NEC Caused By Baby Formula

Necrotizing Enterocolitis is a leading cause of infant death. Could your baby’s NEC have been prevented?

Scientific studies show that cow’s milk infant formula and fortifiers can trigger NEC, causing injury or even death.

If your baby developed NEC while in the hospital, the team at 1-800-LAW-FIRM may be able to recover damages to help with your baby’s medical care or provide compensation.  Take your first step towards holding the manufacturer responsible for their willingness to put profits over people, fill out the following form for a FREE case review.

Cow’s-milk based formula and fortifiers shown to increase the risk of Necrotizing Enterocolitis (NEC)

The cause of NEC is not always clear, and some infant intestinal problems are not preventable. But there is one cause of NEC that is man-made and completely preventable: the use of bovine, or cow’s milk, fortifiers that may be added to formula or breast milk at the hospital to help low birth-weight babies gain weight. It is possible cow’s milk formula fortifiers may be the cause of your child’s NEC.

Studies show that NEC is more common in babies who received cow’s milk, or bovine, fortifiers in their nutritional formula. As far back as 1990, a study of 926 preterm infants found that NEC was 6 to 10 times more common in formula fed babies than in those fed breast milk alone, and NEC was 3 times more common in babies fed formula plus breast milk. In 2012, the American Academy of Pediatrics issued a policy statement that all premature infants should be fed an exclusive human milk diet because of the risk of NEC associated with the consumption of cow’s milk products.

Hospitals and neonatologists are aware of these studies, but often choose to use bovine-milk based fortifiers because they are lower cost than human-milk based fortifiers. That decision may have caused NEC in your baby. Further, the companies that manufacture these bovine based products have never included a warning to anyone that their products resulted in a higher risk of NEC in premature babies.

Diagnosis & Treatment of NEC

NEC can be confirmed by a doctor through an adominal xray to examine for abnormal gas patterns. A fecal occult blood test may also be done to detect an elevated blood cell count or low platelet count (thrombocytopenia) or lactic acidosis.

Depending on the severity of the condition, antibiotic treatment or intravenous feeding my be sufficient with close monitoring. If there is a hole in the intestine or inflamation of the abdominal wall (peritonitis) surgery will be required. A colostomy will be performed in some cases where a piece fo the colon is diverted to an artifical opening in the abdominal wall to bypass a damaged part of the colon. And in some instances an ileostomy will be performed, which is a surgical procedure that creates the opening of the end or loop of the small intestine out onto the surface of the skin where waste is collected in an external ostomy system. Then after several weeks to months after the infection and inflamation have succeeded, the bowel may be reconnected.