Nutramigen - Frankfort,IL

You could try relactating and then breast feed her. It will likely be easier on her stomach. you will need a pump for that. Basically, you start pumping and with time the milk comes back in. Good Luck.

have you tried lactose free formula? my daughter had the SAME problems, and we tried nutramigen, just to find out it was a waste of money, because it made things worse. and come to find out, she needed the lactose free. if you haven't tried that yet, i strongly suggest doing that BEFORE switching to the nutramigen... if you have tried it, sorry, i don't think there are any cheaper options for that formula.

I highly recommend getting it on ebay. I did with both of my children and never paid more than $18/$19 per can. And the scoops are smaller than with the cheaper formulas so you use less as well.
My son is now one and off the formula and I have 2 unopened cans that expire 9/09. I was planning to put them on ebay but can sell them to you. Email me if you are interested - ____@____.com

I am not a fan of Nutramigen. My twins were on it and you have to burp them about 3 times more than with other formula. After a feeding I put my son down to sleep(after many burps and 20 minutes upright). i heard a weird noise. i went and picked him up and he spit up and had foam at the side of his mouth that was there for a while. Scary. he didn't have colic but my daughter did until she was almost 5 months. Good start is the best for colic. The purple can. Make sure to keep your baby upright for about 30 minutes afetr a feeding before you put her down. You can prop her up in a Boppy if you can't hold her the whole time. The pediatrician wanted to put her on Prilosec for reflux because her colic took so long to go away but after one dose thrown up and then she was worse we stopped it. It did go away after 5 months. Try holding her over you arm . pressure on her tummy and it helps. Good luck:)

Ps She was like a dream come true after the colic ended!Such a sweet baby!

Hi N.,
My son had spit up problems (had to bring extra bibs every time we left the house) and colick. We tried so many formulas (including Alimentum, $$$$$$$$ ouch) and found that Nestle Good Start Supreme worked great. Though he did still spit up, he no longer was "colicky" and we had no other problems once he was on it. Maybe try it?

I agree with the other poster.....1) ask your peds for samples. They get a TON!!!!!! and 2) call the Enfamil 800 number and see what they can do.

A quick side note..........Enfamil has sent me samples (big canisters, too) of formula this past year and $5-$10 rebates and we have never used the formula. I give these to my Ped. So again ask the doc for samples and contact customer service. All the formula brands are so competitive now I am sure they will want to "grab you".

We used Nutramigen -- it turns out that my baby has tons of food allergies and the Nutramigen worked great. Our pediatrician had tons of free samples, and they would put some aside if I called to ask if they had any. Good luck!

N. -
I responded the other day and am glad you guys got it worked out, but....in case you need a back-up. It just occurred to me how we were able to afford it for my daughter - because she was in such bad shape, our pediatrician wrote a prescription for it. It truly was medically necessary and we'd have to go and pick it up at the pharmacy, but it was then covered by our insurance.

Anyway, just in case you need some extra help.

I used Nutramigen with both my kids. My daughter was colicky (for no reason), while my son had some mild acid reflux problems. Yes, it's one of the most expensive formulas on the market. I'm very surprised to hear that you are not getting coupons from Enfamil -- they used to mail me a $5 or $7 coupon every month or two.

First, I would check Craigslist and FreeCycle to see if anyone is giving away (or trying to barter) Enfamil coupons. Second, I would call the toll-free number on the Enfamil website and try to talk to someone about your situation. You never know -- they may be willing to send you a bunch of samples and coupons. Finally, I would ask my Pediatrician to give more samples. He gets them for free from his Enfamil rep and should be able to give his patients in need some extras.

Best wishes.

Have you tried Costco? I think they sell formula for less, although I don't know if they carry the kind you need.
Good luck!

Hi there,

I hear you about the price of Neutramagin. It really did work though, so it's worth it.

