Mixing Formula with Goat's Milk for My 9-Week Old

hi N.,
My son had a lot of colic when he was a newborn. As soon as he was fed solely on breast milk the problem was solved. I know thaqt is not an option for everyone, try changin formula brand.
good luck,
ceci

I think it's too much considering there is already some proteins and what not in the formula. Any reason why you are using formula instead of breastmilk? If you want to work with a great chiropractor then try Richards Family Health Center in Glendora... will be a drive for you, but well worth it.

Actually, N., goat's milk is as close to human milk as you'll find out there! The fat globules are so much smaller than cow's milk, so it's much more easily digested. Cow's milk can be constipating to an infant, as can soy-based formulas. But not goat's milk. In the old days, before the advent of all the soy-based formulas and more-recent hyper-expensive formulas, goat's milk was often given to infants with colic and other digestive problems, with no ill-effects.
Give it a try. You may be pleasantly surprised!

With my first son born five weeks early we had similar problems. The doctor suggested "overburping" my baby. Be sure that all gas is out the top rather than letting it work through your baby's system. (Burp, Burp and then burp some more!) The other suggestion was to give the baby some natural yogurt (with active cultures) thinned with breast milk or formula to "set" the baby's tummy since we are not born with the bacteria that assists digestion. My son did MUCH better after following the doctor's advice. Please, I would suggest you talk to your doctor and a lactation nurse/consultant before you go further. You do not want to be missing a sign or signal for something that needs medical care. PS: We found like the other Mom, Carnation Good Start worked best. Good luck!!!

Dear N.,

My understanding is that goat's milk is the most similar to human breastmilk, far more similar than cow's. My friends fed their colicky son goatsmilk and added a few things- not sure where they got their recipe- and found it helpful. Of course they were working in conjunction with their pediatrician. Only downside is how expensive it was.

First of all, you shouldn't take any feeding advice or other infant advice from a chiropractor. Chiropractors should never treat infants for anything. They have minimal medical experience and no pediatric experience. Having your infant treated by a chiropractor is extremely dangerous. Pediatricians have additional training in addition to medical school. Chiropractors go to school for 2 years. Your pediatrician will have at least 8 years experience before seeing your child. Chiropractic medicine has been found to only effectively treat lower back pain and nothing else. Please take your child to a real doctor in the future. Unscrupulous chiropractors claim to be able to treat everything from earaches to ADHD, but this makes no sense to anyone who has studied anatomy. Try hypoallergenic formulas. Have a pediatrician check your child for GURD. It is unlikely that colic is the problem. It is most likely an allergy or reflux. Chiropractors cannot treat this.

I am appalled by the lack of knowledge in some of these answers. Goat's milk is not close to breast milk or formula because it lacks folic acid and iron and other essential nutrients. Infants under 1 year shouldn't be given anything other than formula or breast milk. The other kinds of milk don't have the nutrients they need and younger digestive tracts can't break the enzymes down. To the mother who said formula is made from cows milk obviously doesn't know that the proteins are broken down so an infant digestive tract can break it down.
Many of these natural, holistic health claims are based on pseudoscience and is often dangerous to your child's health. Please do some google searches to learn about medicine and science before making decisions that impact your child's health.

Hi N.,

As a mom and registered dietitian, I would advise not to mix formula with goat's milk. Your son is way too young and shouldn't have any type of milk other than formula or breast milk until he is a year old. His digestive system is not fully developed yet and cannot handle the goat's milk. It will not be fully developed until he is 6 months old and at that time, rice cereal and other baby foods can be introduced. Even though his digestive system is ready at 6 months, cow's or goat's milk still needs to wait until 1 year for allergy and immune system reasons.

I am so sorry to hear that he has colic but this is not a good solution. Hopefully he will outgrow it soon.

Regards,

L.

