Breastfed baby having allergic reactions to formula please help!!

[PolarMummy]

Ok I'll keep this as brief as possible!

DS is 5.5 months and is exclusively breastfed I would love to continue giving him breast milk but due to feeding problems and reflux I have been exclusively expressing for him since he was about 3 months old, this is obviously very time consuming, especially as I have a 2yr old as well!, and hard to maintain my supply. (Been expressing sine he was born but was also breastfeeding some feeds too)

So I have tried him with Aptimil, Cow & Gate and SMA Gold and he has had allergic reactions of vary degrees to all 3 of these! Does anyone know what alternatives there are available? Or have any advice as to what I should do?

Thanks

Wow, well done for all that expressing, I take my hat off to you - exclusively expressing is very tiring.

The absolute easiest thing to do in the long run would be to try getting him back onto the breast directly. Do you think you might be interested in this? Information here if you are at all - nobody would blame you if you were not, you have done very well already.

It is possible that the reflux symptoms could be caused by dairy intolerance/allergy so you could try cutting dairy out of your diet (and therefore out of your breastmilk - expressed or directly fed) to see if this makes any difference.

If not/in addition, you probably need to try a lactose-free formula. I would advise you to go to your GP for advice, I think that there is one kind available to buy in shops and another kind which is only available on prescription. I believe that soya based formula is not advised to be used at all at the moment, so it is possibly worth asking what alternatives there are.

Good luck!

Had the same problem with my DS1- gave him formula with babyrice and he got a very red chin and face. Although the local allergy clinic did not pick up a milk allergy, they and the GP were happy to recommend a prescription formula (can't remember the name). I took a photo of the reaction to help convince them! He contined to have some degree of reaction to all dairy products (except sheeps milk yogurt), so I also carried on BF until 18 months, and just used the formula for babyrice and veg puree mixing. He's fine with cheese, yogurt etc now (3 years), but has never liked milk. I would ask your GP- there may be newer alternatives available.

Thank you for the replies, BertieBotts, ideally yes I would quite like to get DS back on the breast but in reality I dont see it happening There are many reasons I have had to start exclusively expressing one being that DS had started to refuse to breastfeed, he would scream when I tried to feed him and I really felt that I was doing something awful to him! For us Breastfeeding seemed to make his reflux worse, he is on Losac and Gaviscon at the moment and the Gaviscon seems to work best when mixed with his whole feed, it could well be that he had developed a negative association with breastfeeding and I am not sure if enough time has passed for him to have forgotten that.

I had wondered myself if he could have a dairy intolerance but the paed he was referred to said it was unlikely, I have reduced my dairy intake before and didn't notice a difference but I maybe didn't do it for long enough or strictly enough so might be worth trying again.

Filmbuffmum the red face and chin is how DS reaction starts but then he gets like nettle stings through the area and the Cow & Gate made him properly sick not just spewing but stomach straining, eye watering sick He has been referred to a pead for failure to thrive and he is being reviewed in 2 wks so I think I will just keep expressing until then and speak to them as the GP has been a bit useless thus far