I know Neocate is recommended for babies who are FTT, as is my son.

What confuses me is that the calories per 100ml of Neocate are actually less than normal formula. And also, the volume guidelines (as in how much baby should drink at a certain age) are less than normal formula too.

Why is this?

I asked the question on the Neocate helpline, but the lady didn't know enough about the other formulas to comment.

I am thinking about giving Jackson another trial on Neocate. But I don't want to be compromising on calories! It is vital he continues to gain weight, as he is hovering on the 3rd percentile and doesn't drink much (about 600ml per day).

Oh, and another question. When flavouring Neocate can you use Vanilla Essence, or does it have to be pure vanilla? Thanks!!

I always thought that Neocate was more calorie rich than other formulas.

I would ignore the volume guidelines. The formula we used (Novalac) had lower volume recommendations that other common formulas. I think they just want you to make up more so that you can throw it out and then buy more tins

Actually, I have just looked again. It is more calories than normal formula (just - 298 to 281). I was thinking of the HA formula which is 310. That's the highest I have found.

You're probably spot on about the volumes of normal formula!

Twinkles how old is your child? If your child is under 1 they normally prescribe Neocates.

For children over the age of 1 they normally go on Neocates Advanced which comes either in unflavoured or tropical flavour.

My daughter has never really drank it. We tend to hide it in her food.

We used the real vanilla essence or you could try golden syrup as another option.

Good luck

Thanks. J is 6 months old.

Am thinking it can't hurt him to be back on the Neocate, given he's doing so badly back on the normal formula.

I know there is some scientific reason for it, but I can't remember as it has been a while since we used it.
But neocate is broken down and pretty much already digested and so it is more easily absorbed.
So less waste.
So more calories.

We used vanilla essence (not extract) and brown sugar to flavour ours. A few drops of vanilla and a teaspoon of brown sugar to around 18oml.
I did this right until she stopped having it, as she never took it without.

And I have learned that you can never make a child eat/drink any more than they want to....no matter how much you want them too.
So I say yeah for 600ml!

Sorry I haven't been on her much lately, so I'm not sure of your story. I'll have to go and have a little nosey.

We used vanilla essence - the ordinary, cheap one to flavour it for Thomas. These days it's almost all going down the tube so I don't bother anymore!

I've also used a little golden syrup to flavour it.
Some kids only need a little, others need a lot, some you can wean off the flavouring, others you can't.

Nicholas was put onto Pepti Junior at 6 months old, gradual change from standard to that, a little flavouring but not for long and he was fine.

Thomas - slow change over (he was 14 months though) and needed huge amounts of vanilla - turn the water brown with it kind of levels! We simply couldn't wean him off it.
600mls is good...Thomas could usually manage 600 mls a day of the Advance - 750 or more and we'd be up repeatedly thanks to reflux! All my kids were very volume sensitive with their reflux.
The dietician did tell me that 500mls of the Advance gave them most of what they needed so it may be that the volume you are getting into your little one is enough to cover the nutritional bases too.

HTH!

Thanks Eleanor (again!). I haven't yet decided if I will try Neocate again. He didn't like the taste last time, and I am not convinced there is any sort of intollerance, because we saw no improvement last time... only getting worse.

Jackson has taken to NOT sucking his bottle. Any ideas why this would be? He doesn't seem sore, just not hungry, ever. It's infuriating as it takes 40 minutes to get 100mls into him. Very tiring (and boring!). I kind of wish he'd just do his 100mls and then not have any more... at least then we could move onto other things. He's in a really bad habit too, I just don't know how to break the habit and get him sucking again.

He's always been awful on the bottle, but recently we had an amazing week where he was doing 900ml a day. Then he got sick, and now it's just getting worse. So annoying. But they really do have minds of their own.

Appetite is worse when their iron levels are low so this could be part of the reason he doesn't seem hungry. It becomes a vicious circle. I would go the neocate.