Need Advice: Formula or Breastmilk?

[Anonymous]

My DS is 10wks and has laryngomalacia. Until the last week, he’s been on expressed breastmilk. He had symptoms of silent reflux right away. As his reflux got worse, he went from eating 4-6 oz every 3 hours to maybe 2 or 3 oz. Up until a few weeks ago he had pretty bad gas, but his poop was a nice healthy yellow with curds and I wasn’t eating anything special, and I’m a pretty big cheese lover so I know he was getting some dairy. A few weeks ago I went on a big kick of eating Reese’s cups and his poop changed to this awful dark orange sticky stuff. At that point I figured he’s obviously allergic or sensitive to something, but what? The milk? The chocolate? The peanuts? I’ve stopped eating those.

I have to admit, I hate pumping! So I seized this opportunity to figure that if he has these kinds of sensitivities, he might be better off on formula so I can control better what’s going in. We started him on Nestle Good Start DHA/ARA. He loves it, and he’s back to the 4-6 oz range again for each meal. The only problem is he’s gone from a silent refluxer who never spit up to spitting up big-time. It doesn’t seem to hurt him, but what a mess! Oh, and his pooping and gas have gotten WAY worse. (we’ve tried adding cereal to his bottles…rice constipated him and oatmeal seems to be contributing to the gas).

At about the same time we switched him to formula, his reflux was breaking through the Prevacid, so we called his ped and got a referral to a GI (our appt. is in a little more than a week). In the mean time, we got some extra samples to up our dosage to two 7.5 doses a day. With the increased meds, he seems not to have any reflux pain.

It’s obvious to me (and I’m sure to you too!) that there is WAY too much change going on here all at once. I feel like I need to kind of normalize what’s going on so I can have something to talk to the GI about that I actually have enough info to go on. As I see it, I have two options:

1. Leave him on the formula and accept the mass quantities of spitup, gas, and poopie problems. If this is the way to go, do you think I should stick with the oatmeal? He’s still spitting tons, so what good is it really?

2. Go back to the breastmilk, stay off the peanut butter cups, and possibly trade the spitting up back in for the silent refluxing. Find out from the GI what he’s allergic to and eliminate that from my diet?

or…something else? At this point I’m so confused, I’m really just looking for advice to hold me over.

[hellbennt]

I see that no one has responded just yet. this is a very very personal decision and I bet no one wants to step on any toes…

first, NO your baby does NOT have to live w/ gas/tummy upset.

sounds like perhaps there’s a protein intolerance of some sort. the ‘curds’ in the poop sounds like mucous. ‘normal’ breastfed baby poop is brown/mustardy and seedy. no strings (mucous) or curds and only green occasionally (not all the time).

if it IS a protein intolerance or allergy, Nestle Good Start DHA/ARA might not be the answer, so then you’ll wind up trying something that’s more broke down like Alimentum or Nutrimigen, and, if that type is not broken down enough, then it’s on to an elemental formula like Neocate or Elecare.

there’s a great link called ‘Misconceptions of Elemental Formulas’ that actually should help you a bit. look for the link (labled as such) from here: Mspi/allergy info(‘main page’): https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=2697&PN=1&TPN=1

actually, the whole link I just gave should help you, too.

Next: if it is intolerances, then you can eliminate proteins from you diet.

Important to consider: any change you make, whether being trying a new formula or eliminating proteins from your diet, will take a good 2 weeks. oftentimes, when folks change formulas, there’s a ‘honeymoon’ period for a few days & then all *&^ breaks loose…

http://www.marci-kids.com will tell you if the prevacid dose is high enough. also you need to give it on an empty stomach followed by a meal 30 minutes later. not sure you’re doing this…

HTH (hope this helps),

~laura

ps: I would stop the oatmeal. sensitive tummies have all they can handle on their own w/o adding cereal to the mix! if you do decide to continue w/ cereal, use a brand like beechnut that has no milk or soy.

hellbennt2008-06-25 08:26:32

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the response! It didn’t even occur to me that this might sound like an invitation to step into a controversial topic. I long ago gave up on any emotional attachment I had to “what” my LO was going to eat in hopes of finding ANY solution that would make him comfortable. I forget sometimes that bf’ing vs. formula can be a heated issue for some folks.

Those are great links, thanks a bunch!

Also, it’s funny that you mentioned cutting out the oatmeal. We went ahead and did that starting last night. The way I figured it, if it wasn’t keeping him from spitting then it wasn’t doing what I wanted it to and if it was causing gas in the tiny quantity he was getting it was useless. It’s not like I was going to give him MORE of something that was giving him gas in hopes that it might solve the spitting. Once we did that, his spitting reduced almost immediately. We’ll see how long that lasts, though.

I really would appreciate whatever opinions others have. I already realize I’ve kind of stepped in it as far as making too many changes all at once but I’m really dedicated to getting it straightened out.

[hellbennt]

more thoughts, LOL!

the ped GI cannot necessarily tell you if there’s an allergy. Blood in the stool for sure would tell you (they can test poop for occult blood- unseen to the eye). But otherwise, it could be an intolerance. an EXCELLENT explanation about the difference b/t allergy/intolerance can be found from the Main MSPI link I gave you, above.

regardless if you continue w/ breastmilk or if you switch to formula, you will have a lot of trial and error to go through. In the meantime you might want to continue w/ breastmilk and eliminate ALL milk & soy proteins from your diet, including ‘hidden’ ingredients (there’s more from that link again!), for a good 2 to 3 weeks. Unfortunately, t’s not just a simple matter of ‘cutting back on milk products…If you supplement w/ formula then you might want to try alumentum or nutrimigen or even just go straight to neocate. It’s a lot to do either way- formula or breastmilk (restricted diet).

[Anonymous]

Here are my thoughts. I stopped bfing at 3wks only b/c my son was not thriving. He was 9lbs 11oz at birth got down to 8lbs 10oz and at 3wks he was only back up to 8lbs 12 oz.. I was devastated b/c obviously I wasn’t doing something right. Now had I known all the stuff I do now. I would have cut out all dairy/soy from my diet probably supplemented with formula for a bit and then given it a better college try. That is what I plan to do if we have another child. But that is what I did not knowing everything I know now. I really freaked out b/c my lo wasn’t thriving… had he been gaining wt well I would have stuck it out b/c it is best if you are able to do it. Those are just my personal opinions… I don’t regret stopping, what I regret is not being 100% informed when I did stop.

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