Enfamil Gentlease/constipation & Generic Formula Brands

I can't tell you about the generic brand but we used Good Start w/ my grandkids and we never had problems w/ constipation and it is a lot less expensive than enfamil. It left less a smell also. You might try it and see if it works.

AC FYI enfamil AR is for babies with reflux, not upset tummy. My preemie was on it as soon as she reached 6 pounds and was off of the high calorie formula and this was when she was about 6-8 weeks old. My son who was not a preemie but is severely disabled due to a birth injury was on AR almost as soon as he came home for severe reflux. For a baby who is haveing a lot of trouble with formula you might have to talk to your ped about specilized formulas like nutramigen/allimentum or even elecare. The sensitive formulas may not be broken down enough for your baby as the proteins in formula are a lot different than in Breast Milk. If a baby is having trouble with breast milk it is usually related to something mom is eating or that mom is not producing enough, etc.

I had my daughter on Similac when she was born, but she spit up alot on it so I decided to switch her too Parents Choice Milk Based from Wal-mart, she has done great on it. No potty issues until we started her on cereal. When you switched formulas you need to slowly switch them over. If he's on 4 oz of formula a feeding do exactly what was recommened to you, i scoop of his normal formula and one scoop of new formula. It should only take a couple of days to do it. My daughter seems to like the Parents Choice and not to mention that it is only $12.00, even Target and HEB have higher prices on there's than that. Anyway I love Parents Choice, no major spit up from my little girl like there was on similac advanced.

Hope this helped you.

I had this same problem when we switched to Gentlease, but I felt so bad for switching, that I didn't want to automatically switch again. One thing we did was add a little extra water to it above what it required (half ounce or so per bottle). He drank every bit of it, and the problem stopped.

Hi! We started with the Enfamil Lipil. We switched to the HEB brand. My doctor says they are the same and you can interchange them. The price is half of the name brand! Neither of our 8 1/2 month old twins has had a problem on it. I didn't even try the sample of the Parent's Choice brand after I checked the ingredients. The main ingredient is corn syrup solids! Can that be good for a baby? I'm sure it has all the nutrients it says, but does not sound like a good base to me. Good luck!

Hi M.,

So sorry about your little guy. When my son was about 1 to 2 months I had him on the Enfamil Gentlease and had the same problem. He was so constipated that I called the doc and spoke to a nurse who advised me if he didn't go in the next day or two, then I could slice lengthwise an infant suppository in half. We ended up having to do that because he just could not poop and it had been 3 days and he was very uncomfortable. Once he pooped he was so much happier. I got him off Enfamil and put him on Similac Sensitive just like I had to do with his older sister when she was a baby and his constipation went away! My son is now 1 yrs old and is a happy pooper hahaha. My daughter is almost 3 but when she was a baby she just threw that Enfamil up projectile. My kids just couldn't tolerate that brand of formula. Anyways, you might want to give your pedi a call and talk to the nurse if he can't poop and if it's causing him to be uncomfortable. Hope your little guy feels better and full soon! :) --R.

We used the Costco brand of Lipil for our little ones and loved it. It comes in a double pack. Our pediatrician indicated that there was no difference between the brand name and the Costco version. We also used Costco brand diapers for them and they are way better and cheaper than the name brands as well.

My son has used the Similac Advance with earlyshield. I like it because it has Immune support. Helps him from getting a cold. As far as the store brand, im not gonna lie, I have used them before when I was a little low on cash, and I did not like it. When you mix it with the water and shake it to mix it up , it looks like it almost had soap in it. It gets real bubbly. I threw it all out. I dont recomend buying the store brands. Heb and walmarts brand did that. I never tried target or any others.
You can always ask your pediatrician what she thinks would be best because they do have different types of formula for constipation, gas and spiting up. But I know that Similac is better than enfimil.
Well good luck and God Bless.
K.

I don't know what to suggest in the way of formula both of my girls did ok on the gentlease, but I will say one of my daughters always struggled with tight stools. At four mths, The doctor recomended giving 4 oz pear juice daily, it worked. He said that it works as well as prune juice but tastes better. I once tried Enfamil AR (for upset tummys) but was told by the Dr. not to give to babies under 4 mths of age because it can make their stools to hard because of the rice. However the rice can be very filling to the baby if you have a child who just can seem to eat enough.
As for the generic vs brand. It is a tough decision because the generic is $14 vs brand at $25. I tried generic once and thought it smelled really weird and didn't seem to disolve as well. It was also more of a yellow color which was kind of weird. I am all about saving money but the fact that it smelled weird was enough to convence me to stick with the brand name. Also.. the main ingrediants are the same but I think that the generic maybe has different fillers. Good luck.

Hi M.,

My son was born 10 weeks early and came home on the Enmafil that is for premature babies. After lots of issues with, you guessed it, constipation, we were advised by his OT to switch to regular Enfamil. We also had issues with reflux too. I noticed in Sam's that you could get a massive can (lasted nearly 2 weeks) for about $20. I looked at the cans and asked a lot of people, and finally tried one. It was GREAT! He kept gaining weight, kept growing,the constipation dissappeared, and the reflux improved. We kept him on it until we took him off of formula. I wouldn't change a thing. If you don't have a Sam's membership, at least for the next year you would find the cost of the membership worth it for how much you save on formula. We had to get a can or two of the Wal-mart brand when we couldn't get to Sams and it seemed to work just as well. There is a significant difference in look between Enfamil and the generics, but I had much better results. It also seemed that Andy liked the generics better than the Enfamil. If there is anything else I can answer for you, let me know, I would be happy too. Hope your little man feels better soon!!

S.

Hello M. H. , When my daughter was born, I tried breastfeeding but she alway's seemed to have tummy aches. I wondered if I was producing enough milk for her, so I switched to formula and she still had tummy aches. We tried every brand out there and finally tried the cheapest wal-mart brand. That seemed to be better for our daughter than anything else. Even still she was alway's crying at a certain time each night. Collic I know now, but I think she has alway's had issues with stomach acid/ heartburn. Now that she's older and can tell me what hurts it's heartburn. Her dad has alway's had stomach issues since I've known him, so I believe it is hereditary. Never been diagnosed but that is what I think. I hope this is nothing like what you are going through but just wanted to tell you we had to try them all and the cheapest worked for our child. But every child is different, so you may want to try different ones until you see improvement. I hope this helps. Good luck. E. G.