N.,

Why are you getting baby advice from a chiropractor? That's like getting baby advice from your hair stylist. Go to your pediatrician! Goat's milk does NOT sound like a healthy option for a 9 week old. We had this problem with our newborn son up through 10 months old. The hospital nurses gave him Nutramigen formula from Enfamil. It worked great and he STILL occasionally needs it at age 1 year. It specifically prevents colic and our baby was a formula fed baby so this was his source of nutrition from his time in the hospital all the way through 10 months. It prevented him from being colicy and kept his bowel movements soft and regular. Be smart and safe.

you know, not to be rude to your chiropractor, but you should check with your pediatrician about that. what kind of training does this chiropractor has in regards to what kind of milk/food to give to babies? your son is 9-week old, it's normal to be colicky. i am not a big fan of chiropractors working with young babies. i hope you are not paying out of pocket.

i would talk to your babies dr before giving him anything like that.. i would try switching formulas. my daughter was extremely gassy and uncomfortable on these formulas - infamil lipil, gentelease and simalac. we finally tried goodstart and that worked like a charm! it was great. i would also try hylands colic tablets or a little rice cereal in his bottle.

I'm surprised to hear that a chiropractor would be treating an infant. Please consult a pediatric GI doc. The others posters gave good advice too. Good luck!

Definitely check with Pedi about colic...this is not uncommon and unfortunately, I have to agree with the opinion the chiropractors may not know as much about baby care and health as Pedi's.

never tried or heard of that, my daughter had extreme colic and we put her on nestle good start supreme and added gripe water to the bottle, hope this helps!

I would try swaddling like crazy and also use Nutramigen or Neocate formula. They are the least offensive. Hang in there!

Okay, first of all the moms that said don't give him goat's milk, and only give him formula, may not know that formula is made from cow's milk! And if goat's milk truly is easier to digest than cow's milk, it would seem logical to go with goat's milk entirely, except that the formula companies are adding extra nutrients to try to make formula more like human breastmilk. So that's kind of a hard call, to add goat's milk or not, and whether it would help.

You might try going with the lactose free formulas. I had one child that we started formula when he was 1 year old when I went back to work part time, and the only formula that didn't make him sick was the lactose free, because I couldn't pump enough milk at that point to only give him breastmilk.

But the real bottom line is that the best milk is HUMAN breast milk for your baby. It has all the right nutrients and is easiest to digest and actually changes composition as your baby grows. But it sounds like you are not breastfeeding. I have a masters in public health, and I am not a lactataion consultant, but I think you really should consult one if you would in any way consider trying to begin breastfeeding, even at this late stage. You may actually be able to stimulate milk production to start again, no joke. It IS possible in some cases.
I can give you the name and number of a really really good lactation consultant that works out of Long Beach Memorial and Torrance Memorial, if interested.

BUT, regardless of formula issues, chiropracters are great, and we love chiropractic for our family, but please make sure your pediatrician checks him out to make sure there isn't anything serious going on first.

ALSO, READ THE BOOK, "THE HAPPIEST BABY ON THE BLOCK", BY HARVEY KARP, IMMEDIATELY! This is a book you HAVE to read NOW.
He makes some really really good suggestions for colicky babies that really work. I don't agree with a lot of his comical sideline statements about evolution issues and cave men (I'm a Christian), but the bottom line is that his method of calming colicky babies WORKS! Colic is really normal for your baby's age, and some are just more prone to it and need the extra "help" from the methods Dr. Karp suggests. I know because I have had two babies, (and a 3rd due any day now), and one was EXTREMELY colicky, and the other just needed to be swaddled and he was happy all the time.
I hope this helps :)

When my daughter was a baby she also was colicy. It turned out she was lactose intolerant. I nursed her and as long as I did have any dairy products whatsoever, she did fine.

As she got older she has continued to be prone to allergies. As a toddler she was getting a rash around her mouth. We eventually learned she had a sensitivity to toothpaste!

Anyhow, thought I'd share those insights.

Here are some links:
http://parentingsolved.typepad.com/parenting_solved/2006/...
http://www.minti.com/parenting-advice/5805/Goat-Milk-Form...
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=2008120812230...
http://www.birth.com.au/Bottle-feeding/Types-of-formula.aspx

On Colic:
http://www.drgreene.com/21_1051.html

You best ask your Pediatrician.
He is ONLY 9-weeks old....afterall.

There is also "Hyland's Colic Tabs" which we used for my daughter who had real bad gas problems as an infant, and it helped.
But check the age usage first.
you can get it at any natural food store, or on www.amazon.com

Keep in mind, that a newborn/infant has an immature digestive system... and their digestive system is STILL developing outside the womb... therefore, be careful what you feed him, or his digestive system will not be able to process it... causing more problems.

