McKenzie's Checkup- update

[Anonymous]

So we took McKenzie for her four month check up today and basically in one month she has not gained any weight…so I have no choice but to supplement with formula. It is strange because McKenzie pees and poops plenty, but there are two possible things that might have happened. I have been under a TON of stress these past few months (husband lost job, marriage not going well, unable to eat hardly anything due to what seemed to be protien intolerances to EVERYTHING) and my Dr. said sometimes stress can change the composition of breastmilk and it just might not be fatty enough for McKenzie….kind of like if you drink a bunch of water you will still pee plenty but you won’t gain weight. The other thing is a little bit more far stretched, but we started McKenzie on Nexium about the time the weight gain slowed…so maybe that played into it…anyway on a postive note, my insurance is now covering the compounded prevacid (I just have to pay up front for it and be reimbursed) so I have switched her back.

Anyway, my other daughter Brianna had maybe six bottles her whole life and they were all breastmilk…so I am really at a loss as how to do the whole bottle thing. Can someone tell me more about this whole BPA thing…also, do ya’ll always heat your bottles and if so how do you do it? I just feel like my head is spinning all around. I am really sad about this because I really didn’t want to even try formula with McKenzie until she was older…and my hope was that she would grow out of some of these intolerances early and I could just keep breastfeeding. But I do think that the food restriction has taken a toll on my health as I am not really able to have much fat in my diet either. I basically have been on TED for the top 10 for three months now.

Ok so please pray for me and for McKenzie…they checked her electrolyte level and luckily it was not too bad so we didn’t have to admit her into the hospital, but I have to go back next week for a weight check. They are also checking her kidney function. So far the only way I can get her to eat the Alimentum is with some breastmilk in it..but hopefully it will get better over time. I know this is kind of all over the map, but I am a little blindsided by all this.

b’s mom2008-06-17 22:13:00

[Anonymous]

to you. I am so sorry you are going through this. One of the main reasons I stopped bf with Cooper was b/c he wasn’ t thriving… my decision would have been so much harder if he had been thriving. You can try the borne free bottles, they are a bit pricy but don’t contain the BPA in them and they are very similar to the Dr Browns in the air reduction aspect of things. If I did warm Cooper’s bottles I would fill up a measuring cup with hot water and just let the bottle sit in it for 5 minutes of so to take the chill off.. but that was only if it had been in the fridge. Otherwise I just gave it to him as is. I hope things get better.. I can only imagine the stress you are under. I hope the combo of the med change and the addition of formula solve your problems. Good Luck at the weight check.

[hellbennt]

as you start to add formula,

can you contact LLL? find out if it’s possible to to make your milk more fatty? I forget if this is even possible but I think it is…this might help: http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/milk/change-milkfat.html

http://www.kellymom.com/babyconcerns/growth/weight-gain_increase.html

great resources for moms breastfeeding allergy babies on the LLLI website:
http://forums.llli.org/forumdisplay.php?f=37

The La Leche League Breastfeeding Helpline -toll free breastfeeding help 24 hours a day. Just call 1-877-4-LALECHE (1-877-452-5324).

HUGS!!

~laura

[Anonymous]

Laura,

Thanks for those resources…I am going to try the compression stuff…I think that might help. 🙂 I hope it will at least.

[Anonymous]

I am so sorry you are going through so much all at once!!

I hope that some of Laura’s suggestions help you out. You are a great mom and are doing what is best for McKenzie whether BM or Alimentum, just remember that.

I have also heard that the Born Free bottles are good. You can order them on the babies r us website. I really, really hope things get better for you. You are in my prayers.

[Anonymous]

Ugh! I so feel for you, Emily. This is exactly what happened with my daughter, Claire.. and right at the same age… 4 months. I wasn’t on TED with her, but I was working fulltime. The doctor also thought that it was my breastmilk, and of course i’m not a doctor so I cant’ say for sure. However, I fed Ben whose reflux was MUCH worse while on the TED for several months.. he was always in the 75th percentile for weight and often higher than that. And I know, without a doubt that I was more stressed this time around than last.

