Non-dairy, Non-soy Food for an Infant Whose Mom Won't Breastfeed?

This is just my opinion so you may not like it, but that's what makes these boards so beneficial is the variety of input that we receive.

I do not believe anyone should put so much emphasis on forcing a mother to breast feed or not. Period. It's a personal choice and it's disrespectful to ignore someone's wishes. I chose not to breastfeed my twins and I got absolutely horrible comments. They were a great weight for being a month early and are healthy little boys who have no weight issues (neither too light nor too heavy.) My mother bottlefed my older sister and me and we have no allergies or weight issues. My mother did breastfeed my younger sister and she has many allergies and weight issues. Go figure as I know that is not the norm for breastfed babies and I'm not debasing breastfeeding. If the mom is comfortable fine, if she's not no worries, kids can still turn out quite well and healthy, that's the point I'm trying to make here.

As for the allergies, I would assume that the mother would be discussing this with her pediatrician. What does the pediatrician say? Are we certain the baby is allergic and not just intolerant (there is a difference)?

I have heard of moms who give their babies goat's milk, but I'm not sure if it is by choice or due to allergies. An internet search gave me this link and at the end there is a recipe for the goat's milk formula (it is accessible through a link). http://askdrsears.com/html/3/t032400.asp

Please try to support the mom, now she could probably use the input as to alternative milk suggestions, but don't be so hard on her for her choice in not breastfeeding.

3 moms found this helpful

I really don't think it is any of your business whether or she breast feeds HER children. It is her choice! If the baby has allergies then she should be working with her pediatrician to find a good nutrition source that works for her and her family. There are many reasons one may choose not to breast feed, and it is there choice to make. I breast fed for about 3 months while using formula in bottles when ever we were in public. I know some moms who could just stick their baby under their shirt while out and feed away, but since I was wearing a 38 GG would have sufficated the poor little guy!

So in short, breast feeding is a very personal choice, and she should be working with her Doctor to find the best solution for her and her baby. The rest of you should stay out of it!
That is my personal opinion on the matter.

Best of luck to your cousin's family and their new bundle of joy.

1 mom found this helpful

Hi,
That would be hard.. to be allergic to all those things.. If I were here I would visit the dr.. and ask what they suggest.. or they may even have samples of what they suggest. Here is a link to enfamil formula website.. they have many options www.enfamil.com
click on view all products.. there looks like there might be one that works.
also, don't give her a hard time about breastfeeding.. if she doesn't want to do it that is her choice.. just like you did not want to give your baby formula.. it might help if you tell her sorry for being pushy about breasfeeding.. and let her know you are worried about the baby.
L.

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Hi D.

My oldest son was allergic to my breast milk, dairy and soy milk. The pediatrician should have recommended it but we had to put our son on very expensive formula called Alumentin. Good luck.

1 mom found this helpful

Hi D.
You might try to google... lactose & soy intolerance infant formulas ....I saw a few thousand responses.

GOOD LUCK

C. M Hamlin
Cave Junction OR

1 mom found this helpful

First of all is the child lactose intolerant or Allergic to milk? Some people dont realize there is a difference (intolerance causes stomach discomfort, gas, and possibly a hard time pooping. Allergy would make the child sick like vomiting, hives, hard time breathing, etc.) IF it is just an intolereance, there are milk based formulas that are lactose free. Most of my children could not have soy and reg milk based formula. We used the lactose free stuff.
Another thing, if the baby just spits up alot it could be an acid reflux problem. The dr can perscribe a med for that.
If she hasn't already, she really needs to speak to the pediatrician about he baby's diet.
Goat milk is safe. My son drank it when he was an infant.

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Let me say first that I think it is amazing what your hub and you are doing!! If only all of us could do something similar could you imagine what this world would go back to being like!! Anyways there are hypoallergenic milks about there. It smells and look horrible and babies well mine away way hate the taste. You should tell her to take baby into the doc because they will or should give her a free sample of it to try. My first two werent breastfed and we had to go this route for a week or two to figure out what the allergy was to specificallyits so hard to convice them to do the right thing sometimes. Has she said why she doesnt want to or is so against breastfeeding? to bad i have found it to be simply magical!!

