Is my baby intolerant to formula milk???

[Jay2512]

Hi,,

Not too sure really what to do so was really looking for some advice.....

My lo is now 20 weeks, and breastfed up until now. We had tried aptimal more than a month ago. However, on all three occasions she took the milk she vomited. The last Aptimil feed was really bad and she spent an hour and half vomiting what seemed like the entire contents of her stomach.

Since then we never tried, up until today with SMA, thinking that she may tolerate another milk better. I'd mixed 100mls EBM with 50mls SMA milk. After 3 hours, again she vomited it up and also had poo'd (which she hardly never does after that particular feed). I'm now worried that she will not tolerate this either.

Should I continue with maybe less formula?
Should I reduce the volume of feed if formula is heavier?
Or try Cow and gate?
Or not to introduce formula esp. if this is a sign of intolerance?

So many questions, but not sure as what to do next.....

[Buntybear]

This was how we discovered olly's milk allergy  exactly the same reaction.

Does she not she any symptoms of a milk allergy through your breast milk?

[Jay2512]

Aah, thanks for the reply.

Nope, absolutely fine with breast milk. Weird huh?

[Buntybear]

Do you eat much dairy? Does she ave eczema or reflux?

[Mum to F&A]

This too was how we discovered that F was allergic to milk. He also had hives appear as well. Have you noticed a rash anywhere after she has the milk?

Also, F tolerated milk in my diet when I was BF. But I had it in small amounts.

[Jay2512]

Yep, I eat a lot of dairy... i have milk every day and cheese or eggs a few times in the week.

Little one has both eczema and reflux. Husband also had eczema as a baby so I'd thought that our little girl had taken after him. Reflux is well controlled on meds so much so that we were thinking of weaning it off at some point later down the line.

No rash as yet....

what do you think?

[Buntybear]

I think the stats are that around 50% of babies with reflux have an intolerance to milk. Maybe the reflux meds are masking the vomiting reaction to the milk? I am no expert as Olly didn't have reflux.

It is a tricky one but I would be tempted not to give formula again if she is going to have such a violent reaction.

[Hedgehog17]

Yes, DS did exactly the same, and his eczema also flared up. The Ped diagnosed MPI and prescribed a hydrolised protein formula (Aptamil Pepti 1) which DS has been fine on since he was 5mo.

He was BF until then, but due to his poor latch he wasn't getting what he needed from me, so I had to (very regretfully) switch to FF 

In your case I'd say it's extremely likely your LO is also MPI, so if you want to FF you'll need to get prescription formula. If you're happy to continue BF then it's not an issue, but I'd recommend cutting dairy from your own diet for a couple of months to see if her eczema clears up 

HTH 

[Jay2512]

Thanks. I'll take her to the doctor tomorrow and see how we get on. She is now refusing to take the bottle even with EBM... it seems as though she remembers vomiting with the bottle and is not having any of it!!

I have little choice about starting formula as I need to get back to work soon and I don't seem to be expressing enough BM.

Lets see how we go... I hope the alternative feed works for us too. fingers crossed.

[Buntybear]

I have asked around and it would seem that YES reflux and MPI can be confused - it could be that your LO has MPI and not reflux... I would take dairy out of your diet and ask for a hypoallergenic formula tomorrow (Nutramigen, Neocate etc).