Elecare or Neocate users?

sdb421

I'm very confused and looking for advice from those of you who have your child now on an elemental formula. My son's primary symptom is feeding refusal. He'll eat 2-3 oz at most and then refuse to eat any more and will turn away or arch his back. He's dropped from eating 30+ oz a day to eating 20-22 at most and that is with sleep feeding him at least 6 oz's a day. He's is not fussy, doesn't have diarrhea, but does have looser, yellow stools. He's on zantac and tried Prevacid, but took him off of it, per our GI, when we saw no benefits.

We are on day 4 of trying Alimentum Ready to Feed. The first two days were amazing! He started eating more, finishing bottles, baby acne cleared up and he was even happier then normal. He seemed less gassy and never choked when eating, which he used to do occasionally. Stools turned more clay like and green. But, day 3 hit and we noticed that baby acne was back and by the end of day three he was starting to refuse feeding again. He also sounds a bit congested and has seemed discontent. HE slept horribly last night and used to sleep 8-9 hrs straight, but was up every 1-2 hrs last night. Today, day 4, he's been refusing most feeds and generally fussy.

 Why would Alimentum have seemed to work for 2 days and now stopped? I have left a message for the GI doc, but I'm just looking for experiences or thoughts.  Should I stick it out for two weeks? Could this just be a flare due to formula switch and once his tummy settles down, the Alimentum will start working again? Or do we need an elemental formula? I'm so lost, confused, tired and just want my kid to eat....

puppycup

Similar situation with my daughter. Seemed better for a few day on alimentum then back to fussy. Only got better when we put her on elecare, and that took a few weeks to clear her system. Been great on elecare ever since. She will be 1 this month.

UMichGirl

DS went from breastmilk, to Enfamil Newborn, to Gentlease, to Nutramigin, to Elecare, and now Neocate.  His stool tested positive for blood even on Nutramigin.  Every formula switch would seem to "work" for a few days to a week, then we'd be back where we started.  When we put him on Elecare he was great for several weeks and we thought we'd hit the jackpot.  Sure enough though he started regressing and we switched to Neocate.  We were pretty nervous because we thought if THIS doesn't work, we are out of options.  Luckily it's been working great for him and he's been on it for several months now.

GL!

june2012mom

@umichgirl... How long did you breastfeed and how long after going from breastfeeding to enfamil did you notice there was an issue? We are in the same boat and any help would be great! Thanks!!