Neocate LCP vs Karicare Pepti Junior

We are on Neocate LCP and have found it great. Only thing is Oliver can't handle it full strength or he gets really bad constipation (had been runny prior to neocate) so we make his bottles with 120 ml water and 5-6 scoops neocate.

If you join Neocate kids yahoo group, it's well known that pepti junior causes problems and Neocate doesn't.

We are also not on full strength neocate. We have 170ml water to 7 scoops not the 8 prescribed.

I would start on half strength & then slowly work up by adding a scoop a day til you get to either full strength or you get to a point where you can see that he's not tolerating it & then take it back a step.

Also they tend to take the right amount of scoops a day but over more bottles. So we started off on 8 half bottles a day & now we are down to 3 so he's still on a similar amount of scoops.

Delay solids until you get him on an even keel with the formula. Cause other wise you're adding in more variables.

No problems with neocate, other than the constipation issues as well (which even though we've reduced formula we still struggle with)

Our specialist at the time said that he was happy for us to delay solids till close to 8 months - as it was a whole food, but he didnt want us waiting past then, so she was able to develop the skills needed for eating so to speak.
So id also definately hold off the solids till you know the milk is working for him

Its so hard isnt it at the start especially when you're trying to find out whats best and what works and why things arent as they should be. *hugs*

Hi MinaNZ, did the dietician explain to you the difference between the two formulas?In case they didn't I will try to but I'm not a dietician so bare with me. (I always find it helps to know why the advice is being given and why the steps they are taking are being taken).

Pepti junior has had the cows milk proteins(this is what babies are often allergic to, and is totally different to lactose intolerance) broken down to peptic acids, this makes them smaller than the long string proteins found in most foods and is part of what we do when we digest food. The idea is that their body won't recognise it as cow's milk protein and therefore won't have the same reaction as to normal formula, however some babies/children still do.

Neocate is the next step up, it's had the cow's milk broken down to amino acids, this is as small as the buildling blocks of proteins go. Every protein we eat is broken down by our bodies to create amino acids which we then use to form our own proteins to use for muscle tissue and so forth.

So as neocate is amino acids it's completely unrecognisable to the body as cow's milk protein and therefore the body won't attack it as can happen with the pepti.

They often like to try pepti first, I think for one it is cheaper and also it's gives an idea of how allergic your child might be.

My oldest was on neocate until roughly 2.5 year. As a baby he had quite a lot of allergies and was on a restricted diet for a while at 3.5 years he is pretty much on a normal diet, with only a nut allergy as a real concern.

Have you tried adding a few drops of vanilla essence to the neocate? or the other thing they say is safe to add is golden syrup, then wean it out as they get use to the taste. The stuff if fowl. I had to mix it with his standard formula to get my boy to drink it and wean that way which isnt' ideal when the standard formula makes them sick, but then not eating also makes them sick.

If you ring 0800 NEOCATE they can help you as well, I rang them over my boy not drinking the neocate and they helped me out heaps.

thanks for the explaination cuppatea, the dietitian did roughly explain the difference. The thing i have an issue with is that they aren't sure if he has an allergy or not at this stage they are just trailing the formulas to see how he reacts. She said if this one doesn't agree with him then he doesn't have an allergy and possibly something else wrong with him. It's been almost 4mths of trying different meds and formula's to see what's wrong with him if anything. They're also taking into consideration that my hubby had allergies when he was a baby.

The hard part is that Callen always crying due to hunger and seems to be tired alot at the moment. The dietitian is also worried about the amount of milk he drinks and his weight, eventhough plunket have told me he's drinking the correct amount and is the correct weight for his height. Grrr this is all so confusing.

Regarding the solids, both the dietitian and plunket believe he should be starting solids at 4mths. They have suggested i give him a teaspoon a day to start with. The dietitian said only vegetables so he doesn't put on too much weight.

I second cuppatea on that one. I would be taking him to a allergy pead asap, they will do blood tests which will show for sure what he is allergic to.

It is such a hard run to start with but once you figure out what is causing the problems you will have a happy bub and a happy mumma

No he doesn't. Dietitian has a peds doc lined up just waiting for appointment. We were told they couldn't do any allergy tests.
Today is day three and he's showing signs of improvement. He seems happier, no crying fits lately and his nappies are a lot better. He doesn't like the taste so were slowly increasing the amounts at each feed. I'm trying to not get too excited with the improvement incase things take a turn for the worst. Fingers crossed this is the magic formula for him.

That is great to hear he is improving!

Fingers crossed for continued improvement.
They don't normally test as you can get false negatives under 12 months but that doesn't mean they will come up neg and I don't see the harm considering the skin prick doesn't hurt at all. Our allergy doc will test from any age, but then he's not all that conventional from what I hear.

When S was little he always fed 2 hourly he never went any longer even though everyone said he was *suppose* to and he use to only drink around 100ml at a time as well, that did slowly go up as he got older and he then started stretching out to 2.5 hours. Little and often is fine.