So Frustrating as a Child Care Provider!!!

It is obvious that this baby has a milk allergy or is lactose-intolerant. It is a proven fact that dairy is not good for runny noses or sinus problems. If the baby was doing better on the soy, mom should have kept her on soy. The money she is going to spend on doctor's visits it going to outweight the price of the soy formula. I feel for you, I taught daycare for 2 years and if the baby is not doing well on the milk then mom is going to have to be the one to make things better for you.

Hi
The answer to your question is first the baby should not be drinking whole milk right now, they start at 1 yrs. old and it sounds like the baby is either allergic to milk or the baby has asma or upper respiratory problem if the mother act like she is really not concerned about the baby's problem i would stop taking care of her baby because if somthing happens you could be blamed for it and i know you don't want that.I had a infant like that in the past and the baby was on breathing tretments two times a day. If you have antmore questions please feel frre to contact me. ###-###-#### my name is J..

KD,
You need to be up-front with this parent about your concerns. I also keep children in my home, and if you don't feel the child is 'healthy' then it is stressful for you---more than you may realize. She may want to find a pediatric allergist to see if this can be confirmed. Having a child on milk when their body is rejecting it can cause all other problems. One child I worked with was speaking in a muffled tone and did not respond well to directives...he was three at this point....the mom took him` off milk and he changed dramatically. The behavior improved (he was very aggressive before), his speech cleared, and he could hear when we spoke to him. Apparently the milk was building mucus behind his ears too. I think the Soy milk is a great idea....that is what I drink and my girls love it although they drink regular milk as well. It is Silk Soymilk Organic. It comes in vanilla flavored too. The box is blue. Good luck and listen to your gut.

I hate to say this, but this sounds like an abusive situation. I would ask her to change the formula or you will report her to CPS. Keep all your documention on all conversations with the mother and everything that is happening with the baby. It sounds like there could be several issues here, one could be the baby could be allergic to the formula or she may be aspirating it. Crackles and wheezing after feedings 9/10 times is due to aspiration. (sucking it down into the lungs) Try changing formula first, if you don't see an improvement with that YOU as the responsible CAREGIVER should contact the child's peditrician. Sounds like the baby needs a swallow study or barrium swallow test or test for allergies. Good luck and email me if you have any questions.
H. (____@____.com)
(respiratory therapist)

This story hurts my heart. My son had milk protein allergies when he was born. We tried soy protein formula but was told that if the infant has milk protein allergies, then they would also have soy protein allergies...so we moved to a hypoallergenic formula. This completely helped our son. Our daughter was also on hypoallergenic formula...prescription..which is outrageous in price. These issues are so common and yet some doctors don't test for it. I would ask the mother if their pedictrican tested the infant for allergies. This sounds so much like a cows milk allergy..which means she should absolutely not give the baby milk. There is a reason why we don't give cows milk before one year. Are you comfortable asking this mother questions about what she has done regarding testing? You could research some things online and print out what you find, to see if you can provide her with some information that maybe she does not have and see if it will trigger her to do more. Could you call your peditrican's office to see if they could also give you some advice on how to handle this? It is tough because she is not a close friend and you dont' want to offend her. Unfortunately it sounds a bit like money is the driving issue here over treatment. I know that many peditricians will provide coupons and free samples upon request for hypoallergenic formula. We got a ton of free samples for my son. Not sure if this helps but I would talk to the mother if comfortable....get educated first so she can learn from what you are saying. First thing is that they NEED to find out what the issue is. Let me know how it goes. Good Luck

I also watch children in my home and have family who has done it for years. I'm not sure what the state requires here because I'm not liscensed yet, but in other states I have lived in they require childcare providers to feed children the foods they need. If you don't normally provide the babies formula I would tell the parent that (if Texas requires)you to go by the food pyramid and nutritional needs of the child that you will be charging her more because you have to provide the formula for her or you could lose your liscense. I get so frustrated as well when parents take you for granted and don't put the needs of their child first. Hope it helps!

