Cow's milk allergy

[Dadliving]

Hi,

Our 2nd DD is 5 months old and we think she has a slight allergy to her formula powder/cow's milk allergy. The doctor has suggested we try her on nutramigen (hypoallergenic formula) which we have tried but she totally hated it and won't drink it. It stinks so not surprising. I wanted to see if anyone has any suggestions of better alternatives to the nutramigen we can try?? She has aptamil formula normally.

We use Neocate for top-up feeds (mostly breastfeeding). It smells like potatoes and I think it tastes awful, but our little one likes it!

I think all the formula preparations suitable for use in CMPA have a strange taste due to how they're made suitable, but it might be worth trying others - she might like a different one from the one she's tried already.

The way to switch is to do it very gradually,
So tiny bit of new milk mixed with old, and gradually change the proportions until you end up with solely the new milk

Neocate was better for dd as it has no dairy - nutramigen is broken down dairy and made dd sick

We had nutramigen first before moving to alfamino, my daughter liked it hot, almost too hot, that's the only way she would tolerate it. It does stink though you're right. Good luck, depending on how severe her allergy is you may to need to switch to an amino acid formula like alfamino. Good luck 🍀

Thank you, I did think any of these options won't be great, but definitely worth trying others to see. Is neocate via a prescription or easy to pick up? We need to get her tested for allergies but thought we should start with the formula first.

The allergy doesn't seem too bad (compared to others) though that still means she has a lot of mucus, so can't breathe properly, especially at night when she is lying down. She is still feeding but sometimes has to stop to breathe properly. Really appreciate all the advice.

Ds had nutramigen but it was the fully dairy free version not the lactose free stuff

Yes it smells awful, but you need to keep trying them with it, especially if your baby isn’t breathing properly.

They will get used to the taste

Ds grew out of it aged 2

We had Neocate, it used to be £30 per tin. I was caught out on holiday once and couldn't believe it! I'd speak to the GP about it going on a prescription as a trial.

With all of these specialist formulas they recommend you mix the original formula with it and phase off of it oz by oz over a couple of days. I didn't trust the dietician at first but it definitely worked for us.

When she’s older try goats milk. The extra mucus is what my DC gets with cows milk, I was the same as a child. For my DC the mucus makes him sick. He’s had goats milk since 18 months.

Does she have a bit of reflux too perhaps? Think it's quite common for the 2 to go hand in hand. We have omeprazole as well for DD (also 5 months) and that has helped with her mucus/breathing. Not sure if you can slightly raise the head end of her crib too?

We have raised the crib so hopefully that helps, she hasn't had any reflux at the moment, just constant mucus, some sneezing and coughing every now and then, though coughing definitely worse at night. Will be asking the GP tomorrow about the prescription as the CMA formula is pretty expensive so a trial would be great to see what it does.

Bless her. Hope you get sorted with her and she improves