What Formula Is the Best????

This 3rd formula was waht I was going to suggest it should do the trick I hate similac I'v tryed it but the enfemil has always done the trick for my kids. if still gassy try Mylicon drops or infants gas relief drops safe for new born on up.

We had a lot of problems with formula too. I was also unable to breast feed so we too had to find one that would work. We had the best luck with the Target brand. It greatly reduced his gas issues and never caused constipation. And besides it working so well, it was about half the cost of the name brands. We also used the gas drops, after we started the Target brand we only had to use the drops every once in awhile. It does take some time before you will see a difference after you switch brands. You need to give her system time to adjust. I hope you find something that works for you. I know how hard it is to watch them be so uncomfortable.

Amber,

My baby is almost a year old and we started with the regular enfamil and she was so gassy and fussy and she got constipated so bad. We did the bicycle excercise that did work but i felt we should not have to do that every day. They I heard about putting the Mylicon gas relieve drops in the formula but thought that was rediculous. That was when I read up on the gentlease formula and thought that would be the best solution and she has done great on it! Then when she was about 9 months I found that Wal-Mart has a generic brand that is the same exact thing as the enfamil just a little different in color and smell but my daughter took right to it and has had no problem and it is a lot cheaper! Good luck! L.

Hey Amber. I don't know why you are unable to breastfeed but there are other options than formula. Did you know that formula should only be used as the last resort? I'm sure there are milk banks in your area. Maybe another mom would be willing to donate or sell breastmilk to you? I would offer but we live a little too far apart :-P. There still could be a way for you to produce milk yourself-only 1/1000 women are medically unable to- you may not be aware of all the options? If you can't tell, I am very pro-breastfeeding. I am seeing all the benefits it has given my 10 month old daughter, and the negative aspects I had as a formula-fed baby. I have also heard that goats milk is actually superior to formulas. I hope you find what you are looking for and please feel free to contact me with any questions!

Amber,
My sister went through the same thing with my niece. She chose to bottle feed right from the start, and I think she went through 5 or 6 formulas before she found the right brand. I have 3 chldren and when was ready to wean I found that with my 2 child that you might have to try a few. My oldest loved Enfamil with LIpil, my second would not even swallow it, we used good start with him, now my third I am still in the stage of seeing what he likes, he is almost 5 months and he so far got really contipated and fussy with the Enfamil, so my dr recomended carnation good start and not only was he constipated boy did he have rotten smell gas. I am currently tying similac with his cereal and for the past few days he seems fine. You have a lot of good advice from all the other great moms on this board I just thought you should know that this is normal. I think my sister pediatrician had her stick tying one formula for a week, and keep a journal. The journal wil help you keep track of how she is after she is fed. If she is throwing up a lot and is really fussy check with your dr and ask about reflux. I called my sister because your post reminded me so much of what my sister went through with my niece. My niece was diagnised with reflux at a very early age and my sister feels the only reason she was able to use any formula and have a happy baby was when she finally got on the right medication. Do not let negative feelings pop in your head. It is hard being a new mom and you are doing what is best for your baby girl. I send you lots of encouragement, and I am sure you will find what is best for your little girl soon.

Have you ever thought about a breastmilk bank? That would be my option if I couldn't breastfeed. I know there is one near where I live, you could research it.
Brekka

It could be the iron in the formula. Some babies can't have it because its plugs them up. Check with your doctor but I would suggest a formula without iron. Each baby are a different as day and night. I have 4 lol :O)

Amber,
Maybe start by having a doctor check her stool for any blood. My son had Milk, Soy, Protein Intolerance very badly as a baby. The way your baby is acting is very similar to what we went through. If that is the case, you may have to look into specialty formulas (we got ours through the hospital at the time). I hope it's not that severe, but if it is, you may have to prepare for a costly bout of formulas. Best of luck to you! If you do get to that point and want to ask any more questions, feel free to contact me.

I breastfeed, but quite a few of my friends that used formula mentioned this. I honestly think that some formulas just don't sit well with some babies. I would keep trying different formulas until you find one that works well for your daughter, plus it does take a bit for the last formula to get out of her system. Good luck!

Hi, Amber -

I had the same problem with my daughter (who is about to turn 2) when she was your daughter's age. Started with regular formula (the Walmart Parent's Choice brand) and had problems with gas, went with the soy (also the Walmart brand) and had problems with hard stools. Her pediatrician prescribed Miralax (which can now be bought OTC) to be used as needed and we used that for the period that she was on formula. When she started solids and could drink juice, she was taken off of it. Hope this helps!

