Formula HELP - Poway,CA

Not that it is a bad thing but just shocking... when I gave my kids good start they had navy blue poop! it freaked my out. My sis in law had the same thing. Just fyi. good luck!

unfortunately all formula is made of sugar and fat, basically because that is what is in breast milk. goat milk is not even good for toddlers. i had a homeopathic doctor recommend it for my dtr who has a severe dairy allergy and we found out through my ped that it leaches vitamins. and...my dtr ended up anemic. so we have to use soy, rice or almond. try to find a formula with plain sugar, howerver corn syrup is an easier to digest. i know Earths Best and Happy Baby make formula both are organic company's. good luck and let us know what you find.

My first question would be why supplement with formula at all since you are breastfeeding?

There are SO MANY ways to increase your milk supply and just give her fresh, squeezed breastmilk :) She obviously has trouble on the formula, but not the boob.

I would be happy to help you via email or phone if you like! I never like to see a nursing mom struggle.

Peace-Love-Boobies!

I don't have advice on formula, but if you're only supplementing with 6 oz/day, that doesn't seem like a whole whole lot. Have you tried upping your pumping or doing things to increase your milk supply? Then just cut out the formula, unless of course she needs it for some other reason you didn't mention. :) I had a hard time making milk but I worked HARD to be able to nurse. I was even put on a prescription to increase my supply. It is perfectly safe to take the entire duration or nursing and literally, it probably doubled my supply. Just a thought but of course I am not a doctor and you're mom. Mom always knows best. :) Feel free to message me if you want anymore info on the medicine! I do recommend it!!

Classical Homeopath would never do such a thing. Homeopath need to find the Remedy for your problems not to make your life more complicated. Find another homeopath. Screen them before appointment - if they do muscle testing and all sort of medical "suggestions", keep looking for the one who does not.
Good Luck
V.

Hi K.

I think that you did absolutely the right thing to consult your MD pediatritian first. I like going to homeopathic doctors (chiro, acupuncturist, etc) myself, but I worry that they are not specialists for newborns.

If possible, you may try to increase breastfeeding (& decreasing formula) and see if it makes a difference (should see the result after a week). Talk to your OB, or a lactation consultant if you have one, about increasing your milk supply, but given the fact that your child is only 2 months old and you have been breastfeeding mostly it should not be hard. If it is not possible to nurse more, I would try Nestle's Good Start (should be able to find it any store that sells other kinds of formula). Our pediatritian said that it is gentler to babies' digestive system than other formula. I don't know for sure, but my daughter did like it.

If, say, you change to breastfeed exclusively (no formula), but your child's condition isn't improving, then check with your pediatritian again. He will probably examine your diet and see if there is anything you can change to eliminate the allergens for the baby.

It's really very hard to always know what's going on in their tiny bodies at this age. So do your best, but don't be discouraged because I think you are doing the right things. Sometimes some babies are more gassy than others no matter what you feed them. Make sure you always burp them well after each feeding, especially after nursing as I felt that the burps were harder to come out. And burp them thruout the day when you have a chance. Hope it all goes well for you and your baby. Good luck!

6 oz is nothing, you could easily boost your supply to fill that in. If you are away from her, and that is why she needs it, it will be harder to do, but still possible. Once you get your supply up, you could pump that much for her a day. I would really suggest trying to go that way. The only natural formula is called breast milk :)

Some tips: drink more water, eat more food (throughout the day), eat oatmeal, check out the kellymom.com site for more tips on boosting your supply, nurse more often, and always on demand. You can take herbs and such, but nursing more is really probably all you need. Don't supplement any, just cut it out and nurse, and within a week you should be making enough.

First off, why are you supplementing? The more you nurse, the more you build your milk supply.

I have read recipes for formula, all of which are made with goat milk. You can make your own.

Really, people have been misled by the aggresive advertising tactics of formula companies, as well as pediatricians - who would rather push formula than counsel nursing mothers... Processed, corn-syrupy stuff is better than goat milk? Doesn't make a lot of sense.

Of course this is just my feeling. You really have to do the research for yourself so you can make an informed choice.

I wonder what it is in the formula she is reacting to. My son had a milk allergy - Dx at 8 weeks old. Cranky, rock solid abdomen, kicking and arching. Then eventually bloody and mucusy stool. Milk protein allergy. I was breastfeeding so I cut the milk, but that process takes 2 weeks plus, so I did put him on formula to get the milk out as fast as I could. He was on Nutramigen and did GREAT! New kid. When we put him on cows milk at one year he struggled a bit, so we did rice milk for a while. Now he's 2 and fine w/ milk. You can talk to your Dr. and see if he/she thinks it could be an intolerance... mine tested a stool sample. If that's not it, see what else is recommended. I also did try goat milk (after the 1 yr mark - same issues as w/ cow milk). Good luck.

Hi there. I did use goat's milk, but not until my LO was 11 mos old. I think you need to wait on goat's milk for a little while.
Are you using Similac organic? Or Earth's Best organic?
Also, have you tried Alimentum? I never used it, but I have had 2 friends who swore by it. It was the only formula their kids could handle (it was the premade kind, not the powered).
I was lucky I could BF for a year, but I am not sure I could do it again - I had so much trouble with it.
GOOD LUCK!
~G.
www.bebettertoyourself.blogspot.com

Have u tried Good Start Supreme Comfort Protein formula? that was one easy on my son's stomach when i had to supplement..do u want to build your supply up?
u can take Motilium aka DOM take 2 a day for 2 weeks..your supply will go up a lot..and if you are pumping u should rent the Medela Classic Hospital Grade Pump..u can rent it at the Pump Station..i bought one on Ebay and then sold it when i was done for $50 more than what i paid for...

http://www.inhousepharmacy.com/general/motilium.html

My understanding is that goat's milk is actually closer to human milk than cows. It's a shame your doctor is offering an ill-informed opinion, rather than fact. Might be time to consider finding one who has a broader depth of knowledge.
Also, we ended up having to give our daughter formula, too, and rejected soy-based for the same reason. We ended up going with Similac's organic formula since the first ingredient was... milk (go figure! lol).

