Great news!! And I bet you're both glad to have her back home.

A final update.  We got through the week just fine.  As I said above, the gradual transition from mostly milk, some Neocate to mostly Neocate, some milk, did the trick.  By the end of the week he was drinking 100% Neocate from his bottles.  He ate a ton of solid food - way more than prior to the trip - and we're continuing that now that my wife is back in town. 

Just wanted to say thanks again for all the help and support.  This forum is great - glad to be a part of it.

That's terrific!  I was wondering how things were going. 

 

Hi everyone,

Thanks again for all your help.  A quick update:

We're on Day 2 and my son is doing great.  The mixing milk and formula transition idea worked like a charm and he now will eat a bottle of 100% formula as long as it's warm.  This morning I remembered another trick from when he was 6 months old and my wife first went back to work... I walk him around the entire apartment so he can see for sure that mom is not around (and therefore that he has no other options than the bottle) and then he seems to drink the bottle more willingly. 

I'd say the only hiccup in the plan is some constipation issues.  I think it's both the formula and the sudden increase in the amount of solid foods he's eating.  We're gave him a bottle of water and a little prune juice - hopefully that will help things along.

It's good to hear things are going so well.  A few notes for others who may read this thread some day.

My DS hated the Nutramigen until one day my mother heated it until it was the temperature of breastmilk. (At which point the probotic is not active, but we were okay with that).  He happily drank it that way.

We also had an experience similar to Rebekahc.  DS liked breastmilk enough that he would take it from the Avent bottle.  But the formula had to be given to him in a different brand that had a different "flow".   

I don't know about the rice milk combined with the almond allergy, though.  Many rice milks are made on shared equipment with almond. They may not be labeled as such either.

My sympathies to your wife and trying to maintain a safe diet while traveling.  I traveled a lot in those days and lived on pre-packaged, well-labeled snack food, salad (with no dressing), Corn Chex, and Rice Chex -- to the point that even now, more than a year later, I still can't get used to eating regular, non-snack food again.  But it did manage to keep the milk safe.

Oh, that is TERRIFIC news!  What a relief it must be to know that you can mix with the Neocate, at least. 

One other tip about a "911 bag"-- we used to keep a tiny version of a comfort object in my DD's epipen bag.  We learned that lesson the hard way when she was little.

  She had a thing for satin/smooth textures, so we used some inexpensive blanket binding to make her a tiny "blankie" about the size of a hankerchief.  It was a life-saver.  Well, not like epinephrine, obviously, but when you're tiny and you're being poked and prodded and you're just plain scared and exhausted, it's nice to have.   

TwinTurbo - We hear you on the hospital bag - we've had one assembled for a while and, sadly, put it to use a few times.  BUT... I had not thought about the water!  GREAT tip!

And thanks to those of you who commented about my wife's milk supply.  She's a world-class pumper (pumps all the time for work).  We thought about overnighting milk but for at least part of her trip she won't be able to maintain her exclusion diet.  She may send back a few bottles early on.

T-Minus 2 Days Update: Nanny was watching our son today and began the switcheroo... his bottles were half neocate and half milk... and it's gone fairly well.  The particular bags of milk were apparently clear of allergens and he drank the stuff with only a little protest.  We're going to transition over the next two or three days... and will probably keep some milk in the mix unless he really takes a liking to the formula.

Funny about the containers you give kids - we've been experimenting with which works better (the same bottle as the milk or a different container like a sippy cup).

One other thing I just thought about.  You might try giving him the formula in a sippy cup rather than a bottle.  When my son was a baby, I breast fed him and once he was old enough he had juice from a bottle.  Once, I needed to have an MRI with contrast and couldn't breast feed until the radiation was out of my system.  He absolutely refused to take my expressed milk from a bottle.    When he weaned himself at 11 months and we had to give him formula the same thing happened.  For him, bottle = juice and he would NOT drink anything else from it.  However, he would drink breast milk, formula, water, etc. from a sippy cup.  Maybe your son is the same way?

My daughter was even worse - she wouldn't drink anything from a bottle.  Ever.  She had to go straight to a cup.

just adding that I wish I'd had this board when my DD was a year old and we were having similar problems.  DD ended up with a feeding tube at 15 months.  You really want to avoid this!!!  (not our fault -- we were doing everything drs told us to do --- and dr finally said we'd have to do the G tube.  We'd had an ng tube before that for a few months in hopes of not having the G tube.)  If I'd had these suggestions posted here, I would have tried them and possibly would have avoided that G tube.   

