Folic, egg and fish free formula

[Toria33]

I’m trying to find a newborn milk for when baby arrives, I have been struggling with my weight and lost over 13 kg since becoming pregnant, so worried about my milk being rubbish.
I have singel gene mthfr and so cannot digest folic acid (didn’t want to give folic until we get him checked, metafolin can be used instead ) and I didn’t want a milk with fish or eggs in it as I am prone to allergies and wanted to be careful with what we give a newborn. I would love a lactose free option too if anyone has any suggestions?

Breast feed?

Or ask your midwife which milk to use.

I'm worried you are planning on restricting your babies diet before they arrive. Try standard formula and only use a special one if baby has issues.

Do you have a history of disordered eating? Losing that much weight in pregnancy is unusual. Please speak to your midwife

Breastmilk has loads of lactose in it. I think you need actual medical advice here. Talk to your midwife ? Maybe they have dietitian’s they can refer you to?

I would ask to discuss breastfeeding, if your circumstances are complex then the infant feeding lead should be able to help. However your milk should be fine, it yachts a lot for it to be "rubbish". If you want to look at formula then first steps nutrition has details of ingredients for different milks.

Was just looking for a vegetarian (as I didn’t want to introduce allergens) DHA and metafolin (which is natural folic) instead of folic (synthetic), my hubby (and his mother) are lactose intolerant so wanted a back up.
I have been vomiting all the way through, no history of eating disorder. I was heavy so my dr wasn’t worried baby is growing well

Do you have allergies to fish and egg or are you just concerned about them as they're potential allergens? Restricting their diet without medical need is unwise. I'd read up on breastfeeding to make sure you can give it your best shot

Did the nhs test you for mthfr? There is a lot of misinformation about this gene with private companies offering inappropriate testing.

Cross Post, so early introduction of allergens actually helps prevents them if you have family history of allergies. And babies get CMPA rather than lactose intolerance (as breast milk is lactose), if your baby has symptoms of this (be prepared) then you can get a prescribed formula

Your breast milk will (very likely) be fine. I would ask to have a proper discussion with your midwife about feeding, so that you can maximise your chances of successfully breast-feeding and explore other options if you can't or choose not to breast-feed. But you really shouldn't be excluding any nutrients from your baby's diet without good medical advice.

What do you mean 'prone to allergies'? Do you actually have allergies?

You don't need to worry about lactose as lactose intolerance is something humans can develop after the age they are supposed to wean off human milk. Some babies are allergic to cows milk protein but it would be extremely rare for them to have a problem with lactose .

It sounds like it would be hard to find the formula you are looking for but there doesn't need to be any reason why you can't breastfeed. As long as you are not malnourished and your weight loss was the loss of body fat without going into starvation mode - you should still make milk :)

If you just don't want to breastfeed and would prefer formula you could consult a midwife , but your little one might be lucky and not develop any allergies so be fine with regular formula (you won't know until they arrive but even if there is a reaction to an ingredient it is unlikely to be severe from birth)

Yup been tested for mthfr officially. we will be testing baby at some point
I am allergic to fish but read about the risk of introducing eggs too early. I just thought a vegetarian dha would be safer (I have dozens of allergies) and cows milk based or goat if they don’t react well. I did discuss this in passing with my midwife she didn’t think the goats milk was a bad idea given the family history

My husband was lactose from birth and used to scream himself to sleep after every feed from breast milk I just didn’t want to go though that

i know Kendamil is fish oil free and they have a goat milk formula, so that might be an option for you perhaps?

thank you I will look into that one 😁

Your weight has no bearing on the quality of your milk. All breastmilk is good quality.

I think the easiest thing would be to breastfeed. However if you don’t want to, you should start your baby on a standard formula unless you’ve been specifically advised by the baby’s doctor. There’s so many different prescription formulas, if your baby needs it, the dietician will find one which suits.