I know how hard this is, my milk dried up early and I had to switch to formula for my first son who had many gas issues too. We saw a huge improvement when we switched to soy formula but it sounds like you have already tried that. We also discovered Dr Brown's Bottles which have a special attachment in them so air can be released before it gets into the baby! I found mine at Target, but I am sure you can find them at most stores. Also, I am not sure how you feel about the fact that you can't breast-feed but I know that it was hard for me when I couldn't anymore. I just want to reinforce that there is nothing wrong with formula feeding your child so you don't feel guilty about it (if you even are). You clearly love your new daughter and are doing everything you can to help her be health and happy!
Good luck!

We had a colic baby and I too was unable to breast feed so we jumped the formula hoops too. Let me say, first, that it's ok to give your baby formula! I kicked myself for the better part of a year feeling as though I was less of a mother because I had a physiological problem. I hope you won't do the same!

1. All formula feed babies will tend to be constipated no matter the brand of formula. The way to fix the problem is to add a nickle to quarter size dolup of dark corn syrup in every other bottle. Of course shake it up and later on you'll wean them from the syrup. It's not so much sugar that they are hyper but it's enough that the bowel draws in more water to help. Check with your MD, we talked to several and they all said the same.

2) Gasy babes. Ours had colic so it was chronic. A couple things to note with formula. The more "gentle" it is the more broken down the proteins are made for easy digestion. This process also makes the formula really bitter and then the company adds tons of corn syrup solid to counter the taste. Lot's more sugar that the dolup I mentioned above! We were giving Enfamil's most gentle formula and instantly noticed that our baby would not sleep, EVER!!! My husband checked the lable and saw that 47% of the formula was corn syrup!!!!! As soon as we switched to plain Enfamil with Lipil, milk based, she was sleeping again. You can safely add a product called Mylicon (generics available) to your baby's bottle or even right in the mouth, if they take it, to reduce the gas. As always talk with your MD.

Hi Amber,
I too had problems with my newborn. We tried several different formulas and finally stuck with Enfamil. Her pediatrician suggested we try Similac Soy too because she was so uncomfortable like your little one. She also was so bound up that we actually had to give suppositories to her. I cried every time! Her doctor then suggested Pear juice! Add a little pear juice to her formula. It works wonders! Almost immediately. I stocked up on the little bottles of pear juice made by gerber. I never had to give her another suppository after that. She really liked the pear juice too! When she got older, I started giving her that without the formula during the day. I would just screw the bottle top on to it and she was good to go. I also tried "Infants' Mylicon- Gas Relief" the original drops. Infants under 3 can have 0.3ml It really works! She was really uncomfortable before we tried the pear juice. You might want to try this first, and then ask your dr. about the pear juice. You don't want to start babies on juice too early because they could get an allergic reaction to it. I hope this helps! ~S.

Hi!

I had major problems with the same thing. That was 23 years ago! I wasn't producing enough milk. We started with Similac with iron, then went to Similac without iron. We went through Similac Soy, Nestles' Good Start, Meyer's Goats Milk, and then finally to Nutramigen. For the first time in almost 4 months, we finally were able to sleep at night! My son would scream and cry for hours on end before we found the right one. It was so frustrating to have him in pain day after day. What makes me so mad was the dr. thought that since I was a "first time" mother that I was exaggerating about how much he was crying until my husband came along with me. I sure hope dr.s are better about that now! Hope you find one that works!

I would stick with the similac. If you keep changing formula it's going to do a number on your daughters tummy until she gets used to it. Similac is a really good brand and I've never known anyone not to like it. When I took my daughters off breast milk ( I have twins) and switched them to similac formula one of my daughters became very constipated. Took her to her doctor and they suggested keeping her on the similac for awhile longer and see if the constipation goes away. It did, it just took some time for her body to get used to the new formula. On the flip side my other daughter (her twin) didn't have any problems with the new formula. So you're daughter may just need some time to get used to it. Stick with one kind and give her a body a chance to work with it.

I have also been unable to breastfeed my two girls, and it broke my heart. However, they have both thrived on formula and are doing very well! We, too, have had tummy issues with both our girls. I am currently using Gentlease with my 6 month old, and it's working well. Her amount of gas and crying did decrease, but it took a while to see a really big difference. It takes awhile for their tiny systems to get used to the changing of formulas.

My three year old had to be put on Enfamil Nutramigen when she was 4 months old. She cried and threw up constantly and her poop was always hard (especially when she was on soy forumula--soy really tends to make them constipated.) It worked absolute wonders for our family...she was a different baby within 12 hours of switching. Her poop became soft, and she stopped crying all the time and started sleeping better. This formula is very expensive, but it was worth its weight in gold. You can also ask your doctor for free samples (obviously check with your doctor before switching).

