Is Soy Milk Better for Fussy Babies That Spit up a Lot??

Hey J.,
I think all babies are different, my daughter was breasfed until about 1 year but when i started formula i wanted the next best thing, so i tried soy formula but it really backed her up, but now she drinks soy milk (silk and she loves it.) i would just try a couple of things and see what they respond better too! good luck
S.

Both of my sons were spit up babies. They both were on the Soy and though they still spit up a little it was not as bad. But my Dr. also had me start to put a little cereal in the bottle to thicken it up.
Good Luck!

We used soy milk because our daughter is lactose intollerant and soy has a lot of good stuff in it. One thing we always did was we put the gas drops (generic works great) into her bottle and then gave it to her. She didn't have a lot of spit up issues, and tummy troubles, so this seemed to have worked. My motto was if it can be prevented then it should and not try to fix it afterward. Give this a try and see if it might work.

Hi,
My doc thought that my 3 mo old was allergic to cows milk so I had to try these types and they helped even more with the spitting up and he doesnt even seem to have "a tummy ache" i hope that this helps

try similac isomil advance(this is soy), or enfamil A.R.( and this is for fussy babies that spit up its alreaddy pre thickened and worked teh best for me) GOOD LUCK

Hi J.,
I went through the same thing with my 2nd baby and it ended up being an intolerance to cows milk with a little colic thrown in for good measure. My dr recommended putting my son on Similac Alimentum which has the proteins broken down so that they are easier to digest. Within 2 days the crying and fussiness had stopped. He started sleeping for more than 1 hour at a time and now at 4 months he is sleeping 11 hours at night. Another thing that you could try is to prop one side of the crib up so that he is sleeping at angle and that will help stop the formula from coming back up his throat. The next time you go to the doctors you could also talk to him about acid reflux which could be part of the spitting up and the fussiness afterwards because it is supposed to be pretty painful. Anyways, hopefully any of this is helpful.
Goodluck,
A.

Just something to consider...My son, who is 2 now, started spitting up around 3 weeks old. He would pretty much spit up everything I fed him. He was on breastmilk at the time. I tried soy milk, and all the different types of milk, at my Ped's request. Nothing worked. They treated him for Reflux, nothing helped. They guessed at Reflux, or allergies, etc. In about a week...he had lost over a pound, and was so weak he couldnt even cry. He hadn't used his diaper in so long, I was sure he wasn't even getting any nutrients. I rushed him to the dr's office, sat him up on the counter...without an appointment, and demanded to see a DR immediately. The DR came out, took one look at my son..and rushed him back into a room. Of course, it was a different DR than we had before. She pulled up his shirt, after feeding him some pedialyte...and we watched it bubble down his intestine, you could actually see it thru his skin....and then suddenly, it would convulse, and he would spit it up. They diagnosed him with Pyloric Stenosis. This is becoming more common in baby boys, and it's when the muscle at the bottom of the stomach closes...and doesn't allow food to pass thru. My baby hadn't had anything to eat for realisticly, a week. He ended up having surgery on the day he turned 4 weeks old. He still has a little scar on his chest...but he's grown to be so big! he's a very tall, fit boy for 2! I say have your peds do an ultrasound, just to be sure. I had someone suggest to me that may have been what it was when he first started doing it, and i asked my Ped about it, he said, no, that couldnt be it...so I just brushed it off. DON'T SETTLE FOR A HALF HAZZARD ANSWER! If that ped had performed an ultrasound that day...my son would have been in surgery that next day, not starving to death for a week!

Good luck, I hope you figure out something!

J.,
My youngest and my oldest were the same way. One thing that we did with them was add a tablespoon of rice cereal for every two ounces of formula, to their bottle. This doesnt completely stop the problem but it should help a little. I would talk to his dr about having him tested for reflux. The test is not hard for them except they can not eat for several hours before so that they will drink the barium fluid and their stomach is empty for the test. All they do is lay them on an xray table and give them a bottle with the dye in it, they take pictures while they drink and for a few minutes after. The radiologist that saw my youngest told me right there in the room that she definatly had it.

Your right propping reflux babies up after a bottle does not work! I was to a point that my baby did not even sleep in her bed, she was sleeping in her bouncy seat or her car seat because if I layed her down, it would start (no matter how long it had been since her bottle). The dr said that they dont like to give them medicine unless nothing else works, so we tried everything from propping her up, to making her formula so think it almost wouldnt come out of the bottle, and nothing worked until they put her on prilosec. We even tried different formulas and none of them worked either.

Please consider talking to his dr about this. It can make a big difference.

Hope this helps!

If your baby is lactose intolerant, soy might help. If your baby has a milk allergy, however, this is different than being lactose intolerant and soy is usually not the way to go with a milk allergy. My daughter had a milk allergy. She had to use the Nutramigen Enfamil formula. It's very expensive, but worth it. If you think soy would be good for your baby, I encourage you to do your homework about soy. There is a lot of new research out there that suggests soy is not as good as suggested, especially for kids. The research suggests that it may inhibit growth, inhibit the absorption of important minerals, cause clotting, etc. Also, most soybeans are genetically modified and covered in pesticides so you may want to look into organic if you do decide to go with soy. If you google "soy milk" and "children" it will lead you to many articles and you can decide for yourself if it's for your baby or not. Good luck.