Hi KD P,
I can barely read your email without getting so angry!!! My family is dairy free because dairy can cause many health issues as you can see. www.notmilk.com Anyway since you are the provider and you have to participate in this madness I would take a stand and say that i won't take care of your child under these circumstances(not in these words and in a nice way of coarse!)If you know of something that will make a child more comfortable,at least you can attempt to be her voice because she can't speak. It is rediculous that the medical profession is giving her medication for something instead of trying to find the source. I guess if i were you this would be a real turning point! Obviouly there is a fine line because you are not the parent but you might as well be a second parent because you are with her all day and you don't want to see her suffer.

Hey girl :) My brother's daughter had similar issues and they put her on Soy Milk (in the blue carton, I can't think of the name!) and it changed her life! It wasn't as expensive as the Lactose Free Milk - you can buy it at Costco even!

Just a thought :)

D.

KD P

I am a home provider also but I don't have any ideas on that situation but I belong to an on line child care provider support if your interested. It is called, " spice up child care".
Do a search on it to find it and ask for their ideas. There are a lot of people on it and someone will probably have a good idea on what to do.
Lonie

Well, First you sound like a great child care provider to this child. I have a daughter highly allergic to milk and it sound like this is the problem for this child too.
I would suggest that you schedule a time with this mother when she is not rushing to work or rushing home-maybe go to her house and let her know that you have been seeking advise on this matter and that you would like to see if baby improves on soy. Soy is more expensive than milk but much less expensive than steroids and breathing treatment everyday. I have a great allergist that would see baby right away if you tell them baby is wheezing. Dr Elisa Lange at Presby dallas heart building.

Sounds like the baby has a milk allergy. My daughter is the same way -- gets all kinds of congested/snotty when was on milk-based formula. We didn't figure it out until she was one year and we gave her whole milk. She very quickly got a sinus infection. We switched her to goat milk at age 1 (though I know now that I could have put her on soy formula -- I just knew I could go straight to soy milk because it doesn't have any fat in it) then to soy at age 2 and haven't seen a booger since she was a year old.

Tell her that the Walmart store brand, Parent's Choice, makes a soy. Our son is also allergic to milk and has been on it since he was 4 months old. He'll be on it until his second birthday. Parent's Choice does not make a "step 2" in their soy, but the only difference in regular and step 2 is the amount of calcium. I make up the difference with calcium fortified orange juice and yogurt.

my daughter had the breathing issue as well. It is called Strider. Kinda shounds like she was an 80 year old smoker for a while. We took her to do a Baerreum swallow no clue how to spell that sorry. Found out that she had really bad Acid Reflux. She wasn't a big spiter uper so I didn't understand. After the swallow we alson found out that she was asperating what she should have been spitting up. We had to had something called Think-it to her bottle and haven't had a problem since. Might see if you should do a B Swallow.
Sorry for the spelling. THey should really have spell check on this.

Hello,

My son also as an allergy to cows milk. We didn't want to use soy because it has qiute a few estrogen like substances in it. Our doctor suggested Goat's milk with a vitamin supplement. Its worked great. The draining has stopped and he sleeps much better at night. You can use fresh Goat's Milk or they also have a powdered that is more economical. In Frisco you can get either at the Family Health Market.

Good luck.

Is the mother single or is she financially struggling? If so, she may qualify for WIC or child care assitance programs from the state. Depending on her needs, she may be able to get formula for practically nothing. She might also look into signing up online for similac and enfamil to get coupons in the mail. I get anywhere from $4 - $11 coupons almost on a monthly basis. Nestle sends out the $11 coupons and they do have a soy brand formula that is cheaper than Similac and Enfamil. Costco and Sams also carry soy brand formula. In fact Costco carries their own brand of formula that is significantly cheaper than Enfamil and Similac. It breaks my heart to hear about this little girl and makes me very mad that there are mothers who would rather watch their child suffer so they can save a few pennies.