Restarting breastfeeding due to CMPA

[Rcurtin87]

Hi,

I need help! I have finished breastfeeding after a month of weaning onto formula (my son is 6mo). I didn't particularly want to stop feeding but I've had constant health issues (heart/shingles/Crohn's) since having him and felt that I needed to take care of myself (massive regrets).

The formula instantly changed him from very laid back to more crying and night waking. Everyone said he was juts getting used to it, but now I think it's a cow milk allergy as he is waking screaming and has a face rash. The HV and GP say to give him the lactose free, which I've done today, but it seems more like an allergy from what I've read.

Long story short: I want to start breastfeeding again. I hate seeing him in pain. The CMP free formula looks awful and I feel horrible giving it to him when I could actually feed him.

Has anyone heard of people who restarted breastfeeding? And how difficult was it??

I'm so sad about all of this.

Lactose free is pointless if its cows milk protein related (lactose is the sugar in milk)
Could you look for a lactation consultant to help?

Definitely. I am going to call around tomorrow.

I know, I had no idea about these things until I started doing some research today. I guess lactose intolerance is really quite rare in babies, but CMP isn't? But everyone always jumps to lactose first... Even the GP and HV it seems.

He is generally happy in himself. It's just the rash on his cheeks and his been screeching at night.

I just feel like I need to go back to feeding him myself.

Considering he was fine on breast milk it's very unlikely to be lactose intolerance - breast milk has lactose in it too! Sounds like you're having a really tough time of it. I don't know anything about restarting breastfeeding I'm afraid other than it is possible, but my LO has CMPA and I share your feelings about the formula. Having said that however, you have to balance your health and his, so don't overdo it trying to breastfeed when he will get what he needs from the formula if that's the route you end up going down. Sending hugs - allergies are so tough

Sorry to hear you're having such a tricky time. Lactose intolerance is extremely rare in babies unless they have just had a bout of gastroenteritis and doesnt usually cause a rash. This does sound like CMPA, Please speak to your GP And ask for a referral to a dietitian. As its not just the milk, you will need support weaning and then milk reintroduction...most babies tolerate standard cows milk at around a year but you will need to grade in milk proteins gradually with support. I hope things improve soon!

Totally doable! At 6 months probably relatively easy as you need them to feed regularly, you may need to pump alongside too. Have a look at kellymom and la leche league for info?

Also, my son has cmpa and we transitioned to SMA HA formula. You can get it in boots. It tastes like normal formula but the protein has been treated to they are smaller and more digestible. He was absolutely fine with this and enjoyed it. ( he had it up to age 2.)
www.boots.com/sma-h-a-infant-milk-from-birth-800g-10181531

Hi OP, my son is almost 11 months and has CMPA and soya allergy. I can point you in the direction of a great FB group for support if you'd like it. He probably didn't react through your breastmilk due to most of the proteins being filtered out which is common. Youll need to be very careful with weaning and reactions too.

As follow on to above - I started sma as a friend recommended it. Neither GP or NHS allergy specialist knew about it but were interested once so told them about it. If can’t be prescribed though.
As a point of hope too, when we weaned him he was allergic to all cows milk products (cheese, yoghurts etc) but we followed the milk ladder and hes now able to drink milk (we get jersey/ guernsey milk as it’s hot higher percentage of the better protein) and eat everything with milk products in.

Also I breastfed to well over a year and combi fed from 1 with sma HA.

We are out the other side with it all but it was awful at the start. If you want to chat at all pls feel free to pm me.

Thank you everyone!! These messages are so helpful and supportive.

I think I will try the SMA HA. It looks like a great compromise and that should tell me if he has an allergy or not, shouldn't it?

Right now, the rash is clearing up, the nappies are better (although frequent) but the night groaning and crying is still happy. It's so hard to know when these are a symptoms of being a baby as well.

I've been feeding during the night but during the day he is just not too interested in me 🙄

Thank you all again.

Look into relactation, it's definitely possible. Women have even been able to induce lactation after adopting.

I found breastfeeding cookies and lactation tea helped in boosting my supply when first breastfeeding. If you need a breast pump, the £30 Chinese jobbys on Amazon do just as good a job as the £200 brand name versions.

Put your baby to your breast as often as possible, plenty of skin to skin and you probably want to be pumping every four hours.

Good luck!

Yes, I have lots of support with relactation also and it is looking positive.... He just need to help me out!

Re anyone who did have babies with CMPA, what were your major clues. I'm concerned I'm self diagnosing something that isn't there out of panic/guilt for not breastfeeding.... But also afraid that he does have an allergy that I'll miss.

Basically, I haven't a clue.

My sons main symptoms were contact rash around mouth and face (not hives or bumpy just red and then disappeared after approximately 30 mins. He was a ‘colicky’ baby, seemed to have tummy discomfort (pulled his legs up and was squirmy) he also was sick after feeds and generally. This never affected weight gain and he wasn’t bothered by it (called a happy chucker!) but went through countless outfit changes a day, and dozens of muslin cloths ..!

I had to formula feed initially so things improved greatly once I was able to breastfeed completely (i cut out excess dairy) . Once we started weaning then cmpa became really obvious so avoided al dairy and started the milk ladder allergy plan. We used the SMA HA also once he turned 1 for over a year.