CMA - Neocate not working - please help!!

[KLG3101]

We are at our wits end with our DD2's feeding issues. The poor little soul is really struggling which is heartbreaking to see.

She's 6 weeks and formula fed. Diagnosed with CMA at week 4. Incredibly dry skin which almost looked red. She's been on Neocate for 11 days now along with reflux medication as her reflux is awful. She initially seemed to settle slightly better however over the past 5 days her bowel movements have changed. She didn't paas anything for 2 days having previously had 3-5 dirty nappies a day. Today she's had horrible smelly diarrhoea. She's been so sore she's cried on and off 8am - 6pm today and clearly in agony at feeds. I've tried gripe water, colief and infacol as she struggles to pass wind / burp but nothing's settling her. I'd say her reflux has been worse all of a sudden today.

Any advice would be gratefully received as I'm struggling. My DD1 settled so well I feel so incredibly upset to not have that lovely awake content time with my little girl.

[HarryBob]

Hi sorry to hear about you little one's reflux, it's horrible to see your baby suffering. When my DS switched to Neocate due to CMPA his reflux seemed to get worse until we thickened the milk with Cow & Gate Carobel. He's been much better since that & having his medication switched to Omoprezole.
Hope you see some improvement soon 💐

[Sparklyuggs]

Hi, really similar here. We've been told to add carobel to neocate and there is already a dramatic difference; along with ranitidine and omneprazole.

Who are you seeing for this? Hope you get it sorted soon.

[KLG3101]

Thank you so much for replying. We are already adding carobel. Can I ask how much you are adding and which teat size you use? Wr arw using dr Browns 2 size but even that clogs up.

[Sparklyuggs]

I found Dr brown difficult to use with neocate, we use mam bottles and a size 2 teat.

[HarryBob]

We use the maximum amount of carobel - 1 scoop for every 2oz of milk - in a MAM bottle with a size 3 teat

[Babydreaming]

We had similar issues and turned out to be a misdiagnosis. There’s no test for CMPA and the symptoms can overlap with reflux and eczema. In our case the neocate made no difference to symptoms and he actually drank less of it. He had it for months but he Was still in loads of pain and refusing to drink. We retrialled cows milk and no difference. In our case it turned out just to be severe reflux but this caused an oral aversion eventually and he ended up being NG tube fed. The neocate should work if it’s CMPA (once reflux excluded with thickeners/meds) so if it’s not working then go back to GP as it might not be the right diagnosis