Intro - LO on Alimentum

M&M227 · July 2011

Hi Everyone, I am so happy to find this board. Here's our story. DD is 4 weeks old. On Friday we went to the ped. for possible reflux. She had projectile vomited three times (total), increased spit up, and increasing more fussy during and after feedings. Also, bowel movements aren't great. So ped. also thought it was reflux, prescribed zantac and ordered an x-ray and ultrasound to rule out structural abnormalities.

We went right away for the tests, and I'm glad we did. Had the x-ray first and while waiting I was told the radiologist requested another x-ray for a different view. Then we had the ultrasound and after the tech had the radiologist come in and he scanned her, this is when I started freaking out a bit, I knew something was wrong. So they told me I could finally feed her (needed to fast for the ultrasound) and to wait so the radiologist could check the results and call our ped. Then they tell me ped. has requested an Upper GI (we talked about this at the appointment and she said she would rather not do it, unless meds. didn't work because it exposes LO to more radiation). So now I'm really freaking out. So we do the Upper GI and the radiologist is actually in the room doing the test instead of the tech. We finish and they ask me to wait a few minutes. Then tell me the Upper GI was normal (which worried me because it was supposed to show the reflux).

Anyway, Dr. calls me a half hour later to tell me they say "abnormal gas patterns" in DDs x-ray. There are no structural abnormalities so that is good. She told me not to start zantac and instead to switch to alimentum and DD should improve in a week or so.

So we've been doing Alimentum since Friday night, DD isn't too crazy about it and she seems to be eating a little less, but slept last night from 10 - 3 for the first time and I think she would have slept longer but I woke her up by accident checking to make sure she was breathing (this has been her longest sleep stretch ever, so I was super worried).

Today, so seems like she needs to have a bowel movement and is a little uncomfortable, but is napping right now. I'm hoping things will continue to get better.

If anyone else has similar stories and experiences I would love to hear about it. Is there anything else I should ask the dr. for? Not sure if DD should see a GI dr. to confirm this or possibly an allergist?

magdusia · July 2011

i'm so sorry to hear what you have to go through..

did anyone mention anything about a possible allergy before going through all of this?

what kind of formula was she on before alimentum?

Does she have any blood in her stool or eczema on her face/body?

It honestly would not hurt to get her tested for a dairy/soy allergy.

Alimentum does not taste good but they get use to it.. my son only had one bottle at night, otherwise he was BF.. and i know it took him a while to get use to it (that's why i chose the night time feeding -he's too out of it to realize what he's drinking until he had a bunch).

Also, if your child does have an allergy to cows milk, and if it's severe, than it's possible she's still reacting to alimentum (forgive me if i'm wrong) but i'm pretty sure alimentum has a very tiny tiny tiny bit of cows milk in it (or is it soy?).. my son has a soy/milk + other allergies and he never reacted to it b/c his milk/soy isn't as bad as his egg and peanut allergy.. But i think if the allergy is really bad than she could still react to it. There are other formulas that your doc can prescribe to you if that is the case.

heyitsme · July 2011

DS is 7 months old. I EBFed him until he was 6 months old and I am dairy-free and soy-free so he never had exposure to either of them. He has had reflux symptoms since he was a few weeks old, though, and has been on Zantac since he was around 6 weeks old. (DD was the same way.) When I weaned him we were using Good Start and his reflux got increasingly worse, he was gassy and kept getting constipated. Our ped recommended trying Alimentum. He was on it for 24 hours and we started seeing improvements--last week we saw the first "normal" poop that we'd seen in over a month. He started sleeping through the night, his reflux became almost nonexistent, and his BMs were regular. On Friday his ped was impressed by the results and said that all the switch did was rule out that GS wasn't good for him. She suggested we try Similac Sensitive (lactose-free) when our can of Alimentum was gone. So Friday afternoon we started that, and we stopped it yesterday afternoon because his reflux was worse, he was gassy and fussy and not sleeping again. So we're back to Alimentum. Our ped said in some babies, it's not an allergy but an intolerance (pretty sure this is DS's case). Their stomachs just don't break down formula (and all its components) well so they do better with formula that is already broken down. We plan to see a GI and allergist just to make sure we're not missing anything, but for right now we're on Alimentum just because it works for him, not because we have any specific diagnosis.

M&M227 · July 2011

We were on Similac Advance before. She seemed gassy but over the past week it got really bad which is why I called the Dr. about reflux.

Thankfully I think we're turning a corner today. She had a dirty diaper last night and today, she's eating the formula much better and although she's still a little unhappy during burping she's much calmer. I'm hoping these improvements continue.

We actually had some awake time today that was pleasant and didn't involve her screaming the entire time.

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