All that to say, that I have a hard time believing that my milk changed that much. But, again I’m not a doctor, and you have to do what’s best for your baby.

What we did was to just add some formula to her breastmilk bottles – 2 that she got at the sitters.. i never actually switched her totally over, just put in a few scoops to add the calories. Once she was about 6 months old, and was finally on a good med dose, she started to catch up weight wise, and we stopped the formula addition and I nursed her until she was 14 months old.

I’m certainly not telling you to go against doctor’s wishes, I’m just telling you what we did in a similar situation. Really, I think Claire just wasn’t as good a nurser as Ben. She had a hard time latching on from the very start, and she would give up really easily. She started sucking her thumb early on, and I think learned to prefer that than trying to eat and face the reflux to follow.

Anyway, to you.

Bensmama2008-06-08 09:04:52

[Anonymous]

I just wanted to mention that if she was having issues on breastmilk and you needed to do elimination diet, I would really push for Neocate instead of the hypo. (Not and expert here ****) but I thought by the time your food within your body was broken down to when it goes into your breastmlk and Mackenzie is still having such intolerance issues, the alimentum may not be enough with just the broken down proteins. I would just hate for you to start supplimenting just to have Mackenzie uncomfortable and not doing well on the alimentum. I know there are some babies here that are already resistant to the formula suppliment because of the difference in thickness, taste, etc. that it woudl be a shame to have to get her supplimented with one and then have to switch it and suppliment with a completely different taste, etc…

Hang in there! Even with suppliment, she is still getting the benefit of your breastmilk if you continue to breastfeed!

You are doing a great job and I will say a prayer for you that things get better in all areas! Sounds like there is a lot going on and that is so not easy with two young children! Hang strong!!

Ann Marie

[Anonymous]

Naomi,

I am kind of doing what you are saying in terms of not taking her off completely. But after each feeding I am offering the Alimentum too…but you know, she is eating 2-4 ounces even after a full breastfeed some of the time. Other times she is not eating any. Last night she woke up in some crazy type of pain (this has been going on for the past few weeks with no diet change or so, but we kept saying it was teeth). Anyway, I had just pumped about an hour and a half ago (something I started when McKenzie was 2 months old as she used to consistantly sleep until 4am). I nursed her but she was still fussy…so I gave her the milk I pumped…still fussy…so I gave her the alimentum and she has four ounces and then finally calmed down. ISo she probably had about 8 oz total. I pulled her into bed with me and she sat there peacefully but her eyes were wide open…it took her almost an hour to get to sleep and she kept turning her head back and forth…does anyone know what that might mean? Urgh..I do hate giving the supplement, but I plan on continuing to breastfeed as much as I can…even if it comes down to me just feeding her in the AM and PM…at least she is getting some. Also, I am going to get some pancreatic enzymes because in my research I read that if giving up all the food didn’t help, the mother taking these could.

Ann Marie, I am with you about the possible Neocate issue, but we are going to stay with Alimentum for now and just see.

[hellbennt]

Bummer! the links no longer work! but you have the info to google

Pancrease to resolve blood in the stool

Posted by: “sheaton”

Yahoobreastfeedingreflux

Sun Jul 9, 2006 3:45 pm (PST)

There’s an article at Dr Jack Newman’s site about the use of Pancrease
(digestive enzymes) to resolve blood in the stools.

info here
http://www.drjacknewman.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=90&itemid=120

article from Journal Human Lactation
http://www.drjacknewman.com/images/stories/Articles_pdf/schachjhumlact2002.pdf
Suzie hellbennt2008-06-08 13:49:29

[Anonymous]

Oh, I’m sorry Emily to hear that things are so rough right now. It’s so heart breaking when nursing doesn’t work out. I hope the supplementing helps and you can continue to nurse at least part of the time. Please keep us posted.

