Hi 2and2
You will need to discuss with paediatrician about formulas and Losec dose. 20mg of Losec is a pretty good dose for a six-month-old. Side-effects are more common with higher doses.
Does he have other symptoms of allergy with the Pepti-Junior? Pepti-Junior contains proteins broken down into peptides and Neocate is broken down even further to amino acids.
Re probiotics, a health food shop should be able to help you out but there is some information here: http://www.cryingoverspiltmilk.co.nz/AlternativeTherapies/Probiotics.htm There are others also. I was buying some for my 15-year-old today. I personally like the Kyodophilus as it doesn't need to be refridgerated and is reasonably priced. I understand that bifidum is a good strain to have in a probiotic for a baby.

He has had a great 5 nights. I have been giving him his second losec at 6.30pm and it seems to have helped.Still have bags and dark rings under my eyes though from a horrific month though. He has no other symptoms now so obviously the losec and kumara only diet is working. Guess I can say it's under control- for now!
I know not to change things while the going is good, but I am wondering if he should be on Neocate? Guess I am concerned he will still be good for "Paed. appointment in a week then after appointment it will turn to custard and I missed my opportunity. What do people think? Do they give a prescription change for me to hold on to just in case? Does one rule out the other? If I start Neocate can I go back to Peptijunior without going back to Paed?

Once you get a special authority number for neocate, you'll still have the pepti junior on record (they won't cancel it) so you can just get a script from your gp to go back to it if you want to. So I'd be tempted to get neocate from the paed, do a trial and then decide what you're going to do.

I thought that if you have a specail authority number you could get either.
We never went back to the paed for a script.
He put us on pepti and then the dietition told us to go onto neocate. I went to the GP and they gave me the script for neocate.
After that whenever I needed some neocate the GP wrote me a script no questions asked.

Hi there, sorry to hear of your troubles. It sounds oh so familar to me also. I think you need to get to a paedeatrician if you haven't already because it sounds like a food intolerance of some sort. I used to spend an 1 1/2 rocking my son to sleep when he was breastfed. But at 5 1/2 months he went onto neocate formula and after 3 weeks on that there was a noticeable change in his ability to settle to sleep. I was down to 15 mins of rocking! Although he still can't settle himself to sleep he is so much happier and was able to come right off his losec. Now that he has started solids some foods upset him and can cause his old haunts come back - like waking at 3am for the day etc! It's sounds like you are doing everything you can - and I know that when you're that exhausted having the energy to walk them in the buggy isn't always the easiest either. I wouldn't bother trying to leave him to cry himself to sleep as I never had any success with that and it just adds to the stress of everything when you are already going through enough. My advice is that a happy feeder is a happy sleeper and I think you will need to address the feeding before his sleeping will get any better. Neocate has been a lifesaver for us. Perhaps stopping solids and slowly reintroducing them may be the answer. I really feel for you. Best of luck.

If you're wondering why my post doesn't make much sense it's cause I only read page 1 of this discussion. Sorry a bit of a newbie to this. LOL .

Hi
If his reflux is controlled with Pepti Junior, Losec and Kumara only then I don't think you need to change to Neocate.

In terms of getting in help - have you thought about looking at getting an Au pair or something like that?

Just an update - Went to different paed and much more helpful. NOw on neocate and certainly better on that. Still 1 breastfeed cos I can't bring myself to stop altogether. The paed thought 30mg losec might be a bit high and giving him headaches (reported by adults on high doses). So we went down to 20mg but he seemed worse. Now settled on around 25mg (!).

He's sleeping better at night, 7-8 hours straight so I should be pleased with that. He still wakes early goes back to sleep with a lot of effort but it's better than before. Still pushing him in buggy during day but he's down to 2 longer naps so better. Keep trying to get him to sleep in cot and he just sobs or screams and I can't take it. Bought him a Babe-OK sleeper or whatever which holds them in place when cot on angle - he acted like he was in a straightjacket/being tortured. So now have the cot on only very slight angle cos otherwise he ends up at bottom sideways so no point anyway. He seems to prefer a bigger angle but can't work out how to keep him in place without the harness thing.

We got a nanny which we can't afford. She's good but again hard to reeducate her re. reflux babies. But certainly less stress than before.

Have started giving him a wider range of food which initially he seemed ok on, but now he seems to be pooing 4 times a day. We all have had a stomach bug so could be that but it's been 4 days now with food going through him very quickly. Has anyone else had this experience?

Hi Horeka

Sounds like progress. I would persevere with the Babe-Ok Sleeper or purchase a safe-t-sleep where it only goes around their stomach so that you can keep bed up higher. Can you let him settle to sleep without it and then sneak him into it? I'm sure he will eventually get used to it.

Is the frequent motions upsetting him? Neocate does make softer motions with a dark colour. I wouldn't worry about it personally. As you introduce more solids it will probably firm up.

Things a lot better now. He settles easier, can even put him down when not quite asleep and he just sucks his thumb and clings on to his blankie! SO cute. Bed flat and he doesn't seem to mind. Had a horrendous winter, think he was sick 7 separate times, the last one he had vomiting and diarrhoea which was fun. not giving him many foods, just started some lamb so we'll see. Still worried about iron intake - any tips (he's now 9 months)?

Thanks for ALL your input and support, it's meant a lot to me.

Incremin supplement for additional iron or floradix.

It is important to have Vitamin C with iron so veges and meat together. Pate can be a helpful source of iron at this age. Another idea are aria farm chips to eat as finger food, gluten free dairy free luncheon meat is usually well liked - it is also the stuff that is mostly fat free.
Stew some meat and give the gravy with the vegetables. If you do it long enough there are lots of juices in the gravy. Slow cooker is great for this.

Hi, I've just been reading your thread and I just wanted to say that I'm glad that things are improving - life on the reflux roller coaster is not easy - I know because my DS is 5 and still has it (currently controlled).

We are only new at this too and are still working through'whatever works'.
But a friend has lent me a hammock for sleeping your one might be too old for this, not sure if they have them for older babies, but its the only way he sleeps for us in the day at the moment , maybe try a hire place. Also an osteopath told me to try Goats milk formula, we have been on that for about 8 weeks now and I think it helps, and his motions are more like breastfed motion, no more contispation. His wind has reduced in a big way since on the goats milk. Its quite expensive though.
good luck

Thanks for sharing traj. My refluxer is still a goat's milk girl at age eight years. Goat's milk was recommended to us by her paediatrician because she was allergic (delayed reactions) to cow's milk in my diet and soy formula. Goat's milk is however rather controversial and not recommended by most allergy experts as the proteins are similar to cow's milk. Goat's milk used to be subsidised with a special authority number if applied for by a paediatrician and I think it still can be.

He's on Neocate formula and seems fine. He's eating a wider variety of things and seems OK as long as I don't give him too much of the slightly dodgy ones (banana, avocado, tiny bits of wheat bread). It all seems to be to do with his bowel, make sure I give him a balance of things that might constipate and things that will make him 'go' in each meal. The probiotic also helps move things along so that's been helpful.

Honestly he's a completely different baby. My father-in-law can't get over the difference from 2 weeks ago- happy to be crawling and exploring, feeding himself, gets to sleep a lot more easily. Happy days are here again! Well, mostly anyway! Nanny has finished after 2 months so we'll see how I feel in a few days!