alternative to neosure?

Weincraft

Hi Everyone

 

Im new to this board... just found it actually  I have a 6wk old preemie, she was born at 35weeks.  I am trying to figure out her tummy troubles as she is very gassy and cries out in pain, grunts, keeps us and herself up at night and so on from her tummy troubles.  The NICU had us adding neosure to my BM and my pedi. said to stick with it, but I think it is causing her tummy troubles and she def. spits up A LOT.  I see that some of you have switched to other formulas and was wondering why those kinds and also what their caloric amounts were and if they were the same/similar to neosure.

TIA!

COmommy

Ask your pedi, but if you are still mixing the formula with the BM, you can use any kind of formula to do so and there are recipes for different calories/oz. We exclusively FF and use Up and Up Brand Sensitive (Identical to Similac) and DD stopped grunting and acting gassy like she was on the Neosure. 

andreakirchoff

We were on Neosure and had the same type of issues.  First, they had us switch to the Enfamil preemie formula (which is pretty much the same).  Although we didn't see any improvement.  So the pedi switched us to Enfamil Probee soy, which isn't a preemie formula, but he said that LO was gaining well enough that it didn't matter.  

Weincraft

COmommy ~ do you know where I can find the different calories/oz. ?

 

 

COmommy

When we were discharged from the NICU, I had a handout that detailed the recipes for mixing formula with breastmilk for extra calories, but I don't have it anymore...However, after some searching, I found this link that has the recipes: https://www.childrensmn.org/Manuals/PFS/Nutr/018728.pdf

adrielegorburu

We also added neosure to increase my BM's calories for DD to gain extra weight at first. Eventually she got chubby enough that we were able to stop it. Has the Pedi looked into if your LO might have some reflux issues?  a lot of the symptoms you are describing sound like reflux - if that is the case it may not matter what formula you are on. My DD spit up A LOT and was always cranky, arched her back, screamed at night when we put her down etc. and now that she is medicated (shes on prevacid for her reflux) shes a whole different baby - we hadnt even realized that she was in pain and uncomfortable until we started the medicine - we just though all babies were fussy etc. Perhaps its something you can look into

katie4253

Also, any formula can be mixed to be higher calorie.  So, you can talk to your pedi about this.  

For example: regular formula has 20cals an ounce.  5oz = 100cal.  5oz of neosure=110cal.  So, if you add an extra half a scoop of regular formula the amount you use for 5oz of water that would be 10 cals and the same cal content as neosure.   

cassiedianne

After talking with our nutritionist, we switched to  Gerber GoodStart Protect (Green label) because the milk proteins are broken down more than in Neosure so it's easier for her to digest.  It seems to have helped her gassiness so we're happy with it.  It's a little bit less in calories but we still do the same mix we did with Neosure (1TB to 90ML of BM).

maronesa

When I bought Giuliana homer from the hospital, she lost weight and then continued to have the slow gain she had while still in the NICU.  Her pedi put her on DUOCAL.  I got it at Walgreens and you can mix it with BM or formula.  It is a high concentration calorie powder. As kids get older and they have slow weight gain it gets sprinkled on food, too!

HJOHNSTON411

Hi,

 

A few thoughts . . . .

 

1)  The spit up and crying make me think that reflux might be an issue here.  It's very common in preemies.  My LO had silent reflux and Prevacid and adding rice cereal to his bottles made a huge difference.  I like Happy Bellies cereal because it is whole grain and has probiotics (cereal can constipate).  

2)  It also sounds to me like the gassiness is a sensitivity to the Neosure.  Neosure is a dairy based formula, and that can be tough on a breastfed baby's tummy.  I would talk to your pedi about doing something else.  Also, if reflux is an issue, the dairy protein in the Neosure is probably making it worse.  

My LO couldn't tolerate the Neosure at all.  He threw it all up for 24 hours after they starting adding it to my breastmilk.  Basically, it sent his system into shock.  Long story short, it resulted in three days back in intensive care and countless tests and xrays to rule out NEC, meningitis etc.  

So, I must admit that I'm not a fan of it all.  After that, we just worked on pushing volume instead of fortifying and eventually moved to Alimentum when I stopped pumping.  GL!  

Weincraft

Thanks Ladies

 

I am going to push my Dr. to let me switch the formula we give her.. it is just too much already! I also might bring up the reflux and see what she thinks... maybe see how she does with the formula switch.. but she still spits up and is grunting and gassy and today is the 1st day on BM only with no fortifying.. not sure if we should just do all BM through the night to see if makes a difference.. we mainly do the formula to make sure I have enough BM stored and for the extra calories...

 I just want her to be comfortable.. it makes me sad that she is in pain! 

haziedaze

I'm exclusively BFing and DS has been gaining weight fine. Some preemies gain well enough without the extra calories- it's worth talking to your pedi about, esp. since LO was a 35 weeker! Reflux definitely also sounds like a possibility- make sure to keep LO upright for 30min after eating, that has worked well for us. GL!