Search Results for 'breast feeding'

[hellbennt]

Ok, this post stirred up quite a bit of controversy over at the yahooboard…AND more interesting facts came up, so here’s more:

1) a mom replied & said it sounded like she was an advertisement the for formula companie and basically asked how dare she post something like that on a breastfeeding reflux board

2) next mom replied

3) here’s what Traci replied (I’m ‘allowed’ to use her posts) Purple empahsis is mine:

Re: Misconceptions about how Neocate and Elecare work patriotswife Wed Jul 12, 2006 1:54 pm (PST)

__, for the most part I agree with what you are trying to say,
especially that Breastmilk is best, when it is possible. Thus the
reasons I breastfed both of my children until they were literally
dying and had to go on Neocate one+ to avoid the “complete protein”.

There is absolutely nothing you can do to breastmilk to eliminate
the “complete protein”. I guess I am a bit puzzled by your message
since my posted was directed at those who have tried one of these
Elemental formulas without success or who are looking at having to
try them, as a result of having babies that need to avoid “the
complete protein”.

It wasn’t an argument against breastfeeding nor
was it a promotion of formula. It was also specific to Neocate and
Elecare which are prescription formulas. The issue of the “complete
protein” is a rapidly rising problem with babies today and
unfortunately, how to treat it is very, very misunderstood.
Actually, there are only literally three specialist in the entire
world who completely understand it and how to diagnose and treat it.
So, even though you are correct that this is a breastfeeding group,
b/c it also deals with reflux I felt this information was needed.
Especially since Neocate and Elecare are so misunderstood even by the best of physicians.

Unfortunately, when dealing with cellular damage as a
result of a babies body seeing the “complete protein” as a foreign
invader, there is nothing that can be done to change breastmilk to
make it safe.

My post was only directed at helping those individuals understand why they are being told they need this unique prescription formula and how the formula works.

I am sorry that you saw my post as a personal attack on
breastfeeding. It was anything but and I don’t believe I even
implied such. Neocate and Elecare are very, very special formulas and shouldn’t be lumped together with the attitude towards store bought formulas. I wouldn’t have addressed the issue if there were not members here who needed the information. I promise I am not trying to suggest that anyone stop breastfeeding. It broke my heart in two, when I had to stop and it took along time to convince me that there wasn’t something wrong with me that had caused my babies to have the problem they do.

Warmest Regards,
Traci
Cody (6) Eosinophilic Duodenitis, Asthma, Eczema, Gastroparesis
(DGE), SA’s and a few FA’s, Hypotonia and Hypermobile throughout.

*****************************************************************
Gunnar (5) Eosinophilic GastroIntestinal Disease, Hypertrophic
Cardiomyopathy, Ventricular Septal Defect, Neutropenia, Eczema,
Asthma, Multiple EA’s, SA’s and IgE Mediated FA’s, Dermographism,
severe oral aversions, Geographic Tongue, Neocate 1+ by bottle
exclusively.http://www.caringbridge.org/co/cody_and_gunnar/

4) then there were some more posts…

then Traci:

Re: Misconceptions about how Neocate and Elecare work Posted by: patriotswife Wed Jul 12, 2006 2:55 pm (PST)

<baby being allergic to breastmilk is so out there, not to say it doesen’t happen but I think I read somewhere it is like 1 out of every 10,000 babies>

This statement is correct as of 2004.

1 out of every 10,000 babies sounds like nothing, but what it amounts to is approximately 22,000 babies every year in the U.S. alone who are allergic to breastmilk. It isn’t really that “out there” and unfortunately, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in August of 2004 it is rapidly on the rise.

Traci

[Anonymous]

AH HA! I used to ALWAYS make the bottles a day in advance, but I didn’t think that you could do that w/ the oatmeal. SO good to know! That may help, as I am doing actually a little less than 1 tbs/ounce.

Sander had moved on to the Dr Bown’s #2 by the time he was 6 weeks old, which was crazy. When I was breast feeding, the boy could clean me out in no time flat! So the “Y” nipple hopefully will continue to remain not a problem.

THANK YOU!

