need formula recommendations for silent reflux

okay i posted yesterday, i think, about my 7 wk old's silent reflux worsening in the past week after almost a month on prevacid. the pedi had no new suggestions besides trying gripe water and that didn't work, so now i am going to try to change formula. now spitting up is not her problem... she only does that maybe once a day. but i need any and all suggestions and personal stories on a different formula that might help with her silent reflux. she is currently on neosure, a high-cal preemie formula. i plan on making this change first thing in the morning, so help me out! thanks,
amy

 

I am not sure what silent reflux is, but my daughter had reflux. We started her on Nutramigen when she was about 6 weeks old. She was a completely different baby within about 4 hours of starting Nutramigen. It is expensive, but it was worth it for us. She also took Zantac for her reflux. Good luck. I hope you find something that works.

 

Hi Amy, I feel your pain my oldest DD had silent reflux and it was not fun, until she started meds. Zantac worked for her (we didn't try prevacid only zantac), but it worked wonders for her. She was on Enfamil Prosobee (soy).

Have you tried zantac and it didn't work and are now on prevacid or did your ped go straight to prevacid.

I ask because my twins had reflux too, but not silent, they spit up and zantac didn't work for them, but prevacid did. Just wondering if the kind of reflux matters for what meds are taken and what worked.

 

You know, stories like this really irk me. We had to actually change pedis to get the CORRECT dose for Casey of Zantac. Try asking your pedi about Zantac. Also, we switched to Good Start and that helped ALOT. Whatever you do, you might not see results for a few days at least. But once we got on the Good Start and correct dose of zantac, it was literally 3 days before Casey was just so much better.

 

My daughter Emily was the same way. I second trying carnation good start. It worked really well on my other daughter Kierstan. She would projectile vomit all formulas but Alimentum and then Good Start. Start w/ a small can and see how it goes. That way if she can't tolerate it you aren't out to much.

 

Also, Casey did better initially on the pre-mixed Good Start. I also added a couple of gas drops to each bottle to reduce the bubbles.

 

My pedi said that giving the babies the ready made liquid was better for reflux than the powder that you mix at home. Somthing about the way it is chemically bonded vs. shaken up helps with digestion. It is more expensive- but within about two days on the ready made Alimentum combined with taking Prevacid- my DS was worlds better!

 

My Sean was on Zantac and WOW what a different kid he was. I also had him on Pro Sobee and that worked well.

Collin had it minor and used the pre-made (Its thicker) sensitive formula by Similac. That worked for him since it wasnt t hat bad.

 

Nutramigen worked for us, combined with Prilosec for the medicine. Also, you can give reflux medicine mixed into formula. Doctors will tell you that you need to give it 30 minutes before, but my wonderful pharmacist did tons of research for me and determined that it doesn't make any difference for babies. Sure enough, we mixed the medicine right into the formula twice a day and within days, my daughter was no longer in pain.

 

We also were on Nutramigen (plus rice cereal for extra thickness, plus polycose for extra calories), and went through quite a variety of different medications (reglan, tagamet, prilosec, prevacid). The combination of reglan and prevacid worked best for both of mine. We saw a pediatric gastroenterologist, who clearly knew a lot more than our regular pediatrician on this.

We actually got the Nutramigen from WIC (my husband thinks I abused the system - he was a teacher and didn't get paid during the summer, so we qualified for WIC then, and that kept us in the program for 6 months, even though he went back to work in September). I also know someone whose insurance paid for Nutramigen. AND I also called the company and they sent us several cases for free (two cases of pre-mixed showed up at the house, and two cases of powdered went to our pedi for us - totally worth a phone call).

So, you may just need to try different things and different doses until you figure out what works for you.

Good luck.

Rachel

 

With my 3 month old, we have been through 3 formulas to find the right one that worked for him. We thought he had reflux problems because he would scream constantly after every feeding. So we switched him to Enfamil AR and put him on Zantac. Didn't work. After trying that, I decided to switch him myself. I tried Enfamil Gentlease (it is a redused lactose formula). Container said for fussiness and gas, and well DS definitely was in the FUSSY category. Within days he was a new baby. He is no longer fussy (unless tired or hungry). It was truly a lifesaver. I was telling someone else about it and they said they have heard a lot of people saying great things about it.

It may not be silent reflux, it could be problem with lactose too. Which a reduced lactose formula or a soy formula could help with also.

Best of luck!! It is hard when a baby is so miserable like that.

 

I tried about 6 different formulas for my boys(Enfacare, Lipil, Gentlease, Nutramigen, Enfamil AR and Good Start Supreme). For my one with silent reflux Good Start Supreme worked best and for the other one Enfamil AR. I still used mylicon drops and/or gripe water along with the Good Start. Good Luck and I would ask for some free samples from the companies. Enfamil is great about that. Good Luck!