anyone used hypoallergenic formula?

[surroundedbyboys]

have been advised to use it with ds3 by consultant as ds1 (and ds2 although more mildly) suffer with food intolerance colitis. ds3 is 2.5 weeks old at the moment. whilst bfeeding him i am having to be on a really really restrictive diet, so am not planning to do it for so much longer.

on tin (nutramigen) it says that poos may be green??? did anyone find this. also, was wondering if it was probably lighter on the tummy than normal formula so he wouldn't last as long between feeds.

any advice/experiences would be appeciated.

Just bumping it for you. Mine not on nutramigen, but a lactose free alternative (not hypoallergenic). Don't think it would be much lighter on stomac, as it will be compared to BF which is really digestible.

I used a one made by Nestle. NEver had any problems with it, but DH chose it by accident really, not sure if DD needed anything special. Think the poos are green soon after birth (??) but nothing to do with the formula as such. The one I used wasn´t light on the tummy at all, worked really well and DD slept through from 6 weeks! Don´t know that there is any difference to normal formula though..

bump
thanks for replies so far

My son had nutramagen from 9-18 months, didn't have green poo, but helped keep him regular as dairy causes him to be constipated. Not sure about lasting between feeds as he was older when he started. It tastes foul so they advise to start young before they are used to the alternatives, but I managed to switch by combining the 2 and slowly reducing the amount of dairy formula.

gOSH,IF YOUR DSS BOTH HAVE COLITIS,IT WOULD BE IN YOUR BABY'S INTERESTS (oops) to b/feed as long as possible.

Formula does worrying things to a newborn's gut.

hi moondog

the consultant feels that hypoallergenic formula is a safe way to go.

moondogy, my diet has to avoid wheat, dairy, soya and egg, so as not to pass those things through my breast milk. so i don't feel i will be able to keep it up for much longer, with 3 kids to look after! in an ideal world, yes, i think bfeeding on the restrictive diet would be the best way to go but not sure i'll manage. the consultant feels that hypoallergenic formula is a safe way to go.

shit, i still feel really guilty about it, however much i try to justify. aaaargh. responsibility of motherhood!

does it really taste grim geotech? more guilt.

oops, revised message without deleting first. moondog, of course, not moondogy!

I still can't get my head around the fact that a heavily processed product such as formula can be any better for your child.

I really wish that Tiktok sees this post and provides a link to some of the info. available about the damaging effects of formula.

I am not trying to freak you,just worried that you are being fobbed off with the old 'Formula is fine' line when it is patently not true.

Even a few months more would be a great help.

I'm not really au fait with hyperallergenic formula - my understanding is that the proteins in it are broken down severely, so they are thought less likely to cause an allergic reaction. They have a 'mixed press' in the research with some papers saying they are over-prescribed (this prob refers to the US). Severely restricted diet when bf - and wow, yours is really very restricted - has a similarly less-than-robust literature to support it, though to be fair, lots to do with allergy and allergy prevention is like this.

My Q would be: do you really have to cut out wheat, dairy, soya and egg? All of them? Would it not be possible to cut out one at a time? It seems very odd to me that your baby is only 2.5 weeks old and already you are not eating any of this stuff, so I imagine you have just gone on this exclusion diet assuming you have to.

It's all in the realms of stuff I don't deal with though, and I am basing my Q on what I have read more than anything.

I am puzzled why the only options for you are specialist formula or eating and drinking a very difficult diet in order to bf.

Hi surrounded

We tried nutramigen with dd but she still reacted to it and we then moved on to Neocate. Yes, it doesn't taste very nice but at 2.5wks he isn't going to put up too much of a fight. As for the green poos, we only had this on Neocate not nutramigen. Not sure about the lengths between feeds but dd use to and still only goes 3hrs between feeds (7mnths now).

Please bear in mind that dairy can take up to 4wks to leave your system and then there is the recovery time for the colitis to heal.

You are doing the right thing elminating the food groups you have and don't feel quilty it is very hard dealing with food intolerances.

Do what is right for both of you? Yes, breastfeeding is the best thing for your ds but so is your emotional and physical health.