[Anonymous]

Okay, so far Alexandra has been so much easier than Kaelyn, so I’m definitely very thankful. However, I’ve found that I can’t judge “normal” with her because Kaelyn was never even close to normal. Alex is definitely not suffering from reflux in the same way that Kaelyn did, but she has had problems with gas and with gaining weight. She was born 4 weeks early, but she was a healthy 6 lbs 10 oz. However, within a week, she had dropped to 5 lbs 10 oz and it took her 4 weeks to get back to her birthweight. Despite her frequent nursing and my pumping 8 times a day (and bottle feeding that to her), I never produced enough milk. I worked with the ped and a lactation counselor, but we could never get my production above about 10 oz a day. So, in week 3, we started pumping exclusively and supplementing with Nutramigen. From the beginning, I had also been doing a fairly extensive elimination diet (all of the major allergens, tomato products, caffeine, chocolate and very limited amounts of citrus). Starting at around 4 weeks, Alex started having lots of gas issues. It seems to be getting progressively worse. After almost every feed, she is horribly uncomfortable until we can get her to burp or pass gas. Sometimes this happens very quickly and sometimes it takes a little while. This is the only time that she’s ever fussy, so it’s really not hard for us to handle (especially after the nightmare that we experienced with Kaelyn).

Sorry for the long background info. So, here’s my question. Is this normal? If lots of babies do this then I’m not worried about it, but after all of Kaelyn’s allergy issues I’m kind of panicky about catching them early this time around. About a week ago, we switched to just Nutramigen to rule out any foods that I hadn’t eliminated. I’m still pumping and freezing in case it doesn’t work. It doesn’t seem to have made a difference. But, Nutramigen does have milk proteins, so it could be the problem. I’m now only able to pump about 6 oz a day, so switching to breastfeeding alone is not an option. Thanks for your help!

pkkb2006-7-13 15:48:49

[hellbennt]

The following was a post on the yahoobreastfeedingreflux board & I emailed the author & asked if I could post it here. she said:

Absolutely!! Feel free to use anything I post. You don’t have to ask. Keep up the good work!! Traci

In a message dated 7/12/2006 6:44:44 AM Mountain Standard Time, Hellbennt writes:

Misconceptions about how Neocate and Elecare work

Posted by: patriotswife

Tue Jul 11, 2006 3:20 pm (PST)

After catching up on reading the archives I found that there seems to be a common misunderstanding about how the Elemental Formulas Neocate and Elecare
work, so I hope I can shed some light on both of these outstanding formulas.

First, I feel it is important to talk about the usage of these formulas. They are very different in nature from the common formulas you can purchase at the super market and cannot be used or interchanged the way you would regular
formulas. The most obvious difference is cost. We all know that these elemental formulas are outrageous and some insurance companies do not cover them.
Fortunately, as medical community’s realize the need for these formulas, insurance companies and state legislatures are coming around and more and more are covering most, if not all, of the expense.

The next most obvious trait of these formulas is their unique taste. I know some of you are saying, “unique…what is she talking about…they are horrible!” You are absolutely right, they are in fact HORRIBLE! For this reason, it is impossible to treat Neocate or Elecare as a super market formula and just offer it to your baby in their next bottle. As a rule no formula, including super market formulas or breastmilk, should be automatically switched. You are asking for GI upset by doing so. Neocate and Elecare are better taken when slowly introduced, mixed with whatever your baby is currently taking. If you are bf’ing then the best thing to do is pump and put your breastmilk into a bottle. Start very
slowly mixing the new formula and gradually increase the amount each day (not each feeding) until they are on 100% of the elemental formula.

The same rule applies to store bought formulas. Start slowly and the transition should go very smoothly. The younger the baby the easier this transition is, since their taste buds are still maturing. My son was breastfed exclusively for six
months and then we added Soy Isomil, which is still a sweet tasting formula. We transitioned him onto Neocate one+ at one year of age, by using the method I just discussed. In older children, which really isn’t an issue for this group, but worth discussing, parents start with tiny sips and gradually work up to the amount they need. If done correctly almost all children younger than one year of age will make the transition. Unfortunately, older children sometimes require feeding tubes (simply b/c of taste aversion to the formula),
but in general those are much, much older children.

One other important factor is that these formulas are best given in a bottle because the long nipple pushes the formula past their taste buds and it prevents them from smelling
what they are drinking. It’s no different than you holding your nose in order to get something disgusting down.

The next important factor to discuss, regarding these formulas, is how they work. Store bought formulas and breastmilk are 100% nutrition. Neocate and Elecare meet all the nutritional requirements that your child needs, however,
their design is meant to repair GI tissue. This doesn’t happen overnight or even in a couple of weeks, so if your baby is still spitting up after a month on one of these elemental formulas you cannot give up. In order to explain this, I have to stop for a minute and address the issue of food allergies.

