He won't take Neocate so what now?

[Julied24]

He is refusing to drink any of the hypoallergenice formulas my dietician has prescribed so what now?

He is 5 months & 1 weeks so is not old enough for soya as my dietician said he has to be at least 6 months but to be honest I doubt he would drink that as he hates the taste of Neocate & Nutramigen, so what other choice do I have?

He has no formula for 19 hours yesterday so I have had to give Cow & Gate for the last 3 bottles just to get formula down him but i know later today he will be full of wind & upset.

Dietician said soya will be the only other allternative but I really do doubt he will drink it <_<

Julie

[ellsie]

please don't panic! all 3 of my daughters had wysoy from a few days old- I dont' understand why you have to wait. All wolfed it down happily and have thrived since. You may find it a turning point so please hang in there. Is your HV any good? ;)

[Julied24]

HI,

Thanks for your reply. I bought some Wysoy today and he is drinking it quite well which is a relief, I really had no idea what to do but dietician said thats my last option.

He is just over 5 months so hopefully it won't make too much difference.

Can I get the wysoy on prescription until he can go onto cows milk at 1yr +? I should shouldn't I as its a medical condition that he has? I was getting the Neocate on prescription.

Julie x

[Pam]

Yes you should be able to get Wysoy on prescription, we have done for the last 5 years. However, some surgeries are better than others and may not be so generous so you need to ask. Our dietician wrote to the doctor to advise that our daughter be prescribed Wysoy until she was 5 years of age, which she now is and they are still accepting the repeat prescriptions from us, so I'm not planning on telling them just yet. She still likes to have a drink of 'milk' with her breakfast and one for supper and she won't drink carton soya milk. A large tin retails at £8.95 at Morrisons which is about £3 more than cow's milk formula. We were limited to 3 tins per month so in the early, milk dependant days we ended up having to buy additional tins ourselves from the chemist, I don't go through nearly so much now.

Don't assume that he will outgrow his milk problems as he gets older, the professionals like to tell you that, but it isn't necessarily true. You will be encouraged to try milk challenges every so often to test for a reaction. As he gets older he will become more aware of the discomfort that milk causes (if it continues) and he can make his own mind up as to whether it is worth eating or not.

Try not to panic about using soya milk, he's nearly 6 months anyway and it is really just a precaution these days as there is a higher risk of intolerance to foods that are introduced earlier.

[Julied24]

HI Pam,

Thanks for that, I shall ring my dietician Monday.

I do worry about him being dairy free, how will he get calcium?My friends work colleague is dairy free and all her teeth are falling out, she is only 24??

What are the risks with soya? I know about in infertility in males but not sure of the others.

Julie

[ellsie]

Yes wysoy is available on prescription and with your history I would think you would be OK. My problem is different to you as I am the one with the problem and not my kids, but of course I only know that now. I could not make a bottle of formula because the powder would have got on my skin or in my nasal passages and caused lots of problems as my reaction is severe. I did not know if my girls would be like me and the first two had no milk,yog or any dairy until 18 months when they were tested. Luckily they are all 3 OK.
I have now been milkless since 1987 so gosh 17 years. I would like to tell you that I still have ALL my own teeth, many fillings but still there! There are other sources of calcium in bread,green veg like broccoli and beans. I take calcium tablets to be sure and there are chewable ones that you could powder down and add to food as a final suggestion if desperate ( I do this for my tortoise)
I am happy that you feel that the wysoy was a success and I wish you some happy days now to enjoy your more contented child. :thumbsup:

[Pam]

Most of the shop bought dairy free products have added calcium in them, plus, as has already been said there's calcium in bread and green leafy veg. How many children actually drink a pint of milk a day once they get past weaning stage? You will probably find that his calcium intake will be just as good as that of other children. Your colleague probably hasn't looked after her teeth or may have naturally weak teeth - if her teeth are so bad due to lack of calcium then her bones would be brittle too and she would be suffering in a lot of other ways.

I have avoided reading much of the scaremongering about soya milk, we had to use it and it wasn't an option, so why worry about it? The first scare was more to do with tooth decay because it was higher in sugar content than cow's milk formula but dental advice is to make sure the teeth are cleaned frequently. More recently there have been the hormone scares which I'm not very informed about. I do, however, know that cows are pumped full of hormones to keep them in an artificial state of pregnancy so that they continue to produce milk. This milk is bound to carry some of the hormones which will be passed on to the person who drinks it. There was also something on tv last year about the increasing amount of hormones in water, they get into the water supply one way or another and don't get filtered out. There have also been many publicised benefits of soya so the good and the bad probably equal each other out. I'm sure you'll find information on the net if you do a google search. Visit some of the anti-milk sites too to see how bad cow's milk is.

In my opinion it is better to give a child a good balanced diet, even if it includes soya instead of milk, than to have an unhappy, hungry, malnourished child.

[Julied24]

Thanks you both for your replies they were very informative.

Only risks I have heard about soya is male infertility so I am not too worried about that as he is almost 6 months old and some babies are on soya from day one and they are ok. There are scares with so many things these days even baby jars have a risk.

Just wondered where I can get Alpro junior yoghurts and from what age they are suitable, pam do you know?

I saw a few dairy free things in Tesco last night, they looked lovely.

How will I know if Rhys has outgrown it? Dietician said to try cows milk from 1 year, she thinks it will be gone by then but how would she know?

Also how would I know if he ended up with a soya allergy and is this rare?

I feel so sorry for people with a milk allergy it must be so worrying.

Julie

Sorry for all the questions.

[ellsie]

Try ringing round your local health food shops to see if the yogs are in stock or perhaps they can order.
My children were tested as out patients at 18 months for milk allergy so they were in a control situation and I couldn't do it myself. I can tell you what they did though. Start with milk on a test area on the skin and see if there is a reaction,if not after 15 mins give a quarter teaspoon by mouth and wait 15 mins, then half a teaspoon, a whole teaspoon, two teaspoons and a small yog always leaving 15 mins and watching for a reaction. If you wanted you could do something similar over a week to allow more time and you would be able to judge the level of tolerance through the day.
I don't know anyone with a soya allergy but perhaps your doctor could find out the stats. Hope this helps. :)

[Julied24]

Thanks Ellsie.

Julie