Formula company advocating eliminating breastfeeding. - Page 2

[WuWei]

The site doesn't say that breastfeeding won't work for *some* babies. It says, that "allergic symptoms and normal growth CANNOT be achieved" in 'breastfed infants who suffer allergic reactions to food antigen found in the mother’s diet'. That is inaccurate and misleading. And it is NOT true that "prolonged breastfeeding is not recommended and instead infants should start feeding on hypoallergenic formulas".

Allergic reactions to food antigens found in mothers' milk CAN be controlled (by elimination of the foods). And prolongued breastfeeding IS recommended. None of the "hypoallergenic" formulas provide the ESSENTIAL probiotic for infants (bifidobacterium infantis), which breast milk does. Probiotics are important to *immune function*, gut healing, nutrient absorption, and food intolerance resolution.

For allergic children, elimination diets can take several forms. In particular it can be done: by the lactating mother - breastfed infants may suffer allergic reactions to food antigen found in the mother’s diet (small quantaties also found in the breast milk) so in this case control of allergic symptoms and normal growth cannot be achieved. Therefore, prolonged breastfeeding is not recommended and instead infants should start feeding on hypoallergenic formulas;

Control of allergic symptoms MAY be possible, if the mother does the elimination of the food allergens. The statement directly states that "control CANNOT be achieved". Nor is is accurate to state that "normal growth CANNOT be achieved". It may or may not occur, depending upon the degree of allergen disruption to digestion of adequate protein and nutrients.

And yes, we did the elimination diet (of some 25+ primary foods) for two years, until we started classical homeopathy and ds became able to tolerate foods which he previously could not tolerate through my milk.

Additionally, here is the list of ingredients in Neocate. Most multi-allergenic children can not tolerate several of the *primary* ingredients.

Neocate ingredients: Corn Syrup Solids, High Oleic Safflower Oil, Refined Vegetable Oil (Coconut, Soy), Calcium Phosphate Dibasic, L-Arginine, L-Aspartate, Tripotassium Citrate, L-Leucine, L-Lysine Acetate, L-Glutamine, L-Proline, L-Valine, L-Isoleucine, Glycine, CAEM (An Emulsifier), L-Threonine, L-Tyrosine, L-Phenylalanine, L-Serine, L-Histidine, L-Alanine, Sodium Chloride, L-Cystine, L-Tryptophan, L-Methionine, Magnesium Acetate, Magnesium L-Aspartate, Potassium Chloride, Choline Bitartrate, M-Inositol, L-Ascorbic Acid, Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Sulfate, Taurine, L-Carnitine, Niacinamide, DL-Alpha Tocopheryl Acetate, Calcium D-Pantothenate, Cupric Sulfate, Manganese Sulfate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin, Vitamin A Acetate, Thiamine Chloride Hydrochloride, Potassium Iodide, Chromium Sulfate , Phylloquinone, Sodium Molybdate, Folic Acid, Sodium Hydrogen Selenite, D-Biotin, Vitamin D3, Cyanocobalamin.

http://www.neocate.com/aaa_neocate/6...gredients.html

Vivonex Pediatric Ingredients: Maltodextrin, food starch modified (Corn), medium chain triglycerides, Soybean oil, calcium glycerophosphate, magnesium gluconate, L-glutamine, L-lysine acetate, L-leucine, L-arginine acetate, potassium chloride, L-valine, citric acid, L-isoleucine, L-aspartic acid, L-alanine, L-phenylalanine, L-serine, L-proline, L-threonine, L-tyrosine, L-glutamic acid, glycine, L-histidine monohydrochloride monohydrate, L-methionine, potassium citrate, L-cystine, choline bitartrate, sodium citrate, ascorbic acid, polyglycerol esters of fatty acids, L-tryptophan, sodium phosphate dibasic, potassium sorbate (preservative), taurine, M-inositol, alpha tocopheryl acetate, zinc sulfate, ferrous sulfate, niacinamide, L-carnitine, alpha tocopherol, copper gluconate, d-calcium pantothenate, manganese sulfate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, riboflavin, thiamine hydrochloride, BHA/BHT (to preserve freshness), vitamin A palmitate, beta carotene, chromium chloride, folic acid, sodium molybdate, potassium iodide, biotin, sodium selenite, phytonadione (vitamin K1), cholecalciferol (vitamin D3), cyanocobalamin (vitamin B12).

