Urgent warning to parents about new Aussie formula after a baby boy suddenly fell ill and was rushed to hospital
The parents of a seven-month-old baby claim his health deteriorated and became malnourished after switching to new plant-based baby formula.
The Melbourne family turned to Coco2 - an Australian company which claimed to be 'the world's first coconut-based infant formula' - after learning their little boy was lactose intolerant.
The parents claimed their son began showing worrying symptoms a few weeks after he started on the formula.
'He wasn't reaching any of his seven-month milestones, he wasn't sitting up,' the father told 7News.
'He'd look sick, he'd get up, he'd drink, he'd go to sleep and then wake up again in half an hour because he's hungry and we'd feed him again.'
By February, the baby was lethargic, losing weight and had 'lost all his colour'.
'His lips started to crack. He was rashing all around his nose and eyes and so we just went to the GP and he suggested some blood tests,' the father said.
However, the tests did little to ease the family's panic and they went to the Royal Children's Hospital in their desperate quest for answers.
Their worst fears, including blood cancer, were ruled out but doctors struggled to narrow down what was wrong.
Eventually, they recommended the family try a new formula and the baby quickly recovered.
Doctors don't believe the baby will suffer any long-term issues.
An official report from doctors at The Royal Children's Hospital suggested the baby's illness was likely caused by the formula.
'The Coco formula they were previously consuming had made an error in their scoop size and was not delivering adequate nutrition per feed — this is the likely cause for their significant weight loss and malnutrition,' the report stated.
Coco2 recently updated its serving recommendations after detecting an error in its scoop size.
'We're reaching out with an important update regarding the Coco2 Baby Formula batch you purchased,' an email to customers stated.
'Due to natural variations in bulk density, we discovered that the included scoop holds slightly less powder than usual.'
The company recommended parents add 50 per cent more formula to their baby's bottle.
Coco2 has recently updated its serving recommendation to add 50 per cent more formula to each bottle (stock image)
'This adjustment is simply to ensure that your baby receives the proper serving size and all the nutrients they need,' it said.
'We sincerely apologise for any confusion or inconvenience this may have caused.'
A sticker with the updated serving recommendation has also been added to in.
Coco2 emphasised that the product is safe and 'there have been no medically confirmed reports of babies becoming seriously ill due to Coco2 formula'.
The company also insisted a recall was not required as the issue was dosage related.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Coco2 for further comment.
Developed in Queensland, Coco2 was hailed as the world's first coconut-based formula and 'a breakthrough in plant-based nutrition for babies' when it was launched seven months ago.
The new product prompted a warning from experts for parents to check with their GP before switching to the plant-based formula
'I would be waiting, as a professional, for [a] growth study to come out before I went out and recommended this formula to a family who wanted to feed that to their baby,' paediatric allergy dietitian Ingrid Roche said.
'Some babies have really high nutrition needs and we know (certain) formulas are good for growth for some children who have really high nutrition needs.'
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