Nutramigen or Good Start? or other suggestions?

Hi,
I am hoping that some where out there another mom has gone through something similar that can help me sort this out!!! My baby girl is 8 weeks old and since she was 2wks old she was diagnosed with acid reflux. I was supplementing breastfeeding because my supply took forever almost 2 wks after my c/s. We have tried every single formula possible, or at least it feels like it. Finally, the GI peds gave her Nutramigen and she has been on it for 3 days. yeah it does smell horrible and has been helping with her gas, fussiness and she has been sleeping a lot better the only problem is that she broke out into a nasty diaper rash! Its horrible!! I have read that others have gone through this as well! Before the Nutramigen she was on Good Start Gentle Plus but after a week of being good on it she started having the same symptoms again and even worse! she wasnt eating as well. The GI peds told us to increase her Prevacid to twice a day and thats when she also added the Nutramigen.
We had been adding the cereal to the formula as suggested by the GI ped dr. as well. She has tried Alimentum but she didnt even last long she couldnt stand the taste! but before that we tried Similac Sensitive, the Isomil and now I feel like we have found some sort of solution but I cant stand seeing my girl with that nasty rash!! We are thinking that perhaps now that the dose of the Prevacid was increased perhaps we could try a different formula? maybe that could help with the spitting up and gas? but the question is which formula? Do I go back to the Good Start? it seems like that one is easier to digest and I have heard good things about it and she was good in it for a week... :( I dont know what else to do!!! Any suggestions???
Im still pumping my milk as well.. I was mixing with cereal to help her with the vomiting  b/c if I do it alone she would just bring back out. I tried changing my diet and quiting the dairy and all of that but still wouldnt help! She wouldnt sleep well day or night. Sometimes she wouldnt nap all day!! and sleep for an hour or two during the night.
Please pass along any comments or suggestions!!
Thank you!!

[Ashelen]

I don't really know about the Nutramigen...but my daughter was on Good Start Natural Cultures because she had problems with other formulas...and I LOVED it. she never had any problem once we had her on it regularly. I had to stop breastfeeding at 1 month because my supply dried up despite all the effort of my baby, my breast pump, and la leche league, lol. I was terrified she would suffer from the lack of immune system support but she has only been seriously sick ONCE (she's almost 2), and she was able to fight it off at home with tylenol and fluids. I can't say enough good things about the Good Start Natural Cultures...

I do have to say that Good Start is notorious for one thing though...because of the "comfort proteins" that they use, it's one of the most quickly digested formulas. This makes it easy to digest and causes few digestive upsets, but it also means that baby is likely to get hungry 20-30 minutes sooner than with the other formulas. As your baby gets older that won't make such a big difference, but it's something to take into account for now.

Good luck...hope you figure it out soon :).

[Tarobinc]

My daughter has a problem with digesting milk proteins.  This was suspected when she was 2 and months old when she spit up blood.  She was usually very gassy and right around 5pm to about 8pm she would just start to cry. We called it the "Grizzly hours" since nothing we did seemed to make her any better.  I bf for about 2 weeks (things just didn't work out for us in that department) and then I switched her to an organic milk based formula.  

The pediatrican thought it was either a milk issue or reflux. After trying her on anti-reflux meds with little relief or change in my daughter's symptoms, we tried Nutramigen and voila!  no more spitting up, no more fussiness and she started sleeping through the night!

My dd is now 15 months old and is on soy and rice milk. We had her tested for a milk allergy and she doesn't have that. It was confirmed that her body has a very hard time breaking down milk proteins.  Hopefully, she should "grow out" of this by 2 years of age.  

I would say after she started the Nutramigen, it took about 3 days to get her fully switched over to it as her only formula, she was so much better.

Your daughter's rash may be due to the med or the formula changes.  It's not easy to figure out since it seems she has changes occuring right around each other.  

Nutramigen is not milk based at all.  I think Good start is.  If your baby's problem is with a milk based formula, you shouldn't use any that are milk based.  Just an idea and I really hope things work out soon for her sake and yours.

