Hypoallergenic??

B

bmoses

New member
We had our baby on Gentlease and had a lot of reflux issues, switched to Similac Sensitive 365 and everything got worse, reflux and digestion. A specialist even noticed blood and lots of mucus in her dirty diapers. I switched to Bubs goat formula and things seemed better but we were still having some screaming fits and mucus.

So the pediatrician gave us an Elecare can as well as a Pepticate. We’ve started with Elecare but her spit up is AWFUL and I can’t seem to find it anywhere. I’m also considering Alimentum, Nutramigen, HipP HA. What do y’all think would work for both problems? The doctor believes it’s a sensitivity and not an allergy but she wasn’t tested.
 
@bmoses I feel like your doc skipped a level by going to the amino acid formulas without trying Alimentum or Nutramigen. My baby tolerates Alimentum RTF and powder really well, and it’s usually in stock in my nearby targets.
 
@bmoses The other two answers are great, I just wanted to add three things. Hipp HA is not a great hypoallergenic formula, it’s actually more like gentlease than Alimentum, Gerber HA, or Nutramigen. Also, 60% of babies with an allergy or intolerance don’t end up with blood in their poop! So although a test can be a easy way to diagnose, it isn’t guaranteed! If amino acid ends up being the best, look into gelmix to thicken it & help with the reflux!
 
@bmoses You went from a partially hydrolyzed formula(Gentlease) to an intact milk protein(Similac sensitive). You should try Nutramigen with LGG probiotic. Sounds like a milk protein issue.
 
@bmoses We used HippHA when my little guy was diagnosed with CMPA and it worked really well for us! He outgrew the allergy after 6 months and we have put him back on kendamil now 😊
 
@bmoses Assuming sensitivity or allergy is common. Having just reflux is really hard to diagnose tbh bc most infants have reflux of some kind. The mucus is an indicator of a sensitivity/allergy which is probably why they assume.

However it seems a bit of a stretch to go all the way to amino acid and not hypo like allimentum or nutramigen.

Amino acid formula is INSANLY thin. That's why you're having reflux issues still. Having GERD and a sensitivity plus adding in thin powder formula is going to make the spit up worse even if she has a CMPA.

Personally I'd try ready to feed. It's naturally thicker so it will stay in the stomach and weigh it down. Allimentum ready to feed is easiest for me to find but ik some people depending on location can find nutramigen ready to feed.

My son has severe reflux issues, for context. No sensitivity or allergy and we see a pediatric GI specialist. Never had mucus in his poop or blood at all. But we went through the whole testing, allergy, upper GI dye testing fiasco when he was 3 months. You can request they test her stool for CMPA though and idk why doctors don't do this as a standard. It was insanely annoying switching formulas every 2 weeks with no answers when all they had to do was do some tests. We went through hell trying to get him tested and medicated and by the time we got to amino acid formulas I had enough and said you're either giving us a trial of pepcid or I'm not bringing him back here. So definitely advocate for your LO if you don't think something is working.
 
@katrina2017 Thanks for taking the time for this. I also think Alimentum would be appropriate. I think that he got us Elecare either to be extremely safe OR because they didn’t have the lower level hypos samples when I asked for a sample. He did agree when I said “alimentum or Nutramigen?”

I’d like her to get tested just so I could know if it’s an allergy or not, but the doctors and an unaffiliated feeding specialist both seemed to think it was sensitivity. We will try the Ali RTF and hopefully we can stick with that. In Addition to the worsened reflux with the Elecare she seems to perhaps be a little constipated too.
 
@michael121 We had seemed to have luck with the Bubs goat! But either things were way more inflamed than we thought or she has some more serious intolerance? I’m hoping that at 6 month we can try goat formula again, and maybe even work back to traditional cow protein based… but for now some sort of HA seems to be the way to go.
 
@bmoses How much time did you give Bubs before switching back? We noticed a night and day difference but she was still screaming when she had gas. The drops helped tremendously with that and after about a week she seems to be able to tolerate things now without the drops.

I think reflux is pretty normal TBH. Any lighter formula is going to have some difficulty staying down. Just need to keep them elevated and perhaps do smaller feeds if they will cooperate. I believe there are some products you can use to thicken the formula as well if you don’t mind the additives.
 
@bmoses My son has been doing great on Nutramigen powder. He went from being in the low 20 percentile for weight/age from a week old to his 2 month check up, to now in the 80s percentile for weight/age. He started on it at 7 weeks and now is 5.5 months. I've heard a lot of parents say their babies didn't do good on Nutramigen, but took Alimentum well. We didn't test my son's stool, but he had other symptoms that his pediatrician spotted.
 
@bmoses Try the Pepticate! It’s an HA formula just like Alimentum and Nutramigen except it’s made from whey, not casein. It tastes MUCH better than the casein-based formulas. The Elecare is an amino acid formula so that’s the next step if the Pepticate fails.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top