Finding The Best Formula For Micropreemie

05 March 2020

When discharge day finally arrived for my NICU preemie, my breast pump had completely bugged out on me. I had been actively trying to get it to work again, when we got the call that baby would be coming home the next day... YIKES! What was an exclusive pumping mama to do?! This is how Eliaz became exclusively breastfed for the following 10 moths or so. He was a real champ at learning how to breastfeed (bf) and we really enjoyed our bonding time together. I kissed my breast pump good-bye and didn't look back until this mama wanted her freedom back.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. Reviews and opinions are my own experience and are not to be taken as medical advice. As always, discuss your personal situation with your doctors.

Weaning

Definitely the best possible infant milk option for my micropreemie has been mama's milk and you can read all about it here. However, sometimes that is not always possible with the stress of the NICU and thats ok. Even the best breast feeding journeys come to an end eventually. That is where the need for formula came in for us. I gently began to wean our preemie at around 12 months actual age. Weaning was a gradual and sometimes painful process for me that didn't end until Eliaz was about 15 months old. Patience was definitely the key word here.

Switching to Formula

With weaning, came my search for the best formula for preemie. At first, I tried a grass-fed organic non-gmo infant formula variety, however the calories had to be adjusted to 23 cal per oz as per the GI's recommendations. So we had to mix it accordingly. At this point, he was still bf-ing for most of his non-solid meals and he only had formula about once a day. Even with this small amount of formula, there were a few things that worried me about the switch. Eliaz had a history of silent reflux at the nicu and I worried that this might come back. He also had a sensitive tummy and we would notice bouts of constipation during the few times the nicu would feed him formula (some times the nurses didnt have enough of my breastmilk on hand).

Formula Troubles

As I began to feed him more and more formula, things I had worried about started to crop up. Eliaz would frequently become constipated and he started developing a rash on his bottom that wouldn't go away. We eventially took him to the doctor and it turned out to be a strep diaper rash that required antibiotics. Once at the Dr.'s office, we also learned that his iron was wayyyy too low. I thought maybe my breastmilk was causing the low iron but turns out my iron was completely fine. The only recent changes I could think of was the formula. That is when I started to do a bit of research into goat milk formula.

Goating Around with Goat milk

After leaving the Dr.'s office with antibiotics and an infant iron prescription, I was pretty disheartened with the whole weaning thing. Since my dad is kind of a naturopath of sorts, I recalled hearing that goat milk was a good alternative to cow milk but I didnt know exactly why. After doing a little bit of digging I was able to find that goat milk had exactly what I needed in a formula for our preemie.

Goat milk is gentler on sensitive tummies yet packed with much needed calories
Goat milk helps with nutrient malabsorption like iron deficiency
Goat milk is better for allergies & eczema
Goat milk has essential pre+probiotics that can fight infection and promote a healthy gut
Goat milk has more similarities with human breastmilk than cow based formula

Happy Tummy

I didn't hesitate to switch Eliaz to a goat milk formula after reading the research. I actually tried holle first until Eliaz reached 12 months adjusted age and then switched him to Kabrita toddler formula. Both are goat milk based and NON-GMO, except Kabrita is sold at our local Whole Foods and on Amazon which is a lot easier for me than ordering from Europe. Eliaz has now been exclusively drinking Kabrita goat milk toddler formula for the last four months and I have not had to worry about a thing.