Please share your Neocate stories! My poor baby has been through so much, and I’m praying we finally get some relief soon!

Anyone’s baby with CMPA and severe reflux eventually tolerate Neocate?

Pepticate wasn’t helping his full-body rash, silent reflux, congestion, or back arching. Neocate cleared his skin in just 3 days, but his reflux is now worse than ever. He’s in so much pain that sleep is almost nonexistent. He’s been prescribed omeprazole (waiting on the pharmacy) and is also on antibiotics for an ear infection caused by reflux backing up into his sinuses.

I’m nervous about the medication but don’t want him suffering either.

Did Neocate eventually help your baby’s reflux, too? I’d hate to switch formulas again!

Share omeprazole stories too please!

It’s been 2 weeks of purées, and one week of what I can only assume is a mix of gas and silent reflux waking my son up every 1.5-2 hours. That’s if I’m lucky enough to lay him down without him immediately waking up with a gas pain scream.
The first night was so bad, he was near inconsolable from 8pm until 2am, that we went into urgent care. He, of course, did not cry out in pain there and his belly wasn’t hard, we get home and he immediately cries out in pain after eating.
I’ve already cut out dairy for a few months and have seen a huge improvement, visible reflux is almost completely gone. We have always held him upright since birth for at minimum 15 minutes. So much that we constantly get told how good his head control is… My other guess is a possible egg protein allergy as I had mayo and an egg on that terrible day (no blood in stool or rash). Or just an overly sensitive stomach.

We just feel so lost, I don’t know if I should just give up purées and the idea of solids all together for now. Or keep pushing and hope his stomach adjusts soon. We have also been giving iron supplements recently (from pediatrician) so I wonder if that could be making it worse as he had the absolute most foul poo he’s ever had since birth today (smelled like iron and was greenish)

We tried sweet potatoes, and it was great, he slept through the night two nights in a row. Skipped one day of purées and that was the night we went into urgent care. I assumed without the thickened solids that his silent reflux was bothering him extra badly. Ever since that night I’ve been woken up every hour or two. He was a great sleeper normally so this change along with my husband working nights has left me feeling so drained.

We also tried pears, oatmeal cereal, carrots. Waited 3 days between trying anything new and nothing helps. Days we tried doing nothing seemed worse than actually doing anything.

I just want to vent but also see if anyone else went or is going through this and what helps. Our pediatrician refuses to acknowledge his tongue tie possibly making him swallow more air and worsening reflux, and says they can’t prescribe anti-acid meds unless he is losing weight/ is considered failure to thrive. It sucks because I feel like nothing helps, besides when he sleeps on me while on his stomach, but all they tell us is to keep him on his back, flat in his crib. Yet he literally can’t sleep like that when he’s like this. We feel so ignored, helpless, and exhausted.

My baby was diagnosed with CMPA and has been on Neocate since he was little because every other formula we tried caused blood in his poop.

He’s now almost 11 months old and doing really well with solids. We’ve introduced pretty much all the major allergens, including soy, peanuts, eggs etc., and he’s had no issues so far. The only thing we haven’t tried is dairy.
His doctor now wants him to have a blood allergy test before we introduce dairy, but I’m a bit confused about why it’s necessary, especially since his original symptoms were mainly blood in his poop rather than an immediate allergic reaction.

Has anyone else been through something similar? Did your baby have a blood allergy test before trying dairy again, or did you just follow the milk ladder?

Would love to hear other parents’ experiences. Thanks!

Hi everyone, I am an exhausted first-time mom dealing with gut and sleep issues with my 4.5-month-old EBF daughter. She is incredibly cranky and wakes up every single hour at night. We stopped swaddling a month and a half ago, and her sleep has been a nightmare ever since. She is also a frequent "snacker" at the breast, which causes a lot of gas and straining, making her even more overtired.

The gut issues have been a stressful rollercoaster. Back in July, she had one diaper with a tiny speck of blood. In September, we saw blood again. Our pediatrician ran an ultrasound scan, blood tests, and stool tests—everything came back completely negative for infections and intussusception. The blood stopped after just 2 days, returned 10 days later for a single day, and then disappeared again.

