Formula for a MPI 5 Month Old

[Anonymous]

Hi. My son is just over 5 months old. He has a milk protein allergy and after I elminated all dairy and beef from my diet his sleep vastly improved (meaning instead of waking up every 20 minutes he slept from 7-10 and then was up every 45 minutes). He also stopped grunting all the time and his poop smells better.

At 4 months, needing a break, I decided to introduce 1 bottle a day. I pump only at night (he’s my 2nd — no time at all during the day ) and get about 3 oz so I give formula 2 days and then milk the third.

First we used Nutramagen. It was horrific. No poop for 6 days, tremendous reflux. We switched to Alimentum, and his sleep waas as described above. He makes it from 7 – 10 and after that it’s not the best.

For the last 5 days I’ve given no formula (used up my store of breast milk ) and Mon. – Thurs. he slept 7 to around midnight and was up every hour after that. Last night he slept 7 to 2 and was up every hour after that. It just seems so much better w/o the formula.

Honestly, though, I don’t want to exclusively BF anymore. I like that the last feed of the day is a bottle. That way if my husband is home, he can feed the little one and I get good night time with my older son. Also, we know how much he’s eaten and know if he wakes up during the night he’s not hungry.

So, what formula do I use? Any suggestions. As I said we currently use Ready To Feed Alimentum (powder resulted in severe throwing uo), but I don’t think it’s the best.

Anyone have luck with Good Start? Remember, he’s MPI!

Thanks in advance.

[Anonymous]

Do you know if he’s intolerant to soy? If he’s not you can maybe try a soy formula.

If he’s intolerant to milk, Good Start probably would not work for him, especially if Alimentum is not working. I think you’d have to go to Neocate if he can’t handle milk, soy, Alimentum or Nutramigen.

[Anonymous]

I haven’t eliminated soy from my diet and he’s much better, but not great. I’ve been dreading having to eliminate it as eliminating dairy was hard, at first. And, who knew how much soy was in EVERYTHING!

I guess we could just try soy formula and see …

[Anonymous]

I would go with Neocate only because you can be sure he isn’t getting any milk protiens and if he is soy intollerant which the odds are he is. They say that if your little one is intollerant to milk they probably are to soy also. But Neocate is very exspensive so make sure this is really what you want to do.

[Anonymous]

Thanks. I’m not sure about the neocate. I wonder how expensive it really is. If I’m only using formula 1 time a day, we could probably swing it.

[Anonymous]

Neocate is about $30-$35 per can, but it’s a 14 ounce can, which lasts about 2-3 days in my house, but my little one is exclusively bottle fed. The difference in price for you, with only giving 1 bottle/day probably won’t be too difficult for you to swing. It is hard to find neocate, though, for me I can only either get it through Apria healthcare or online at the neocate website (http://www.shsna.com/pages/dha_ara.htm’s ) that should work for you. They say you should also be able to order it through pharmacies, but I didn’t have much luck with that…maybe someone else has more suggestions on the Neocate?

[Anonymous]

you can go to any pharmacy and ask them to order it for you. if they give you an attitude, ask to speak with someone higher up.

[Anonymous]

Thanks. We’re going back to the Ped. Gastro. tomorrow and I may ask about Neocate. He’s doing better with the sleeping, but his throwing up is worse, and it now includes solids! My first son had reflux but never threw up solids, only breast milk/formula. I do laundry so often!!!

[Anonymous]

Myles was a huge puker and he threw up everything and anything. Breast milk, any formula, and even solids. It was very discouraging and exhausting. My washer and dryer were both going all day, every day!

Anyway, I’m just posting this to let you know that Myles also threw up solids, he and that did finally outgrow it at 9 months….so it does thankfully pass.

Good luck with your appointment.

ndrose2007-3-8 10:19:23

[Anonymous]

The vomiting makes me think his reflux isn’t being controlled and maybe your little one needs to be on Prilosec or Prevacid. If you do switch to one of the PPI’s, do not stop the Zantac for 2-3 weeks because it takes that long for the PPI to kick in.

However, I do wonder if you will need to start Neocate. It is so very expensive. I would start researching to see if you are elgible for WIC or any state programs and call your insurance company and ask if Neocate is covered if your doctor deems it *Medically Necessary* for your child. Many insurance companies only cover it if the child is tube fed. This stuff is so expensive so I would try the soy formula first. Hate to be on Neocate if your baby really could tolerate something else!

Good luck! What did your gastro doc tell you?

[Anonymous]

I cannot believe I finally found a website that describes my son to a T. We are on neocate and I have a freezer full of breastmilk that will never get used. The one thing about it is that we are finally sleeping better 4-5 hrs at a time. My son had a feeding tube after completely stopping eating and then a hospitalization. Neocate is expensive and it’s horrible that they can charge so much for the only thing that has worked for us. Target had the best price at $30.79 a can, I live in Nebraska. I even work for a hospital and explained the situation to them and the “best” they could do for me was $35. My sister works for a gastro doc and says it’s actually $27 a can at cost. Call your local hospitals and ask for cans and ask them to call their reps to see if they will give you a couple free cans. Believe me I’ve poured out my sad story to everyone because we don’t qualify for any assistance and I’ve gotten 6 or 7 cans for free. Also ask your doctors office if they keep cans from reps. My doc gave me 4 cans to try when we first started out with MSPI because it really does take a couple of weeks to a month to see if it works for your child. My child had a feeding tube and the whole nine yards so I know your pain.

[Anonymous]

Erica: Hi! We are in the same boat but Carson is just over 20 months and we are STILL on Neocate. I also tried to bf. You are on the right track! We did not qualify for any state programs either. The one thing I did find was Children’s Miracle Network. We are in Sioux Falls, SD and they have a CMN in Sioux Valley Hospital (Sanford Health). They give $500 per year to each family. No questions were asked. Our doc actually filled out the paperwork. The gal called me and asked where we got our Neocate. I told her that HyVee got it in and charged us $29.99 per can. She sent the $$ to HyVee and put it in an account. When I needed a can I would then “buy” my Neocate at the pharmacy in HyVee and they would fill out an ON ACCOUNT form and it would be subtracted from our $500. Of course, with Neocate $500 doesn’t last very long, but it was really nice! Their year starts on May 1, so if you can get $500 for this year and then apply again after May 2007, you can get $1000 almost right now. I wonder if Nebraska is within the boundaries of this Children’s Miracle Network? If so, give them a call! The gal’s name is Shelly Selgestad – 605-333-3232 or 1-800-699-7997 or selgests@siouxvalley.org She is so very nice. Good luck!

TnBEich2007-3-27 22:53:44

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