Soy formula? My son is being switched from neocate to soy as changes made to PBS

My son is currently on neocate formula which you get on an authority script. He was fully weaned onto it by 9 weeks. It is an elemental formula (meaning you can survive wholly on it without food if needed). It is amino acids based and is used for babies/chn who have intolerances and allergies to milk proteins etc. My son has gastro reflux which reflux meds alone didn't help. It was an extremely hard decision for me to stop breastfeeding and put him on the neocate but my daughter (almost 3 years) still suffers from gastro reflux and I struggled to breastfeed her for 6.5 months as she had breast refusal due to pain association. In hindsight if she had been on a formula such as neocate we could have avoided a lot of headache and pain with her and she may not have so many issues now.

So due to PBS changes that makes neocate extremely hard to get now (can't be a paed who does the authority script) His aped has told me to start him on a soy formula. Does anyone recommend a good brand? And if so how did your baby find it? Did it improve reflux symptoms? If your baby changed from neocate to soy was the transition easy? Does anyone have any other ideas for formulas that may be helpful for severe refluxing babies? i.e. goats?

Hugs hun. Isn't there another similar one in a different brand?

Have you read up on the possible hormonal implications of soy? I really don't want to worry you but you might be interested.

Who can do the scripts now?

All of the elemental formulas have had the changes made on the PBS. Yes I have read about the hormones and thats what concerns me about it. Only Paediatric gastros, allergists and immunologists can prescribe them now.

Have PM'd you

i know very little about formula but i have hear alot of bad things about soy, especially for boys, shame they make it so hard for you as you are already have something that works for you.

Maybe try lactose free formula? It's what we used for dd and ds with their reflux when they were no able to bf due to reflux and lactose intolerance. I was more comfortable using that over soy, we were unable to use neocate as it made dd really sick.

Is the elemental formula due to allergies, though? If he has issues with dairy, then there's a reasonable chance he will also have problems with soy.
What a tricky situation! No chance of getting another script through a different specialist, then?

I have been going through a similar issue with my DS and Neocate. We are also looking at Soy as an alternative and I was also concerned about the implied hormonal issues. I spoke to the doctor at the allergy testing center that we took him to last week and he said that there was a single "rogue" study conducted and the publicity surrounding the oestrogenic concerns just got out of control. He said that a great deal of further research has been conducted and has disproved this theory time and time again. He said that even a small child would need soy in absolutely unbelievably high amounts for it to even remotely impact on the child's hormone levels.

I don't have any great suggestions for you besides going to a gastroenterologist or allergy specialist and getting them to assess him (which is probably what we will have to do), because they can write the prescriptions if they deem Neocate to be necessary for you son. It sucks - I am so stressed about this stupid PBS change and I am trying to work on a way forward for our boy with his paed. If I get any better information I will add it here.

In the meanwhile, if you need to see a gastro or allergy specialist I would do it ASAP because their waiting lists are getting longer and longer because of all the referrals from paeds because of the PBS law change. That said, I just thought I would dispel the soy myth for you, if that helps in any way :(

Good luck.

ETA: weaning from one formula to the other is absolutely possible and very easy to do - it may just take time. We moved DS from cows milk to Neocate Advance Vanilla (which are like chalk and cheese!) and he is soooo fussy. It took us over a month of adding an extra 5ml to his bottle every couple of days, but we did it. I think if we could do it with a fusspot like him then anyone can lol. How long it takes can just depend :)

Im sorry I have no advice Razzberry, but I couldn't read without saying that really sucks and give you big hugs :( .

Can you get in to see a specialist who can prescribe neocate now, so that they have a baseline for what your child is like on it.
That way if the swap goes poorly then can see the difference, rather than relying on you reporting what things used to be like.