telling ped. about goats or no?

[Anonymous]

hey guys,

i need help going about this… i have talked to two mothers about their success storied with goats milk..and would love to try it with shane. i know he is only 9.5 mos old..so i would have to do the dr. sears formula. but, i have a feeling my ped. wont be for it..thats if i even get the message past the nurse without her hearing goats milk and cutting me off!

sooo.. i was seeing how many of you would think its necessary to ask first..and if so how would i do that to get them to understand its safe? and would you ask the ped. GI or the regular ped?

my husband doesnt give me too much advice.. just kinda like.. do whatever you want to do.. (great thanks)sooo, i know i can always count on you guys for help!

*and for anyone who doesnt know why i want to try this..here is a synopsis of him :he sleeps VERY uncomfortable every night and short naps.. mostly due to his reflux.. happy during day.. eats well.. but does have mild excema and sleep issues. does not need acid controlling meds.. but the reflux controlling med (gaviscon) does help a lot. and i do have reason to believe he is dairy intolerant to some degree.. and soy makes excema worse.. and his sleep is bad on alimentum as well. basically i am trying to see if there is an underlying cause to his persistant reflux/uncomfortableness at night! i feel like goats is my last hope for sleep for this baby, and if it doesnt work, i guess i will have to wait for him to just grow out of his reflux!sooo there is everything!

thanks~ lauren

[Anonymous]

I was thinking about trying Reidun on goat milk as well, but through me first (via breastmilk). Starting off with goat butter (low in protein) then working up to goat yogurt and cheese, and then finally milk. If she doesn’t react through me, I will give it to her directly–but I will most likely wait till she is a year old. We can wait since we have someting that is working for us. But it sounds like you guys haven’t been able to find anything that works? So perhaps starting off with a patch test on his skin first? If he doesn’t react, then just giving him a really small amount orally (like with a med dropper). I wouldn’t give him any sig amount until your pretty sure he can tolerate it.

Hopefully some other mothers who have experience with goat milk will chime in here . Does everyone usually wait a year? Anyone sooner?

Heidi T.2007-3-30 1:12:30

[Anonymous]

We tried my son Ben on goat’s milk when he was about 6 months old, as per the pediatrician’s recommendation. (My ped is pretty old school) He had previously failed on Nutramigen. For us, it was an absolute disaster! He was incredibly fussy and irritable, the eczema flared up, and he became so terribly constipated. After 48 hours, I just couldn’t give it to him any more, even though the ped wanted me to give it at least a 3-4 day trial.

Now, on the other hand, I know someone who it worked wonderfully for. Her daughter also did terribly on Nutramigen, and when she tried goat’s milk (we have the same pediatrician) it seemed to be the answer for her daughter. I guess every child is different – so hard to say how it might go.

Good luck, whatever you decide!

[Anonymous]

Sheri, How old was your friend’s DD when she was given goat’s milk?

[Anonymous]

I’ve already talked to Lauren about this, but Heidi, my son has been on goat’s milk (along with his breast milk) since he was about 2 months old. When we brought him home from the NICU they were having us fortify his breastmilk with powdered formula for extra calories. He couldn’t tolerate anything we tried and was miserable. Finally out of desperation we tried fortifying it with goat’s milk and it made a huge difference! He was like a different baby!

Lauren, I think it would be okay to try it without mentioning it to your doctor. I really don’t think he’d have a worse reaction than what he’s had with the formula he’s on now. And if you did see a reaction at all, you could just stop right away. Just my opinion. Good luck with your decision.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for the info Heather!

[Anonymous]

Heidi, I’m not sure exactly how old she was, but it was definately before 6 months. I think somewhere around 3 or 4 months.

[Anonymous]

Thank you Sheri! Wow, so young, and working! It is great to have options.

[Anonymous]

sheri, did u try whole goats milk when she was 6mos.? or the type that you have to dilute/mix with water??

[Anonymous]

Bryce’sMom wrote:

Lauren, I think it would be okay to try it without mentioning it to your doctor. I really don’t think he’d have a worse reaction than what he’s had with the formula he’s on now. And if you did see a reaction at all, you could just stop right away. Just my opinion. Good luck with your decision.

I agree…its a pity you don’t have a goats formula with all the right stuff added so you wouldn’t have to make your own (there is one on the market in Aus).

[Anonymous]

does anyone think the ped would be o.k with it? or am i right to think they wouldnt be..and to just not ask? i’d love to have a doctor behind me.. but i am at the point it doesnt really matter i still need to try it!

[Anonymous]

oh no, i am confused i think…

for the moms that know about the dr. sears recipe. do i need to use the concentrated form and water it down with 24 ounces of water.. so that it is not whole milk ? and than add the rice syrup?

or can i just buy the refigerated whole milk kind? or do i add equal parts water to the concentrated kind to equal wholemilk?

sorry, i am a little unsure now, because i read a past post about it and i think i read that kids shanes age used the “whole milk” form of it! am i misunderstanding it??

(this is a perfectly good example as to why i wish i had my ped to check with! )

[Anonymous]

Lauren,
Both Bryce’s doctor and his nutritionist were okay with us trying goat’s milk, so you never know!

As for the formula, we mix one can of concentrated GM with 2 cans of water and the rice syrup. By adding two cans of water it makes it whole milk. Goat’s milk isn’t normally 20cal/oz. like breastmilk or formula, but by adding the rice syrup it brings it up to 20 cal/oz. I’m not sure if you can use regular refrigerated goat’s milk. It makes sense that you could, but I’ve never read anything about it, so I’m not sure on that one.

[Anonymous]

What my pediatrician had me do was take regular refrigerated whole goat’s milk and dilute it slightly. I think it was 1 part water to 7 parts goat’s milk. I hadn’t heard about the rice syrup, but that makes a lot of sense, if it doesn’t have the same calorie content. I don’t think I looked into that at the time.

[Anonymous]

When we switched to goats milk, our Peds MD was fine with it since she knew how many failures we had prior to the switch. We used the Dr. Sears 20cal recipe since you are usually not to switch to whole milk recipe until they are 1 years old. So we used the concentrated Meyenberg can 12oz added 24oz of water and 5 tablespoons of brown rice syrup. I was told not to use the refridgerated goats milk since it is not fortified with enough carbs, vitamins for a baby of her age, not until she is 1 years old and eating larger amounts of table foods for proper nutrition and growth. Since I was only doing 1/2 goats milk and 1/2 RCF I split the goat’s milk recipe in half since the mixed goats milk is only good for 48 hours and the non-mixed goats milk last a lot longer. Good luck! Like Heather mentioned if it doesn’t work, you can always stop.

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