I do have a few tips. I did extensive research to try to find the best price. I found that Babies R Us and Target have the best price. It's often on sale at Target as well. That's when I used to stock up. I also signed up for Enfamil coupons, although I found them to be stingy with the coupons. Another mom suggested that I ask other family members, friends and neighbors to sign up as well. I never tried it, but it sounds like a good idea. I've also seen Enfamil coupons for sale on e-bay. I would also recommed calling Enfamil. Explain your situation and ask if there's any way they can give you a discount or send you more coupons. Good luck!

Dear N.,

I had the same problem with both of my children. You cannot afford not to buy nutramigen. It is a wonderful product. The kids were so much better. Let people know yur situation. Tell your doctor's office and see what they can do. I used to buy mine from Walmart by the case. I also applied for coupons on line and used one every time I bought formula. I know it is difficult but the benefit for your children is worth it.

I don't know where you can buy it cheaper but you can ask your doctor's office for samples. I did and they gave me a bunch.

Good luck to you.

My son was on nutramigen for a little while, and it is outrageously expensive!! And it didn't work!! Did you try it??? If it works then you have a lot of thinking to do, but I would definately bring her to a gastro specialist @ children's memorial just to be sure! My son had Pyloric Stenosis, and after his surgery he was completely fine. I think your daughter is too old to be diagnosed w/ that. Is she gaining weight ok? pooping ok? i would definately want to know the exact cause of this! Did you try soy formula? Let us know what happened! I think that's an awful position for a ped to put you in! I would also maybe start looking for a new ped! I LOVE MINE! He sees the whole picture......e-mail if you want more info!

Colicky is often a sign of the baby not having their good bacteria in the digestive systems...when it is imbalanced it causes gas, uncomfortness, etc. If you were able to give her the colostrum, this helps kickstart her digestive enzymes. If not, then you can give her some probiotics, which is being added in many formulas but the cost is crazy! You can buy them much cheaper and give them to her in her bottle. FloraBaby is safe and contains 11 different strains of good bacteria that she is lacking in her system. They can be purchased at www.smartbomb.com and lasts 3months, but would continue with them for a whole year at the very minimum..when we don't have the digestive enzymes or good bacteria to breakdown certain proteins in the formulas, of course she is going to be able to digest simpler foods like rice cereal and apple juice. I know there are past postings on making your own homemade formula with coconut and rice milks, which is much easier to digest than cow's or soy milk based proteins. You'll have to look in the archives on the website.

You can read an article in my family health column I wrote about probiotics. http://www.examiner.com/x-7158-Chicago-Family-Health-Exam...

Hope that helps.

Good Luck,
J. W. MPH

Hi N.,

I'm so sorry to hear your little one is having such difficulty with the current formula, but I experienced the exact same problem with my now 7 year old. We too had to put him on Nutramigen a few years back and it really was the best thing for him. We tried all of the same things and he too gained weight at phenominal speeds, but the Nutramigen did provide the nutrients he was lacking from not having the formula. One of the things I can suggest to try and suppliment the cost of the formula is to write to the manufacturer diretly and explain your daughters situation as well as the financial strain that purchasing this type of formula is going to put on your household and ask them to send samples of the Nutramigen as well as coupons to be used for future purchases. It might not be much, but it should generate something from them. The only other thing I can suggest in the absence of WIC, (which consequently, if you haven't tried to apply just as a family of 3, I would suggest that first), there is a place in Oak Lawn, Southside Preganacy Center, ###-###-####, that has an alternate location of a 'Mommy Market'. At the 'Mommy Market', once you sign up, you are able to gain points for different things and shop with those points, at no actual monetary cost to you. Often times, they have various specialty formulas, but they also have an influx of coupons and rebates for these different formulas. If you receive coupons or rebates for Enfamil, please note, those coupons can be used for Nutramigen because Enfamil is still the manufacturer of it. Often times, at the 'Mommy Market', I found generous rebates that people left because they didn't use the products. That may be a help as well. Or and there is another suggestion I have, reached out to some of the local churches. A lot of them have a Catholic Charities representative and they can sometimes assist on a short-term basis. I hope this information helps and I pray your little one continues to flourish. Take Care...

