Our baby is 5 months old and we have been using this product for 2 months, following the recommendation of our pediatrician and pediatric gastroenterologist. She had severe reflux and allergy to cow's milk protein.
It was very difficult for the baby to get used to the taste, she would cry while eating and sometimes stop eating altogether. This lasted for about 10 days, during which we reduced the meals in ml, as we were advised to persist. After that, she got used to it.
It helped a lot with bowel movements. At first, they were quite watery and there were several throughout the day, but our doctor said it was expected and they improved afterwards.
Regarding reflux, we have been treating it with Nexium since the second month, which reduced the regurgitation and constant discomfort (crying all day) caused by gastric fluids. During the 2-week period when we stopped the treatment, the regurgitation returned just like before, and it surprised me that this specific formula, which is AR, did not help at all. We have tried other AR formulas as well, and I don't consider Allernova helpful for the issue of regurgitation, only for allergies. Nevertheless, we continue using it according to the doctors' instructions, along with the medication, as no other formula seems more suitable.
A very important guideline we received from the pediatric gastroenterologist in the second year, when we consulted her, is the intervals between feedings. Never feed the baby in less than 3.5 hours if she has eaten less in the previous meal; otherwise, feed her every 4 hours, a total of 5 meals (for babies aged 2 months and above), as indicated on the box, according to the baby's age each time, with the corresponding ml. At first, we encountered crying because our baby was used to feeding every 2.5-3 hours (according to the instructions we had), as well as the supplements in between if she was hungry. The pediatric gastroenterologist stopped all of that abruptly. It was the right thing to do. Allernova cannot be digested in a shorter time period. It may seem diluted in the bottle, but it thickens in the stomach. I mention this because other AR formulas we tried were like cement in the bottle and more convincing, if I may say so.
Also, definitely use a nipple size larger than what the baby normally uses.
The pediatric gastroenterologist prescribes it regularly, but the first time we needed a stamp from the cooperating hospital. The price is prohibitive for the 10 cans a month that one baby needs, not to mention how much formula we waste every time the baby eats less due to lack of appetite or falling asleep during a meal, etc. Spending 300 euros a month on formula is not feasible.
As for availability, you need to find a pharmacy that has an agreement with the public health system for prescribed formula and can gather them for you. We notify our pharmacy a few days in advance.
Lastly, regarding mixing, using a larger bottle definitely helps. We realized this unfortunately when we switched from 150ml to 180ml. With the 150ml bottles, there were always lumps/pieces left. With the 270ml bottles, we have no issues. Of course, the water should be hot; after many experiments, we found that 70 degrees Celsius is the right temperature, using a digital kettle-thermos.
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