Good luck, and hang in there! Sometimes it just takes time and patience, which I know are hard to come by when you're sleep deprived and your hormones are going crazy! God bless you and good luck!

Amber -
I had this very same problem with my daughter, who is now 6 months old. I switched her to the Wal-Mart Parent's Choice brand of formula (milk-based w/ DHA & ARA). I tried all three (Enfamil, Similac and Good Start). The Parent's Choice brand had less of an acid in it than all three of the others. I can't remember the name of the acid, but it starts with an 'L'. For some reason, this was a majority of her problem. It seems cheap to switch her to the store brand, but for some reason, it's the only formula that worked with our daughter (and very beneficial to our budget). We also found out that she has acid reflux, and now she's on Prevacid. Our world in now a much happier place. If the Enfamil doesn't work for you, I would give the Parent's Choice formula a try. If not, you might look into acid reflux. It's a very common problem, and can be easily medicated. I know exactly what you are going through. Stick with it and eventually you will find something that works. You know your daughter the best, and can figure out what is working and what is not. You do need to get feeding to be more of an enjoyable thing for your daughter, though.

I have been out of the formula stage for years. It sounds as though your little one has colic. Put a couple of drops of peppermint oil into an 8 ounce bottle of water and let her drink it a little at a time. If there is iron in her formula, that will make her poop hard and make it hard on her to go. Hope this helps you! Good luck.

I swear by Target brand. They have regular and soy. They are also half the price of brand name formulas. I absolutely loved it for my son. There were less bubbles, so less gas. He spit up less. And it has all the same ingridients as brand names. It has to pass the same FDA requirements. ALso, a friend's doctor told her to use Target brand. HOpe this helps!

I know you are getting a lot of differing opinions... but here is what I did. I couldn't breastfeed either, so I used Organic formula (Parent's Choice usually or Similac). It seemed to work much better than other formulas, and I felt better about the ingredients in it.

I also used gas drops (Mylicon or generic) during every feeding. Halfway through the feeding, I would burp her and then give gas drops and finish the feeding. It helped so much. You can use gas drops up to 12 times/day, so it was a totally safe and effective way to relieve gas.

Whenever you try a new formula, you should give it a couple days to see how well your baby is tolerating it. Their systems take a while to adjust. I hope this helps!

Every baby is different. When I breastfed, my friend told me to start with Good Start because it was a better transition formula. I tried Brandon on that & he was fine. I also worked in an OB clinic so had a lot of free formula. I tried him on Similac & Enfamil & those two did not work what so ever for him. So, you just have to try different ones unfortunately.

Good luck!

Don't change your formula too soon. The change can actually disrupt their little bellies and cause problems like constipation. Give the change at least one month. If the constipation is a problem you can put a small amount of Karo syrup in the formula (about 1/4 tsp in 4 ounces) once to help her go.

Congratulations on your baby!!
C.

Amber,
My name is L. Anderson. I am a Registered Nurse/Breastfeeding Coordinator for the CRST WIC Program in Eagle Butte, SD. I think you should try Nutramigen. It is very expensive, but so worth it when needed. You usually only have to use it for the first 4-6 months, then the baby can tolerate regular formula. If you have any more questions for me my e-mail address is ____@____.com

Another poster said to try prune juice in the bottle. We had to do that with both of our boys. We had them on Similac Advance which helped them with their gas issues (my second was horrible). We did pear juice instead of prune. It can take a while for it to kick in so don't put it in every bottle just starting out. You'll have to tweak the amount you use until you find what works for your little one. My boys needed about 1tbsp.
Oh and gas drops are amazing. You can add them right to the bottle (after you have mixed in the formula and water) or you can give them a dose straight from the dropper (either before, in the middle of, or after a feeding).
When she does get constipated a warm bath can work wonders. I would take my boys into the tub and make sure that their tummies were covered by the warm water.
You could also try gripe water, I never did, but I have heard it helps.
Good Luck!

Amber--Try a soy formula for your little girl. My son had the same problem as a newborn, and the soy formula worked SO much better. The smell is unfortunately just a formula thing that you'll have to endure! Also, my son would only have a movement every 4-5 days, and it freaked me out. But my pedi said that's alright and not to panic. Keep up the good work! As for a brand, don't laugh but I bought the Sam's Club brand of soy. Less than 1/2 the price of others. But any soy should work.