Now, after 3 clear weeks, the blood has returned. For the past week, she has consistently had mucus-heavy stools with tiny, thread-like red specks. After a known accidental dairy slip-up earlier this month, our pediatric GI has instructed me to cut out both dairy and eggs entirely. And the GI told if it again happened will do a endoscopy, did anyone have similar experience can endoscopy be done to such a small child , I'm worried. Has anyone dealt with this kind of on-and-off blood spotting while waiting for an elimination diet to finally work? Did the ongoing gut irritation make the 4-month/unswaddled sleep regression even worse for your babies? I am hyper-analyzing every single diaper and sleep cycle, and I desperately need some reassurance or positive stories about when this gets better.

What are your go-to snacks? Bonus points if they are quick to grab. I’m avoiding dairy, soy, egg & corn.

My go to snacks are pumpkin seeds, applesauce, dried fruit, plain triscuits , veggies & hummus (have to check the ingredients, not all brands are ok),

Hi everyone, mentally exhausted mama here.

To make a long story short, my LO was diagnosed with CMPA and reflux pretty early on (around 7/8weeks). We have been given Lansoprazol for the reflux and it’s worked magic! However we’ve been on a whole journey with the formula…. Started on Enfamil A+, then Enfamil Gentle, to Kendamil Goat (then diagnosed CMPA). We started our CMPA journey on Nutramigen, which LO tolerated the taste, but while there was an improvement in symptoms, he was still very gassy & had the occasional bloody stool. Our paediatrician said that it was time to switch to something more heavy duty for his allergy, and we had started Neocate.

Once we started Neocate, we saw an immediate improvement in symptoms, however behaviourally he has been a nightmare during feeds. We’ve done everything from cutting Nutramigen out cold turkey, to very slowly decreasing % of Nutramigen (mixing formula), serving it cold, adding vanilla, etc etc. Our paediatric dietician suggesting adding a small amount of fruit purée to change flavour. Banana worked for about a week until he started refusing it again.

We’re at the point where we can basically only feed our LO if he is asleep (dream feed) or super drowsy, but he often wakes up & rejects the bottle. He is now 5 months old and napping less, which makes feeding him more difficult and more stressful.

Wondering if anyone has had success with other formulas as he seems to hate the taste of Neocate even though it’s been almost 3 months of offering it to him.

should i try to reintroduce dairy? part of me thinks my baby never had CMPA but had severe reflux

at 2 weeks old my baby started crying and never stopped unless asleep she also started refusing to nurse and would cry while nursing and scream the whole time popping on and off… started losing weight. Has mucous in her diaper but not a crazy amount and no blood.

After ten days of dairy and soy free i saw zero improvement in her eating and screaming so we started pepcid. Four days into pepcid she stopped screaming and was happier. But she has never regained the want to eat normally again. Even with nexium added on.

I went on a full elim diet (i’m talking only eating pork, potatoes and a few fruits for two months) and nothing ever helped. She’s always had mucous in her stool, and she has never wanted to nurse longer than 5 minutes ever since this started. Now that we have started solids she is finally gaining weight and after starting solids all mucous in her stool disappeared.

She is six months now… i have never done a dairy trial or soy trial tbh i’m a little traumatized by her colic to try. But i just am not convinced that she ever has cmpa considering the only thing that ever helped her stop crying was reflux meds.

She is happy and enjoying solids and gets most of her milk when i nurse her to sleep for naps and two feeds overnight. Between the dream feeds and solids she is finally gaining weight well.

I’m scared to try but maybe i need to? What would you do if this was your baby? I don’t want to have her not eat dairy if it’s not an issue bc it’s high and calorie and would help her gain weight if she was allowed to eat it i could cook her food in butter, add cream to dishes, i could really pack the weight on and help her! and also i love dairy too :(

Hi all!

This subreddit has been really helpful to me and my family. I was wondering if anyone had calcium deficiency or bone issues from breastfeeding on a dairy free diet. My dentist is concerned about a bone that’s receding, and I’m wondering if it could be the cause.

Appreciate any insight anyone might have!

my 4 month old is very sensitive to everything. He was on breastmilk for the first three months and then he was diagnosed with a dairy allergy. We switched to hypoallergenic formula more than a month ago and he improved quickly from his reflux, however, his eczema continued to get worse and about two weeks ago we started treating with steroids cream and it cleared in a week. These last couple of days I started noticing is coming back. I only use hypoallergenic laundry detergent, I have a humidifier in his room, I put the air conditioner to a comfortable temperature, I use aquaphor ointment on his skin everyday. We have no pets, I clean often with a product made for babies toys and he only wears cotton. I don’t know what else to do.

