switching formulas due to reflux

i posted yesterday about my 7 wk old daughter's silent reflux that has worsened for the past week after being on prevacid for almost a month. she's formula feeding neosure, a high-cal preemie formula. pedi had mentioned that we should be able to change to a regular formula at the 2 month visit, which is coming up on aug 13, but i want to change now. i cant stand seeing my girl in so much pain when she's trying to eat, acting so hungry and then looking like she's in agony when she eats. so i think i've read that nutrimagen or alimentum might be the best for this situation, is that correct? what have your experiences been with silent reflux and switching to these formulas? also, i've also read lots of posts about people switching formulas a lot and i am wondering, do you really have to consult your pedi everytime you switch formulas? do they totally frown upon you making a switch on your own? i want to buy some new formula first thing in the morning. tia,
amy

 

I don't have any advice, just :hug99: .

 

I have responded to your last two posts- and to answer your question about consulting the pedi- I always did. However, I had friends who were frustrated with their pedi and would switch formula without calling. My pedi was great- very supportive. We did work through the gammet of formula however. We started with Similac Advance, then Similac Soy, then Similac Sensitive RS and then finally Alimentum. She wanted to make sure my DS was on the "least restrictive" formula that would work for him so we tried them from most general to most specific. Usually I spent at least three to five days on each one before switching. Sometimes it can take a few days for the body to adjust. Good luck- I hope you find something that works.

 

I make lots of decisions on my own - so, if it was me.... I would switch and see how things work out. My DD was on caffeine for apne and I didn't feel like she needed it anymore - so I took her off of it. Sure enough at the next appointment - the doctor said "is she still on caffeine? We don't usually keep them on it this long." I made the right choice.

People switch formulas all the time. Go for it!

 

I usually just called and ran it buy my pedi and she was always fine with it.(I think I was one of those parents that called at least once a week)At 7 weeks, we had the hardest time with reflux. Nutramigen did nothing for mine with silent reflux. In fact, Good Start Supreme combined with mylicon and/or gas drops worked the best. I have also heard that probiotics is suppose to help and I believe Good Start Natural Cultures already has that added in. Good Luck.

 

We had one on Enfamil A/R (added rice) for reflux and that worked well for him. We had the other on the Alimentum because he tested postive for a milk protein allergy and reflux. The Ped GI suggested both of those formulas for ours. I would discuss with the Ped but I know plenty who dont.

 

Hope switching helps with the reflux. :hug99:

Dianna

 

The only thing I would be concerned about it dropping the calorie level without a weight check. If it's just switching between other formulas, I say go for it, no ped necessary. But where it's dropping the calories, I'd probably call and see if they think she'd be ok to switch now, or if you could just drop in for a quick weight if anyone's not sure. You can also concentrate the calorie level of another formula, so you should still be able to switch - just a matter of making sure she's still getting what she needs.

Also, if you do wind up on a hypo-allergenic (Alimentum, Nutrimegen), your ped might be able to prescribe it and get it through your insurance. Sometimes it works, a lot of times it doesn't, but that stuff is PRICEY, so it's worth a conversation with your pedi and your insurance! And even if they can't prescribe it, they might be able to give you free samples to get you started, and try to get a free case or two for you from the formula rep. (Both Enfamil and Similac have multiples programs; we scored 2 cases of Enfacare and then when we switched to Alimentum, we got 2 cases of that too.)

Good luck!

 

Well honestly when dealing with reflux it is a medical condition and help from your ped would probably be recommended, however, it is your baby and you make the decisions regarding her...I dont consult my dr everytime I change formula and my ds has reflux.
I use regular formula-and add rice cereal to it, that was the only thing that helped him. Maybe you could call and ask your ped if this is something you could try.

 

I have a silent refluxer, and what was a happy spitter, turned not so happy around 2 mo. Changing formulas can definately help. Since you are on the high cal formula I would run it by your pedi just to make sure that they think it is ok. Otherwise I wouldn't have bothered. We tried a bunch of formulas before we found one that they tolerated better. I do second a pp that when you change give it a few days - my pedi actually recommended 5-7 days and the only time we didn't follow that was when we tried soy at the pedi's recommendation and the happy spitter barfed the entire bottle 2 feedings in a row which he had never done before, and the normally happy silent refluxer screamed for 6 hours straight. Needless to say we went on the the next thing and the can of soy went into the trash.

On the plus side though just after the soy debacle we had pedi appt. and I mentioned to our pedi that we were still looking for the right formula and she said that they get tons of samples and asked what I wanted to try next. I got enough sample cans to last a week. And she told me if that didn't work give them a call and they would pull samples of whatever I was up for next and I could pick it up at the front desk on my way home. So out of the 8 formulas we tried I only had to buy 3 of them. All the rest we tried for free from the pedi.