CMPA - which formula?

[Ma2024]

Hi all looking for advice and experiences...

At the moment I exclusively breastfeeding but want to introduce some formula to make life a little easier and so that we aren't so reliant on me being always available... you know just to have a long bath to myself that kind of thing

I am 99.9% sure it's CMPA since day 5 of cutting out all dairy and soy this is a different baby who is actually happy sometimes! We are yet to do a home challenge but I'm planning that soon.

What formula did you use for your CMPA babies, we were given nutramigen but she absolutely hates it... the other options look like SMA althera or aptamil pepti, anyone tried these for breastfed babies, did they like them?

Congrats on your baby.

I say this as a mum of a CMPA child who combi fed them.

Unless you really NEED to do it, don’t introduce formula.

Formula is made of cows milk. If they are reacting your milk, it’s very likely they will react to even hypoallergenic formula (mine did, puked every time he had a bottle)

Besides that, if you can’t get it on prescription it is super expensive to buy. Only comes in powdered so is a pain and faff to make. It also smells vile. I have no idea how my baby drank it tbh.

All that said, we were prescribed aptimil pepti 1. It was fine. They are all much of a muchness.

you don’t say how old baby is. As they get older they do go longer between feeds. Once solids are introduced others can feed them and distract them from milk. It might not be that long to wait.

mum’s bath time is also a great time for partners, dads or other family to have skin to skin cuddles.

They aren't all made from milk. If your baby reacts to the extensively hydrolysed options listed there are amino acid options that are completely milk free. They are available on prescription.

They are all pretty disgusting to be honest. How old is your baby? The younger your baby is the more likely they will accept it. My son at 8 months just plain refused and I had to keep breastfeeding and we tried HARD. With paediatric allergy dietitian and infant feeding specialist support. People often flavour them with alcohol free vanilla essence or nesquik powder to improve acceptance

She is now 10 weeks old, I know it's going to take some time to intro formula and I was always planning on breastfeeding til 6 monthsish... honestly it's also for me, I've lost probably about a stone off my prepregnancy weight and I cannot sustain the calories needed to continue forever!... I know woe is me right but I'm not at a healthy weight

We will try the aptamil and mix it with the breastmilk and see how we go!

If it’s a confirmed allergy then a hypoallergenic formula like neonate (it’s expensive) can be prescribed or bought. Speak to your GP.

And congratulations on your new baby

I also had a nutramigen refuser, aptamil pepti was great for us.

I ended up 16% under my prepregnancy weight by the time I stopped breastfeeding my multiple allergy baby and ended up very underweight and collapsed the day before I stopped breastfeeding.

If baby is reacting to your breastmilk it's unlikely that the extensively hydrolysed formulas are going to be suitable. You would need an amino acid formula such as neocate or alfamino. If you have a plan to stop breastfeeding at 6 months you probably want to try to introduce a small amount of formula early on, even if it's just the odd bottle a week, as it can be harder to get an older baby used to a bottle and the taste of the formula. I would push for neocate of alfamino, you can buy it online but it's expensive so you could buy a tin to try and then see if your GP can prescribe it. My daughter was 10 months when we were forced to move her formula and it was hard work to get her over the bottle aversions caused by a formula she was allergic to (she has a coconut allergy and most formulas contain coconut oil which I was unaware of) and the taste for the formula, using it in food was helped with this.

Have you seen a dietician? My daughters dietician gave me dietary advise to help minimise my weight loss and was more concerned about my health than my daughters.