wrong feeding technique or digestive problems?

[spotofcheerfulness]

V quick backstory: DS is now 4.5 months, FF after 8 weeks of struggling to BF. At 3 weeks was given anti-reflux medicines (domperidone, ranitidine and gaviscon) as no one could account for his severe windiness, screaming 10 hrs a day and explosive poos. Dropped meds by the time he was 3 months as he seemed to find bottle feeding made him less windy and was prescribed Nutramigen as drs thought poss dairy intolerance.
These days feeding is still a total nightmare, each bottle takes 1 and a half hours to feed, and he's still v windy/ gurgly and is sick a lot. Recently I've had to feed him on his back as that's the only way it seems to go down comfortably (he screams as if there is something in the way if I try to feed him sitting up), but doesn't bring up any wind. He does fart a lot more now I have to feed him lying down, and we have an appt with the allergy specialist on Tues as he's had mucus in his nappies for 5 weeks now (though I think this is probably more likely to be due to his tummy bug that then turned into a bad cold).
Basically, was wondering if anyone else had such difficulties bottle feeding and if so, how they dealt with it? It feels like the situation is getting worse as he gets older, so am reluctant to blame the bottles (we use Dr Brown's). Also wondered if there was any way they could tell if he had intestinal problems as feeding has always been a struggle and I spend most of the day at home just trying to get calories into him! He is a decent size (drs notes say "not thin" ) but isn't consuming anywhere near the recommended amount on the formula tin. Any thoughts?

Just me then .

Sorry a quick reply but a couple of thoughts here.

If there is a dairy intolerance he may still have a problem with nutramigen. My DD had to be prescribed Neocate as she initially improved on Nutramigen and then went down hill again (we had to see a private paed gastroenterologist as couldnt get an NHS referral from GP and he said they can take about 2 weeks to sensitise to nutramigen if they are going to). Secondly, good you are seeing an allergist but this may not tell you very much (we did and all tests negative as DD had intolerance not allergy).

If you are still having trouble with the throwing up, then it may be worth trying milk thickeners (carobel is the most common but it didnt agree with DD for some reason, so we used Nestargel). We had to use this til DD was about 9 months but it did help (none of the medications made any difference). We used Dr Browns bottles and i think they are unlikely to be the culprit.

Very sorry to hear you are going through this - i know it seems endless, but all i can say is it will get better eventually...not much help atm i know. If i can help any more let me know.

Thanks Jasperc, that's really interesting about Nutramigen, we actually have an appt with the dietician next week as well so will mention it. The whole feeding on his back thing is new - it feels wrong and does make him fart a lot but seems the only way to get anything near the recommended daily amount into him. Did you ever do that?
Thanks for replying .