[Anonymous]

Hmmm.. the wakefulness is interesting.. I know that some moms have reported this as a sign of an intolerance… even when other symptoms aren’t noticeable. You’ll have to let us know if she routinely does this or not.

[hellbennt]

ok I googled & from here: http://www.mothering.com/discussions/archive/index.php/t-656225.html

found this: digestive enzymes are taken to break down the protiens in the food that you eat. In a nursing mom, it would used to break up the protiens before they get into your milk. There have been studies done, one called RESOLUTION OF STOOL BLOOD IN BREAST-FED INFANTS WITH MATERNAL INGESTION OF PANCREATIC ENZYMES, which found that by taking the enzymes, it helps resolve symptoms in allergic infants. It is also supposed to help with eczema. The study was done with Pancrease Mt4, a script enzyme, which I am taking, but I also rotate it with Complete Gest by enzymatic therapies, and those seem to work just as well. My son’s allergist wrote out the script for me after I brought in the study.

THe non-script one that I take is called CompleteGest by Enzymatic Therapy. It has virtually the same components. It has really helped my son’s reactions and now that he is on solids, I just mix a 1/2 cap in with his food. He was continuously developing new allergies and the enzymes have helped stop new ones. I order mine online either from http://www.iherb.com or http://www.wholesalesupplementstore.com, whichever place has them in stock. They are about $15 there, and I usually wind up ordering more than one, since we go through about two bottles a month.

I can’t find the article for free- you have to pay:

http://jhl.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/18/1/50

AND

I Found this!! this is found towards the bottom, here: http://www.pregnancy.org/article.php?sid=639

There is also a new treatment for very allergic babies. Suggest the mother ask her doctor about prescribing Pancrease-MT4 to be taken with meals. That can help break down the allergens to the point where the baby will not be affected even if the mother continues eating the offending foods.

And this!

http://www.jpgn.org/pt/re/jpgn/fulltext.00005176-199910000-00069.htm;jsessionid=LM0DTYTgM8QHqT2LL1QWv0dnvvKM2nLR41yhQQNQV9HP5vc84DQt!435538499!181195629!8091!-1

[Anonymous]

I didn’t read everyone’s posts here so sorry if this suggestion is on here somewhere, but I read you are doing compounded prevacid. I could never get this right– even when I used a “compounding pharmacy” it just never stayed stable. I would ask for solutabs……

[Anonymous]

Laura,

YOu are the best! I just had gone out and bought my own pancreatic enzymes, but I am going to show this article to my GI and my ped and see if they will prescribe those for me….

Erica, we were on solutabs, but McKenzie was reacting to something in them…so at 6weeks we got on compounded prevacid…it was fine but insurance wouldn’t cover it…around 3 months we put her on Nexium which, looking back on it is when things started getting worse…of course is also coinsides with several other major stressors so I just can’t say for sure….but since she was still doing so bad on the Nexium, we decided to move her back to prevacid because insurance will now cover it (I had to nicely threaten to go to every newspaper and TV station if they wouldn’t..lol) and I don’t really have to wait but 10 min or so before I feed her. Naomi, the night waking has been consistant these past few weeks even with minimal diet change…and these past two weeks have been the worst but I have been back on the strict TED then. But I am going to monitor it. Thanks for the help everyone. I am feeling a bit better because I still plan to breastfeed for as long as I can…even if it can’t be exclusive…and if these pancreatic enzymes help losen the diet…my hope is I can get off the formula completely. Thanks for the prayers…I will keep you updated. 🙂

[Anonymous]

Hi!

I just wanted to add that I think Nexium has some sort of sweeteners in it to make that lemony sweet flavor. That might have bothered her if the solutabs did. If compounded prevacid does not work, maybe you could get capsules and put the beads in water until she is old enough to take it on a spoon of applesauce.

Just wanted to throw that out there!

Hope things start looking up really soon.

[Author]

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