Follow what your MD says.
Corn syrup is fine,
High Fructose corn Syrup may nor be as satisying but
normal corn syrup is
ok.
Talk to your MD.
B. v,O.

tak

I supposedly did the same thing when I was younger, my dad put me on goats milk.. Have you tried Carnation Good Start? All three of my kids went through the same thing.. .couldnt hold down the formula... hurting thier stomach.. My first two were on Soy.. and the baby is now on Carnation good start... she seems to be doing great

Hi K.,

You're pediatrician doesn't know ANYthing about goat's milk! It is the most closely related to breast milk. Formula IS primarily CORN SYRUP. Corn syrup is not good for adults but is dangerous for little ones. Look at the link below and notice the protein content. Goat's milk is used ALL over the world except here in the US.

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&db...

Rice milk is primarily sugar water....he may simply be confusing himself. But NO one recommends rice milk for babies. Soy is not good either.

Homeopathic doctors study more of anatomy, biology and nutrition. Medical doctors, primarily, do not look at the body as a whole but symptom by symptom. They study more chemistry and pharmaceutical research.

If I had to choose which one to listen to it would be the Homeopathic doctor. You are breast feeding. Supplementing with goat's milk seems perfect to me!

Congratulations on your little one!

M.

Hi. I switched from nursing to formula at 5 weeks and experienced the same spitting up problem. I started with Enfamil and my son spit up quite a bit. I switched to Good Start and it helped for perhaps a week then the spit up started up again. My baby's Ped recommended Enfamil AR - so I tried it and absolutely hated it. The spit up was very curddish/chunky. So, my baby's Ped recommended Enfamil GentleEase - LOVE IT. There is still some spit up, which is common, but definitely nothing to complain about.

I also gave my baby Gripe Water (you can find this is the medicine aisle). My g/f told me about it and I really think it worked! Gripe water is for gassiness, colic etc. My baby was extremely fussy and like yours, clenching his fist and kickig.

I have to say once he hit the 3 month mark it has gotten much easier.

All the Best.

Soy based is also genetically modified and can ruin her intestines. Goats milk is good and mothers milk is better, keep breast feeding is first choice.
Goats milk is easier to digest than cows milk. And it is not sugar water. Wonder what he would call mothers milk. Corn is also GMO and it is horrid. Watch all labels. No soy, corn and use organic. I would wait until she can have raw milk. In the meantime breast feed. It is the best and she is only eight weeks, it may be hard but it is really what we mothers do for our children. Priorities.

I have a close friend who was in a similar situation as you and she just gave her child the goat's milk. Her daughter is now 17 years old and very healthy. I'd maybe consider getting a second opinion if soy formula is not the route you want to take.

Dear K.,

A few items need correction here. One is that the pediatrician has a certain amount of ignorance regarding the nutritional value of goat's milk. The other moms have already chimed in on this. Second, Victoria is correct in that a properly trained classical homeopath will not be using simple muscle testing or other shortcuts to find an appropriate remedy. Finally, there are proven techniques in both oriental medicine and homeopathy for enhancing your own milk production naturally if you choose to do so. Best of luck!

Hi K.,

I am not understanding why you would be supplementing if you are breastfeeding as that will not increase your milk supply. You are right in wanting to avoid most of the market store brands of formula if you do continue to use something. I would be looking into ways to increase my supply and if I had to use a formula, knowing what I know now, I would NEVER use a soy one and would go to something like www.neocate.com as it is made specifically for babies unable to tolerate dairy.

Also, if your baby is already experiencing food allergies and intolerances, you need to seriously look into delaying and spreading out any of her shots as there are several ingredients in them that will affect her even more and cause problems. Did you know that there are soy, dairy, wheat, yeast used as ingredients along with the aluminum and traces of mercury and that most of the shots are 'brewed' in chick egg embryos? My daughter is and has been severely allergic to this list since she was little and I have seen it happen to hundreds of other children personally.

A great book to have on hand to start doing your own research of what is best for your child is The Vaccine Book by Dr. Robert Sears and also Healing the New Childhood Epidemics: Autism, ADHD, Asthma, and Allergies: The Groundbreaking Program for the 4-A Disorders, by Dr. Kenneth Bock.

Listen to your gut, increase your milk supply as that is what is best (if your baby starts to have problems with reactions to that then you will be needing to eliminate things from your diet), and delay all vaccines until you understand what they are doing and then which would be best for her.

make sure first it isnt something you are eating and passing to her in the breast milk. that happened to me and we thought it was the formula and it turned out to be me - something i was eating. i started eliminating things from my diet to see what it was and then she was over it.

Read the ingredient label of goat's milk. It's got about 7-8 grams of fat per cup....same as cow's milk. I don't know what your Dr is talking about. I gave this to my son at 12-19 months before switching him to almond milk. I've heard there are goat's milk formulas....just not sure where to find them. Goat's milk IS more similar to human breast milk so it would probably be easier on your baby's tummy. I'd say breastfeed as much as possible since your daughter is sensitive to what appears to be cow's milk. But, that means you have to avoid dairy products also as it will go through your breastmilk to your baby.

Good luck!