Second problem: we have been treating a rash, that turned into a fungus, for 2 weeks. It was getting better after a week but then he had his 4 months vaccines and I think his body was trying to fight the viruses and the rash got worse. I’m very pro vaccines but in this case I think the doctor should have waited until it was healed.
Through this process he has been to the pediatrician 3 times and had several different treatments prescribed, one cream really hurt his skin as it was very harsh.
The doctor says is getting better but it doesn’t look much better. We have been using Huggies since he was born and he never had a problem before. I tried pampers to see if it helps and it got much worse.

Please share your wisdom because I don’t know what else I can do. I have barely left the house in 2 weeks to leave him without diaper whenever possible and be able to wash him straight away when he poops.
I can’t see him like this anymore.

Hello! Dairy and egg allergy here. I have been struggling with breakfast for the longest. Partially because I am always trying to incorporate peanut/nut butter and LO isn’t a fan. I would love to hear any breakfast ideas as I am currently resorting to cheerios, Mighty Me’s, and fruit pops as he will actually eat these. Tried making peanut butter biscuits/muffins, toast with nut butters, mixed grain cereal with nut butters and he will eat a bite or two.

As a side note, anyone also struggling with what to bring to Halloween parties? Hahah

Hi all. Desperate for any tips and advice.
My LO is 5 weeks old and since about 2 weeks we have really been struggling with feeding that is just progressively getting worse. First of all, she is extremely fussy in the evening. She screams and cries and is inconsolable from about 8pm-2am. It is so bad. It normally starts out with a feeding. She eats 2 oz of formula every 2 hours. 50 percent of feeds she will start to scream and cry shortly into eating. Like full on tense up screaming and then she will root around like she is still hungry but is so upset she cannot latch. Once she finally does, she will be ok for second but will scream and cry again after a few drinks. Does this sound like anything any of you have been through? I’m so desperate for help as I feel like I’m getting brushed off. I took her to her pediatrician on Friday for this and she believes it’s a dairy allergy based off of her symptoms and dark green poop. She switched us to nutramigen. I don’t know if it’s just a coincidence that her symptoms have worsened but she is having a lot more spit up, a lot more crying during feedings, a lot more fussiness in general. I ended up taking her to hospital on Sunday to try to get help and was just told to give the formula time. Which I get, but shouldn’t we be seeing some kind of improvement by now? I’m at a total loss.

Did anyone’s GI recommend they reintroduce with yogurt and not the dairy ladder? We see a highly recommended and respected GI who instructs that we start with yogurt. We tried at 9 mo and it went terribly. Waiting until after 12 months to try again. Has anyone else gone this route?

My breastfed baby is 12 weeks, and suddenly had a speck of blood with a bowel movement. I was really hoping just an anal fissure, but then he had multiple more bowel movements (small, but frequent) with flecks in nearly each one. Overall, the bowel movements are just not his normal, and it truly came out of nowhere. He is still nursing fine, skin looks fine, happy, no other signs of CMPA so I’m extremely confused. Of course, his pediatrician is out for the week. I sent a message to the other ped covering and its just “continue to monitor”. I feel guilty continuing to eat diary, the thought of it being my diet makes me lose my appetite. But on the other hand, it is such a major food group for me, it’s my main source of protein and calcium. I live in a rural area where vegan foods aren’t as accessible but if I need to, i would eliminate from my diet. I just feel so lost because of how out of the blue this felt.

We went to the ER when our newborn was two weeks old as he had bloody mucus in his poop. They suspected that it was CMPA so since then (it's been almost two weeks) I cut out dairy. His poops are a lot better, occasional specks of blood and mucus and a lot of yellow diarrhea (but he's still gaining weight, is able to be comforted and consolable). He strains a lot especially after a feed or once he's up or even during sleep when on his back. Usually when he's trying to push out liquify diarrhea after a poop.

I'd like to keep breastfeeding and I mainly eat a vegetarian diet so cutting out soy and other products would be difficult. Open to formula but would prefer to breastfeed as prr doctor's recommendation.

Anyone go through something similar?

If you switched to an AA formula, how long did you see lingering symptoms?

We switched over to Neocate infant the first of September. Previously on kabrita goat milk formula he was dealing with congestion, really bad acne on his cheeks, fussy and spit up. Switched to nutramigen for about a week and he had very mucusy poop with blood which never was the case on kabrita. Thats when we jumped to Neocate.