Unfortunately, the term allergy is being loosely used in the medical community and among parents today. I have read many post which state, “my doctor wants the baby to go on Neocate or Elecare b/c he thinks she has an allergy.”
They don’t mean an allergy like a food allergy. What they are saying is that they think your baby has a problem with the “complete protein” found in some or all foods. When we think of food allergies, we think of hives, anaphylactic reactions and possibly GI upset. An allergy (I’m using that loosely) to the “complete protein” responds by damaging cells in the GI tract. This cellular damage can result in reflux (GERD), vomiting, diarrhea, refusal to eat, bloody or mucousy stools, different colored/textured stools and stools with horrible odors. These are just a few of the less serious symptoms cellular damage can cause. More severe cases result in erosion of the GI tract, fistulas, furrowing of the esophagus, and in some cases cancer. When there is
cellular damage involved, medications and/or surgical procedures like Nissen Fundiplications only temporarily cover up the symptoms. They do not treat the underlying damage or the problem that is causing the damage.

Elemental Formulas like Neocate and Elecare do treat the damage and sometimes the problem. So, the next time a doctor suggest to you that your child go on one of these
formulas b/c they believe they have an “allergy”, please ask them to explain exactly what they mean by the term “allergy.”

Now, with that out of the way, I can explain how and why these formulas work. Since the issue is the “complete protein”, Neocate and Elecare have removed that factor. Both of these formulas are made up of 100% free amino acids. In layman’s terms amino acids are the building blocks of protein. In other
words, they are the tiny pieces that make up the complete protein molecule. By breaking the complete protein down into it’s individual amino acids the body is able to process them. So in general what happens is the body begins to
heal once the “complete protein” is removed. Unfortunately, since there is tissue damage, this process does NOT happen over night. It is not just a matter of removing the “allergen” and seeing results, your child’s GI tract must be allowed to heal. How quickly you begin to see a difference in your child
depends on how bad the cellular damage is. On average, the leading specialists, have determined that it takes 2-3 months for the GI tract to heal itself. So, when you are prescribed one of these formulas you have to understand that you will likely not see immediate results b/c they are not being used for
the same reason as a store bought formula is.

If a child is lactose intolerance or has a milk allergy then you can switch from Carnation Good Start to ProSoBee and see almost immediate results. Elecare and Neocate are an
entirely different class of formulas, used for different reasons and they take time to work.

So in general the most important things to consider when being switched to one of these formulas is that it takes time to transition from what you are currently feeding them to Elecare or Neocate and that you will generally not see
immediate results. Patience is required in both areas.

It is also important to know that not all cases are “allergen” related. Some children have cellular damage which is believed to be as a result of the “complete protein” when in fact it is the body attacking itself due to Autoimmune problems. Children who have cellular damage as a result of the “complete protein allergen” will heal while on Neocate or Elecare exclusively. Those children who do not get better are believed to have some kind of Autoimmune issue and require medications which suppress the immune system in order to eat. It is possible to have both allergic and autoimmune disease.

I hope this information is helpful and gives those who need it insight into why Neocate or Elecare are prescribed and how/why they work (or don’t work). I am not a medical professional, so I encourage you to take this information
and discuss it with your child’s Physician. The information I have provided here is definitely not a substitute for medical advice, however, I am happy to try answering any questions you have. Please feel free to post a reply or
email me privately. If I don’t have the answer I will do my very best to get it for you.

I apologize that this turned into a book 🙂

Traci
Cody (6) Eosinophilic Duodenitis, Asthma, Eczema, Gastroparesis
(DGE), SA’s and a few FA’s, Hypotonia and Hypermobile throughout.

[Anonymous]

My little one is on prevacid 15 mg. I know it’s not enough, but I can’t seem to convience his ped or the gi specialist. Anyway, I’m not positive of what is going on and just needed some other minds. I give him his prevacid between 6 and 7 and then feed him 30 min after. I am breastfeeding. Anyway, he will stay on me for about 2 hours suckling before I know he is asleep enough for me to put him down. He will give me one good long stretch. Usually about 6 hours for him and then he will wake up. I will bounce him back to sleep and about 30 mins later he wakes again. I will get up again and bounce him again and after 30 mins he is awake again. We do this for about 3 hours until it is time for him to take his prevacid again. When I say bounce him by the way, it is because he sleeps in a bouncy chair. Anyway, I have tryed changing his diaper, burping him, and nursing him to sleep again. No matter what I try he will still wake in 30 mins. It seems to me that his meds are wearing off. Does that sound right or am I just expecting him to sleep longer than he should? It seems to me that a baby should sleep more than 6 hrs at night. I know that he will wake frequently to eat, but this just seems weird to me.

