Is breast really best??

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Permalink Reply by Clare Good on September 4, 2009 at 11:36

It's a very emotive and personal issue that everyone has an opinion on but I firmly believe that breast is best! I had to change my diet a bit to help my son's reflux - I no longer eat dairy because he is dairy intolerant and that's helped him a lot. I know there are pros and cons to both but the health benefits of breast milk are proven. Formula has something like 60 components. Breast milk has something like 150 and counting. Have you looked at possible triggers in your diet to help her? It was noticeable that when I ate a lot of dairy, my son was more sick. So I cut it out and it was instantly improved. Ok so we still struggled a bit but we probably would have done with formula too. Especially as he is dairy intolerant - I'd have given him cows milk based formula which would have made him even more ill. Allergies are common with reflux.
Hope you can make a decision easily - I persisted and am very glad I did. My son is now 10 months and doesn't suffer much anymore thankfully.
xx

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Permalink Reply by Victoria on September 4, 2009 at 14:04

Seriously consider this hun as I stopped at 8 weeks as I thought she was worse on my milk - I was sooooooooo wrong and she was so much worse on formula - even LF and hypo milks!!!

Nothing is more natural than breast milk and unless she is allergic to lactose (you could still express and use colief to break down the lactose) I cannot see a reason why breast would not be best

HOWEVER if you are struggling and want to stop then do so - you need to do what is right for you and the baby

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Permalink Reply by Elizabeth Marsh on September 4, 2009 at 14:40

Thanks so much for your insight, Clare and Victoria. I guess what's happening is, I feel like I'm running out of new things to try, now that the omeprazole doesn't seem to be the answer, so althiugh i'd like to keep at the breastfeeding I'm worried that i might be missing an obvious solution in a hypo formula with carobel, for example. Did either of you successfully administer carobel while bf? Will defo try to cut out/down on dairy as it seems to jhave worked for mant babies with reflux.typing with one hand so will resist writing essay xx

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Permalink Reply by Clare Good on September 4, 2009 at 17:29

No I couldn't do Carobel or gaviscon as I purely breast fed. Didn't even express really (well did but my son wouldnt take a bottle). Gaviscon really didn't work for me at all - couldnt do it after a feed as it made my son gag and bring the whole lot up and before a feed was too traumatic. Carobel would be the same I think wouldn't it? Have you tried expressing and adding Carobel? I've no comparison so can't tell you how my son would have been had I stopped. I just rode it out and now he is getting better and has had no formula. No dairy is actually really easy once you try. Might be worth a go before you stop breast feeding?
Well meaning advice annoys me! Go with your instincts!! Like Victoria said if you are struggling then stop. Its not worth the stress.
xx

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Permalink Reply by Elizabeth Marsh on September 4, 2009 at 21:13

I know exactly what you mean about trying to give your baby Gaviscon before a feed - it's totally unrealistic to expect a very young (and hungry) baby to delay feeding while you spoon what must be a fairly rancid-tasting paste into them. I gave up after a few attempts. I've started to express and add carobel today, just to see what happens. I think I'll try it for the weekend, while my husband's around to help look after Charlotte and my 21-month-old son. I doubt, though, that it'd be a viable option in the long term. I'm sure you're really glad you rode it out with breastfeeding - the benefits are so numerous, it's only worth giving up as a last resort. Will keep trying different combinations of approach and see can we hit on something that works. I just can't watch Charlotte in such pain and accept that there's no way of stopping it for good, so I'm kind've obsessively mining the internet for possible remedies at the moment (not always a constructive thing, i know!).

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