My son had symptoms very similar to this. He was breastfed. Eventually he ended up going on Zantac. This cleared it up and he was able to get it off it at about 9 months of age.

My son who is now 2 1/2 y.o was far to hungry to be breastfeed so we did formula. I had the best luck with Enfamil. I tried others and he was grumpy and cranky, got a rash on his face and spots all over his tiny little body - boy did I feel bad! We live in a very rural area and I learned quickly to make sure I always had a spare can of Emfamil formula because I couldn't always buy it where I live and if I had to substitute something else it was going to be bad. Don't believe the off brands - such as Wal-mart brand, when they say same ingredients - they aren't the same. Best wishes!

Amber I have 4 kids and they all were spitters and were on Soy formula and that helped them alot. My one son had alot of tests because of spitting up and fussy when cried but, nothing was wrong. I would try the soy formula it's gentle on there stomach. Good luck it's no fun seeing you child cry of being uncomfortable.

Amber,
It's been a long time since I had a baby on formula (my "baby" is graduating from high school this year!)
By chance, does the formula have additional iron added? My babies had the same symptoms as your little one when the doctor had me put them on formula with iron. Once I switched back to formula without iron, they were back to normal in about 48 hours.
I hope this helps! Good luck.
Maureen

Hi Amber,

Well, I have two daugters who experienced similar problems (lots of gas and fussiness). I tried both of them on several formulas and with both girls we ended up using Similac Soy formula. This reduced the gassiness by far the most.

You have to keep in mind that everytime you make a change to your baby's diet, she will probably go through a phase of constipation and hard stools but it usually passes within a week or two after her body adjusts. You probably just need to give it a little more time. I know how heartbreaking it is when they cry in pain because their little tummies hurt and all you want to do is help them. Hang in there.

i read all of the other responds and they were all great. we had the same problem with two of my 4 boys. with my youngest the ped had us try every different kind the wonderful mothers here suggested. two of my son's were able to take the soy formula. the other two had to be on nutramigen. its completely hypo-allergenic. its works wonders! no more crying, fussing, gas, and they had normal stools. the only down fall is that its expensive. around here its about $30 for a 16oz can. but both boys were able to get off of around 6 months of age and i put them on soy not wanting to try regular formula knowing that my other two couldn't take it. now my three oldest are great and have no milk allergies (the baby is still too young to tell). if its possible to get on WIC they will help with the cost, but we had to get a prescription from the dr for it before WIC would cover it. good luck, i hope this will help!

I started using similac soy by chance with my son, and it was great for him. definitely noticed the less gassy, spit ups, etc.
And to B'Aylana M - there are mothers out there that do know the importance of breast feeding but are unable. It absolutely broke my heart when it didn't work out for me, so I take offense to your comment. If that is your opinion, this is not the place to express it.

Hi Amber,
My daughter, who is 5 months now, got very constipated on the Enfamil so we switched her to the Purple can of Nestle Good Start. It has been great. Not sure what kind of Nestle you started with but we had great luck with the purple can. Wal-mart and Babies R Us sell it at a pretty good price- in Des Moines, IA it is less than $20/can.

I had the same troubles until my son started throwing up blood. Sometimes they are allergic to the formula both milk and soy based. If neither have worked, then go straight to Nutramigen. I know it is expensive but don't find out the hard way that your kid cannot handle soy or milk. IT WORKS trust me. Talk with your pediatrician. Does your kid have exzema? That is another sign that your kid is allergic to their formula!

IF you do use formula. Use Carnation Good Start. My sister used that on her kids and I've used it on my son when he was little. Good Luck.

C.

Sounds just like my son. Once we found Nutramigen and had him on it for about a week he was a completely different baby - no more colic, no more constipation, no more pain, no more crying while feeding (or shortly after), and he was HAPPY. Like others said, it is very expensive - but it works and so it is worth it!!! Ask your pediatrician if they can help, often they can give you coupons and/or free samples to help with the cost. This is rough, I understand! Best of luck to you.

Well ~ it is possible she is sensitive to Dairy or Soy, in which case, any of the formulas will continue to upset her. I suspected a Dairy/Corn sensitivity with my little guy at 2 months when he was having about 22 diapers of diarhea/day, so I stopped BF and tried Alimentum - Ready to Feed. (The powder kind has corn in it.) Within 1 1/2 days, diarhea was completely gone. Due to the iron, he only poops 1 time/day, but it is not bothersome.