[AnnieBrooke]

Try giving her probiotics, and the Good Start Natural Cultures sounds great.  It probably has probiotics in it.  I wouldn't put cereal in the formula, it's just empty calories and makes them hungry faster, as well as has the risk of pneumonia from inadvertently aspirating it into the lungs. If your baby only has so much room in her tummy, wouldn't you rather she have protein in it (which lasts longer) than carbohydrates that burn off quickly?

[tiredbuthappy]

we have been battling reflux for the last 8 months as well. Since you have noticed an improvement with the prevacid, I would say that you should try to give it twice a day as suggested. Also, some babies need both prevacid and something like zantac to manage the reflux. unfortunately, for each baby it's a process of trial and error. If a new formula suddenly gave her such a terrible rash, i personally would consult the doctors about going back to one of the ones that wasn't as bad.
Also, what are the symptoms? remember that the prevacid will not reduce the amount of vomitting, it'll just take the burn out of it. With the right dose of meds, the baby will still keep spitting up, but will eat better, not scream, not arch her back, etc...

Also, what form of prevacid are you giving? Is it compounded or solutab? We were on compounded for a while but i noticed it stopped working after 2 weeks. research on the internet showed me i wasn't the only one! everything you read about compounded prevacid says that often it completely loses its potency well before the bottle runs out. We are having MUCH better results since we switched to solutabs twice a day.

You can try an elimination diet, but it is very hard to avoid all potential allergens. How old is the baby? When dd was 6 months her gastro did blood tests to rule out common allergies. The only thing I have noticed REALLY make her worse is onions.

Good luck. I know this is absolute H.e.l.l. for you and her. I only now suspect her reflux is truly being managed by the right meds- it took us until 8 1/2 months. But 10 days after starting prevacid solutabs twice a day she magically stopped waking up crying every 30 minutes at night. Magically, she is eating normally (mine over-ate instead of under-eating to soothe her throat). I know maturity has a lot to do with it, but the sudden and drastic change makes me think it was us finally getting the meds right. Along the way, each time we changed the meds, i thought things were helping and going well, but never like this.

By the way, my little one also gets pumped milk. I just started a few ounces of formula a day a month ago and we are using the Good Start as well. Honestly, if a baby's reflux is bad, no formula is a magical answer. Most cases need to explore different medication combos. If you find meds aren't helping enough, or you hesitate to use them, you can ask your ped for testing to see what's going on. Since these tests can be a bit invasive, they often explore meds first because they are considered to be relatively safe.

[tiredbuthappy]

sorry- i see now that you said she's 8 weeks- that's too young for allergy testing. Sometime it's just the baby's immature digestive track and not anything you are eating.

[melimeli]

My daughter used Nutramigen for 11 months and it was great!  She had blood in her stool with milk and soy based formulas.  The diaper rash could just be a flook.. I would stick with Nutramigen for a while and see what happens

[Crritter]

I feel so bad for you, I know right where you are at with this.  Cameron went on Nutramigen at 2 weeks old after he would scream all night & lost his voice.  At 4 weeks they added Prevacid, at 10 weeks they also added Reglan to help the involuntary refluxing, the projectile vomit was so bad.  Shortly after they had to add Zantac. At 3, Cam is still taking these meds, he has been on high doses, but it was trial & error.  I would stick to the Nutramigen a little while, it can take some time to get the full effect & your little one is probably having a tough time going back & forth.  I would talk to your Dr. about the rash, I would think fluke too as Nutramigen is broken down so much.  As Cam grows, they have to change the doses in Prevacid, sometimes we have to double up when it gets bad, then go back down to 15 mg, but have had to steady increase the others.  Even with all of that, he was still colicky for months screaming most of the night, but the puking stopped & he quit losing his voice.  

Also try vaseline on your little one or aquaphor, something to create a barrier, may help with the rash.  Good luck, I feel so bad for you, but hang in there, it will get better.