Neocate

Has anyone's baby been put onto Neocate? Our baby has just been put onto this formula and has had an awful reaction with her poo. Please message me if your baby has had this formula or if you know anyone who has had this formula.
Thanks,
Janette

Hi Janette,
How's things? It's a long time since I've run into you on this site. We put Gaby (now 5mths old) on Neocate under the instruction of the paed. & dietician at the Allergy Clinic at RPA as Camy is currently doing an elimination diet due to food intolerance. Gaby absolutely HATED it & it was suggested we wean her onto it slowly or add sugar to it for a short while until she could stand its flavour. Well after 1 1/2 tins of the stuff we couldn't get her to take it any more & she virtually stopped eating. As we were seeing her normal paed. for a check up I decided to ask him about it & he said that although it's necessary for some children to be put on it he wouldn't recommend it with Gaby. He agreed that it has it's place with reflux babies but in our case she was thriving & there was no real need to put her through it. While Gaby was taking the formula her poos went the most disgusting green colour & they really stunk. Hopefully you don't need to continue with it for ever.
Hope you're well,
Peta

Hi Peta! It made my day that someone finally responded to my post!! I was starting to wonder if we really were alone in this feeding trouble! It is a coincidence that your Gaby is 5 months old because that is how old my daughter Emma is!! Emma is not fussed on the Neocate and is not drinking a lot (but then again I haven't been able to get her to drink much of anything in her 5 months of life!). She also is thriving despite refusing to drink anything, but I have decided that we will persevere for a little while since she has now had every formula that exists!!! She obviously doesn't hate it as much as Gaby did - we are up to can number 5!!
When Gaby was on Neocate had you introduced solids? My paed. has said to only give rice cereal for now. I gave her pear one night and it was as if I had poured acid down her throat. I felt really terrible. Hopefully she will be able to have some vegetables soon.
Keep well and thanks for your reply,
Janette

Hi Janette,
I actually started Gaby on solids when she was 3mths old as I just couldn't satisfy her with the formula. We're currently trying soya formula (the dietician suggested this) as an alternative to the Karicare AR she was on but she absolutely hates it & we're back to not finishing even half of a bottle again. We're a lucky reflux thriver & she weighed in at a hefty 4.86Kg at birth & at the last paeds. apt. in mid Oct she was weighed at 8.72Kg so I can't really complain, it's just a complete waste & a pain when she doesn't drink as she's then starving before the next feed.
If Emma is really allergic to things the best rice cereal to start her on would be MacKenzie's Ground Rice (they are well known for their baking soda). The instructions to making it up as a baby food are on the side of the packet. Apparently it's the better one to use as it doesn't have any additives such as rosemary to give it flavour like the Farex & Heinz have. I think it's available at Coles but I'm unsure as my Mum's been getting it for me as none of the supermarkets in my area have it.
Gab's normal paed. doesn't think it's absolutely necessary for all reflux babies to go on Neocate which is why we stopped it when she didn't like it. He thinks it won't aid her reflux at all.
Gaby doesn't like the pear either. If Emma is super-sensitive to lots of things you'd probably benefit from making your own pears up. Get some super juicy, very ripe pears, peel them & stew them for her. Gab is much happier with our homemade pears than the tin stuff. I just add about 1cm of water to the bottom of the pot with my pears & mash them until they're soft & squishy & the water is dissolved. I then put the mush throuh the blender to remove any remaining lumps & I freeze them in ice-cube trays so that I can conveniently use a serve at a time. If you freeze them properly you can keep them for up to 3mths which lets you have another go with them if you're not successful this time.
Our paed. is hoping to reduce the medication that Gab is on by the time she's 6mths. So far we've dropped the Mylanta which has been a great help. We tried her on normal formula before we went back to the paed. & we also tried to take her off the Zantac but she started screaming & vomitting again. We'll keep trying every so often though & hopefully now she's having 2 meals a day & she's a wee bit bigger, things will improve further.
It's been great to hear from you again,
Peta

Peta, our similarities astound me!! Emma has been on soy in the past. Doesn't it smell awful? I used to find that it would stain my clothes because it is a bit oily. She drank it for one month and then refused it. We reintroduced it a while later (suspected lactose intolerance) and she got very sick. This is why we are now on Neocate as our paed. believes that Emma is milk and soy intolerant. Emma is a thriver too. She was born smaller than Gaby though (3.3kg) and she now weighs 7.3kg at 51/2 months. Sometimes this works against them though when you are trying to explain to a doctor that there is something wrong with your child. They lean over and say hello and baby grins back and looks fat enough so they send you away.

It is interesting what your paed. says about the Neocate and reflux. In our case it has made Emma's reflux worse because it is so thin. I am thickening it, although you just can't make it as thick as the AR type formulas. The paed. is talking about putting her on Losec which I am not overly thrilled about! We are going to the Hills Parenting Centre on Monday for a day stay. I have spoken with Michelle that runs it and she has said that Emma may have oesaphagitis (is that how you spell it?) which is when their oespagus is burnt from the acid. We'll just have to wait and see what she says.

It sounds as though you are making progress with Gaby's reflux if you are starting to trial reducing medication etc. My sister did that with my nephew a few times and each time he would vomit again. The last time she tried it didn't make much difference and so she persevered and now he is 8 months old and on no Zantac. There is hope for us yet!!!

Talk to you soon,
Janette
P.S I was reading through some old posts and noticed that you are a teacher...so am I!! Do you teach Primary or High School? Are you going back? (maybe you have already gone back!) Do you live in Sydney?

Hi Janette

Not sure if your still wanting to talk to someone who's babys been on Neocate but thought id write anyway.

