Stefanie: if it were me, I'd wait until his stools were normalized so you can have a "baseline" from which to judge a reaction. I would think he especially needs more time to heal if he was that sensitive to what you were eating. I totally understand your desire to nurse asap. It's so special. Plus, you probably would want to make sure he really is tolerating the formula. That way you'll have a sure alternative if he has a reaction in the future, or for when you wean, etc. How old is he? I'd be interested to hear your results when you begin breastfeeding again. Your diet difficulties sound like mine and Sarah Jane's. Keep us updated!

Anyone: what baby shampoo do you use? Is the good old Johnson & Johnson's no more tears ok? I was using mustella, but I think it was drying his hair so bad it was breaking, even every other day.

Stefanie: No, you are not crazy, we really are designed to feed our babies from our breasts. So, by trying everything you can, if bf doesn't work out, you can feel good and at peace that you tried everything.

I'm not sure how much of my story you have read, so I will try to give you a quick (ha!) rundown: My baby, now 11 months, had tons and tons of spitup (some might say vomiting) from her first week, liquid poop about 10 times a day, which eventually turned into mucous and blood. She developed eczema at 2 months, I cut out dairy - spitting up improved (but still there), eczema disappeared, poops spaced out but were still liquid/mucous/blood. Short version is I eventually dropped down to eating only lamb, winter squash, sweet potato, and pears. Still mucous and blood but the frequency decreased and she was still gaining weight (and happy, too, which I realize is a BIG help in continuing bf). Saw allergists, GI and all agreed that continuing bf (if I was willing to continue) was good and thought that her problem was probably (mostly) confined to her colon (proctocolitis). I was determined but starving!!! So, I started a rare foods rotation diet...basically eating a different grain, protein, and veggies/fruits on a 7 day rotation. I was able to fairly quickly determine that some foods were no problem, and I could eat them freely, but others, like rice, I could only eat for one meal once a week. It seemed like I would typically see a reaction by the next day (mucous, red ring around anus) for problem foods. Eventually, the blood was not visible, and a few more weeks went by and was not detected by testing, either. At 6 months, we trialed pears, squash and sweet potatoes which all failed (major return of mucous/increased poops/red rash) and decided to let healing continue without solid foods. By 8 months, the mucous was pretty much gone, so we began solids again (BTW, she still failed sweet potatoes and pears as of 11 months...maybe something to do with my TED earlier?) Patch testing at 9 months revealed weak positives to soy, rice, wheat, and peanut, which basically means we try them anyway. So, looking back, the docs that told me that the benefits of bf despite blood/mucous (in the presence of weight gain/content baby) were right. It was very hard and I was willing at one point to drink formula myself (no one would let me...they thought I was crazy! I needed Sarah Jane's doctor, I guess) but I am soooo glad that we kept going. As you've guessed, this is just my experience unique to my baby. I never really ever got to the bottom of her sensitivities...I think that the rotation diet just helped us limp along until she began to outgrown them.

Carrie: I use California Baby for Sensitive Babies. I love it. It also has no soy/nuts/dairy/gluten just in case they are really sensitive or get it in their mouths.

Jill: where do you buy it? Do you have to order it?

I can buy it at my local grocery store, HEB, or at Whole Foods. I think Target also started selling it.

Kelly - I am suddenly remembering some sleep difficulties in the switch to formula. I surmised that my breastmilk was richer at night so the baby stayed satisfied and slept longer. Since formula is uniform I suddenly found us on an every four hour schedule like clockwork when the baby had previously had much longer stretches.

So I'm thinking of starting with "soft foods" rather than, or in addition to, pureeswith Nate. He's 7 months. Any advice on this with MFPI babes? Would it be too risky to try avacado or banana first? I could even mash up pear?

Stefanie: It sounds as though you and I are in very similar situations!
My son Isaac has been on Alimentum (powder) for one week now. Beginning Sunday, he has been much happier. He is only stooling 2-3x/day compared to about 6 or 7, he is spitting up less and sleeping a lot more during the day! I'm so psyched! I have been pumping to keep my milk supply up and continuing to strictly avoid all soy and dairy. I feel like I couldn't get a great sense of what was affecting him when on the elimination diet (which I was on for two months) because he never fully healed and I couldn't really reach a baseline. A non dairy, non soy diet is what I have decided would be manageable for me personally to continue for a year in order to breastfeed. So I will trial BF with this diet. Now my question is basically the same as Stefanie's: How long do I have to have him on this formula before I can trial breastfeeding again? My plan was two weeks, but I am really itching to start breastfeeding earlier than that!

Carrie: Avocado and banana (fresh) both were winners here.