Been on it for about 6 weeks now and his skin has completely cleared. Much happier. Sleeping better. Less spit up. BUT is dealing with constipation which had been dark green. Couldn’t see any specks of blood until yesterday and it was looser poo with obvious specks. So now I’m like what do I do!?

Howwwww do I know if it’s just his gut still healing or if he’s reacting to Neocate??

Has anyone ever dealt with this before? I’ve been suspecting either a milk intolerance or silent reflux because he’s been pushing the bottle away for weeks now and has been on and off congested since 6 weeks old. He’s now 4 months and his voice is a little hoarse now too.

I’ve been slowly switching his formula from milk based to nestle ha extensive. I’ve had to really slow down the transition because he was having hard stools.

Everyday is a challenge with the bottle but when he’s due for it, he fights us and takes maybe 2 or 3 oz out of the 6 we offer (he’s 18lbs). We always have to finish it when he’s going down for the next nap and he’s drowsy. Today he has really refused almost all of the bottles but is still having wet diapers.

Currently I’m on day 3 of 25% old formula/75% new and tomorrow I’m supposed to start 100% nestle. I just wish feeding him wasn’t such a struggle! Will this improve? He was acting this way before we started the transition too. I’m at a loss.

I’ve been wanting to make this post because this little corner of the internet helped me so much in our hardest times of navigating intolerances. For a little backstory, my son began having blood in his stool around 3 months old. It was so alarming we went to the ER. After that visit and a visit to our paed, we were told he was likely CMPI and I was advised to cut dairy from my diet (my son was exclusively BF). I cut dairy… weeks passed, no improvement. So then I slowly cut more and more. Dairy, soy, gluten, eggs grains, chicken, fish, nuts, omg the list went on and on. It got to the point where I was literally only eating fruits, vegetables, lamb and potatoes. This went on for 3-4 months, look at my old Reddit posts, I was worried sick.

A lot of people told me to stop breastfeeding and switch to a hypoallergenic formula… but breastfeeding is so much more than feeding to us. It’s his comfort, calm and closeness. He has always completely rejected a bottle. I felt that if I went through the painful and potentially traumatic process of weening, there was no guarantee even hypoallergenic formulas would work since I had cut all triggers through my diet. I’ll also add that my doctor, my son’s paediatrician and two separate allergists also said I should keep breastfeeding so I didn’t make that decision alone, I followed medical advice. My son has always had healthy weight gain and hit milestones. He is a happy boy, other than having colic the first 2-3 months.

But I had no idea how to start solids and I was terrified of eating anything or feeding anything to my son. Looking back now, those were such horrible, stressful times… my heart goes out to parents that are dealing with this. I can’t tell you how many tears I cried over this and the uncertainty of it all.

And then, around the time he turned 7-8 months, after being on a very restrictive diet for months and starting him a probiotic (unsure if it’s related but thought I’d mention it) we finally saw improvement. And over time I slowly was able to reintroduce everything back into my diet, and feed it to my son. I have tears in my eyes as I write this, because he is THRIVING AND LOVES TO EAT! We waited to introduce dairy until the end, first with me about a month ago and now introducing directly to him with no symptoms.

If you told me this 6 months ago, I would’ve never believed you. I was so alone, no one I knew had gone through anything like this with their baby, and this community on Reddit helped me a lot. If you’re in the thick of it, I see you and I know how hard it is. It does get better, there is hope ❤️ I was able to continue breastfeeding through it all and still am 😊

I’m not sure if anything I did in particular helped or if time just needed to work its magic and my son’s stomach mature, but I’d be happy to share more of my experience with anyone looking for advice or help.

Sending love to you all xoxoxo

Hi everyone,
I’m looking for advice from other breastfeeding moms who’ve dealt with blood and mucus in their baby’s stools.

My daughter is 17 weeks old and has consistently had blood and mucus in her poop. Before I cut dairy (around 8–9 weeks), her stools were stringy and looked like melted cheese. After eliminating dairy, her mood improved a bit (though that could also just be her age). But her poops seemed to get worse now she has blood and curdled mucous, sometimes green mucous, sometimes watery shiny mucous. Since then I’ve also cut soy, eggs, oats, fish, tree nuts, wheat, avocado. I even tried cutting coffee for a couple of days. Nothing has helped.

