Nutramigen Hypoallergenic Formula

[Lara310809]

We've been advised to start LO on Nutramigen Hypoallergenic Formula (formula for milk/soya allergy, lactose intolerance, and colic). My LO is a fussy eater, but over the past week she's gone down from 25-30oz per day to 15-20oz. She also takes a few ounces, then loses interest, arches her back, whinges and pushes the teat away with her tongue. I assumed this was her being full, but apparently it could also indicate pain (esp. the arching of her back), so they're thinking she may have colic again, or that she's lactose intolerant. She also brings up milk after feeds; not like proper vomiting, but like spitting up.

We've been told to try it and see what happens. If she gets better with it, I assume we will be told to continue with it, and if not, and she's still not drinking enough, they're suggesting we wean her, because she's dropped from the 50th centile to the 9th She's basically not getting enough calories to grow as she should be, so she's lagging behind.

They said it tastes horrid, which it does (we tried it ourselves, as we like to know what LO is tasting), and she took the first bottle okay, but now I've given her the second feed she's thrown a hissy. She would suck for a couple of seconds, then cry, then suck, then cry, over and over. The only thing I could do was sing to her for about 10 mins, and she still only took 1/2 an ounce

THey said that if she was refusing it, to gradually wean her off the old formula (Aptamil) and onto Nutramigen, by gradually increasing the amount of the new one in each bottle, until she's having an entire feed of Nutramigen. I made up another bottle with 1/3 Nutramigen and 2/3 Aptamil, and she took it, reluctantly. So I know she was hungry.

Has anyone tried this? If so, how did you find it?

 

[Hen]

We moved onto this a few weeks ago. I changed a single oz every couple of days and she took it without any problems. It really does stink though!! It's certainly made a huge difference to Lottie, and she was exactly the same as your LO so fingers crossed it does the trick for you.

 

[ouchwithNo.2]

Ella was on Nutramigen for about 2 weeks when she was 6 or 8wks old as she had some dodgy reactions to normal formula.
Yes, the stuff stank and we never thouht she would take to it, but she did. I have heard of mixing the two together as well and slowly removing the standard formula as it is so different.
We saw no improvement with her terrible wind (the rash went though) and sickness (now reflux) and she is happily on SMA WySoy.
I did have to chuck out all my Dr Browns though - no amout of boiling would get that manky cheese sauce smell out of them.
Yuck yuck....

 

[CER827]

Hi Lara...I read your post and had to respond! How you described your baby reminds me of exactly what I have been going through with my daughter....I was at my wits end with frustration not being able to figure out was wrong...after trying breastfeeding and various formulas we figured out that she did have a milk protein allergy AND infant reflux....not regular reflux which most babies do have when they are newborn and usually grow out of...my daughter was refluxing stomach acid into her throat and it was burning her...she would fight the bottle or breast...literally want it then push it away and just cry and cry and fuss for what seemed like 24/7...I could not pinpoint exactly what it was but I noticed she kept either burping or hiccuping and then she looked like she was tasting something in her mouth, moving her tongue around and taste it and start crying as if she was in pain....after noticing this over and over I finally did some research and realized she probably had GERD. I had been to the dr and er many times and was told it was colic...she would cry on and off, mostly at night for hrs....we could not console her and if we could it was short lived...I refuse to believe that a baby cries (in pain) for no reason...there is always a reason....so after taking her to the dr one last time armed with this info she was diagnosed and prescribed zantac....I found out that the reason it was mostly at night was that the concentration of acid in the stomach is actually higher at night so that explained a lot....I hope this helps..since my daughter has been on the zantac she is a different baby! She drinks Nutramigen also and the dr had said to wait and see if it helped...it helped with the milk issue but not the burning when she would reflux....the zantac was key. Usually they grow out of it so in the meantime for our sanity and hers this is what we are doing. Hope this helps and I hope you are well!

Jill