Sometimes, breast isn’t ‘best’
Little Octavia was born a third child to lovely parents who already had a 5 and 2.5 year old. Mum was avid breast feeder and had planned to feed her third just as she had her first two.
However, Octavia was born screaming and almost never stopped. In the hospital the midwives kept telling Mum to just keep feeding as Octavia must be hungry, but the more she was fed at the boob the more Octavia screamed.
During the next few weeks Mum and baby fell into a rhythm of feeding but it was almost 2 hourly around the clock and Mum discovered the only way Octavia would feed was for her to lie back and gave Octavia on her tummy, almost prone and she then would latch and feed, but only ever for a few minutes at a time.
With two older children to look after, no sleep and a constantly unhappy baby — the stress started to take its toll.
After a phone consultation with me, Octavia was prescribed Omeprazole from a paediatrician who also agreed with me on possible cow’s milk protein intolerance or even allergy.
I then visited when Octavia was 11 weeks old and we started her on the medicine and Mum, who was desperate to carry on breast feeding, excluded dairy, soy and gluten from her diet, along with spices, fruit juice, caffeine and alcohol!
Over 48 hours I was able to help Mum space the feeds to just 4 or 5 in the 12 hours of daylight alongside me helping Octavia to learn to sleep at night and self soothe. Things improved dramatically and the omeprazole definitely helped, so after 48 hours I left with Octavia in a much happier place.
That said, I had reservations whether Octavia was going to be ok still on breast milk as it was evident she had a highly sensitive gut. I voiced my concerns and whist mum understood my concerns she wanted to keep breast feeding with the restricted diet in place and hoped all would be ok.
Sadly though it proved not to be so…
During the next 6 weeks things deteriorated rapidly and Octavia again became that ‘grumpy’ baby that no one could hold, she cried, shouted and screamed much of the time and wouldn’t be put down. She was never still and was jumpy and fidgety and it was difficult to even hold her.
Again at breaking point Mum reached out to me after much discussion I advised that Octavia needed an amino acid formula which would not irritate her gut in anyway and mum agreed. But, one big problem…
At this point Octavia was now refusing the bottle and simply would not take it. They had occasionally been giving some expressed milk in a bottle, but not on a regular basis and when they tried to give Octavia the Alfamino formula, she point blank refused and screamed if a bottle went near her!
I agreed to return for a second visit with a view to getting Octavia onto the bottle and drinking Alfamino. Certainly a huge challenge and one fraught with much emotion from all quarters.
Once I arrived Octavia never went to the boob again and through shouting, crying and tears — mostly from mum, and quite a few from Octavia — she eventually started taking the milk. Within hours of the first full bottle she sat on my lap and was still. She never previously sat still and was always bouncing around, trying to stand up, jerking off your lap, head banging your chest, throwing herself around and it was like fireworks were going off inside her. When a baby is ingesting milk that their system can’t cope with it’s like tiny electrons are firing inside them and it is just like fireworks are exploding in their tummy all the time and they just can’t stop jerking in response to feeling so uncomfortable.
Not only was Octavia so still, within 3 days she was chatting, engaging, reaching for toys, smiling and giggling and of course she started sleeping properly again — none of which she had previously done, and as Octavia improved her mum simply couldn’t believe the change. During the first two days of the transition, mum was wracked with guilt and hugely distraught at stopping breast feeding, but as she saw the unbelievable change in her baby the emotional guilt and distress very quickly disappeared and was replaced with utter relief and joy at seeing her baby so happy.
In fact she declared to me, “It’s almost like I was previously feeding her poison!” Which of course was not the case, but seeing such a change in Octavia it’s an understandable statement she made!
As I write in my book “Breast is always best, but never to the detriment of mother or baby”. I believe that having a happy baby and therefore a happy mummy, is of paramount of importance and whatever way you end up or choose to feed your baby you need only ever say to others:
