Baby has food allergy/advice needed - Infant Care (up to 18 months old) Message Board

Cookiem26 · 08-02-2008, 07:58 PM

Hi all. I have an almost 4 week old baby who after a recent admission to the hospital we have found has reflux and a milk protein allergy. Her symptoms that brought us to the hospital mimiced a seizure of some sort so we had every test in the book and all came back normal except for the upper GI and the test her pediatrician did for the allergy. She started Alimentum yesterday and her doctor has us putting 2 tablespoons of rice cereal in her bottle due to the reflux. She wants us to feed her 4 oz. every 4 hours if possible to give her poor tummy a chance to rest because basically at this point feedings are pretty unpleasant for her. She also wants the feedings to take at least 20 minutes so she isn't gulping it down to fast and hurting her tummy. Getting her to take 4oz. without falling asleep has been a challenge, she's really only taking 2.5 or so every 3 hours. My question first is there anyone out there who has dealt with this? If so, any advice? I wonder how long before this new formula starts to work and ease her pain. Tonight she was screaming and withering in pain after eating. I am assuming the formula doesn't work overnight but anyone know how long before we'll see improvement? We have had such a problem with the bottle nipples too, Avent are way to fast and it pours into her mouth and the playtex drop in nipples are too slow and she can't get the formula and cereal out, I had to cut them more and we bought the ones with the y cut. Sorry so long but this is all new to me, it's our second child and didn't experience anything like this with the first. Thanks!

G8r4evr · 08-02-2008, 09:46 PM

Im so sorry your little one is having such a rough start. I hope she starts to feel better soon. I would expect to see results from the Alimentum somewhere between 2 and 5 days. Alimentum worked great in easing my baby's colic symptoms, she just spit it up terribly, because it was so light.

The best nipples I have found for formula thickened with cereal are the Dr Browns Level 3 nipples and also the Born Free Level 3....they both let the thicker formula out, but not so fast that they choke.

Good luck and I hope she feels much better soon!

LEJ79 · 08-03-2008, 08:28 AM

Our DS had terrible reflux as well. We also rushed him to the emergency room (at about 7 weeks of age) because it looked like he was having seizures when we put him on his back. Has your doctor put your baby on any type of acid reflux meds? Our DS is still on Zantac three times a day. It made a HUGE difference! I would be surprised if your doctor only had you change formulas and use rice cereal. The real difference, for us, came from using the Zantac.

Cookiem26 · 08-03-2008, 08:32 AM

sorry I may not have mentioned but she is also on drops twice a day which are called Axid which are alcohol free and are for the reflux. Doctor mentioned Zantac but didn't want to start that because of the alcohol in it or something, wanted to try the drops first. Thanks for the responses so far.

luckydarlin · 08-03-2008, 07:19 PM

We went through this with my daughter last year and it was horrible, so I completely feel for you! I think we went through 6 formulas before we found the one that worked. The Alimentum did not work for her (but it definitely has for others) so we ended up on a formula prescribed by the doctor, EleCare, which is an amino acid based formula. We noticed a difference in her behavior within two days of being on the new formula - it was like night and day! She was on acid reflux medicine for a while as well, but once we had her on the formula that worked for her, her other symptoms were much better and we eventually were able to take her off of it.

I ended up using the Dr. Brown bottles. She seemed less gassy and more comfortable with the flow of the nipple. I used the age appropriate nipples and they seemed accurate with what she needed.

Hang in there, it will get better! Hopefully the Alimentum works and you'll see progress very, very soon.

Good luck!