nutramigen, neocate and pepti junior

[gd1976]

Could somone please tell me he difference between these milks. My DS has been being treated for reflux in the form of ranitidine and gaviscon which didn't work and now on omeprazole and donperidone which is showing no signs of working yet either. My paed has faxed through a prescription through to my GP for today for Nutramigen, and I just wanted to check this was the right choice for us.
From reading through some previous threads last night, I saw that Neocate is perhaps a superior milk but more expensive so the Docs don't give it out very much.... is that right? And which milk has the most amount of goodies in still? I'm worried that my son will be missing out on the nutrition provided in other formulas. He has been mix fed BM and Aptimal and has been on Aptimal easy digest for the last 2 months with only a small amount of BM. I have finally stopped expressing the BM this week, my DS is mow just 5 months.
I'd be really grateful for any feed back on these milks before I head off to the GP later

Thanks

[gd1976]

PS the reason for this prescription is the Paed thinks he is allergic to milk protein .

[chucklechops]

Sorry to hear your DS has reflux, my DD had the same and the paed thought it was due to a milk & soya protein intolerance.

I also mix feed so had to cut out milk & soya from my diet (which you'll need advice on - I saw a dietitian and was prescribed extra strong calcium supplements) and DD was given Nutramigen and Omeprazole.

To be honest, my GP seemed to think there was no difference between the different brands of hypoallergenic formula milks, and basically just picked the one that was in stock in the pharmacy. We've had no problems with it, it's worked a treat and now DD is 9 months and the reflux has completely gone.

I'm not too sure about what nutrition is in other formula milks but I know the 6 month + Nutramigen contains extra vitamins & calcium. Plus if you're mix feeding then you'll be giving extra nutrition through bm as well.

Hope this helps, you could always start on the Nutramigen and if you're not happy, ask to be put on a different formula I suppose?

Good luck and hope your DS gets well soon!

[Academicmum]

Neocate is a man-made "milk" which does not contain any protein, but contains amino acids (the building blocks of proteins). Nutramigen is made from hydrolysed casein (one of the two major milk proteins which has been extensively broken down so that the body doesn't recognise it and have an allergic reaction to it). This tastes absolutely vile. Then there is Pepti and Pepti-Junior. Both of these are based on hydrolysed whey and taste significantly better than nutramigen (the only ones my ds2 will touch). The difference between Pepti and Pepti-Junior is that Pepti still contains lactose (milk sugar) and is fine for babies who are milk protein allergic/intolerant but do not have a problem with lactose. Pepti-Junior has no lactose and has glucose syrup as its source of sugar (as do nutramigen and neocate) - these are all fine when baby has a milk protein allergy/intolerance plus lactose intolerance. The only thing is that Pepti can be preferable if there is an allergy to milk protein but no intolerance to lactose because the enzyme which breaks down lactose (called lactase) is produced on a supply and demand basis. This means if your baby does not receive lactose he/she will loose the ability to break it down and can develop lactose intolerance even if none existed before.

For these reasons you might want to try Cow and Gate Pepti (not Pepti-Junior) first. The GP will be most likely to prefer this over the others since it not only tastes better and is generally better accepted by babies (research shows that babies first introduced to these formulas will only drink an average of 10 ml/day of nutramigen but will drink around 260 ml/day of Pepti) , its cheaper too.

I hope that helps and isn't too confusing!

[gd1976]

Thank you so much, that really helps. I wish the paeds would explain it all like that!! I think sometimes they just tell you the name of what they are prescibing and don't think you need any explanation as to what it is they're asking you to give to your child!!!
I think I should do as you say academicmum and try the cow and gate pepti first.
I will check out their website now. How long do you think it takes to see and effect once you change over milks, presuming it is a cows milk protein intolerance?

[trixymalixy]

I think Academicmum has said it all!

My DS was also allergic to Nutramigen because it still contains cows milk protein.

[Academicmum]

Not sure how long it takes to see a difference as for us, ds2 only ever tried normal formula twice and had an immediate allergic reaction, which was then followed by an incident of anaphylactic shock when I (perhaps rather stupidly) then tried him with a taste of yoghurt. He's almost 10 months and at the moment he is still BF mostly (with me on a dairy free diet) with Pepti as top-ups and for use when I'm at work, out and about etc. We tried for ages with Neocate but only had limited success with it after lacing heavily with drinking chocolate or strawberry nesquick , but he will drink Pepti happily as is. Neocate also makes their poo turn dark green and a bit runny.

Oh also forgot to say, that Nutramigen now make a new one called Nutramigen AA (the AA stands for amino acid) which is a man-made one like Neocate but tastes more like standard Nutramigen. I guess this is probably more useful for people whose children are used to the taste of Nutramigen but still react to it.

When we were first trying them though, I asked the doctor to give me a tin of each so we could try them all and then got a repeat prescription for the one that worked best.

[gd1976]

Great, thank you for all those tips. I think I will go for pepti first and see how we get on. Are we talking a few weeks to see an effect for everything to settle down or do you think it'll be more immediate?

[gd1976]

I also saw that Pepti is the only one to contain pre biotics..... do you think this important of just marketing?

[Academicmum]

I think it can take a while for milk proteins to clear from the system, but I think this is more of an issue with breastfeeding on a dairy free diet. I think the effect from giving one of the hypoallergenic milks is much more immediate. Good luck!

[gd1976]

Thankyou academicmum for all your help

[rosalia786]

well i have my son who is only 3 months and half. i have so many problems with him that i am so strest and i dont know what to do any more . He is alegyc to cows milk hes been prescriped apramil pepti 1 and the only problem is when i give him this milk he is pooing only mucous and diharya but it help with his alegy what to do any bady help.?????