Will Neocate help with weight gain, CMPA baby

[Afsgh]

After some advice from someone more knowledgeable about this than me as I'm very new to this. After a tough start with a bad tongue tie that wasn't picked up until 8 weeks, I was told to give my LO formula top ups in addition to breastfeeding to assist his weight gain. Having done this a couple of weeks ago, lots of his niggling symptoms that I've been raising for weeks intensified (mucus in nappies and lots of dirty wet nappies, green poo with blood streaks, sneezing, raised skin on cheeks, reflux, negligible weight gain). After a trip to A&E he is now on Neocate and I'm on a full elimination diet (dairy and soya).

LO is now below the 0.4 percentile on the weight charts having been born on the 50th percentile. What I'm trying to understand is whether I don't have enough milk for him to be putting on weight, or whether the CMPA could mean that he's been getting ample milk but that his body has been unable to break it down/convert it into weight gain.

LO is being breastfed with top ups of expressed milk and/or Neocate throughout the day, which we add Gaviscon to for his silent reflux. Should we expect to start seeing some weight gain soon, or is that unrealistic?

Any and all advice welcome!

It's common for babies with CMPA not to thrive until the CMP is removed from their diet. I'm sure he will soon begin to grow now. Are the Health Visitors supporting you? His weight should be monitored until he is growing well. Good luck.

If he has food intolerances/allergies its going to depend on how strict you are on eliminating every scrap of his trigger foods from your diet. How have you established the CMPA, what testing has happened so far? There is a decent chance that he is intolerant to more foods than just dairy and soya.

If it were my baby with that little weight gain, I would go 100% neocate and pump and dump to maintain my supply. Then see if he starts to gain weight and when he is back on the percentile charts and thriving you have the choice of whether to reintroduce your breast milk and what foods you want to eliminate from your diet (considering your health in all of this as well)

I am hoping you have a pediatrician guiding you, I would push for a pediatric allergist referral asap and get to the bottom of this

Also have you looked at other possibilities such as an issue with his digestive tract/heart?

We are definitely still at the beginning of exploring this. We're yet to have any tests done and we're waiting for an appointment with the paediatric team in mid-December. @SeaToSki my assumption is that they will check for digestive/heart issues at that point, is there anything in particular we should have on our radar?

Our GP this week rang the acute paediatric assesment unit to try to get LO seen sooner but they said there was no need to bring LO in, just move onto Neocate and continue with the elimination diet to see if that makes a difference. We're also waiting for an appointment with a dietician.

I think its dreadful you have to wait since your LO is clearly failing to thrive (good medical term there, throw it around). I would switch 100% to neocate as its the thing least likely to cause any further upset, and feed little and often, every 2 hrs if you can night and day. Then get regular weight check ups, every couple of days if you can. Keep a diary of every wet and messy nappy, what you fed, how much you fed and time. Any vomiting etc. Weight at the same time every day and every check in, and put it all in a spreadsheet to its easy to read. Then take it to the doctor every time you visit. Keep hassling them for a cancellation appointment etc

In terms of other things that could be going on, there could be a partial bowl obstruction or structural digestive problem, also a heart issue. Has the GP listened to his heart and bowel sounds? Has he had any scans or xrays? Make sure the pediatricians assess for that stuff too even if its to rule it out. Intolerances are the most likely cause given the messy nappies and so should be addressed first, but its not the only possibility.

And one last thing does he have any jaundice…yellow whites of eyes/skin tone