Shelby

[hellbennt]

(you don’t have to worry about when you give the prilosec just yet, I’d say)

First, you need to address the issue of what the dose is:

“We just started her on prilosec (2 ml in the am – the
dose is 2mg/ml)” – this is only 4mgs a day- pretty low…it’s a low dose for a baby who weighs 8.8lbs, & yours is 14lbs

Next, it can take up to 14 days to ‘kick in’…and, yes it could be causing constipation, but ‘usually’ their bodies adjust after about 2wks of the medication…

Next is the issue of how it’s being compounded please read ‘prevacid 101,’ even though your baby is on prilosec https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=853&am p;am p;am p;am p;PN=1&TPN=1

are you formula feeding or breast feeding?

~laura

[Anonymous]

Hi and welcome!

The dosing has already been addressed, so I won’t mention that again, so:

1. You stated that you are depressed, and with reason! Something I would like to add is that you need to take care of yourself in order to take care of your baby. I was like you, (I have reflux twins). If I showered every 2 days I was doing good. I didn’t want to go out of the house or do anything around the house. When I went back to work at first I couldn’t wait to come home to see my babies, than I didn’t want to go home at all. I would cry when listening to songs on the radio and would get angry at my husband for no reason. You may not be experiencing all this, but my point is I HIGHLY suggest paying a visit to your ob and see if you have postpartum depression. I waited for a long time before calling, but I’m so glad I did. She put me on Zoloft and I felt like a completely better person…and I could handle my twins issues better. So just remember, you need to take care of yourself too!

2. Constipation can be a side effect of prilosec, but should go away. how long has your daughter been on it?

3. How are you giving the Prilosec? It needs to be given about 30 minutes before feeding. With the zantac needed to be spaced from the prilosec and the prilosec needeing to be spaced from the feeding, it can get confusing. Zegerid can be given with formula or breastmilk. In some doctors eyes it’s the same as prilosec because the generic name is the same, but it’s the buffer that makes it different. So if your doc is willing to prescribe prilosec, there should be no reason not to prescribe zegerid.

4. Hands in the mouth…that sounds like teething to my. Many moms here have recommended hylands teething tablets. Those didn’t work for my twins, but the hylands teething gel did.

[Anonymous]

Hi everyone,

I need some advice/input on feeding Tess solids. I know there are so many of you whose little GERDlings refuse to eat and I’m grateful that we don’t fall into that category. I should be happy that Tess has never refused to eat and has gained weight like crazy. However, we still have feeding issues.

Tess was a comfort eater early on, before I even realized what was going on. So much so that I thought I had a supply issue when I was attempting to breastfed and gave it up before realizing what the real problem was. Anyway, because of this (or so goes my theory) she doesn’t know when to stop eating. I know that it’s especially important for reflux babies to have smaller, more frequent meals and we try for that. But Tess will always complain when the bottle is empty. One day, several months ago, I was so frustrated with her that I let her have as much as she wanted. Over the course of 2 hours she drank 10 ounces. Of course, a lot of it came back up because she was just too full but she was happy to drink it all.

So now we’re on to solids. She’s been doing OK with them and in the past couple of days we have tried giving her a bit more to eat at her meals. I’m sure you can guess where this is going… she will eat a ton before she shows any signs of stopping. And then she brings it back up in the next few hours, making her miserable. I don’t even remember how much solids we gave our first daughter because we would just feed her as much as she wanted and didn’t worry about it. But with Tess we have to always be cutting her off or else she’ll eat too much. Then I worry at other times that she’s hungry because we’re not feeding her enough. Everyone I talk to with “normal” babies always says “We just feed him/her until she stops eating”. Well, that’s great for them but it doesn’t work that way with Tess.

So can anyone give me an idea of how much in the way of solids (and formula, for that matter) we should be giving Tess in any given day? She’s 6.5 months and just over 17lbs now. Most of the time if she overeats at one feeding she’s OK. She spits up more but doesn’t seem bothered by it. But if she overeats several times in one day then things get ugly. DH is pacing the floors with her right now. She is dreadfully tired but can’t sleep because of the reflux. Please help!

