Introduction to formula

[Cantwait4summer]

Been ebf my 5mth DD. Going back to work in 2 wks (eek)..plan to combine her feeding - formula during day & bm in evening .I tested ready made formula tonight to.see how she reacts cus my other 2 dc had cows milk allergy so wanted to.check before buying a full tin of formula. Normal reaction for allergy is rash all over. She didnt develop any redness or rashes but an hour later she vomited her milk out - what does that mean ? Is is the formula(sma) itself didnt agree with her ? Anybody experienced this ?

You can try expressing and mixing the breastmilk with the formula to get her used too it, I did this on a 70/30 split initially, BM to formula then gradually increased the formula. Once my DD was fully on formula at eight months it turned out that she is lactose intolerant, so it's not just cows milk allergies that can occur, although cows milk allergy is the most common. With lactose intolerance I believe that different reactions can occur, with my DD we were getting ten runny nappies a day and she is now on lactose free formula.

Dixie thanks for the tip .hadn't thought she could be lactose intolerant -is it easy to get lactose free formula?

Yes, they do it in boots, it's similar to the cost of normal formula, annoyingly can't get in in ready made bottles though. It's in the same section as the normal formula.

I'don try mixing f with a bit of bm in the first instance. Also how much f did you try? F is very heavily regulated so they are more or less all the same but anecdotally I've heard that some babies he just getting on better with one brand or another. It is extremely unlikely that your baby is lactose intolerant because breast milk has lactose in it so if she were intolerant to lactose she would have problems with bm too. I think one vomit is too soon to worry, just try again with a small bottle of bm mixed with f and see how you get on

My doctor confirmed that that is not true Nickyeds the lactose on breastmilk is no where near as much as what you find in formula, I breastfed my DD for eight months, gradually switched over to formula and we were getting ten runny nappies a day and terrible nappy rash. When we switched to lacto free formula it reduced to one or two normal dirty nappies a day. I didn't have dairy whilst breastfeeding so wouldn't have increased natural levels of lactose.

Your doc had it wrong, Dixie.

Breastmilk and formula have about the same level of lactose.

Lactose-free formula sometimes has the protein modified as well - this can help some babies.

I don't think there is any evidence in the OP's post that her baby has lactose intolerance.

I didn't say there was, I was just offering up another possibility.I also suggested mixing formula with breastmilk.

I'm inclined to listen to my doctor, but thanks for your input.

Enough with the passive aggressive responses, please, Dixie.

It's perfectly possible your doctor is mistaken on this, or you have misunderstood or misremembered. Whatever. The info you shared here was wrong.

I agree! I think we can say with pretty much certainty that a thriving bf 5 month old is not lactose intolerant.

I think it's important to be aware that nothing the mum does can reduce or increase the amount of lactose in her milk. Sorry to correct you again, Dixie, as you were trying to be helpful, but lactose is unaffected by lactose in the mother's diet. Anyone worried about lactose intolerance in her breastfed baby needs to know this, I think.

Update :GP determined DD has cows milk allergy , her excema worsen the next day after formula so she's now on aptamil pepti but being sick before seems to have put her off the bottle ! It's a battle trying to get her on the bottle again ! -she was fine with BM in bottle but now refusing bottle all together .