Am I overlooking something?

[Anonymous]

So, all 3 of my kids have had reflux and soy/milk allergies. My 3rd is now 2 weeks old and I thought we would have it figured out by now. However…

in the hospital, she vomited curdled milk so we got her on neocate (like my others) and she was showing all the signs of a silent refluxer, so we put her on the MARCI dose of prevacid. She gets the cherry mylanta during the other feeds. Also, she was choking and gasping on the formula alone so we thickened with rice cereal (as with my others per the advice of speech therapists) so she gets 1 tsp. rice per ounce of formula. For my other daughter, this was the magic solution. She ended up being a super baby and thrived like you wouldn’t’ believe.

Now, this one, however, is still miserable. She has excessive gas, passing loud and painful gas all day long. From 11-3 a.m., she cries constantly. During the day, she squirms, but does sleep regularly between her bottles. Her stool is bright yellow and almost totally waterery. With my other, on the neocate and rice, her stool was dark and tarry. We used suppositories as needed because of the scant quantity of stool that can be a side effect of the Necoate. With this kid, she poops every hour or so and it is that yellow liquid.

I guess I’m so confused as to why the exact same recipe would yield such different results for these two kids. Anyone have any experience with this? Am I over treating? We have had the docs support on both the Prevacid and Neocate. I’m looking for some personal experiences that might help me figure out why my newborn is so miserable. I’m trying to get in to see my GI doc (for my other child), but want some peace of mind until then.

[hellbennt]

check out the rice- could be too much for her sensitive digestive system

also look at the ingredients in the rice

ask SPLP about thickener that isn’t cereal like Simply Thick

or try oatmeal or barley making sure cereal has no hidden ingredients

OR just try no thickening at all

[Anonymous]

I’m just wondering, have you always added the cereal in with the Neocate? It’s possible that there is something in the cereal that she could be reacting to?

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the responses. I have used rice with both of my other children because they also had severe feeding aversions. The simply thick product is not an actual food item and has no nutritional content. We wanted as many calories as possible in every bottle so we did rice. I always buy Earth’s Best which does not have any additives or soy/dairy. I know the first week can be rough since rice can be hard a new system. We plan on 5-7 tough days before we decide if baby cannot tolerate the rice at all.

We see the dr. tomorrow and will probably get a swallow study to confirm the aspiration, but from my experience, I feel pretty certain she is having a big problem swallowing the formula without thickening.

If you think of anything else, let me know! Those first few weeks can be so hard and adding reflux, dysphagia and my sleep exhaustion can make it even more confusing!

[Author]

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