Parents of a 3-year-old boy in Florida are starting to panic because their son can only drink a special prescription-only formula and they believe the ingredients in the formula have changed, causing their son to suffer from severe diaherra and vomitting.
Michael Gonzalez suffers from Food Protein-Induced Entercolitis Syndrome. While the syndrome is not uncommon in babies six-months to a year old, most babies and children eventually grow out of the syndrome between the ages of three and five.
Michael’s parents knew there was a problem when he was a baby and he would throw up after every feeding. When Michael was 11-months-old, they found a prescription-only formula, Neocate Junior, and it was the only form of nutrition he could keep down.
At 3-years-old, he drinks between 20 and 30 bottles a day of Neocate Junior because he can’t eat any other solid foods. In August 2012, the Neocate Junior manufacturer, Nutricia, changed the packaging and that is when his parents started to notice the formula from the containers with the new packaging began causing Michael to have severe diaherra and vomitting.
In an effort to be able to feed their son, the Gonzalez’s have stored up formula in containers with the old packaging, but the formula will expire in October.
“That’s not OK, to tell me that my son has an expiration date,” said Michael’s mom, Jennifer.
A Nutricia spokeswoman stated that the formulation and ingredients for Neocate Junior remained the same even though the outside packaging was updated. The Nutricia spokeswoman also stated that the company has received 14 other similar complaints and that Nutricia and the Food and Drug Administration have investigated the problem and found the formula unchanged.
Nutricia released a statement to ABCNews.com stating, “We understand this is a challenging time for the Gonzalez family. We are connecting the family and their physician with the right clinical experts so they can partner on finding alternative nutritional solutions. This is in keeping with our mission to help provide nutritional solutions to children with very sensitive and specialized conditions.”
Meanwhile, Michael and his parents have been seeking medical help from specialists.
“He doesn’t know what real juice tastes like, or real milk,” said Michael’s mom.
Source: Yahoo! News