Anyone Tried Nutramigen?

Hi,
My daughter was on it and she loved it. Try ordering it on line, I think we got it on "bulk for cheap". It worked out less expensive then getting it one can at a time. She is now on soy milk, so hopefully your little one wont be on it forever.
Good luck.
A.

Hi K.,

My baby girl, who now 18 months, was and is also allergic to all dairy and soy. We did try nutramigen...but she still had microscopic blood in her stool with using it. I never noticed the bad smell though. What we were next referred to try, which has been wonderful is Elecare, which has to be purchased online from Abbott Labs. The reason that I mention this is because you mentioned the expense of nutramigen. Elecare is more expensive BUT my insurance did pay for 85% of the cost, which is huge! The doctor just had to write a letter stating that it was a formula that was medically necessary. It took a bit of back and forth but Blue Shield did give in and paid without problem. We are just now taking her off of the formula (we have been using our surplus of cans since we had ordered a bunch to make sure we always had enough since it has to be delivered) and have been giving her rice milk since she turned one.

I don't know if this will help, but you may want to talk to your doctor to give it a try. Since the insurance will pay for it if it is medically necessary and you can prove that this is the only form of nutrition he can have.

Good luck.
W. L

My son was put on nutramigen when he was probably 6 mo old. They thought he may be lactose intollerant. His ped had orginally had us try soy, but he still had problems with that which is why we got nutramigen...it did not help. In fact, switching his formula caused him to have digestive problems that we are just getting under control...he'll be 5 at the end of the month. I don't want to scare you, I just think you should be very sure before you switch your baby through too many formula's. It turned out that my son has no problem with lactose at all or soy. He was just very sensitive and needed other supplements.
On the price side, Carnation's good start has a product that is the same as nutramigen. Look at the ingrediants. It's about 1/2 the cost too. (At least it was 4 yrs ago) Good luck with your little one.

Hi K.,

You are right to not want to use the soy formulas and good going on questioning things. Another choice, though also expensive, is Neocate, that many families use when there are allergies involved. www.neocate.com

Dealing with food allergies (as well as eczema, ear infections, unusal behaviors) makes red flags go up for me. Check out this book, Healing the New Childhood Epidemics: Autism, ADHD, Asthma, and Allergies: The Groundbreaking Program for the 4-A Disorders, by Dr. Kenneth Bock.

On another note, please make sure YOU have done the research on vaccinations for YOUR child. The AAP recommended schedule of shots for children is too many, too soon. Here are sites and books that I always recommend for people to start their research:

www.909shot.com
www.tacanow.org

The Vaccine Book, by Dr. Robert Sears

What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Childhood Vaccinations, by Dr. Stephanie Cave

Evidence of Harm, by David Kirby

Absolutely worth it!! Both of my daughters were "colic" babies and this was the only formula that didn't bother them. Yes, epensive, but definately worth it!

Good Luck!

C. C
SAHM of two daughters (now 16 and 14 years old!)

My daughter had severe allergies, even to my breast milk and had to be put on Nutramigen. She LOVED it! She would take 6 oz every 2 hours from the time she was 3 months old until she turned one. It killed our finances, but what could we do when she was allergic to everything?! It worked well for her, cleared up her rashes, eliminated her colic and turned her into the happiest baby. Every child is different, so you will just have to try it with your son. For us, it was worth it.

YES!!! Worth every penny. I have used it for all three kids. They breastfed until about 9 mos and then I used Nutramigen until about 18 mos. Yes, it is expensive and smells funny, but if it is all they get, they dont' know any different. USE it for sure!

My little boy is now a healthy 12 year old boy and I had my fair share of tummy problems with him. Nutramigen does smell bad and it will stain just about any fabric but it worked wonders on the little guys tummy.

He was instantaniously releived of gas, diarhea and whatever else we were struggling with. I say do it!! Well worth every EXPENSIVE penny :):).