Ella (now 5months) was put on neocate when she was 9wks old.... Her poo changed to a disgusting tar like stuff, it was almost black and really gooey! Is this the same as your bub?

Ella has recently gone back onto normal formula and has started solids, thankfully!

Hope alls going well

Belinda

Hi Janette,
I nearly died when I read that you'd been the see Michele at the Hills Parenting Centre. I went there with Gaby when she was 8wks old & it was Michele who actually recommended we go on to an AR formula. I've actually just been to a toddler taming course run by Michele in early November. She made me feel sane about the chaos that a toddler & a reflux baby can bring to your life.
I actually live in Sydney's south & if you're ever interested, I'd be happy to meet you. My email address is petalloyd@yahoo.com.au. I've already returned to work 2 days a week & I'll be going back Mon-Wed next year. I'm an AP in primary school & I don't want to lose the position I worked so hard for just because I have my darling daughters. I actually think it makes me a better mother as I need the outlet & missing them throughout the day makes the evenings even better.
Gaby is continuing to pack on the weight. I thoroughly understand your misery when people disbelieve you about Emma's condition just because she's a rotund little person. We're back to our paed in Miranda next week & I'm sure he'll be happy with her progress. He told us not to worry about her weight until she hits 2yrs. Apparently if a child is overweight at 2, it only then becomes a concern. I'm not sure whether Gab's ready to give up the Zantac yet as we mostly give it to her twice a day as she getting it every second feed & is only feeding 4 times most days now. I've noticed she's not herself since we've dropped to 2 meds. & she's starting to vomit more & is struggling with her bottles again which tells me she's still uncomfortable feeding. I also tried her on normal formula again after the disasterous attempt at soya & it was just terrible. I'm positive the AR is all we can use for her. I buy it cheapest at Pharmacy Direct in Silverwater, it's just so annoying that special formulas cost so much more than the normal ones. We used Heinz for Camryn (28mths) & never paid more that $9.50 a tin. It's rediculous that we pay $15.95 for the AR formula just because they've put thickener through it.
Sorry it took so long to get back to you but we're still in the grips of our extension dilemma & our neat little 10wk job is now ploughing on through its 17wk with no end in sight. I'm just desperate to get my Xmas tree up for the girls' sakes. It's not right denying them the pleasure of it when we celebrate Xmas.
Look after yourself,
Hope to hear from you soon,
Peta

Hi Janette,
My baby Jordan who is just over 3mths old has now been on Neocate for 6 weeks. I must be really lucky because he drinks it all (150ml bottle) without a fuss and has been for the last 6 weeks. Yes, his poo is a funny colour and very smelly but it doesn't bother me because he is very settled and is thriving. He has had silent reflux since he was born and has been on 5mls of Losec for the past 8 weeks which has made a tremendous difference. His paed has recommended he start solids at 4mths, plus he has suggested that I alternate his bottles between Neocate and S26 Gold, to eventually wean him off Neocate all together. My main concern is how he will react to the change of formula from Neocate to S26 Gold. If anybody has had a similar experience could you please share it with me as I'm extremely nervous about changing formulas. My last experience with changing formulas was a pretty bad one as Jordan experienced bad diahorrea and ended up being in hospital with a drip in his hand for a couple of days. I certainly don't want to go through that again. Any advice on this matter would be greatly appreciated. Also, does anyone have a child who is on Losec? If so what dosage were they on at 3mths old?

Look forward to a quick response.

Regards,
Sam

Thank god other mums are going through the same as me! my 3 month old son has been on neocate since he was 3 weeks old after trial and error of what he was allergic to! (first lactose then soy )but after learning he was intolerant to lactose,milk protein and soy protein,and going through different tins of formula, he appeared to also be allergic to gluten! He thrived within a day of being on neocate,so i'm grateful it was an easy transition (however we all seem to have the same at the nappy end, i describe it to people like gooey vegemite!,i've stopped blaming my husband and accept our little one has the ability to excrete odours well beyond his years!) I too am a little hesitant about the thought of weaning him off it hoping he can cope with lactose or gluten when he gets a little older. I actually posted a topic about finding help on what to feed our little man as i know one taste of food and he will never look back! have you had any luck alternating between neocate and s26? I'm hoping you have been successful,especially with the solids starting about now! if you have any suggestions, i would be so grateful!

Hi Beck,

I have tried switching Jordan slowly from Neocate to S26, but it just didn't agree with him. He became very colicky and I stopped it immediately. I don't think Jordan has a lot of the allergies that your little boy has. He was put on Neocate when he was in hospital after a bout of diahorea when he was 8 weeks old. I will be trying him on rice cereal very shortly and I'll be mixing it with the Neocate, if all is ok I will then introduce potato, pumpkin and fruit. I did a google search under "neocate recipes" and found a page of really simply recipes to try.

I hope it all goes well for you.

Let me know how you go.

Sam

Hi guys, my baby girl is 6 months old she was put on neocate as since birth has suffered from eczema and with out fail for months i had spent hundreds of dollers trying to fix her my gp put her on all this medication antibiotics creams etc, i finally got into seeing a skin specialist 4.5 months later and they tested my girl and she was allergic to her formul i was using nan gold ha, since being on the neocate my baby girl didnt like it at first she didnt drink for 2 feeds by her 3 feed she was starving and drank it, her skin looks so amazing i am so happy with the out come, her poo seems normal lost of burping now with the nan she barely burped at all. my baby girl for months was none stop itching etc all day n night she has a little scare on her chest from the itching but since changeing her its been the best thing and more settled. i am glad i have a normal happy baby.. roll eyes