pepti junior/intolerance help

[1lumpor2]

this is going to be a bit long winded but here goes. my DS is now 18 weeks and last week my concerns were finally listened to, and he was prescribed pepti junior. basically he was crying and agitated non-stop til we started adding colief to every meal at 6 weeks old, this definately took the edge off. when i tried to stop using the colief though at 12 weeks then at 15 weeks he very quickly went back to crying/agitated/not wanting to be put down etc. when i eventually got referred to a paediatrician after lots of 'hell grow out of it' she said it sounded like an intolerance and to try the formula. hes been on it a week now exclusively as i decided to stop BF (basically not coping and now on medication for PND) and is definately improved. he is however a bit constipated with quite thick (like putty), green pooh every couple of days accompanied with a lot of straining. he is also permanently tired and sleeping loads or whining and rubbing his eyes. he is also teething : ( basically im worried about the constipation but hate going to the docs or phoning the peadiatrician as ive been made to feel like a neurotic mother for 17 weeks, i assume the tiredness is probably teething related. just wondered if anyone had any advice before i bite the bullet and phone the paed.

I would phone the doc
Going through similar with DD at the moment
am here if you need to talk

think i will give a ring today, just feel like im constantly at the doctors or on the phone : ( how is your DD? is she on pepti junior too? my DS has now started having more acid reflx, though silent, which he did get before but seems to be worse with the pepti junior so now he is on omeprazole too, i hate giving him so many medicines and feel sometimes like im making things worse. i just wish everything was easier, im finding it so hard to cope.

hang in there, I know it is tough
DD is on nutramigen (for cows milk protein allergy) carabel to thicken and ranitidine (max dose) but we have recently had to take her off all of this to check that her allergy is genuine. it is and the few days were awful.

There are other meds you can try, I really would phone the doc or at least your HV

my paediatrician is on annual leave and the name of her colleague that she said to contact if i needed to is now on annual leave too! another paedicatrician said to go back to using the movicol, not that he saw my DS or asked anything :( guess ill do that anyway and hope it sorts him out, he has been crying most of today in between short naps, and has been rubbing his eyes all day in a tired way. he's bought up quite alot of acid today too, i went to check in boots if i needed a prescription for carabel and whether they thought it would help and they'd never heard of it! they even tried to look it up in their book and clearly thought i was bonkers. guess ill see if the movicol sorts him out and if not phone again in a couple of days though goodness knows who i can talk to. why do these things always happen over holidays.

Hi there

Sorry I had spelt it incorrectly, it is carobel and made by cow and gate. Your doctor can prescribe it, does your DC bring up a lot of their feed? Ranitidine doesn't make babies sick (I think) so sounds like a thickener may be the thing you need. There is also infant gaviscon which thickens too.

My DD is allergic to cows milk proteins so worth asking about that too.

Let me know how you get on.... have you tried your Health Visitor?

(I am still the same poster just lost my Easter Name!!!)

Sorry, your baby is not on ranitidine... got mixed up, am also trying to help another MNetter with similar problems.

For constipation you could try apple juice. Get the best you can (not from concentrate) and dilute it 1 in 3 with boiled cooled water do 1fl oz juice and 2 of water. If no poo then repeat after 4 hours. If still no poo give just 1fl oz of juice.

As I said the carobel or gaviscon will thicken feeds if they are being sick. Ranitidine is for reflux.

Sorry for long post but here goes.....My son is 21 weeks and has been on pepti junior for a while now. I also struggled with bf and coping and am being treated for PND. Please believe me when I tell you that things DO get better. My son was given pepti junior for suspected cows milk protein allergy and silent reflux. He improved on the pepti junior (it did take a good few days to see a difference tho as the digestive system has to adjust and get rid of the old milk completely) and it also took a while for my son to get used to the milk and take bigger feeds as the taste is apparently a lot different so at first he didn't take much but this gradually increased but the reflux continued so he was given gaviscon and ranitidine. The combination has made all the difference. The pepti junior is very very thin (much thinner than normal formula) and so the gaviscon helps it to stay down and the ranitidine is an antacid to stop the burn and discomfort. Ranitidine dosage may need to be changed as your baby puts weight on so you will need to keep an eye on his weight and ask advice from paed if you feel it starts to be less effective (they have just increased my sons dose slightly because he has grown), I also know there are other meds that can be used if ranitidine seems not to help so don't give up. Unfortunately the gaviscon can cause constipation so we give my son diluted prune juice and cooled boiled water (he likes it warm and will take more than if cold) and this helps. Also if you have only just changed to pepti junior the change can take a while to make a difference as does the ranitidine so don't panic if results are not instant (this i know is very hard) If your baby has been suffering from acid a while it can take a while for the discomfort to heal the paed told me to wait at least a week to see a difference. The poo's on pepti junior can vary from green (dark and light!) to brown to mustard in colour and may change from poo to poo! (I was worried about the green poo and checked with C&G and was reassured that all these are normal on this milk) I know how you feel about the doctors, not being taken seriously and feeling like you are nagging and neurotic but please do not give up until you are satisfied and your baby is better - you know best (even tho you may not feel like it - you do!) you are a GOOD MUM and you are right to want a happy baby who is comfortable so don't feel bad about it. I am only talking from experience as I felt awful and had a really hard time so I can fully sympathise with how you feel and its so unfair. Unfortunately GPs and HV's don't seem to be aware enough about these milks and treatments and can be very reluctant to do anything and put so much down to 'Colic' because they don't know so need to be nagged! Its great that you have been referred to a paediatrician and they should be a lot more helpful although difficult to contact in between appointments (I know this too!). I really hope that you read this message as I know this thread was from last week but I had to reply after reading as you sounded just like me a couple of months ago. I really hope that some of this helps and that you see a vast improvement soon and can enjoy your little one more. If you feel that the milk is not helping there are others that are even more hypoallergenic (neocate being one I have heard of) so don't give up and remember you are doing your best and it is more than good enough. God Bless, Lindy xx :)

thank you so much genius and monkey, its nice to know im not the only one. My DS seems much better this week, still bringing up a little bit of milk though he mostly swallows the acid-ness, that seems to be less sore though as he has stopped screaming when he does it so assume the omeprazole is starting to work. the movicol has definately got things moving too and he is sooo much happier, i cant believe the difference in mood when he is constipated. he's still a little grouchy but i think that is teeth so cant be helped! i cant believe how much happier he is on the pepti junior and im hoping that everything will work out now and we can get on with being a happy family!

So pleased things improving and hope you start to feel much better every day too [hug] :)