Tracy C.
Oak Lawn, Illinois

My son spit up until he was about nine months old and that's when I started him on more solids than breast milk. He still nurses, but most of his nurishment ( I know that's spelled wrong, but I'm having a brain bubble at the moment) comes from solid food. Now he rarely spits up. He's a year old now though.

Some kids just spit up. I think it's immaturity of their esophagus or a weak flap at the stomach and esophagus. Who knows. Neither of my girls really spit up at all, so the boy was a real challenge.

I wore sweat shirts all the time to soak up the spit up. I smelled so bad by the end of the day. I kept old diapers across my shoulder and bibs on him. We changed all the time.

I really should have invested in a few hospital type smocks and worn those, but I didn't think about that.

It will stop...and as long as she's gaining weight and healthy, I would just not worry about it.

My brother couldn't do formula...mom had to give him regular milk. Ask your doctor about organic milk in which you add a supplement.

My MIL gave my husband goat's milk because he couldn't handle formula.

And then finally my SIL gave her kids powdered milk for the very same reason.

I don't care for the soy based formulas especially if you had a boy because soy has natural female hormone and I read about some studies that thought there might be a link to that and sterility in boys. Not sure it would be bad for girls, but who knows?

Have you tried any type of gripe water yet?
http://www.coliccalm.com/
It's worth a shot and sure is a lot less expensive than Nutramigen. The dr. tried to put my daughter on it and I had an issue with the cost as well. We tried it for a few weeks and it didn't make a difference with her at all, so we went to the Carnation Good Start and she did MUCH better with the spitting up. We also burped her after every 1/2 ounce and that seemed to help as well. Give the Gripe Water a try and see--it can't hurt since it's all natural. Good Luck!

Hi N.,

My child was like that too. I found formula on e-bay. It was safe. The lady I bought it from got it from enfamil. The other thing I found that helped was the right dr. We found out the my daughter had problems with acid reflux, milk and egg white. I have a great upper gi dr for kids. Dr Sandler is at Rush in the city. Please let me know and I will get the #. He helped with everything!!!! Good luck.

There is something that I just heard of from a good friend.....it's called "Gripe Water". You can get it at Walgreens in the baby section by the gas relief items, around $12.00. It is used for colic, tummy ache, and hickups. It's a natural remedy. You can put it in their bottles or just squirt it in their mouth. My Grandaugher, who is 10 months old woke up crying with a tummy ache and in about 2 minutes was perfect!!! I wish I had known about this when my own daughter had colic very bad!!!! I thought it might be worth a try for you.

I second the suggestion to contact your peds office. They can give you free containers and coupons too.

Hope this helps.

A.

I didn't read all the responses but have you considered relactation? Breastmilk is easiest for babies to digest and it's free!

Hi N.,
I just wanted to share my experience just in case your daughter has the same problem as mine did. She was also colicky. She had a tremendous amount of gas that caused her horrible discomfort as well as eczema. Through lots of trial and error I finally figured out she was sensitive to the growth hormones in some milk. I breastfed her but even a trace amount through me would cause the gas. I switched to hormone free or organic milk and it went away. I never used formula so I am not that familiar with the brands and types out there but you could try an organic brand and see if the problem resolves. These could be expensive I guess too but maybe there are less expensive organic options out there.

J.

check with your insurance company......some plans will cover the special formula (provided your doctor prescribes it).....it may not, but is worth a look. If they do, it will mean large quantities at a time will be delivered to you directly but will cut your costs and help your child at the same time.

I hope that you have found some additional helpful solutions by now, but in case you'd like to see some more information, here is another resource...

