Understanding Baby Formula

The only way to cure a baby whose colic is caused by an allergy to milk is to take the baby off of milk and put him or her on a hypoallergenic formula. The problem is that the market is glutted with all kinds of different formulas. How do you know which one is best for your colicky baby?

Most mothers feed their baby a standard based formula. Standard infant formula is made of cow's mill protein. This can cause some confusion for parents who are told to never give cow's milk to a baby before her first birthday. This is because milk protein is very irritating to the young human intestinal tract.

As the vegetarians say, ' I am not a baby cow!'

When companies make this formula they break down the cow casein and why protein and modify it in a way so that it is nutritionally appropriate. Still your child's body may react to the proteins in standard formula. In fact this type of formula is one of the biggest villains when it comes to causing colic in babies all over the world and why donations of formula to third world countries are also frowned upon by some experts in children's poverty.

This is because formula is not a universal solution to hunger. If it is the wrong type it can make a child sick – as in give it severe colic.

In order to create formulas for the protein allergic infant manufacturers go a step or two further with milk protein, They heat and treat it (called hydrolyzing) the protein to break it down into smaller chunks. After protein is hydrolyzed the body has difficulty recognizing the cow protein and the baby does not have the allergic reaction. These formulas are the hypoallergenic formlaes.

The drawback of these formulas is that they really smell. This is because when proteins are broken down they cause an odor. The odor is often compared to old, cold hamburger that has been stored at the back of the fridge for a few weeks.

If your baby doesn't like the taste of this type of formula then you can try adding a drop of vanilla extract or a half packet of NutraSweet Sugar substitute to make it taste better. Don't add sugar to it as it can cause diarrhea.

Yet another drawback is that this formula is really expensive. The cost of standard hypoallergenic formula runs from about $350 a month for a typical infant.

Some babies cannot tolerate the hypoallergenic formula, which means you have to go to a super hypoallergenic formula. In these formulas the proteins are broken even further down. Sometimes these formulas are also called completely hydrolyzed formal. It contains not a trace of intact protein.

These super hypoallergenic formulas are even more expensive then the hypoallergenic ones. They are also even smellier. However for the infant that has an inflamed intestine this formula may be just what the doctor ordered.

Soy does happen to be a fine nutritional alternative to breast milk and standard formula if your baby can tolerate it. However soymilk can also cause acid reflux symptoms if your child just happens to be allergic to soy!

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Breast Fed Milk Allergies

Just because your baby is being breastfed does not mean that it cannot develop a milk protein allergy. While it may occur less frequently than formula allergies the babies nonetheless can have symptoms of milk allergy. The suspicion on the part of a pediatrician that the baby might be allergic to breast milk is why most doctors recommend that a new mother start the infant on formula.

Many mothers think that when their child develops an allergy to breast milk that he or she is actually allergic to her milk. This is a common misconception and a true allergy to your own mother's milk wold be very rare indeed. The baby is, in actuality allergic to certain proteins in your diet that you have digested and that eventually end up being secreted into your breast milk. . Sometiems if you eat less of these protiends the child is still able to tolerate the breast milk. This means that you as a mom have to be careful about what you eat in order to make sure that your breast milk does not cause colicky symptoms in your infant.

The treatment for mil protein allergy in the breast fed baby is dietary retraction of the offending proteins. While some lactation experts will recommend broad sweeping restrictions most babies will do just fine with the restriction of the milk proteins casein and whey. This translates to mean that you can't drink milk or eat milk products like cheese or yogurt. This is because it is the components in cow's milk that are likely making your baby colicky and sick.

The foods that contain casein and whey that you should avoid are

· Milk
· Butter
· Half and half
· Sour ream
· Yogurt
· Ice cream
· Cottage cheese
· Custard
· Curd ghee
· Nougat
· Brown sugar flavoring
· Margarine
· Deli meats
· Chocolate
· High protein shakes
· High protein flower
· Nondairy creamer
· Cheese

Your baby usually shows signs of improvement after just a few days of clearing your diet of milk proteins. Some babies may take two to three weeks for the complete healing of the intestinal inflammation. The key is to be patient and give it enough time. Many babies really do settle down after the two week period.

If you change your diet and the baby is still sick then you will no longer be able to breast feed the child. The main treatment for the milk allergic baby is to take him or her off milk and feed him or her one of the hypoallergenic baby formulas. There are all different kinds of formulas on the market that do not have a trace of these proteins and once your baby starts drinking these the symptoms usually disappear altogether. Removing intact cow's milk protein from the baby's diet serves the role of making baby feel better as well as confirms any suspicion that milk allergy was the cause of the colic in the first place (if the symptoms are relieved!)

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