I have also been told that anaphylaxis in infants is quite rare, especially with dairy allergies so trying not to worry too much. Thanks for the suggestion re consultants but we are in the North West - I have friends in London who have had much faster referrals and excellent advice. Bloody North South divide

the thing that made me think of gluten was that the 1st reaction was when he ate milk with baby rice (which may not be gluten free) and the 2nd was milk fromyour cereal which would have had gluten in it. good luck - it's horrid!

Just to say I have an appointment with the consultant next Friday - woo hoo. GP said once a proper clinician saw the referral we jumped the queue due to DS's reaction.

GOOD!!!! Good luck!

I had no idea that goats milk is not legal as infant formula in the UK.

My local health food shop has this stuff on its shelf westons.com/acatalog/Online-Catalogue-NAN30B6.html although that link isn't the shop, just the first online link I could find, my health food shop isn't online.

I was looking at it last week, it was next to the stuff that said 'milk nutrition'. I didn't know you could get goats infant formula, I thought it was cows milk based or soy based.