My son is a 5'10 12-year old handsome, handsome boy!!

there's always breastmilk... it's never too late to lactate. although you may need to eliminate dairy, it's very possible at any age, especially with the help of a lactation consultant!

just FYI, read the ingredients because my ped. also recommended Nutramigen to me but I did not use it as it has MSG in it...ended up sticking to breastfeeding mine exclusively. Good luck

Are you looking for a natural alternative?

I gave it to my daughter and she hated it--exactly because it tasted horrible. She ended up being fine with soy similac

I never tried Nutramigen, but had good results with Enfamil. My 2 daughters are lactose intollerant. They did fine with breastmilk (5 & 10 mos almost exclusively), but didn't tolerate regular formula. I tried soy based formula with stinky, gassy results and switched to Enfamil Lactose-Free Lipil without any fuss from either of my girls. They took it without balking at the flavor and I never had a problem with gassy diarrhea again. They are now 3 & 5 and take Digestive Advantage Children's chewables daily and are doing great on it (FYI for later with your little one).

I was allergic to formula when I was a baby and even back then... 30 years ago... nutramagen was my mom's only option. It worked for me!

Hi K.,
I would definitely give it a try. My daughter was allergic to dairy and while I did breastfeed her as much as possible, I never made enough milk and had to supplement with formula. So I had to stop eating dairy, as well as start using the Nutramigen. It was amazing how fast it helped her. She had had blood in her stool as well as eczema on her face and it cleared up everything. At one year old they tested her and she was no longer allergic to dairy. In fact, her favorite foods now are milk, yogurt and mac & cheese. Nutramigen was very expensive, but I know my baby's health was more than worth the cost!
Good luck. It can be pretty overwhelming being a mommy sometimes....do what you feel is best for you and your baby.

Why not soy? Goodstart Soy is what my lil one is on and seems to be doing fine. I researched the controversies around it, but there was an equal amount around other formulas as well.

you didn't share the reason for not wanting to use soy but both my children had lactose issues and outgrew them. my son at a year my daughter at 2.5 yrs. Soy worked wonderful for both my kids. Nutramigen was soooooo expensive and we are a one income family. Our ped told me kids have a 50% chance of soy working vs. breast milk or lactose formula and if not nutramigen was it. We were grateful soy was a dream for us. My son is now 7 and daughter 4. they are both very healthy, smart and good eaters. No problems. Good luck. Sorry I don't have advice about the actual formula. i don't know how we would have afforded that if soy formula hadn't been so great. hope you find the answers you need. i know it's a hard choice.

K.,

My baby has been on Nutramigen since being born and was 2 days old when he started. He has been on Nutramigen for over a year. He's 15 1/2 months old now and intermittently still drinks it but he is able to accept lactose/milk products now and by the time he was about 13 months. I am a Nutramigen expert!!
He was a formula fed baby from the very start, because I was unable to breastfeed, and he also has the same intolerance issues as your baby. Nutramigen was prescribed by his pediatrician from birth. It has all the nutrients your baby needs, if you are not breastfeeding (which is best, if you can, otherwise Nutramigen works great). It also prevents colic better than other Enfamil or Nestle formulas such as Lipil or Good Start (we tried them all), and it helps his stools stay soft and regular so there is no pain when he poops. With the other formulas he was backed up and not pooping for 3 days at a time, and then when he did finally poop he was in excruciating agony because his poop was impacted and stuck inside of his little body trying to get out. Nutramigen does not do this at all.
By the time he was about 9 months, we interspersed Nature's One Organic Baby formula with added DHA/RHA which is a non-fish oil omega supplement and only buy it online www.naturesone.com is the website. My son's father is an ER nurse who recommends this for kids under the age of 12 months. It is medical grade formula and they also have a lactose intolerant formula for babies. It tastes less metallic than Nutramigen, but either is fine. Our son is now able to drink whole milk and all dairy products but we still supplement with formula which has more nutrients than whole milk. He eats cheese frequently and yogurt daily as well.

My children were both on it from the time I stopped breastfeeding until they started eating table foods. I noticed a huge difference in their fussiness, spit ups, etc a few days after I started it! It does smell funny, but worked wonders!!
Good luck!!