Help! Allergic to Neocate?

[Anonymous]

Hi,

Has anyone heard of a baby doing worse on Neocate?

My babe (Niko, 6.5 months) has been on Neocate for a month now- The first 2 weeks were fine- More spit-up, but slowly over the 2 weeks, her eczema that she’s had since day 1 finally went away. I had a baby with baby skin for the first time.

Then, day 14 and the eczema starts returning. Now, she’s got it everywhere except her face and diaper area. She’s totally itchy and her skin is red and leathery all over. It is much worse than it’s ever been! Also, for the past 2 weeks her feedings have been more and more difficult. She’s pulling away, arching, screaming, grunting, refusing the bottle more and more.

I think her reflux is much worse too. She’s spitting up up to 25 times a day, even 2+ hours after eating, and grunting, grunting, grunting nonstop. She’s cranky much of the time, and has been waking up refluxing and screaming much more often, even in the middle of the night, which is odd for her as she has been sleeping for 8+ hours straight at night for 3 months now.

She’s still on the same dose of medicine (prevacid solutabs 30mg/day) that she’s been on for a few months, so the only thing I can think of is that it’s the neocate.

What else is out there for me to try? I’ve tried the Alimentum (bad) soy formula (worse) and now the Neocate.

Yana

[Anonymous]

I would change the solutab first to another form. It has lactose and aspertime and strawberry flavoring any of which your baby could be reacting too? Just a guess, but I would change that before I changed the neocate…..

Curious what others might think…..

[hellbennt]

I agree with Ann Marie- try the prevacid first-

if not there’s a baby here who couldn’t handle the corn in the formulas- that baby wound up on an elemental formula made by Ross-

was it Kaelyn? hmmm….

[Anonymous]

ohh it was Alexis.. i remembered the conversation a while back..I couldnt believe that corn syrup could be an allergen..but i guess it CAN! so i went back to look it up. She did half goats/half ross carb. free SOY formula.

Hopefully Alexis’ mom could help more w/ what they give her..

i GUESS you cant do soy if he is allergic to it.. but i am a fan of goats milk..and there is a possibility of handling goats milk and not cows milk.

[Anonymous]

Taylor could not handle formulas including Neocate due to the corn syrup in it. We tried Goats milk only but still had problems not as much as other formulas. We also tried Alimentum RTF due to no corn products in it but we had problems due to the milk in it. We got her allergy tested at 5 months and it showed allergies to milk, corn, and corn syrup but not soy. After involving a dietician we started her on Ross Carbohydrate Free Soy formula that I mixed with Brown rice syrup so no corn or milk. She did very well on this. I noticed that you said that Niko did worse on soy, but Taylor did as well, since the soy products that are on the typical market has corn starch and/or corn syrup which Taylor could not tolerate. PM me if you have any questions, hopefully you find an answer soon, and it is not an intolerance to corn syrup since they add corn syrup to everything!

[Anonymous]

I agree with what everyone else has said, but I also wanted to add that in addition to foods your daughter could be reacting to laundry soaps and whatever soaps you are bathing her in. My babies had severe eczema and I learned that I could only use Dove Unscented bar soap on them and only free and clear laundry soaps for their clothes and bedding. No softner. I had to rinse their hair right into the sink, not into their baby tubs when I washed their hair because even the baby shampoos would cause them to break out.

[Anonymous]

Thank you so much for your suggestions. We have an appointment with the pedi GI tomorrow, and hopefully we can get a referal to get Niko allergy tested soon. If it is a corn allergy, at least now I know there is a formula option out there that she won’t react to- maybe.

I just hope our GI believes us, but with eczema all over her little body, it’s hard to deny she’s having some sort of reaction.

Yana

[Anonymous]

ohh sorry i said alexis! oops.. i got the right mom though! 😉

hopefully you will get in to get allergy tested soon.. and some of your questions will be answered!

[Anonymous]

Don’t be shocked if the allergist say there is no way a person could be allergic to corn syrup since the body reacts to proteins in the foods and corn syrup does not contain the corn proteins since it is cooked out of it. Our Pedicatrician understood my concern with corn syrup and talked directly to the Allergiest so that is why he tested for it, he was very nice and said people have allergies to so many things that there is nothing out there he would rule out as an allergen. So not surprise when we found out she definitely reacted to it. Good luck! But definitely stick up for what you believe for your child!

[Anonymous]

OK, so I just got back from Niko’s pedi GI appointment. The dr. wants to scope her to see what’s going on. Fine, I understand that. But then she said that she suspects that Niko has colitis because her poops on neocate are black and tarry and really foul smelling. I thought that was normal for neocate, but she said no, that the black poop is shed blood, and that the baby is probably anemic.

Is she wrong and am I subjecting the babe to an unnecessary invasive test, or does this seem reasonable to you guys?

Also, just as Sue wrote, the doc said that it is possible for her to have a corn allergy, but impossible for neocate to set it off.

yana

[Anonymous]

No procedure is ever fun, but the endoscopy is VERY quick and will give you answers, so I would suggest going for it. When I say quick, it is like minutes that your baby is in the procedure. We have not had this specific test, but others will join in, I’m sure.

I think you will get some answers so you should do it.

Good Luck!

Ann Marie

[Anonymous]

Hi! I am new to this site and trying to help my daughter. What did the doctor finally give your baby. Did they stay with Neocate or is there something else?

[Anonymous]

Hi everyone! Just wanted to update everyone on our progress! So, I am pretty sure Anna’s problem was a allergy to the corn in the neocate and possibly a intolerance to the iron in it. We are seeing a hollistic doctor who is advising us now. Anna is on goat’s milk and we are going to be adding in more natural suppliments to the milk to increase it’s calories and vitamins. I tried a poly vitamin from my pediatrician and Anna stopped eatting again. She also can not tolerate powdered goats milk. It really irritated her stomach for some reason. That is what we have learned over the past week and a half. My child went from eatting 1 oz by mouth per feeding to 5. She is off of her night time continuous feed. She is eatting a little baby food without gagging!!! She SLEEPS THROUGH THE NIGHT! I think we have figured it out. I am very comfortable with the doctor we are seeings approach. When I called my pediatrician about constipation. He wanted to give Anna a laxative. I gave her juice and it helped her. I like the idea of her getting vitamins that she needs from a real food to. The vitamin drops were okay, but they caused her to stop eatting again. So, I think for us this is the answer. I may be able to take her off the medication for reflux soon. She hasn’t vomitted sense we started the goat’s milk. I haven’t seen a week clear of vomitting in a long time! I also haven’t slept as much as I have this week in a long time. Hey, we are all better!!!! Just wanted to share our experience because everyone here has helped us find the right path to help our little girl! Thank you all

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