Kelly and Stefanie, I pumped for 2 weeks while my son was on Neocate. Even though the blood cleared after 3 days, the GI said to give the gut time to heal. I returned to nursing after that while avoiding all 8 major allergens, and he has not had blood since then. Only now (he is 12 months) am I trialing wheat in my diet. But I probably did not need to be so restrictive with my diet. Again, just my experience. Hope it helps!

But, I should mention my milk supply did suffer after all that pumping and I have had to supplement with Neocate ever since.

Edited by author 06-16-2009 07:34 PM
Ahhh.... I love sharing with women who can relate in my life! What a great blessing!! Michelle and Kelly (and EVERYONE), thank you for your input!
Kelly, my son is 10 weeks and I have been pumping for 8 days now and my milk supply is starting to slowly suffer. I added back in breastfeeding at the 9AM and noon feedings to see how he tolerated it. This has helped my mental status and confidence that we can do this greatly! So far so good. The bad news about this is that it really doesn't give much of a baseline for breastmilk... still lots of formula. Both the pediatrician and breastfeeding doctor suggested no breastfeeding until I had reached a "content" baseline with formula (done) and no blood (though ours was never visible). Then they basically said it was up to me-- "motherly instinct." So I am doing this until Friday which will be just over 10 days and then on Friday I will start introducing one more breastfeeding session each day-- starting in the AM and moving through the afternoon. Thankfully if it goes bad wrong my husband will be around to help this way :) Also, it was suggested to me to continue the formula for the 10:00 feeding because by then all the day's food is in your system and it is more "contaminated" (so "pump and dump"). However, like some of the other women here, I am noticing my son wakes more frequently with the formula... but that is better than screaming all night! Like you, Kelly, I am maintaining the MSPI diet with no bread, beef, nuts, corn or berries as this is what I am willing to live with for 9 more months!! I am praying it works!!! Keep me updated... what are you trying and how is it going?

Everyone: I have a question for the "experts" here. I just found out that I am expecting #2. My daughter (who is 22 months) has multiple food allergies, including MSPI and wheat. I've read that when one child has food allergies, the other children MAY have that issue. I'm fine with that since we are surviving with my daughter's allergies. I'm hoping to be able to breastfeed the new baby once he/she is born. My question is this: do I need to start the diet now or wait until about a month before my due date? I'm wondering what affect that would have. Also, I thought there was a thread about what supplements to avoid when breastfeeding. I want to say that Fenugreek was a no?

Any thoughts would be great.

Congratulations, Lori!

Just to give you a little hope, Abigail is my 5th and ONLY MSPI baby. Two of my others couldn't tolerate drinking milk on their own but unrestricted breastmilk was fine.

A couple of thoughts...try to avoid antacids, C-sections and antibiotics. ALL are linked with allergies.

I'm not sure that I would restrict my diet except avoid drinking milk/ice cream/yogurt...I still think cheese and butter might be ok...I say this b/c those are about the only two dairy products I normally eat but for some reason I ate and ate cartons of plain yogurt with this last pregnancy. And I had antibiotics in labor. Who knows? But at least it is not a certain thing for your next baby.

Wow, this is so awesome! I feel such a sense of relief right now, knowing that I'm not alone!
I have a 6 week old little girl that the pediatrician believes as MSPI. I've been off of all milk/soy products for a week, but she still has microscopic blood in her stool. SO, the pediatrician had me put her on Nutramigen. I'm supposed to keep her on this through the week, we'll re-check her stool and then hopefully re-incorporate breastfeeding, one feeding at a time. Yesterday was a really rough day for me, I was so upset about having to give up breastfeeding, even if it's only for this week! I feel like I'm failing my child and I'm so worried about my milk supply declining. Has anyone successfully made the transition? Also, how can I be really sure that what she has is MSPI (other than a biopsy by a GI specialist) and it's not an intolerance to something else?? I'm stressed. Thanks for your help!!

An update from me: Isaac is on day #9 of Alimentum formula. We have seen really good results- less BM's, less crying, more sleeping during the day. I became a little concerned yesterday as his poop looked somewhat mucosy and he had a few "smears" or small BM's yesterday. Along with this he has redness around his anus again. He seems to have been spitting just a slight bit more but it may just be a coincidence. He's still HAPPY though! Thank goodness! He hasn't had another BM since yesterday but if it's at all mucosy today I believe that I will call the pediatrician and ask to be seen. She wants to see us if the Alimentum fails in order to test his stool for blood in order to hopefully help justify insurance coverage for Neocate. If he switches to Neocate will I have to wait another full 2 weeks to trial before starting BF again? I don't know if I can do that, that will make nearly 4 weeks and I feel that my milk supply is slipping some. I will likely wait until he clears up and start breastfeeding. What is the likelihood that he won't tolerate Neocate? Is that common? Stefanie: hope your BF is going well!