ALSO, you may want to try switching Formula brands... so ask your Pediatrician what he/she would recommend....or try switching bottles/nipples. For me, the "MAM" brand bottles are GREAT... AND, there is NO accumulation of air-bubbles in the bottle as the baby drinks. You can get it from: www.amazon.com These bottles are ALSO "BPA" free.

I have not heard of giving Goat's Milk to a newborn.... nor mixing it with Formula. I just know, that you can mix breastmilk and Formula, which many Mothers do.

Don't guess at this, even from a Chiropractor.. .to me, they are not the first person to ask about this... and because your baby is just 9-weeks old.

It could also be reflux, or gas problems, or allergies/intolerances to milk proteins/lactose, or who knows. So, ask your Pediatrician. First.

Was "colic" actually diagnosed, in your baby? Or is this just a guess or what the Chiropractor said? Is he gassy, crying a lot? Writhing in pain? Screaming? unable to sleep? Or just waking a lot (which is also normal in a baby) and crying? Also, if a baby is hungry, they cannot sleep either. And at growth spurts especially, they need to be fed on demand.

Take care,
Susan

Mothers milk or special formula for infants ( only)should be given to a baby less than 6 months old is the general rule, before introducing anything else. Your baby may have allergies to milk or goat milk products. Not unusual. Please check with your baby MD first. There my be another issue more than extreme colic. You can always take the new baby to ER if not happy with anwers and request a specialist in neo-natal health. Your Insurance CO. is a good resource for neo-natal as well. Well baby clinic are a good resource as well. Good luck
P.

I understand how hard this must be. I went through this with my son. My best advice is to first talk to your ped and then if you are going to try a different formula make sure it is a gentle formula or hypoallagenic like Neutramagen or lipil. My son was not lactose just his digestive was not fully developed. I did the Neutramagen til he was about 9-10 months old and then switched to a regular organic formula and he was fine. Just don't try too many things because it does take awhile for their systems to get used to any change. Hylands colic tabs helped us too. I did try the goats milk at 6 months and it constipated him. Every baby is different so just be careful.

N.,

I think your baby is too young for goat's milk. Many if not most cases of colic are due to food allergies or intolerances - usually undiagnosed because doctors don't seem to believe in food allergies or intolerances in babies. My youngest child (who is 2 now) is allergic to dairy and soy proteins. I'm a breastfeeder so his colic went away once I eliminated dairy and soy from my diet (I did a pretty serious elimination diet to figure out what was causing problems). Since you are formula feeding, I'd recommend trying a hypoallergenic formula (which is what my son drinks now for "milk.") Similac Alimentum is the first level of hypoallergenic (some hypoallergenic formulas are "more" hypoallergenic than others and nothing is completely non-allergenic) and you can buy it in the grocery store. I buy mine on-line by the case because it is quite a bit cheaper that way. If that doesn't work, the "more" hypoallergenic stuff is Neocate or Elecare and you have to get that on-line or special order through a pharmacy. Keep in mind that dairy proteins take several weeks to leave your system entirely after you quit eating them. So you won't see improvement over night if you switch to a hypoallergenic formula but you should see improvement within a week or so. My son is a bit older now so we've tried a variety of "milks" on him. He's every bit as allergic to goat's milk as cow's milk. The proteins are very similar and if your kid reacts to one, there is a strong possibility he'll react to both. Some kids don't but I think they are the minority.

There is a pretty good article on goat's milk and goat's milk formula here that talks about the nutrition involved http://www.askdrsears.com/html/3/T032400.asp and why you shouldn't use it instead of formula.

Personally I would explore the hypoallergenic formula route. I don't believe that colic is normal or a good thing or should just be waited out. A screaming baby is a miserable baby. I don't care what anyone says, I would not wait it out.

Good luck,
T.

