Thank you for your replies for my client whose adopted baby has serious
allergies.  She took the baby to the doctor today and she advised that they
feed him Alimentum.  She gave them a sample can and we all just hoped that
at 6 weeks he would drink it.

He did, but she is doing all of his feeds at the breast and the Alimentum
is too thick to go through the Lact-Aid tube.  She tried the SNS
middle-sized tube and it was still too thick.  Then she went to the largest
tube.  It would come out but very slowly.

The can said "Do not dilute", but they decided to do so in order to feed
him at the breast.  They did try some dropper/finger feeding which worked
too.  I told her just now that I would ask about some dilution.  The way I
see it, the whole formula scene is a big guess and who's to say that it
needs to be of that particular density. It is my opinion that keeping the
baby at the breast is the most important thing.

He is getting almost 1/2 breastmilk we think, so the diluted Alimentum
seems to me to be an acceptable solution.

I wonder how big the holes in a bottle would have to be for it to pass
through.

By the way, does it come only in "ready to feed" form?  Or is there a
powdered form?

This mother has worked so very hard for her supply.  She met the birth
mother who gave her a picture album of her family so that the baby would
know of his family of origin.  The foster mother who had him for 5 weeks
also made an album of pictures of his first weeks.  The birth mother fed
the baby her colostrum and the adoptive mother visited the foster home
several times and fed the baby at her breast. He is a very lucky little
fellow.

She has a list of all of the foods that the birth mother is allergic to,
which has been most helpful.

I appreciate any further help that you can give me on the topic of
Alimentum--experience, opinion, "gut feelings" or even hard facts.

Pat Gima, IBCLC
Milwaukee, Wisconsin


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