Not sure what to do!

My 6 week old son, Ryan, has had feeding issues from the beginning. In the hospital he had to be syringe fed pumped breastmilk. Once he came home we saw a lactation consultant. He was able to nurse but had some trouble sucking well so I had to supplement with pumped breastmilk. Feedings were taking over an hour (40 min nursing, 20 min pumping, then the bottle). He also seemed uncomfortable after feedings (crying, pulling off the breast, arching, pulling up his legs) and would often spit up. My older son, Shaun, had reflux and MSPI so I recognized the symptoms. I followed the MSPI diet and pumped/bottlefed Shaun until he was a year.

Ryan was prescribed zantac by our pediatrician and his stool was checked for blood. No blood. Symptoms kept getting worse. I cut out dairy/soy to be safe with no change. At 4 weeks his doctor found a hernia that required surgery. The pediatrician said that the nursing/bottlefeeding was too much for the baby (not to mention me!) and that I should just pump and bottle feed. The surgeon felt that the surgery may help to decrease his discomfort and reflux symptoms. I added in dairy/soy to my diet since it seemed that Ryan did not have MSPI. The surgery was last week and things have not gotten better.

On Monday we saw a gastroenterologist. They found blood in Ryan’s stool and prescribed Alimentum RTF. I made the decision to switch to formula because I did not feel that I could handle the MSPI diet/pumping/bottlefeeding for another 10 months. I have another child this time (21 months old) and my husband just had major surgery. I felt a lot of guilt but it seemed the best thing to do for the whole family.

Today is day 2 on the Alimentum. Things have gotten so much worse. Instead of crying after feedings, Ryan is crying all the time. He is arching his little body and screaming. He was up all night when normally he sleeps 2-3 hours at a time. His stools look mucousy now and he is straining to poop. He has more gas. I called the gastroenterologist to say that I believe he is allergic to the formula but have not gotten a call back. I gave him breastmilk at the last feeding because he seems to tolerate it better.

I don’t know what my options are at this point. I guess I can go back on MSPI diet and hope that I can keep up with the volume that he wants (I was barely able to keep up and had no extra) or try another formula. Any suggestions are welcome!