It is true that goats milk is easier to digest because of the protein content not being as hard BUT the protein count is so high in goats milk that it will eventually cause renal failure even when mixed with formula because the kidneys cannot process the protein content safely! That is why there is no goats milk formula available right now. It is a fix that is not researched and is not safe for infants in the long run. You should ask your doctor about acid medicine wich can be also safely be used with gripe water (homeopathic) and gas drops. also try nuk bottles and nipples. they cannot colapse them as easily as a normal nipple. we learned the hard way after spending alot of money on the "high end" bottles and nipples. also make sure the cap is as loose as possible without spilling out. Much better solutions than taking the risk of putting your infant through life threatening problems. good luck

I have twin boys and when they were infants I used goats milk for breast milk jaundice on one of them. The only thing that causes all the worry about it is that inrtroducing it early may make for allergies later. My boys never had any ill side effects from it. I would vote for doing it.

As far as talking to your chiro you go on ahead and talk to him. I trust mine more than most of the DR.s I have had.

Why aren't you BREASTFEEDING? You can't mix goat's milk and cow formula. I suggest trying a goat milk formula you can get at your local health food store. You could try fresh goat whole milk too. Keep up with the chiropractor for sure!! Again, why aren't you breastfeeding?

The following is a recipe from the askdrsears.com web site:
GOAT'S MILK FORMULA
MEYENBERG POWDERED GOAT MILK
BEGINNING FORMULA

(12 oz container) Powdered Goat Milk
6 Scoops (84 g)
Water
36 oz.
Rice Syrup
6 ½ Tbsp.
Calories (per oz.)
20

As baby matures during its first year, gradually increase ratio of powder to water until whole milk level is reached (see below). Discontinue adding rice syrup (carbohydrates).

To reconstitute to Whole Milk

Powdered Goat Milk
8 scoops (112 g)
Water
32 oz.

Calories (per oz.)
19

MEYENBERG EVAPORATED GOAT MILK
BEGINNING FORMULA

Evaporated Goat Milk
12 oz.
Water
24 oz.
Rice Syrup
5 Tbsp.
Calories (per oz.)
20

As baby matures during its first year, gradually increase ratio of powder to water until whole milk level is reached (see below). Discontinue adding rice syrup (carbohydrates).

To reconstitute to Whole Milk

Evaporated Goat Milk
12 oz
Water
12 oz.

Calories (per oz.)
19

NOTE: Any time goat milk is the sole source of nutrition, we recommend the feeding of a vitamin supplement

Gas drops work well also, and I "burp" babies with this problem almost constantly and it really helps. I also do not lay them flat, but put them in a swing or something so that they are at an incline. Dr. Karaba in Fullerton, CA may also be able to help you, he is amazing. I also SWADDLE!!! Hope you and your baby get some relief soon!
V.

I did have to do this for my daughter when she was born because her stomache was very sensative. She was a month premature. I did mix goats milk with formula. It still gave her pains and colic. I eventually got it right giving her diluted lactose intolerant formula, no regular formula, until she was over 6 months old. I'ts best to feed the baby one to two ounces at a time, with a burp between the first and second ounces. It could be too, when you burp the baby to gently rub up their back because the patting vigorously could also cause an upset tummy after eating. Once the onset of collic, a good remedy is to lay the baby on his left hand side and rub the tummy in a circular motion clock wise. It gently helps them to pass the gas out. Good Luck and God Bless!

Please have your Ped. rule out reflux. Most babys' esophageal sphincter valve is weak until at least 12 months old. Digestive juices can come up and burn the internal lining causing a lot of pain. My daughter did not spit up after feeding and was "collicy" for 3 months and it was getting worse. After several days on liquid Zantac prescribed by her Ped. she was cured. I wish I would have asked her DR. much sooner about all her fussiness and discomfort, but I had no idea.

Good Luck!

at 9 wks we found out my daughter had anal stenosis! Apparently it something that goes undiagnosed most of the time and babies just get labeled as colicky- It's worth asking your doc about if your little one has tiny poops frequently and seems to really put some pressure behind her efforts to poo....anyway if the off chance that your little on has it- don't worry, our doc treated there at the ofc, and we did lots of sitz baths at home. Also on a side note- when things would get really bad for ours, we would fill the sink with water and hold her there- it seemed like anything to put her back into the womb worked best. And, the "miracle blanket" is seriously a miracle- google it if you don't have one. Worth every dime. GOOD LUCK!