I have that vomiting and serious nausea thing hyperemesis gravidarum Which is why I have lot the weight, so I don’t feel nutritionally my milk is any good. Luckily I had fat stored for him to take what he needs. Given how unwell the pregnancy has made me I wanted to not feed so that I can focus on looking after baby and making sure he gets what he needs with a formula, I wanted to make sure he got everything in a way that wouldn’t potentially effect him. I don’t want my baby to scream and have diarrhea. I want a happy healthy baby who is absorbing everything they need from day 1. I’m not looking for a dha free just vegetarian, not looking for folic free just a natural folic and I may try cows milk then goat. Folic acid in an mthfr person it basically like giving them a slow acting poison that increases chances of cancer. And I exsplained that I have a allergy to fish so obviously don’t want to deal with handling that. And I follow a obstetrician and paediatrician on YouTube who said introducing egg too early can cause allergies. It’s my choice to act in the best interests of myself and my baby. I shouldn’t have to answer questions on weather I had mthfr checked through the nhs because I had 7 miscarriages. Or say my husband screamed himself to sleep because of a lactose intolerance. Before people understand me I didn’t ask for judgement on why I want to do something only help in what I wanted to do. I want to protect my miracle baby who I never thought I would have and I want th be the best strongest mum for him.

It’s fine if you want to formula feed - it’s none of my business and there’s nothing wrong with it. However even if you’ve had HG, it doesn’t affect your milk. All breastmilk will be the right nutritional balance.

I think breastfeeding would be easier as then you don’t have to worry about introducing different allergens. But you really need to consult the paediatric dietician. You can’t use info from YouTube and start messing with a baby’s diet. The doctor will tell you what to use, just listen to them.

Again not messing .. still will contain everything he needs. Goats milk is approved formula.
i will be seeing a nutritionist soon but I really physically don’t have it in me to breastfeed, don’t see how it can be any good at all when I only keep down 300-600 (I managed 2000 one single day) cals a day and some days struggle with water. Your obviously very pro breast but in some cases it’s not the best thing for mum or baby.

I'm a bit concerned about where you are getting your information about MTHFR variants. I'm presuming by "single gene mthfr" you mean you have one copy of the C677T variant? It's estimated that over half the population have this, including myself

There is some research that suggests that people with this variant are more susceptible to certain cancers, but AFAIK no clear relationship has yet been established and certainly not that "Folic acid in an mthfr person it basically like giving them a slow acting poison that increases chances of cancer"

Like I said, I have this variant, it means I do not absorb folic acid as well as people who do not have the variant, but I absorb it better than those with 2 copies of the variant. I don't tolerate Methylfolate/Folinic Acid/Metafolin well so I take Folic acid daily (as a co-factor to my very regular B12 injections). My daughter was solely bottle fed on normal baby formula, and now also takes Folic Acid daily, along with B12. All folate supplementation is synthetic btw, not just Folic acid

I know you are just wanting to do the best for your baby but I feel you are worrying too much about what 'might be' rather than just seeing how things go

OP, please speak to your midwife or HV. You have a lot of confused information and ideas. Informed is always best, so write a list of your questions down and ask your midwife to answer them. It's great you want to be the best parent possible, but that starts with understanding the information you have and seeking out advice from professionals face to face, not YouTube.

I really think you should get some professional advice because some of what you're saying doesn't make sense.

I’m really not! Don’t worry about it. My baby had to have formula via nasal tube in NICU because my milk didn’t come in quickly enough after a section. I’ve been mix feeding since around 3 months because my baby needs prescription formula. There are massive benefits to formula.

However the sickness goes as soon as the baby is born. The day after my baby was born I couldn’t believe waking up and not feeling sick. It was like a miracle. So you won’t feel sick afterwards. The way you’ve worded it sounds like you’re just worried your milk won’t be good enough but it would be.

Nutritionists are charlatans. You need a registered paediatric dietician who’s a qualified doctor. They can advise you but the post natal unit should put you in touch. My baby’s dietician and the dietetics team are
amazing and literally saved my baby’s life.

I have a toddler with multiple allergies. I breastfed. I understand how hard that is. But you need professional advice from a paediatric allergy dietitian as what you have seen on you tube is just plain wrong. It's the opposite and children benefit from the early intro of egg and peanut if there are allergy risk factors (eczema, family history etc). Midwives, health visitors and gps are also wholly uninformed on infant allergy. I'm part of a research study into the incorrect response from medical professionals to infant allergy presentation.

Also goats milk formula is not recommended for babies with cows milk protein allergy as the protein is too similar. If they react to cows milk they will likely react to goats milk. Also 60% of babies who react to cows milk also react to soya.

It's 100% up to you what and how you feed your baby but please please get expert advice.

Get professional advice but breastfeeding is the best way to protect your baby from allergies plus there is evidence that early exposure to allergens via breastfeeding or during weaning reduces allergies (they discussed it on the podcast curious cases of Rutherford and Fry last week by coincidence). If you don't want to breastfeed that's fine but the quality of your milk isn't an issue