Nutramigen formula for 5m old - please please help

[sunseaandme]

Posting on chat for traffic as I never seem to get any responses to my threads :( don't want to post an essay but to summarise baby has always been fussy with his bottle, cries pushes it away and will barely drink 2 ounces at a time (he should drink much more than that at his age!) so GP prescribed nutramigen as he suspects CMPA, also prescribed omeprazole as he has silent reflux too. First day having both he slept through the night for the first time hallelujah!! However today despite that oh my god he has been a little devil baby screaming his head off all day long, seems in pain poor thing, nothing would console him literally screaming at top of his lungs for hours. It was horrible seeing him like that as other than the fussing at feed time he is a very content happy smily baby. I think the new formula is making him have trapped wind. I tried everything to get his wind out to no avail. Heath visitor says to keep on with the formula for a week as his tummy needs to adjust. What do you alll think?

Can you try without the omeprazole but with gaviscon in the bottle instead? I only say this as I think omeprazole can upset tummies (think it did for my son) and if you try before his system has fully adjusted for the omeprazole then you don't have withdrawal issues.

Generally, painful acid reflux is a symptom rather than a cause. The other thing to try is moving to something that is an amino acid formula. Nutramigen is extensively hydrolysed but does contain dairy in broken down form. If you want truly dairy free, then you are needing neocate or similar. If you continue to have issues, I'd say this is likely.

Thank you. What do you mean about reflux being a symptom rather than a cause? symptom of what? Sorry probably being thick lol x

My daughter has a CMPA and couldn’t tolerate nutramogen as it’s not 100% milk free. She had to have neocate.

Could it be constipation ? My little boy used to be on this milk and get severe constipation

Bicycle legs for trapped wind

My DD's also couldn't tolerate Nutramigen and had to have Neocate which is an amino acid formula.

Sorry, I meant that acid reflux is generally a symptom of intolerance. I'd swap to neocate or similar - my son improved so much on that (and now has grown out of dairy intolerance aged nearly 2)

All babies are prone to some reflux and wind / colic etc, but the painful acid reflux that makes them howl and scream all day and refuse to eat much is different.

You can treat the acid reflux via omeprazole, but this also can slow digestion which is not always what you want so much in a baby that is struggling to drink as it is (not medically trained, just my view).

The reflux can be because the milk is not being digested well due to the intolerance/allergy. Instead, it is sitting there making baby feel really rough all the time, like when you have eaten something that doesn't agree with you and you can still feel it making you feel sick hours afterwards.

I'd swap the formula - the fact that he is screaming after feeding better means that something you have done differently has upset him. I'd guess the milk. My son didn't need omeprazole once on neocate.

And please be very careful about doing bicycle legs on a baby with reflux - you are better off holding him up and letting him squat up and down a bit. Absolutely do not do it whilst he is flat on his back, as you are forcing the acid upwards and it will be very painful.

@sunseaandme how did you end up getting on with the nutramigen? My little one has been on it for a couple of days but won’t take the feeds very well at all!