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D.-

I would definitely take baby to the pediatrician. I'm sure this isn't that uncommon. My son's pediatrician said that when babies have a milk intolerance it is the protein in the milk that they are unable to digest. Goat's milk will have the same effect. I know there are rice based formulas out there that are easy to find.

I'm sure everthing will turn out fine.

1 mom found this helpful

D. - If the baby is allergic to soy and dairy and the mother wants to breastfeed, that would mean the mom would have to avoid all things with soy and dairy as well. That is a huge undertaking. Maybe she does not want to have to give up ice cream, cheese, yogurt and about a million things that have soy! WHile I personally would give that up (I breastfed both of my sons for a year and 1 1/2 years) some people are not willing to. YOu said you have "desperately" tried to get her to breastfeed. I would lay off. Some moms do and some don't.
I know that when my son was under 1 he had a hard time with getting belly sick. It seemed like he was barfing or getting a fever a lot. WHenever that would happen we (my husband and I) would make him rice water. (my husband is from Mexico and swore by this! It took a while to convince me) Some moms may get up in arms about the ingredients, but it worked for us. We would cook rice until it got SOGGY, then drain it, but KEEP the water. Cook that water with a bit of cinamon and a dash of sugar, and there ya go. He would guzzle it down. He too was bottle/breastfed. (we had a horrible car accident when he was 3 weeks old. He was in the NICU for two months and I pumped for two months. But, pumping is not the same as nursing, so my supply went down. We had to supplement as well as breastfeed)
I know that there is also rice milk in the organic sections and stuff that you can buy already made, my girlfriend gave that to her son (he was allergic to peanuts, soy, dairy and eggs).
Good Luck to your cousin and his wife, L.

1 mom found this helpful

Breastfeeding is definitely the best for babies. That's what babies are meant to take. It's the only perfect food for human babies, no question about it.Some moms who don't want to put the baby to the breast will pump and feed the baby breast milk from the bottle. That's the facts and after she knows that then it is up to her to decide. Not all moms who breast feed enjoy it .Some do it just so that the baby is healthy. Not all moms who have a baby that has 'allergies' or intolerances to soy or diary ,etc.need to eliminate those foods from their diet.Sometimes they just need to not go overboard on those foods.
The next best thing is mother's milk from a milk bank. Very expensive unless her insurance covers it and she is able to get a prescription from a doctor. There are also moms who are willing to share their excess breast milk who don't want to go through the trouble of sending their milk to a milk bank. There are some risks involved in that(medications,drugs,HIV in the donor mom) .She would need to screen the moms carefully and educated herself about that issue.
Goats milk is still dairy. Many babies that don't tolerate cows milk will not tolerate goats milk either. Goats milk by itself is not a complete formula .
Rice milk,almond milk,oat milk etc. are very seriously lacking in the vital nutrients babies need. They are not meant as a replacement for formula and they usually say so right on the container. I don't think there is a complete baby formula made from rice milk.
It is extremely important that the baby get all the nutrients it needs during that first year of life when they are growing so fast and the brain is still forming. How the baby is nourished in the womb and during the first year will effect the baby the rest of its life.
There are other formulas that don't have diary and soy like Neocate (not sure if I am spelling it right) which is expensive and usually reserved for cases of serious intolerances. I believe it is a prescription only formula. Some babies outgrow their sensitivity to cows milk formula after 6 months of age,and some after 1 yr of age.I am not sure how old this baby is.I am not sure what "allergy" symptoms the baby is displaying but if it a matter of spitting up or being fussy I know some babies will tolerate one formula brand and not another. I see a lot of babies who are very fussy,have reflux,and rashes no matter what formula they are fed or no matter what the breastfeeding mom takes out of her diet.Sometimes it could just be do to all the environmental chemicals (air,water,food,clothes,cleaning products) we are exposed to no matter how careful we are.Some people feel that being born by C-section (especially those babies that are not breastfed) can put a baby at risk of having digestive issues,since babies naturally get cultured with mom's flora when they are born vaginally. In that case I would seek out a naturopath that was very familiar with working with newborns who felt knowledgeable in recommending a probiotic for the baby. Not all probiotics are recommended for young babies. To start I would definitely encourage her to consult her baby's doctor .
J.

