Alimentum

[Anonymous]

My son is exclusively breastfed. After a lot of trial and error, we figured out that he is intolerant to milk protein and soy. After two weeks of taking hidden dairy and soy out of my diet(I had already eliminated dairy) he started feeling so much better . He stopped projectile vomitting, reflux seemed to be less painful, he began eating full bottles instead of tiny amounts, his rashes went away and he didn’t have any painful gas.

His pedi reccomended that we try getting him used to Alimentum because I am worried about having supply issues when I go back to teaching in August. First, he absolutely hates it. He will drink small amounts mixed with 3oz of breastmilk. We tried this for a day and he started projectile vomiting that night. I didn’t give him any more for a few days. I gave him one bottle while he was sleeping 2 days ago. He drank the entire 3.5 oz. but since then all of his dirty diapers have been filled with brownish red mucusy poop.

I called the doctor and she said that she highly doubts that he will be unable to tolerate it. She actually said that very few babies have any issues with it. To me, this doesn’t seem right. My son has never had mucus in his dirty diapers before. We are seeing a GI specialist on Friday, but I wanted to get some of your thoughts. Do you think he had this reaction because his system isn’t used to the alimentum? Should I keep trying to get him used to the taste? We tried Nutramigen first, but he screamed any time a bottle with even a small amount of it came near him.

[Anonymous]

Definately sounds to me like he isn’t tolerating it. The vomiting and mucus would be symptoms of this. Unfortunately, some kids can’t tolerate even the hydrolysed milk protein formulas, like Alimentum, Nutramigen and Pregestimil. My daughter couldn’t tolerate them either. We ended up putting her on Neocate.

If the breastfeeding is going well, then I would suggest doing everything you can to keep it up, if at all possible. Maybe consider starting to pump and freeze some expressed BM? Pumping additional milk each day in addition to BFing him could help increase your production, so you can get some frozen for the future.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your reply! I’ve read about a lot of children that have to go to Neocate. That’s why my doctor’s response seemed so strange to me. As of right now, Owen is almost exclusively fed breastmilk through a bottle. With his reflux being bad, he could never eat a full meal. He was constantly pulling away from the breast, so we went to pumping. I had a decent freezer stash, but it was from before we knew that he was MSPI and now it is unusable. I think your right about him being intolerant to it. The last two days since I gave it to him, he has been up and uncomfortable every two hours through the night. He isn’t wanting to eat, he is just gassy. When nothing is bothering him he will sleep for a 6-7 hour stretch only waking up at 4am to eat.

[Anonymous]

If by taking out diary/hidden and soy he improved. Then I would NOT go w/Alimentum. It contains milk protein. You already proved that he was better w/o those in his diet. I don’t understand doctors. Sometimes they seem like complete idiots! Anyways, just my 2 cents, but if you need to go to formula…Elecare or neocate is the way to go since he has proven MSPI(if not allergy). Or obviously, continue to BF…pump and store as much as possible. Good Luck!

[Anonymous]

I agree that you may want to try to pump and store more instead of giving formula. My ds#2 is allergic to milk, eggs and peanuts. I exclusively pumped for him for 9 months then switched to supplementing with a little Alimentum until 1yr. When I started supplementing he broke out with eczema right away and did have some nasty diapers while getting used to it. After 1yr old I put him on all Alimentum and he seems ok. I think for breastfed babies it is hard on their stomach at first.

[hellbennt]

these groups are ‘known’ on ‘the boards’ as being very supportive and helpful

PumpMoms http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/PumpMoms/

breastfeeding and working mothers: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bfworkingmoms/

[Anonymous]

I was also told that there was no way (or shouldn’t be any way) that my son could be reacting to Alimentum b/c it was “hypoallergenic”. I got right in my car with my baby and his dirty, bloody/mucousy diaper and brought it to that nurse and my pedi to show them. That shut them right up and I left with an Rx for an elemental formula (Elecare first, later we went to Neocate)

Trust your gut mama! 🙂

[Anonymous]

Thank you guys so much for all of your feedback! Trying to figure out what bothers Owen and what doesn’t has been quite the roller coaster as you all know. I’m so glad that I found this website. Without it, I would have never known that I needed to try cutting out hidden dairy from my diet. The pedi never mentioned it. She was very causal about trying to “cut back” on dairy to see if it effected him. I finally feel like we are on the right track. I just feel it’s important to have a formula on hand that he can actually take incase I have supply issues. When I finished out the school year, my supply took a huge hit and still hasn’t recovered. I continue to pump almost exclusively and I have been doing 10-12 sessions along with eating oatmeal. I’m just getting a little bit more than Owen consumes. I know that there are tons of supplements to help boost supply, but with Owen being so sensitive I am hesitant to bring something else into my diet. I have the GI appointment on Friday and I will let update you guys on what she says. Thanks again, I apreciate your responses!

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