It would be super pricey, but can your wife overnight milk home?  What about the two of you accompanying her?  With a doctor's note, sick leave would be possible for your leave, I imagine.

The support is going to help. Make sure everyone follows routine, I've noticed things get 'lax' on hand washing and 100% adherence to cross-contamination protocols when mom (me) isn't there to referee.

Get your menu planned, have a few instant meals on hand for baby AND you, assemble your arsenal of substances food and drug that you'll need to survive three days. Pack a hospital bag to include in your emergency action plan for an allergic event. Know where all your epinephrine is, have plenty of freshly opened children's diphenhydramine (Benadryl) on hand complete with known dosage to EVERYONE, reserve some of your oral syringes for Benadryl use. In case.

The hospital bag should have nearly the same items as a hospital bag for birth and delivery. Comfort items, food, OTC drugs for parents and/or child, canister of Neocate or some premeasured doses, extra bottles/nipples, water to mix formula*, small bottle of Clorox wipes, photocopy of insurance card, change for drink machines, phone numbers (you can't always use your cell inside the ER). Include a bottle of Benadryl here and some epinephrine. I've had experiences waiting on a backlogged ER pharmacy to send out emergency meds. They even made mistakes and had to reissue the med. Yeah, that's a great experience. Lesson learned.

The plan is to not need the hospital bag. But when an allergic response starts rearing its ugly head you'll be incredibly relieved to have all that you need on hand.

BUT... I've done days at a time absolutely alone with both my kids. It's doable. The night routine could be rough if your child nurses to sleep. In that case fill his belly with other nutritious stuff then go for a car ride to see of the rumble of the car and carseat is enough to knock him out. Feeding with syringe in the middle of night could be the toughest part but again, been there.

The bright side is you will engineer new survival tactics. Necessity is the mother of invention. 

*You don't want to use the sink water to mix formula in the ER. The water from vending machines is also too cold for formula to mix. Clorox wipes are to wipe down extra surfaces since you have NO IDEA what was there before you (superbug?) and the child is so young.

Slightly unrelated but if your wife is planning to nurse again after she gets back, she should try to pump while she's gone. Even if she throws the milk away it will keep her producing for when she gets back. Good luck!

Wow - you folks are awesome!  Thanks for all these suggestions.  I really appreciate the time you all took and your moral support as well!  (special shout-out to twinturbo - thanks!)

Based on all of the input here and elsewhere, our initial game plan is to:
1. increase his solids (he loves chicken, beef, rice, fruit  and veggies and I think will be game to eat more than he has been)
2. use some frozen milk (only some have caused rash, and only a rash - so we'll risk some in small amounts)
3. use some neocate with juice added or mixed into something he likes to eat
4. water, rice milk, and pedialyte if I get into a hydration crunch
4. just get through the week, doesn't have to perfect - and then figure out the long term post-breastfeeding plan

I will have help, thankfully.  During work week, I normally watch him 3 days a week and nanny watches him 2 - but I'm going to have her come for some extra hours and then both sets of grandparents will be in town at end of week because it's almost his one year birthday (for which my wife will fly back just in time).  It'll be the first time it's not both of us at night and in the morning - so I'm sure that will have it's challenges but I won't be alone the whole time.

Thanks for all your posts.  We thought we were totally prepared for this scenario but the recent uptick in his allergies threw our frozen milk plan in flux - nice to get so much assistance here as we scramble to adjust.

I will be back to report how it's going (and probably to ask for more advice as the week unfolds). 

Yes to Pedialyte and to this, which is precisely what I was going to suggest:

"It's your call but I'd even go so far to start mixing Neocate with some breast milk now using a completely different method to ingest like a medicine dropper,"
and for the same reasons; we had to do this with supplemental feedings just to get my DD home from the hospital after birth... because DD refused to breastfeed* at all, instead she just screamed and turned blotchy and scratched at herself...

(guess PB crackers weren't the greatest thing to give a new mom who had recorded, stated concerns about FA in her newborn after all, eh??     )



Anyway.  Yes.  What twinturbo says.  I'd risk very tiny amounts of the breastmilk from the freezer if that is what you have to do-- if you're using a dropper (or gravity-feeding with tubing) you'll know right away if you have a "REALLY bad" batch and can just dump the rest.  KWIM?

Eczema-covered isn't ideal, by any means, but it beats dehydration.

Welcome, by the way, and-- good luck!! 

Pedialyte is sometimes better-tolerated if it is quite chillded, by the way.  My DD hated the taste of it otherwise, but she, too, has had it, and was soy/wheat/peanut/treenut/milk/egg allergic at that point in time.