neocate - what's your experience?

[huntersmummyinoz]

ds2 is a refluxer with mspi plus wheat, peanuts and i'm currently suspecting egg and tree nuts. bf at the moment plus one bottle of neocate for df. i'm planning on getting him to 6mths with mostly bf and then see how i feel then about whether or not to put him on all neocate so would like to hear some of your experiences with it. advantages/disadvantages, etc? at the moment i am a little torn between bf'ing for the benefits of breastmilk but i'm always q'ing what i eat and often feel like i am making him sick IYKWIM.

one thing that concerns me is that because the proteins are broken down so much, did your bub have trouble lasting between feeds? ie. i'm assuming it wont hold him out as long as regular formula??

thanks, kirry

[Edesanja]

Hey Kirry, DD was on one bottle of neocate a day from 16 weeks. At 7.5 months we went to Asia for a wedding and I just couldn't control my restricted diet there so we switched her to fully fed with Neocate. I would have breastfed longer if we hadn't been going because breastfeeding was much easier once we were sorted with what I could/ couldn't eat. I never had any problems with her lasting between feeds. Disadvantages - Neocate bottles are so hard to get clean, you'll have to do more!

[huntersmummyinoz]

bumpity bump

jenny, thanks for responding

[Austin's mom]

I'll be interested to hear what people have to say as well. DS is currently switching to neocate at 6 months, as we have exhausted all other options.

[EloysH]

oh Kirry, can I add my friends experience with it? She had a severe refluxer and at 4 months was not able to get her to take it. She kept trying every few days and then every week or so for a few months.   She absolutely hated the taste.  She had to settle for rotating different types of formulas every few weeks, and diluting the neocate say  first 50/50 then down to 70/30 with other formulas to get her used to it.  I think 70/30 was as far as she got the 70 being the neocate.  So the advice to get them to take it early is probably good advice        No idea about lasting between feeds though.

[huntersmummyinoz]

thanks elo, that's a great reminder actually that i need to get him to have the occasional bottle during the day rather than just the night feed so he is used to the flavour. we did that a few times early on but havent done it in at least a month!

austin's mum, hope we get a few more responses to help you out x

[maggie2]

Just wanted to chime in - somebody mentioned how the neocate is really difficult to clean from a bottle - if that is a big problem, you could try Elecare, which is just as gross tasting, but I hear it is not as 'oily'.  We give an elecare supplement through an ng tube.

[ireneee]

Hi there Kirry,
In answer to your question, the nurse who I was dealing with at the time told me that Neocate wouldn't keep them full for as long as with regular formula for the exact reason that you have mentioned. I think that secretly, she wanted me to keep bfeeding.
And to be honest, I have no idea if that is the real case as I couldn't get my LO to switch fully from bf to Neocate when she was that young as she didn't like the taste.
It did take quite a while for her to get used to the taste but I think you will be ok if your LO is already happy to have it at the dreamfeed. You can always mix it with your milk to help the transition!
Hope this helps!
:-)

[huntersmummyinoz]

thanks for your replies maggie and irene.

we have given occasional bottles during the day now too and he is totally fine with it. interestingly he doesnt spit up at all after a bottle of neocate but is still spitting up quite a bit after bf. am seeing a dietician on monday who works with a paediatric allergist that i will be seeing soon, hopefully they can shed some light. am sure they'll want me on a total elimination diet tho which i am a little hesitant about as when i dropped dairy/soy i had supply issues and suspect i will get a decrease if i do a major diet overhaul again too. will see what they have to say i guess.

[ireneee]

Hi Kirry,
Hope it went well with the dietician :-)

[Edesanja]

Kirry, did Kingston just take to it right away or did you have to get him used to the taste? I've tried with J - the first time he drank 20 or 30ml before stopping and screaming and hasn't taken any since. Thinking I'll have to mix it with EBM if I do persevere.
DD just drank it straight away (once we eventually got her to take a bottle   (she had bottle aversion)). She had such a strong reaction to my milk (knew that it hurt her) that I think she just realised that Neocate didn't hurt and so didn't bat an eyelid at the taste.

[ireneee]

Hi Jenny,
If this helps, my dietician told me to transition from breast milk to neocate quite quickly.
So if he won't drink straight neocate, mix bm with neocate, 75/25.
The next one 50/50.
The next one 25/75.
The next one all neocate.
So they don't get used to the taste of the mixture and you get stuck at one stage.
To be honest, I couldn't get LO to drink neocate from a bottle or sippy cup (mixed or straight) so I had to buy a completely new cup then sat down with her for one feed and gave her neocate. I think I did this for a while then gradually swapped more and more feeds for neocate. Now she loves it and gulps it down.
Good luck!

[huntersmummyinoz]

jenny, he was fine with it straight away but we started using it for the df bottle first. it is 50/50 whether he wakes for this or it is an actual df but he has had a bottle at this time since about 4 weeks old so that could be why it was a non issue?? after 2 weeks of having this bottle we started occasional bottles during the day on the weekend just to make sure he tolerated the taste when awake properly and he was fine. good luck hun