What are the risks of introducing formula?

[AnyFuckerWillDo]

My 13 week old boy is thriving and feeding well (EBP) and on demand, anywhere between 1-3 hours. I often need to leave the house leaving him with DH or GP so always leave a bottle or 2 of expressed milk.
Anyway I'm just getting so fed up of the constant expressing (all fooking day) to get any amount worth leaving. I have a 2yr old do finding time with the pump is just hard work...
Anyway just wondering what are the risks of introducing some formula for these times when I have to leave a bottle?

Gave my dd first formula at 6 months and her face instantly started to swell up, turned out she was seriously allergic to cows milk - this is really unlikely obviously but something to be aware of I think as it hadn't occurred to me that that could happen.

belmo did you not drink milk at all or eat dairy while breastfeeding? Surely it would have passed through your milk? I friends baby had a cows milk intolerance while she was breastfeeding and she had to cut out dairy.

That is a really good point Belmo. best to try formula for the first time when uou are in the house (though he may not take it from you) in case of rare allergies, or more likely refusing the taste initially.

I fed my DD formula occasionally when she was a week old and then once a day from when she was around 19 weeks (tongue tie issues and I couldn't pump enough to feed her) - we found out later that she had a cow's milk protein intolerance when we found blood in her nappy and she had diarrhoea. It also contributed to her low weight gain (as well as the tongue tie)

In all honesty, it was early introduction of the formula which probably caused her intolerance through sensitisation. If I'd have waited until she was 6 months it would have been unlikely she'd have it (related to closed gut thing).

Intolerance / allergy isn't always immediate - can take time of exposure to the protein for it to develop (DM's a microbiologist, DH worked in toxicology and a close friend is a consultant pathologist working in immunology who explained how it can develop). Of course, it doesn't happen to every child (I was ff from 8 days and have no intolerances), which is why it didn't occur to me or DH when we gave DD the formula (plus we were pretty clueless about breastfeeding!).

However, I should have probably been more cautious as DSis is atopic (eczema, hayfever) and when she has lots of dairy it makes her eczema flare up - so there is a mild family history.

whereisthewitch there are varying degrees of intolerance - DD had no problems once she was ebf again and I'd re-introduced dairy into my diet.

As a pp said, I'd just be around the first few times you give formula and ask whoever's caring for him to just look out for him arching his back, green poo / diarrhoea. If you've no family history of allergies, I'd be surprised if he did react to it.

Sorry for the essay and hope I haven't scared you - as I said, I was ff and have no problems at all! Hope it works out for you and you get some time to yourself

Shit, didn't mean to imply that that formula feeding in general is somehow related to being clueless.

Sleep deprivation!

Finding this really interesting...

Allergy is a big issue for me. I am atopic eczema, asthma n hay fever. I also have coeliac disease and a egg and peanut allergy.

DD was given formula at 16 weeks as I too then needed to leave her occasionally, she's fine no allergy or eczema.

He had the rotavirus oral vaccine, dentinox and gripe water (I knew nothing about Virgin gut) so if there is going to be damage to his gut from introducing foreign substances it's done right? X

If virgin gut is genuinely a big thing for you, you might want to research a bit further (maybe start on Kellymom?). I am sure that I've been told something about proteins that means that dentinox, etc aren't the same as formula for passing through the gut wall. That might not be true, but if it is a big thing for you, best to make an informed decision I guess (was never a biggy for me, so I didn't dig further).

It's a bit disappointing really that the first I'd heard of virgin gut was when DS was 3 weeks old and had been given formula twice by then in s bid to save my relationship (and possibly my sanity).

If it's as important as it sounds, I would have expected to have heard about it before then - in antenatal classes, in the tons of breastfeeding literature you get handed around birth, in The Food of Love etc.

They all mentioned that breastfeeding reduces chancesof asthma intolerances etc - none of them spell out the fact that just one drop of formula can cause apparently permanent damage.

It's a bit unfair to suddenly 'change the rules' after the fact if it is such an important point to consider.

'Virgin gut' is (in my opinion) an overly-dramatic way to describe the fact that a baby's digestive system is affected, in the short term, by the introduction of foods other than breastmilk (vitamin drops or teething granules or medications don't have an impact on the digestive system in this way).

There is no doubt about this - but where there is discussion is how important this is, to an individual baby.

With your history OP I would be very reluctant to introduce formula just yet.

On a slightly different note, there seems to be some evidence that introducing wheat whilst still breastfeeding might offer some protection against coeliac disease and I don't think it's a stretch to imagine this might be the case with other potential allergens. Not sure how long you're planning on feeding for but in my case (DH has severe eczema) I wanted to go to at least a year to introduce my babies to the full range of foods whilst still breastfeeding (actually ended up doing a lot longer).

Thanks very interesting coeliac link there avoided gluten with my daughter till 12 months as that was the advice then and I had stopped feeding at 6 months.

Ok so looking like he might still have the Virgin gut, need to look into the importance of how long to keep it, if I break it now or at 5 months? It's impossible for me to wait till 6 months, I have a business trip abroad when he is 5 months old.

Given your allergy history OP, d'you think you might be able to get prescription formula for your DS? The hospital gave this to us for DD (but after she'd been diagnosed as having CMPI).

Means you could give formula without the worry of reaction to milk or soya protein.

I'm with tiktok - virgin gut is a short handed way of saying that the human system is designed to absorb BM and giving a baby something other than BM that requires digesting in the gut has an effect on the digestive system. We don't actually know what those effects are precisely because that would involve very unethical studies on identical twins. Or, if you wanted to account for BM only vs BM plus vitamins and medications and vaccines vs FF only vs FF plus vitamins and medications and vaccines, identical quads. What evidence we do have indicates that there are raised risks of allergies, intolerances and gut problems later on in life but then you need to balance that with the risk of a child not making it to later on in life because EBFing isn't an option. I'd rather feed a child than maintain a theoretically virgin gut at all costs.

Please don't disbelieve the facts that formula milk or other foods change the gut flora. Vaccinations, vitamin drops, teething gel....they don't change the gut flora in the same way - read up on how and why.

www.thealphaparent.com/2011/07/virgin-gut-note-for-parents.html?m=1

Why is it that anybody who dares to mention the benefits of breastfeeding are left open to accusations, ridicule and name calling?!

Breastfeeding IS better for baby. Fact. By default that also means that formula feeding is an inferior option. There, I have said it.

And before someone jumps on my back I am NOT suggesting that, if breastfeeding is unsuccessful, then you should leave your baby to starve rather than formula feeding them. I can’t believe I even needed to write that
Nor am I suggesting that formula is poison. Or that, if you formula feed, then you are a bad parent . And yes, of course, millions of formula-fed babies have grown up into healthy adults. did I really need to write that too?!

The OP specifically asked ‘what are the risks of introducing formula’ and even reinforced this in a later post. So what is so wrong with advising her about the relative risks of formula, compared with breastmilk?

Breastfeeding mafia you say? More like formula feeding mafia!

LOL at the toast...sadly the other way round for me, more likely to get spewed up milk on my toast....

Well said Todayisagoodday.

Chill today
It is apparent which militia like to shout loudest!
You feel better for using words like 'inferior'.....you must do

No, I don't feel anything, it was an appropriate word that's all, and hardly warrants psychoanalysis.

Bellini- what's the problem? Today is referring to breastmilk- a superior food than formula. So that means formula is inferior to breastmilk.
Makes perfect sense to me.