Good luck

tiktok - The reasoning behind eliminating all the food groups at the same time, is to establish which is causing the intolerance/allergy. Once, the colitis heals/improves you start to reintroduce each food group one by one and see whether there is a reaction. HTH

thanks for your replies. tiktok, i think these really are my only options, but not exclusive from eachother- I can do both at the same time apparently.

my consultant has explained that i am avoiding all these foods as these are the foods that my ds1 was 'allergic' to and are the ones likely to set off the colitis if ds3 is to develop it. with ds1 he had to avoid all those foods for nearly 2 years till his colitis symptoms went away and now we are slowly experimenting with introductions one at a time alongside his medications.

i do intend to carry on mixed feeding for a while longer, but need to be realistic, and don't see me managing the diet for more than 3 months total. it means i can't eat out, and can't eat with the family, and the shopping bill is astronomical.

CADS - it is great to 'meet' someone with similar experiences. Can I bombard you with questions please . What age did you try nutramigen firstly, and what reaction did you get in order to change to neocate. Our consultant has also suggested neocate to the GP in his letter should ds3 react badly.

With regard to length between feeds, we were always told that children with colitis need to feed little and often, so maybe thats why you are still having 3 hourly stretches???

Cads, an exclusion diet done this way is very hard, and it is not to look for symptoms in her, but to avoid symptoms appearing in the baby - the baby has had no symptoms!

surrounded- will post more later

tiktok - I did mean symptoms in the baby not Surrounded. I misunderstood I thought ds3 already had colitis. Still not a bad idea considering the others history. Prevention better than cure and all that.

you really need 3bob (or what ever name she is going by now?) as IIRC she was on a very restrictive diet when b/f her highly allergic son.

but by excluding those things in your diet, it means you can still have meats, vegetables, fruits, lots of lovely fresh foods.

Hi surrounded

My two didn't have colitis but after they were both wrongly diagnosed with lactose intolerance, I did a lot of research into food intolerances and allergies. There are a couple of message boards covering milk and soya protein intolerance that I found very helpful.

Our symptoms are:

Muscus
Acid Reflux (which didn't improve till cow's milk protein was eliminated despite reflux meds)
Screaming/crying
Stomach cramps
Congestion and wheezing
Wind

DD (my 2nd) was worse than DS and her diagnoses was made based on ds's history. Ds was wrongly diagnosed and it wasn't until we tried dd on Nutramigen which had no lactose but still has cow's milk protein that we realised what was wrong. Unfortunately, I didn't know about the elimination diet and by the time I found out it was too late to turn back.

DD was referred to paed at 9wks and while I waited for the appt to come through I put her on soya formula. By day 4 she was a completely different baby so when I saw the paed 2 wks later it was clear that she was intolerant. They insisted on putting her on nutramigen and she reacted immediately after the first feed (same symptoms as when on breastmilk) so it was pretty clear and then went on to Neocate.

We have recently moved her onto soya again (at 6mnths), with the ok from paed, because although she was alot better on Neocate, she happiest on soya. DD still has a lot of mucus in her stools which I'm not happy with. Our paed told me to ignore it because she is happy and thriving but I don't have much faith in him anymore and might push for a GI consultant if it doesn't clear up by 9mnths.

Given that your dss have worse cases than mine, I think I would skip the Nutramigen and go straight to Neocate. You can always go onto Nutramigen when he is older. I am very pro "prevention is better than cure" approach.

Good luck and I hope your ds3 isn't as bad as his older brothers.

CADS - thanks for the information. I will speak to the GP and see if he will prescribe neocate based on the consultants letter.

Was also thinking about goats milk formula? Ds2 who didn't have colitis nearly as badly as ds1 and was only on a restrictive diet for a matter of months and no medication was on goats milk formula from about 2 months old (i stopped making milk and was soon after diagnosed with hashimotos - underactive thyroid). He was much happier on the goats milk than on the breast as I was eating everything (ds1 had not yet been diagnosed). Apparently goats milk formula is much easier on the tummy. Have you heard this?

Re- mucus. Our original consultant who diagnosed ds1 (a paediatric gastroenterologist at Great Ormond Street) said to us that mucus was a sure sign of inflammation, so I think you are right not to ignore it. Where are you based?

I agree prevention is better than cure - don't want ds3 to go through what ds1 did.

yes misdee - i can eat some very yummy food still - including i discovered last night, ridiculous amounts of dark chocolate to treat myself with!

Hi

Thanks re mucus, unfortunately GP said same thing as paed yesterday. I'm in East surrey.

Re goat's milk - some infants do react to it. It is easier to digest but the protein is very similar to cow's milk protein. Besides it is very expensive and I don't know if you can get goat's milk on prescription.

Take care

i would ask to be referred to a paediatric gastroenterologist if i were you. they can't refuse can they?