Karen

[hellbennt]

what formula? are you breastfeeding? what medications?

to put all of this in your signature: in the upper right hand corner of the screen, click on ‘settings’ and from thre I think it’s ‘profile’ and from there, there is ‘signature’

[Anonymous]

Oh yeah…I forgot to add that. Laura’s right about the enzymes in breast milk breaking the cereal down making it difficult to thicken breast milk. You have to use LOTS of cereal and then your baby is getting more cereal than milk. And the milk gets thinner and thinner as the feeding progresses.

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I found this in Laura’s intro. Scroll down a little to find the part about thickening breast milk.

http://www.kellymom.com/babyconcerns/reflux.html

I personally don’t think it helps UNLESS the baby cannot keep anything down without thickening. Or, if the baby chokes so badly on thin feeds that he has to have it thickened in order to get it down without choking. Does your son choke or aspirate during feedings? Does he have any respiratory symptoms? If not, thickening probably is not necessary.

Also, a very bad down side to thickening breast milk is that your poor wife will have to pump all day long to keep her milk supply up and then feed the EBM. I did the pump and feed thing (not because I needed to thicken but because for a variety of reasons my children could not or would not nurse). Pumping does not stimulate milk production as well as an actual baby nursing, so a woman has to pump almost constantly in order to keep her supply up. This pumping, feeding and taking care of baby all day long can be exhausting to say the least.

Another factor to consider is that very young babies’ systems usually are not mature enough to digest grains and you end up with additional problems and more digestive discomforts in the baby. The allergy issue is also a concern. I’ve heard this too, that introducing grains too early can cause allergies later on.

So, if he’s nursing well, not choking or aspirating, and keeping enough of his feedings down to grow and gain weight normally, then in my opinion it would be much better to just get his meds right to make him more comfortable, and to continue nursing him.

Have you checked to see that his prevacid dose is adequate? Many doctors under dose our babies because they are not aware of the research that shows that babies metabolize and eliminate these drugs three times faster than adults. My son was miserable on Prevacid for WEEKS until I finally convinced my doctor by showing her the marci-kids info to increase his dose to the proper level. Then things turned around and he’s been fine since. He did continue to throw up, but that’s because these meds do not stop the vomitting…they just have to outgrow that which my son seems to have done now at 9 months of age.

And BTW…I did try thickening since I was pumping anyway, and he threw up just as much when his food was thickened.

Here’s the marci-kids link. http://www.marci-kids.com/

Good luck. I hope you get this all sorted out soon and have a happier baby soon.

[Anonymous]

I see you’re breastfeeding..maybe you ate something he was allergic too. Something ‘hidden’. That can lasts days on end. I am expiericing that right now. except I think it was the baby food with tomato paste/onion powder that I was trialing with Aiyana. It really sux.

Just hang in there, that’s all we can do. I hope your baby feels better.

-Julia-

[hellbennt]

thanls kathleen! that is a great group for breasatfeeding a reflux baby! they are especially helpful with diet.

for ‘all things’ breastfeeding http://www.kellymom.com is really great!

I’d sugggest probiotics for her baby- that way maybe if it was the antibiotics it’ll help balance things out & if it wasn’t the antibiotics, well I don’t think it’d hurt

also: mylanta cherry supreme has the added benefit of loose stools as a side effect…

[Anonymous]

Here is the link you are looking for.

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

[Anonymous]

My cousin’s little boy is 3.5 months and has really bad constipation. He is breastfeeding. At first he was fine then she started taking antibotics for mastitius (sp??) and he has had constipation since. It has probably been 1.5 months now and she is lucky if he poops once a week and she puts Kayo syrup in every bottle 3-4 times a day. She will not listen to me which is very frustrating b/c she has seen all the problems I have been through with Emma. I told her to use Mylanta and start an elimation diet but I guess she thinks I don’t know what I am talking about since I didn’t get to nurse Emma. He shows no signs of reflux. He does get very uncomfortable and starts to cry around the 3rd day of not going. She has even let him go 7 days without going. I pretty much told her she was insane, I would not let Emma go over 3 days before I would give her some glycerin suppositories.

Does it take this long for antibotics to leave the system to see improvements? Would you guys recommend an elimination diet?

Laura ~ hopefully you read this, what is the forum that you go to that is all about breastfeeding. I think this will be really helpful for her to go to??

Thanks guys

btrue2006-7-3 13:16:14