The ped said last night my son might be allergic to milk altogether. He told us to switch to Nutramigen.

Did switching to a hypoallergenic formula help reflux for anyone's child?

Help her reflux, uhhh I dunno exactly. It did help her gas and tummy pains which I'm sure in turn helped the reflux a bit too. We've tried twice to switch back to regular and it doesnt work for us. My daughter will be on Alimentum until she goes off formula.

Hope that helps! :)

We switched from milk to soy formula, and it was the soy that took away all of the screaming, arching, and gas problems. We were still left with the excessive throw up sessions... constantly. We then switched to hypoallergenic (Nutramigen) and it did nothing for us. We were on it for 2.5 mos. and saw no change. We then saw the ped GI whom switched her to Neocate (prescription hypoallergenic formula) and put her on Zantac. These two combined have helped tremendously. It's been about two weeks since she has thrown up at all. YEAH!!!

Evan was mostly bf, but did take Nutramigen. His reflux was better when I avoided his known allergies, but it wasn't MUCH better till I quit bfing (at 12 mos) and put him on Neocate only.

Hi there,
I really hope that switching works for you. I have heard many success stories where a formula switch did the trick. Unfortunately it never did anything for us. In the nine months since my twin boys were born they have been on breast milk, enfamil lipil, enfamil AR, good start soy, nutrimagen, and then prescription elecare (hypoallergenic). After a endoscopy with biopsy showed no allergy we went back to enfamil. Ours have silent reflux and and their main symptom is feeding refusal. I think it probably works better for those who actually have symptoms of stomach upset (ie: bloating, gas, crying).
Good luck, I hope the switch makes a good difference.
Kristina
P.S. If you find that it does make a big difference, find out if your doctor writes for a prescription hypo formula if your insurance will cover it. When our boys were on Elecare insurance covered it and even paid to have a home health company deliver it every month!

We may have to look into the insurance/prescription route. That would save us sooo much money. This is one time I really really really wish I qualified for WIC.

Most insurance plans do not cover hypoallergenic formula because it is OTC, even if a dr writes a "prescription" saying it's medically necessary.

So what is Neocate/Elecare?

Joshua started on regular Similac, then switched to Lacto Free Enfamil. It didn't necessarily help with the reflux but made a huge impact on his gas and tummy pains. That along with switching to Dr. Brown's bottles.

Our Ped said she first does regular formula, then lacto-free, then soy, then the specialty ones. We lucked out with lacto-free.

Hope that helps!

Neocate and Elecare are elemental formulas made w/out dairy and soy and no intact proteins. You can get it w/out a prescription, but w/ one, your insurance may cover it. Ours does, but many people have to fight for it.

So they are the same thing as Nutramigen or Alimentum basically?

Aidan started out on Similac and had horrible gas and the screaming and arching along with nasty poos. We switched to soy and no difference, then to Good Start...still the same. When we went to Alimentum the screaming and arching stopped but the gas and poos were the same. Then on to Neocate....everything is so much better.
In answer to your question about Neocate being the same as Alimentum/Nutramigen...no they are not the same....Alimentum and Nutramigen still have milk proteins in them, they are broken down but some babies still react to them. Neocate is made with only amino acids so there is no offending proteins in it. Hope that helps.

Hi there,
I really hope that switching works for you. I have heard many success stories where a formula switch did the trick. Unfortunately it never did anything for us. In the nine months since my twin boys were born they have been on breast milk, enfamil lipil, enfamil AR, good start soy, nutrimagen, and then prescription elecare (hypoallergenic). After a endoscopy with biopsy showed no allergy we went back to enfamil. Ours have silent reflux and and their main symptom is feeding refusal. I think it probably works better for those who actually have symptoms of stomach upset (ie: bloating, gas, crying).
Good luck, I hope the switch makes a good difference.
Kristina
P.S. If you find that it does make a big difference, find out if your doctor writes for a prescription hypo formula if your insurance will cover it. When our boys were on Elecare insurance covered it and even paid to have a home health company deliver it every month!
kjay, I just wanted to thank you again for sharing the comment about your insurance. As it turns out, my insurance will pay for my son's Nutramigen, but I never would have thought to have a prescription written out or to ask my insurance without hearing this from you. :)

Connor started out on regular Enfamil in the hospital and it caused him to spit us and he was very fussy. Then we switched to Soy which made him have mucusy poops and lots of gas and spitting. Then we tried both Netramigen and Allimentum which he was still very gassy and fussy and had runny green poop finally, our ped referred us to a GI and he put Connor on Neocate which has been a life saver. It turned out he had MSPI and the Hypo formulas still have small traces of milk protien in them. A lot of people do have good luck with the Hypo formulas I would definatley give them a try. I have heard better things about RTF Allimentum than about the Netramigen. I really hope one of these works for you!