Hi J.:
I am a mother of three (26,16,14). All three of my children were allergic to regular baby formula. Two of mine were much more comfortable and satisfied with soy, but my youngest couldn't even take soy, he had to take a corn base (very expensive) formula. I would definitely talk to the pediatrician about changing and at least trying the soy.
Also, all of my kids started out on regular baby formula only to end up just like your baby. And even thou my second child done good on the soy milk i still had to give her the mylicon drops for gas. But she did not spit up.
If you are not satisfied with what your ped. dr. tells you go to another one. That is what i had to do with my second child also. I tried everything my first pediatrician said, nothing worked so i changed doctors. That was the best move i ever made for my baby.
I know having twins is not easy, my sister had twins. And it has to be worse when one is not feeling well and fussy.
Good Luck. I wish you the best. Because once this infant stage is over it is so much more fun.

I just wanted to say to everyone using soy that you have to be careful, especially with girls. We had my duaghter on soy formula and then soy milk for a long time. One day I read a article about how soy is somehow made into a form of estrogen. This is very important b/c too much estrogen causes wild mood swings and behavior. We switched her over to lactose free milk and just recently regular milk slowly. She's been fine with the regular milk now, I think she outgrew the sensitivity , she's two now. Even when she was on the soy, she had to have zantac for acid reflux. So wiegh the options carefully. She is much better behaved now that she's off the soy. Also, my youngest is on the lactose-free formula, and she does fine with that, actually a lot less gassy and fussy then on the soy or even nursing.

My baby was diagnosed with cows milk allergy and reflux. We went on Alimentum and it mostly helped her, but she still arched her back, seemed unhappy and spit up after eating. Then my ped gave her a prescription for Axid and she became the best baby ever.
If your son doesn't have the milk allergy, I'd just ask for the prescription. With insurance it is very cheap. A girl at work was told to use Alimentum without the allergy and her baby is so much happier now, that she doesn't even care about the cost.
The other formulas are very expensive. Soy is cheaper, but many babies develop an allergy to soy.
Good luck. I hope you have your happy baby soon!

Hi J.,

I do not have an extended amount of experience with formula since my daughter is only five weeks old (first child). However, my pediatrician recommended Similac Isomil (soy formula) after a bout of diarrhea in the first weeks along with the similar fussy/gassy/achy tummy symptoms. I alternate feedings between breast and formula (followed by good pats and rubs to get that huge burp). My daughter has spit up twice only, and that was when we first started feeding her the formula. We are almost through our second can and she still has not spit-up while using it (knock on wood) and always seems so content after finishing the last drop.

I recommend it- Similac Isomil or Similac Isomil Advance.

Hi J., My son was like that.We had to put gas drops his bottles.Try this it works. We also had to change the milk to lactose free.. He can't have reg.milk to this day. He got it from me. You can also try feeding him 2 oz at a time for the spitting up. I hope this helps. Oh if you go to walmart the gas dropes are 4.00

spitting up a lot isn't always indication of a problem as long as your baby is gaining weight ok then the spitting up shouldn't be a problem. However the fussiness could be colic or it could be their stomach. I had that problem with my baby. My doctor gave me a sample of the soy formula to try and it didn't help but you can always try. If switching to soy helps your baby then great but if not it might just be colic and time may be the only cure

My daughter acted that way as a newborn. We eventually found out that she was lactose-intolerant and could only have soy formula. There are also formulas that are supposed to be easier on an infant's stomach. Maybe try the more gentle formula, then soy if that doesn't help. Also Mylicon gas drops have been a savior for us.

Yes soy milk can be a good alternative if your baby is lactose intolerant. This could be the reason for his fussiness. He could also have acid reflux in which case, there are prescriptions such as Zantac the doctor can give him to help with that also.

I would try the soy formula. I had the same problem with my daughter when she was a baby. She was constantly spitting up. I switched to the soy formula and it helped alot. She still spit up some but my daughter was also lactose intolerant. Hope this helps and Good luck.

Hi J..
Soy milk may not be the answer. My son also spit up a lot after he ate and cried in severe pain. I tried soy formula and that just seemed to aggravate the problem. It turned out that he had acid reflux and needed Zantac. We also changed him to the Enfamil AR Lipil formula that is formulated for babies that spit up alot. The Zantac helped the pain, the formula helped the spit up. I would suggest switching to the AR Lipil formula before anything. It is slightly more expensive than regular formula but way cheaper than soy formula.
Good luck!
N.

MY DAUGHTER WHO IS NOW 7 HAD ACID REFLUX AND ALL THAT STUFF WHEN SHE WAS YOUNGER BUT THE 1 THING THAT WORKED WAS "GOAT MILK" YOU CAN BUY IT RIGHT IN THE GRICERY AREA BUT IT WORKED RECENTLY WE HAVE DONE ALLERGY TESTING AND WOW TO FIND OUT SHES ALLERGIC TO MILK PRODUCTS

My LO was extreme fussy one due to tummy issues. I sister-in-law suggested me babies magic tea. This tea was really helping to relieve my child from tummy troubles.