Hydrolyzed Formulas Without Prescription?

[10000Fireflies]

Can anyone help me please? Can formulas with hydrolyzed milk proteins be bought without a prescription? If you've used any of them with your DCs, which brand worked best?

DS is nearly 10 months. He had terrible colic (was combination fed at the time but from 3 months EBF) and then seemed to have trouble adjusting to solids at 6 months. It seems that the writhing and thrashing at night and lack of sleep for both of us got worse as I reintroduced formula. There was an incredible improvement when I put him on Colief. Now I'm getting to understand issues with cow milk proteins and digestion, I've tried him on Wysoy, which he hates, and I've heard is not particularly good for babies even over 6 months. It's going to be ages before I see paediatrician (GP referral), and in the meantime, I'd really like to get him on formula again. In any case, we're not far off the 1 year mark, and I guess cows milk would not be a good option for him, so it would be good to know now what he can have instead.

I am waiting for Paediatric referral apt which could take ages. Doctors surgery so far seems unable/unwilling to help and who knows how long referral apt will take. Any help v much appreciated.

you can buy Neocate online - I've just googled and Chemist direct sells it for £32 per tin - but it's going to cost you a fortune to buy enough. Also my DS was prescribed Neocate at 10m and he never took to it because it has a really strong taste and smell.

Could you pay for a private paed appointment, and then the paed could write to your GP telling them to prescribe whatever dairy free formula they feel is appropriate. I'm guessing a paed appt wouldn't cost much more than a few tins of Neocate!!

Hydrolised formulas are foul. If he won't take Wysoy he's going to fight the Neocate/PeptiJnr

therein and Freddie thanks for the info on Neocate/Pepti. I had a feeling that they are foul tasting! I think I've read somewhere that some people add Nesquik and cut back on it slowly until they can get DC to drink it.

Therein that is a good idea re the private paed, and you are right about the cost!! I have been considering going private. I know there is private GP near me who alleges to be experienced in the food intolerance/allergy fields. Does anyone have any recommendations?

MoreSnow what is the name of the lactose free milk please? I'm not keen to keep on with Colief because it costs me the best part of £12 a week, and so far, with two Doc appts I haven't been able to get them to prescribe it. Although he's had some improvement with it, I don't think a baby at 9/10 months, who is eating a lot of solids and is combination milk fed, should be doing runny yellow nappies. Since I have gone back to exclusively BF along with solids, his nappies have been starting to look a bit more like I would expect - ie more solid and brown. I spoke to a counsellor at La Leche about all this and she suggested that it was less likely to be a lactose intolerance and more likely a problem with milk protein.

If I can find a solution which works myself I'd rather do that. I don't know how long I will have to wait to get the NHS to help me sort it out. I am not getting very much sleep at the moment and it's driving me insane. All my ante-natal group friends are getting their babies to sleep through the night, whereas LO and I are going backwards with everything.

Has anyone tried the goats milk formula?

pepti doesnt taste anywhere near as bad as the others. Bit like horlicks.

Goat formula is likely to cause same probs as cow as it is still a mammalian milk.

Ps definitely more likely to be protein intolerance than lactose. CMPI can
however cause secondary lactose intolerance owing to the damage it does to gut.

Yy to adding nesquik. Only as a temp measure tho. I also sometimes used splenda but know many are not at all keen on artificial sweeteners...

Narmada Thanks for the recommendation of Pepti. Which brand was it? Aptamil? Really interesting to hear that CMPI can cause secondary lactose intolerance. It's all beginning to fit into place now for me and I feel like I'm getting somewhere. I'm am havering about whether I should buy some and just get on with it while waiting to see paediatrician. I have also been wondering about giving one of the 'Comfort' blends a go.

MoreSnow he seems fine at the mo - have been EBF for about 48 hours now.

I don't know why my docs is so crap and couldn't even manage to deal with some initial investigations for us. DS's appt with paediatrician is at the start of June, precisely 8 weeks after initial docs appt. Is a long time to wait, so I guess I could look into a private consultation. If anyone has any recommendations for the London area I'd be very grateful. OMG, I am soooooo tired....

Oh I bet you're tired :(

If you can EBF then this is by far the best thing as you can exclude dairy from your own diet and things should improve. You might also need to cut out soy too. Milk and soy proteins can transfer through your BM.

We used aptamil pepti 1. They make a follow-on too but I think this is prob a marketing ploy rather than a necessity.

If EBF is not a goer the I would say yes, buy some OTC pepti if you can afford it - it's not cheap :( It isn't going to do any harm. If it is succesful as a trial, then you have some evidence to take to a paed. I wouldn't bother with comfort milks as they are only slightly hydrolysed.

narmada thanks for the further info. I will be EBF now for a couple of weeks - have some things that need sorting, which requires a bit of sleep/rest and he seems far more settled now. When I have other things sorted I will start experimenting a bit!! While EBF, so far, he seems ok on my current diet - I haven't had to modify it (though I'm no longer drinking a pint of milk a day, so maybe that's key?) - either mine or his. I know families with whole hosts of allergies so I shouldn't be so whingey about it, but then again, shouldn't we both be entitled to a decent nights sleep?

Glad I didn't buy any comfort milk today. I'll have a chat with the HV tomorrow at the clinic and see what they recommend too.

I find you have to keep battering away at these issues, and consult as many sources as possible to get as much info as poss to get a resolution.

Better get to bed and get some sleep while I can. Thanks again everyone.