http://www.allegromedical.com/dietar...c-p176860.html

Elecare ingredients: 55.9%* Corn Syrup Solids, 8.7%* High Oleic Safflower Oil, 7.7%* Medium-Chain Triglycerides, 6.5%* Soy Oil, 2.1%* L-Glutamine. LESS THAN 2% Of: C.Cohini Oil†, M.Alpina Oil‡, L-Asparagine, L-Leucine, DATEM (an emulsifier), L-Lysine Acetate, Calcium Phosphate, L-Valine, Potassium Phosphate, L-Isoleucine, L-Arginine, L-Phenylalanine, L-Tyrosine, Sodium Citrate, L-Threonine, Potassium Citrate, L-Proline, L-Serine, L-Alanine, Glycine, L-Histidine, L-Methionine, Ascorbic Acid, Magnesium Chloride, L-Cystine Dihydrochloride, L-Tryptophan, Calcium Carbonate, Choline Chloride, m-Inositol, Salt (Sodium Chloride), Ferrous Sulfate, Taurine, Ascorbyl Palmitate, Zinc Sulfate, Niacinamide, dl-Alpha-Tocopheryl Acetate, L-Carnitine, Calcium Pantothenate, Thiamine Chloride Hydrochloride, Cupric Sulfate, Vitamin A Palmitate, Manganese Sulfate, Riboflavin, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Beta-Carotene, Folic Acid, Biotin, Phylloquinone, Chromium Chloride, Potassium Iodide, Sodium Selenate, Sodium Molybdate, Vitamin D3, and Cyanocobalamin.

http://elecare.com/HCP/product_info.aspx?s=1

This is not preferable to dairy-free, corn-free, soy-free homemade infant formula which avoids these allergens and replaces the proteins. http://www.westonaprice.org/children/recipes.html Granted, there are a few children with metabolic disorders who can not digest whole proteins, especially if they are on antacids which interrupt digestion of food proteins. http://www.mothering.com/discussions...59&postcount=3

I have yet to find a multi-allergenic child intolerant of milk casein who didn't have issues with Corn and/or Soy. And, the mama CAN eliminate the food antigens found in the mother’s diet. Additionally, goat's milk and raw dairy milk, or cultured milks are often tolerated through breastmilk, when homogenized, heat pasteurized milks are not.

Does anyone know of a way to provide accurate information to this company regarding this site?




Pat

[RoadWorkAhead]

Well, be very glad you've never had hte pleasure of meeting my child. She tolerates no intact proteins whatsoever. She does tolerate corn syrup solids when they are broken down to amino acids as all elemental formulas are- She does not tolerate them in any other format including basic medications that contain bare traces of corn derivatives. Hence why an elemental formula is called an elemental formula. WAP's formula would KILL my kid. Seriously, breastmilk was slowly killing her, so WAP would doubly do so since I was living on 3 very strictly controlled foods. Its great to think that we know so much about children with medical issues, but in fact, there is little known by most lay people about children like mine. There is little understanding and its why raising a child like my daughter is so challenging, I'm constantly overcoming the misconceptions from both sides of the fence IYKWIM.

And please remember that saying all moms can eliminate foods is not true - If you are not the mother, please don't state this- Not all situations are created equal. I lived on 3 foods, I messed up my body in a huge way, and I regret the time I tormented my child. If K3 (god forbid) is sick like his sister, I would wean to an elemental in a heartbeat. Not all children can tolerate breastmilk even when almost all food is removed from moms diet and living on a very limited diet is challenging at best...I know I couldn't go beyond top-8 free this time as the mom of 3 kids, 2 of whom are already SNs, with a husband who works all over the country depending on where work is. Its not a possibility because a strict ED takes so much time to keep up. Like thepeach said, the front page is poorly worded, but the 2nd page addresses EDs much better. I'm sure SHS has an email, I'd recommend writing to them to point out that they should include something along the lines of "If the allergen can not be removed from mom's diet or normal growth is not achieved by removing allergens, then prolonged breastfeeding is not recommended" It makes the general gist of the 2nd page come across on the 1st page. And would be a statement agreed with by most allergists and other medical practioners.

[mom2snugbugs]

I am very sorry to all the moms on this board and IRL that have children with food allergies. It must be very difficult to find out in the first place what your child is allergic to, then the trial and error that you have to go through (not to mention your DC's unbearable pain/discomfort, etc) to find what your child CAN eat. It sounds like this Neocate formula has helped many mothers with some good results.

That being said, I hope that no one on this board thinks that I am suggesting that any other course of action except for the course of action you (the general, mom with DC with food allergies you) took to get your child healthy. Yes, some children need food other than breastmilk. Again, I am sorry for your situation.