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/10/t106000.asp

If you are interested in relactating, here is info about that...

http://www.llli.org/NB/NBrelactation.html

If you might want to buy breastmilk for your baby, here are some resources for that...

http://www.hmbana.org/
http://www.nationalmilkbank.org/

Best wishes,
J.

N.,

Call the 800 number on the back of the formula and tell them your situation, your child needs it but you just can't afford it and ask if they have coupons they can send you or even ask your doctor if they have any coupons or samples. I'm sure the company will start sending you coupons.

our dr. told us to switch to Nutramigen when our little girl was having trouble keeping her formula down. It was very expensive & she would NOT drink it. She pushed every single bottle of it away and would reach for my breast instead (thank God I was breastfeeding and supplementing or she would not have eaten much as my production was not that good). When all was said and done with formula, Nestle Good Start soy was the one that worked for us. Good luck.

N.:

have you considered relactation?

P., RLC, IBCLC
Breastfeeding and Parenting Solutions

Have you tried a formula that is not milk-based and does not have lactose in it? My son (now 2) spit up like crazy, was extremely fussy at night with gas, etc., and we found that switching him to Similac Sensitive which does not have lactose that he was much better. While it hasn't been confirmed, we suspect that he is lactose intolerant.

Hi mom I had the same problem with my three children, after all the different types of formulas and listening to all the doctors I put my daughter on regular milk and it worked, so when my other two had the same problem I did the same thing and it was great. I did not tell the doctors they will not approve.Well the milk was cheap and my baby was satified and every thing work out fine. Also my babies were two and three months old at the time I switch. You problem won't do this but if you good luck!

I don't know if this sounds crazy or not, but have you thought about using a milk bank? You could call your LLL contact for more information. Maybe you are right and fourmula of any type just isn't right for her. I know the breast milk at a milk bank is pasturized so it is safe for other babies to drink. I think I would go that way if nothing else worked.

The very last thing we tried before the nutramigen was formula called Gentlease. I can't remember who makes it, but they carry it at target and walmart. Our son was really gassy and spitty too. This seemed better. He still spit up, not as much, so the doctor considered it normal spit up then, even hours after eating. That poor kid got good use out of bibs and burb cloths! Buy a small can and give that a try for some time, but becareful changing all the formula around. It may take her a while to get used to something.

N.

Hi ladies, I never had an experience like that, but my mother did with my sister years ago, they were at there wits end, and my sisters father had send me to the store to buy a can of pet milk ( like half an half ) my mom mixed it with water and my sister drank her first 4 oz without it coming back up. She was raised on pet milk and to this day she is alergic to milk and dairy products. Has a son about a year old and he is not. Both doing very well

Go to another WIC office, and only use one of your incomes. They dont check....

Discuss it with you doctor and share that the expense is too much and see if there are other options. Also doctor's offices receive samples of formula and see if you can get some samples. Enfamil does send out formula coupons and theirs have better value than the Similac brand. My sister-in-law signed up her mom and my mom to receive coupons so she receives more of them. Is there a store brand that you can buy instead of the Enfamil? There is also a website, www.diapers.com that has discounted prices and free shipping on delivery of formula. All three of my sons spit-up a lot and we went rounds with formula including Nutramigen. We also used Enfamil A/R that was new on the market with our third child. It worked a bit but it was constipating because it had rice in it. In the end all three of ours used Similac Soy Formula. I found the Nutramigen wasn't working wonders and that there really was no difference between using the Nutramigen and the soy other than the high price of Nutramigen. They all spit up right after eating and even hours after eating. My second was on Zantac for a while too. The Soy really seemed to work best. Good Luck. Mom of 3 Boys Age 6, 4, 2.

Have you looked at Target? I believe they now have an Nutramigen alternative.

Have you tried the formula already that is already made? My daughter had a hard time with formula as well (sounds like your problem) but could keep cereal down. I switched to the Infamil pre-made formula and it made all the difference. It does cost a little more than the powder but no where near the cost of Nutamigen. Just a thought in case you haven't tried that yet.