I have an oatmeal milk recipe you can do. Or there is almond milk that can be made at home.
Be well,
Liz

I was allergic to dairy and soy and my mom did not breastfeed either. Granted, this was over 30 years ago, but I have been told that my parents used some kind of blended vegetable formula. I'm guessing there are many more options today. The good news is that I'm healthy and happy these days - I do eat soy and some dairy (yogurt, ice cream, cheese) although I never really got over the cow milk aversion.

Good luck!

To the actual mothers defense breast feeding did not work for my allergic daughter. Her instinct may be just the motherly one speaking. We could use soy but there are formulas out there that her doctor can prescribe.

Good luck,
H

Goat's milk is a possibly a good alternative. It is much closer to human milk than cow's milk is. Its much easier for babies to digest. I supplemented with goat's milk while breast feeding my first daughter. I started by mixing it in with expressed breast milk and she took to it very quickly. However, I would recommend find a local producer and getting it fresh. Not only does goat's milk taste awful after pasteurization, but it also destroys some of the beneficial immunological properties. I would get it fresh every week for my daughter. Its definitely more expensive than cow's milk, but not any more expensive than formula. The milk can be warmed quickly with a bottle warmer.

D.,
There are a few products out there including goats milk formula that you can get at your local grocer like Fred Meyer or there is a product called Nuplus from a Company called Sunrider and it is made of vegetable protein, and chinese herbs safe for infants and their digetsion and it's completely organic. It's soy and milk free. The only problem is that it clogged my bottle when I tried it, but if you dilute it. Could your cousin pump her milk and give it to the baby through a bottle? Good Luck.

Goat's milk is a great alternative, but I would have the baby tested for any sensitivities before introducing this. Breastfeeding isn't for everyone. You might be able to talk with the mom about expressing milk and storing it for feedings. Then she could bottle feed her baby and others could help when she's at work or away from the baby for whatever the reason. If the baby is that lactose intolerant, Mom may have to change her diet, as Mom's intake of dairy products does pass thru to breast milk. Again, something to consider. She needs to talk with her pediatrician as to what would be a viable alternative for this baby. Sounds like there's a big push to breastfeed and maybe by stepping back and letting her doctor work with her, talk with her about what's best for this baby, she'll do what works best for both of them.

I know that it's hard when we all learned and know the advantages of human breast milk, but I'm sure that the mother involved believes that breast feeding is a personal choice and might be a little upset that people keep telling her she has to do it for her baby's sake. Not that I don't believe that every mom should breast feed or get breast milk from the Mother's Milk Bank, but I know how it feels to have a bunch of people telling me that it's important to do something for my baby that I do not think I should be burdened to do. (We refuse to daycare.)

Here's a great website for both you and the mom: http://www.saanendoah.com/compare.html It compares different milks and formula for vitamins, etc.

We advicate raw milk, and goats milk is much closer to human than cow. It has smaller fat molecules, so it's easier to digest, and many many more of the vitamins in human milk show up in goat milk. Raw milk hasn't lost all it's nutrients through pasturization. Studies show people are actually much healthier and stronger physically and able to learn better. The scares of salmonella and ecoli to date have nearly all be refuted and the dairies invovled have been compensated for the lost business when they were accused. Raw milk is available in most states, but cannot be advertised in all of them.

Take a look at the dairy/creamery and milking areas to feel confident in your milk source.

My mom didn't have enough milk for my brother and me after about 6 weeks (probably because she didn't increase the number of nursing sessions when we had a growth spurt, but oh well, we survived!), so she started supplementing with goat's milk. As per someone else's advice, yes get it raw. You can get it in Portland at the People's Food Coop, or you can look for other places (pm me if you live in the Portland area and I'll tell you the other two places I know of).

Nut milks are an alternative, as is mixed nut and coconut milk. You could add baby vitamins to it, and it should be sweetened with something. Keep in mind that rice milk is very low fat, and babies need lots of good fat. I have a cookbook from back in the 60's that has several nut milk baby formula recipes which I can share if you're interested.