My problem is not the need for Neocate, Neocate itself as a formula for children with food allergies, or even the marketing of Neocate as a formula for children with food allergies. My problem is that the website that the OP linked to is a formula site disguised as a food allergy site. I know that mothers out there go through long, difficult journeys with their DC's to find answers about their DC's allergies. I also know that the web is a great place to look. But there needs to be truth in advertising. I know that many of you moms tried all things possible to get your child healthy. What if there was a new mom out there who went to this site and read-

by the lactating mother - breastfed infants may suffer allergic reactions to food antigen found in the mother’s diet (small quantaties also found in the breast milk) so in this case control of allergic symptoms and normal growth cannot be achieved. Therefore, prolonged breastfeeding is not recommended and instead infants should start feeding on hypoallergenic formulas;

and immediately stopped breastfeeding because she thought this was best, not truly understanding what an "elimination" diet is. It would be like someone researching cancer and going to a "cancer" site that said the only way to cure cancer is by taking drug "XYZ" when there are other alternatives.

Again, I am so sorry that many of you had to endure the pain of your DC's being in pain. Please be aware that this argument is about what *this* site is doing, not about what you are doing (thankfully!!) to help your DCs.

With gentleness (and I hope clarity)

Julie

[annettemarie]

Closed pending review.

[annettemarie]

Reopening.

Please keep the breastfeeding forum guidelines in mind when posting:

Members who formula feed out of necessity should not take posts critical of formula feeding personally. Members are reminded to post within the parameters of the User Agreement and refrain from personal attacks. If you feel concern about a post or discussion, please contact the moderator of the forum.

It must be clear that although we certainly do not encourage formula use we do support mothers who are doing the best they can for their children. It is very possible to find oneself compelled to use formula due to personal or family circumstances; such a mother can still be a Lactivist while seeking out support and information for her child's nutritional needs from the MDC community.

If you feel anyone on this thread has presented misinformation or has somehow misinterpreted the web site, you can share your thoughts, but the thread really needs to stay on-topic. The OP feels that this website is poorly worded and makes a blanket, untrue statement about mothers needing to wean. She's also stated that she feels the site misrepresents itself as an allergy resource site rather than making it clear it's a formula site. Those are the two matters at hand.

If you have questions, please feel free to PM me.

[RoadWorkAhead]

Reading further on that site, they actually address breastfeeding in the same terms as the AAP(http://www.actagainstallergy.com/aaa...stfeeding.html). Also, the site is very new (It appears to be copyrighted within the last 2ish months) - At the bottom, they have a contact link so I;d recommend contacting them about the wording as it appears to just leave out what was meant snce they much mre clearly state it on the next page. I've also found a few of their links don't work yet so I'm sure they are still working out the kinks that all new sites suffer from. Neocate is prominently displayed on the front page, so it doesn't appear that they are at all attempting to hide their connections to Neocate - But Neocate is a medication for allergic children, hence why it is typically only given with a script (It is not required, but most pharmacies do require one and SHS requires the name of the Dr. before shipping). Neocate/SHS Nutrition support many allergy sites, and the links they provide are very helpful for parents like myself, so it would seem that the real issue is just the wording on a single page and I'd think that emailing the webmaster or the info address is best to effect change. If its allowed to post the addresses, I will.

WuWei- You will find that most multi-allerginic children *can* tolerate amino acid formats of soy and corn. Hence why 99.8% of multi-allergenic/metabolic/eosinophilic children do tolerate one of them. I remember reading the ingredients and thinking there was no way my child could tolerate those formulas, but she is thriving now where she was failing before- Even though she only tolerated the one. She does not now, nor may she ever, tolerate any intact protein or even intact carbohydrates (She doesn't tolerate pure unrefined sugars), so the children SHS is targetting couldn't be served by a homemade formula - Nor does insurance ocver a homemade formula where some do cover commercial formulas for children like mine. If its just the wording, please use the link so they know. I know I will. Multi-allergenic children are harmed by prolonged breastfeeding if those allergens cannot be 100% removed from their mother's diets since many allergies are compounded by repeat exposure. The point attempting to be made is on target, just the wording is less than accurate. Much like the title of this thread...SHS is not trying to eliminate breastfeeding, but uses the same recommendations that allergists and GIs use for multi-allergenic children whose mothers are not successfula t removing allergens.

[PGTlatte]

Originally Posted by WuWei

I have yet to find a multi-allergenic child intolerant of milk casein who didn't have issues with Corn and/or Soy.

Both of our sons are reactive to casein but have no problems with corn or soy.

Fortunately I did not need to use an elemental, or any, formula with them, as just eliminating eggs and dairy from my own diet was all they needed.

I agree that the wording is poor. It would be better if sounded more positive that sometimes elimination of allergens from a nursing mother's diet can be enough, because sometimes it can be enough. I feel fortunate that it was enough for our kids, and that I did not have a doctor pressuring me to stop breastfeeding and switch to an elemental formula without even trying my own elimination diet.

[thehappyhippo]

wrong thread