Neocate opinions please!

[Deevie]

Hello! My 17 week old baby is very unsettled since 2 weeks old and diagnosed with reflux at 6 weeks due to very fussing and in pain feeding and vomiting sons of his bottles. He's on losec since 6 weeks. He was still vomiting afew times a day so at 13 weeks pediatrician recommended changing to Aptamil pepti 1 for suspected cows milk allergy/intolerance. He's in this 4 weeks now but still lots of crying, wind and tummy pains. He has no weight issues, he's quite a big baby but very unsettled and not content. I'm thinking of asking GP to move him onto Neocate but just want to see peoples experience with it, good or bad! We can't get appt with pediatrician again due to Covid situation. Any advice greatly appreciated x

No experience sorry. Hopefully this will bump for you

My son had it many years ago from 5 months alongside breastfeeding
It didn’t smell great and he didn’t like the taste at first so was a bit of a struggle to get him to drink but after a few weeks he would accept 6-10 oz a day if we fed him whilst he played in the bath twice a day !! It was the only way I think the older the baby the more they object to taste

It was very thin and he had reflux so we had to add a thickener after a while.
He put on weight though and did get used to it moving to neocate advance at 1 year then soya milk at 2

DS is almost 15mo. He's been on Nutramigen Puramino (essentially the same as Neocate) since he was 10 or 12 weeks. He absolutely thrived on it, did much, much better on it than on my breastmilk ... and I have been dairy-free for many years!

(We initially tried him on the regular Nutramigen for a week or 2 - I think this is similar in composition to the Aptamil your baby is on - and it worked for a few days but the symptoms quickly returned.)

I've heard some people say their babies didn't like the taste of the hydrolysed formulas but DS took to it immediately, no problem. His first nap after that first bottle lasted an hour - he'd never napped for more than 15 mins prior to that!

I know someone else who put their baby on Neocate and she said the same - her son thrived on it as well.

It's very thin so you do need a thickener - we used Carobel up until he was 13mo and now he's fine without one. You'll also need to go up a teat size or 2.

Hi @PippinStar, many thanks for your reply. I started him last Tuesday and he's doing much better on the neocate and doesn't hate it! I bought carobel but haven't used it yet as afraid it will cause constipation as he's still on losec for reflux too. I might try it though as it's very thin and his tops are soaking after every feed even with a size one teat!
Great your son did so well on an AA formula, I was nervous changing formula again but it's worked out ok sofar! Do you mind me asking is your son still allergic to cows milk/dairy or can he eat some things?

Hi @guiltandchocolate, many thanks for your reply. I started him last week and his symptoms have eased a lot and he doesn't hate the taste so sofar so good! Great to hear stories of little ones doing well on it.

Hi Deevie, my DS is also on losec and the carobel did cause constipation at first - but I found that adding a much smaller amount of it to the bottles and letting it thicken for longer worked really well. So, in a 6-8oz bottle, I would add only 1.5 scoops and let it thicken in the fridge for a few hours.

And in maybe 2 or 3 of his bottles I add an extra ounce of water to counteract the constipation.

I haven't introduced him to dairy at all because I'm dairy-free (vegan) so want to keep it that way for him. My family, my DH and all his family also react badly to dairy. So I'll be switching DS to oat milk when he turns two. Sorry, that's no help to you. Have you seen / tried the dairy ladder to help reintroduce it?

My LO was on Neocate from 10 weeks due to a severe dairy allergy. I credit it with literally saving his life, he was so malnourished and dehydrated. We attempted the 'dairy ladder' at 12 months and he was still allergic but by 18 months he had started to outgrow it and by 2 years he was drinking cows milk and eating cheese like a chap! No allergies or reflux or any dietary issues now at 7.5years.