This ain’t my first rodeo…so to speak.
I’ve had 3 children so far. I’ve breastfeed 3 children. Breastfeeding was difficult with my first two because I would always crack and bleed. Hey, don’t forget I”m a redhead. But with this baby, breastfeeding was very easy. Him and I were an effortless team from the very beginning. My past experiences with breastfeeding were not pleasant, but I got through them because it was better for my kids. As do most mothers. This baby was different or I just got really good at it. Who knows.
The horror story started just after Christmas when the baby had the worst case of eczema my pediatrician has seen in a long time. It happened because allergens were passing through MY breastmilk. He was miserable, bloody, seeping liquid, itchy, and all the skin he had burned and peeled. Originally, they thought it was a really bad viral rash and he had to just get through it. But it didn’t stop. I changed my diet. I stopped eating dairy, wheat, eggs, soy, peanuts, tree nuts and finally seafood. We slathered him with medicated ointments. Some days he would find relief, but then eventually he would break out again and it would start all over. He was in agony and I finally decided to give him formula to let his body heal. My own breastmilk was hurting him.
Now I really hate formula. I have to be honest here. Breastmilk is best. I’m in that crowd. I’m not judging you for giving your child formula obviously because I just did. But I always recommend people find an organic brand. This is my bias. I’m in the natural crowd. But when you have a child that needs a specialized formula, there is no organic brand. This is pharmaceutical grade formula. So what is a mother to do? Well, I found an amino acid formula that is NON-GMO. And at the end of the day, that is really what I wanted to protect my child from. This is what I found and it’s from England, which is why it’s GMO free. They don’t like GMOs there either. *sigh of relief*

Now on to the next part…bottles.
Before I decided to give the baby formula, I was contacted by Playtex Baby. They wanted to give me some supplies to help out as I was dealing with all this craziness. They sent me their Nursers w/ the drop-ins, a breast pump, Diaper Genie and dishwasher thingie to clean the bottles. At times like this, I really appreciate the brands that are listening to their potential customers in social media and reading about us. I really felt like they cared sending me all these supplies. It came just when I needed them. People work behind the scenes in these type of companies. Good people.
But before I would give my precious baby a bottle, I had LOADS of questions. What about BPA? BPA is something that is very damaging to babies and the exposure can happen before they are even born. And what about Phthalates? That chemical doesn’t get enough attention, but you want to avoid it as well. We couldn’t go the glass route because I’ve already broken two glass bottles before I could even give to the baby. That’s not safe for my other kids. So plastic it is, BUT it has to be a safe plastic. And when it comes to your baby you NEED to find things that are free from BpA and Phthalates. Well, I was rest assured when I was told that none of the Playtex Baby products have either of those nasty chemicals inside them. *another sigh of relief*
Then I was talking to a girlfriend the other day and she told me that those were the only bottles she could give her son who had major reflex issues. I’m lucky my little guy has never had reflux, but it does run in the family. Mostly with adults though. The nursers from Playtex were created special for reflux and colic. But the other reason why I really like them, is they don’t spill. There’s nothing nastier than having to clean up old formula leakage.
So remember this, when looking into bottles you want to avoid the following:
Bisphenol A (BPA)
AND
Phthalates
Then when it comes to finding a formula, please consider:
Going with an organic brand. (Organic brands ARE already GMO free.)
OR
Something GMO free (free from genetically modified organisms because of health risks)
And I’m supporting Playtex Baby because they were so wonderful to me in my time of need so I’m also hosting a giveaway here. Playtex would like to give away one set of their Nursing bottles and a SmartSpace Dishwasher basket. Let’s make it simple, you only need to help me promote this post to enter and you can do that by tweeting about this post for me. If you are tweeting please use #babybookieboo and @Playtexbaby in your tweet so I can track it. No need to comment about your entry. You only need to comment if you want me to know you were here reading my story.
So to answer the question of to breastfeed or formula feed when your baby has allergies….do whatever the hell you need to do. It’s your life. Period.
Disclosure: Playtex Baby sent me a grip of product and I did this post. And I would just like to state for the record that before I received any product I put them through the ringer with about 10 emails going back and forth about the safety of their products. I’m not messing around with my baby. And neither should you.

















