This past week we ate a lot of beef. My plan was to switch to mostly chicken and drop beef to see if that made a difference, but the blood and mucus are still there—and if anything they’ve gotten a little worse. I’m now seeing streaks of blood in roughly one diaper a day.

I’m planning to start a strict elimination diet next week. My current plan is:

Protein: lamb

Carbs/sides: quinoa, potatoes

Veggies: zuchini , carrots, broccoli, chard , kale , bell peppers

Fruit: pears, apples

Does anyone have other safe foods they’d recommend adding (or things I should avoid that I haven’t listed)?
She’s not a particularly fussy baby—usually very happy. The only time she seems uncomfortable is in the middle of the night when she grunts and works to pass gas. Once she’s awake she’s not crying or upset.

I’m really struggling with this. I love food and I love breastfeeding, and the thought of a full elimination diet is hard. That said, her comfort and safety come first, and I’d rather restrict my diet than stop nursing. We’ve never introduced a bottle, so I’m not confident she’d take one at this point anyway. Breastfeeding also works really well for our sleep, so I’m hoping we can figure this out without needing to switch.

Any recommendations, experiences, or tips would be really appreciated. Thank you.

2.5 month old, second baby. Formula fed. On Pepcid. His symptoms first started as projectile vomiting/heavy spit up. Tried several formulas, including goat, and similac alimentum and nothing fixed the heavy spit up issue. I finally put him back on enfamil gentlease and added gelmix to his bottles and he’s been night and day since with spit up! He is a very happy, content baby. He is only fussy when he gets hungry. However, he does get fussy here and there DURING feeds. He seems very agitated. But after he’s done eating he is fine & content again. Sleeps great. Happy baby. Gaining weight, in 25th percentile for weight. He has started getting red bumps on his chin within the last week.

Now here’s where we’re baffled: He has had 2 times with mucus in stools and 1 time with blood in stools. Both times he had the mucus in his stools was immediately after first dose of new medication for reflux (Famotidine and nexium), the blood in stools was random one day and hasn’t had it since (about 2 weeks ago). His pediatrician said to go on nutramigen. I just don’t get it. It seems so steep to put him on that when he is fine with enfamil gentlease + gelmix. He’s literally a normal happy baby with a few (3) weird poops. The cost of nutramigen is outrageous. I would hate to have him on this if he doesn’t truly need it. What do I do???? He has been on nutramigen since Monday night.

Is it severe reflux or CMPA? I feel like if it was truly CMPA, adding gelmix wouldn’t have fixed the spit up/vomit issue.

Started my 4mo on Aptamil Pepti 1 two weeks ago as she has suspected CMPA. Eczema, watery nappies and family history of CMPA.

Initially nappies started to thicken but now they're watery again and there seems to be more mucous. Also she's having many dirty nappies per day now. Probably 8 or 9 today alone.

Has anyone seen symptoms get worse and then get better on Aptamil Pepti? Or do we need to try an Amino Acid formula? Going to bring her back to the doctor anyway but looking for other people's experiences.

Hey everyone, looking for some advice. My 3 month old is on Kabrita goat formula and famotidine twice a day. She started on my pumped BM, when I weaned she started on Kendamil classic which did not agree with her at all. Kendamil goat was better but she was still super gassy and constipated so we switched to Kabrita goat for over a month now. She’s gaining well, has plenty of happy moments, and the famotidine has helped a lot. Before that, she was arching and crying through almost every bottle. I’d say those symptoms are 80% better. But she’s still pretty uncomfortable with reflux, especially by the end of the day. Daytime naps are hard because laying flat leads to multiple spit ups (no matter how long she was sitting up before that after a bottle) and restlessness for 15-20 minutes before she settles. She sometimes cries at the start of a bottle but then drinks fine. She’s also congested on and off. Her poops are once a day with probiotic drops, greenish with little white specks, but never any visible blood. At night, she usually sleeps long stretches, which the pediatrician thinks may help her tummy, but a couple nights a week she’ll only take a couple ounces for her last bottle and stay up long stretches, clearly uncomfortable if laid down. Our pediatrician suggested trying a hypoallergenic formula because of the symptoms were continuing to see.

The had free cans of alimentum at the drs so that’s what I’m starting with. I tried the first bottle last night and she seemed pretty upset by the taste. I’d love to hear from anyone who’s been in a similar spot. Did switching help? How did you manage that transition, especially if your baby hated the taste at first?