The ready-to-feed Alimentum is kind of a pain as it needs to be refrigderated, but it is by far the mildest. You could start with this to see if her issues clear, and then maybe try the Powder (a bit cheaper and more convenient) or Nutramigen is another Hypoallergenic one.

All babies are different, although most do ok with a formula. If you are finding yourself having to switch around a lot, it is probably due to a Dairy or Soy sensitivity. Hope that helps - Sincerely,

M., child food consultant and author of 8 Degrees of Ingredients.

Sometimes when my babies had a hard time pooping or they were harder than what they should be, I would add a tiny bit of sugar to their formula or give them some sugar water to help get things moving. It did the trick and we also didn't have any problems with them not wanting to drink their formula after that.
One other thing, don't feel bad about not being able to nurse. I know that comments or "looks" you get from people. I would have loved to have nursed, but with my first, I could only nurse for 6 weeks because I just didn't have the milk supply or the quality it should have been. With my 2nd, I only was able to nurse for about a month because she was a preemie and then didn't want to do the work to nurse from me after we got her home. I also couldn't keep things going with a pump. With my 3rd, I didn't nurse him at all and feel completely happy with that decision because it was a lot less stressful on both of us!
Congratulations on your little one!

I was unable to breastfeed too and both my children are lactose intolerant. I used enfamil soy for both of them but the trick for the hard stools is to add a little prune juice to the bottle. Prune juice will naturally increase the water in the bowls but it isn't addictive so you can't hurt the baby. Just use a little at first and increase and decrease as you feel necessary for the stools. There is so much iron in those formulas that constipation is really common. I also started using the generic mylicon (baby tums) when they seemed really gassy. It also helps.

With my first dd I was unable to breastfeed after pumping was not working (she was 6 weeks premature). I had her on regular Enfamil and after extreme boughts of gas and pulling her knees and up and crying I switched to Enfamil gentlease and also Dr. Brown bottles. It did the trick while she still was kind of gassy she was no longer in pain. My friend had a baby the same time I did and after a while of him being constipated and crying she switched him to lactose free. I didn't want to do that so that is why I opted for the gentlease. I think it was a God send! PS I also used the Target and Walmart brands of 'gentlease' and found they worked the same they just didn't dissolve quite as nicely as the Enfamil. Hope this helps!!
PS We also bought Colic Calm and used it when we were desperate to make her feel better, it was like an instant calm. It has activated charcoal in it which is used in filters to filter 'bad stuff' so we called it the black magic!! I took it to my doc to look at he said as long as we followed the directions and used just as needed he didn't see a problem with it.

My now 6 month old had a similar experience only I was nursing. I had luck with the soy. It sounds like lactose intolerance. Most babies who experience this react to cow base and soy base the same. I took our son to a chiropractor. He put us on acidopholis and adjusted his spine. It worked for us. We now have a happy comfy little boy. Good Luck.

My little girl had a similar problem. I would strongly recomend the Good Start Soy formula. Something about Good Start is so gentel on little tummies, and seems to make the hard poop problem some better then other formulas. Even if you compare the smell of other soy formulas to Good Start, it is much milder and seems less harsh. As for the pooping, that is just a side effect from soy formula, if you put a little Karo syryp in her milk (like every night bottle or something like that) then that will help keep her poop softer and easier for her. Good Luck!!!

We used Good Start! Everyone I know that used it had good luck. I'm sorry I can't be of more help...it's so hard!

My kids were both bottle fed. I have an 18month old and a 4 month old. We tried several different formulas for both of them. One thing I would suggest is trying a formula with out iron. Sometimes the iron in the formula will constipate the baby. Also, my baby was very hard to console around 4 weeks old and it turned out to be acid reflux. She now takes prilosec twice a day and it has helped a great deal. You may want to ask our doctor about that.

I am a child care provider and have an infant who had similar symptoms. The doc suggested using a gentle formula for him. He now uses Parent's Choice Gentle Formula and the spit-ups have stopped. Something else the doc told his mom is to add 1 tspn infant cereal (single grain) to every scoop of formula. He was only 2 mos old at this time.

I would stick with the Gentlease for awhile- we had similar issues and it worked well for us. We were told not to switch until we were sure we needed to. Good luck!

When my daughter was young she was also very fussy, gassy and when I switched her to Enfamil Gentlease it really helped. Be sure that you're using the formula long enough for her stomach to transition to the new formula and get used to it and that you're contacting your physician when you are changing. They don't recommend muliple changes right in a row although I totally understand your concern. I hope that the Gentlease works well for you, we liked it. Good Luck.
S.

I think it might actually be the bottle you are using. The only one that I found worked for my kids were the playtex "slow flow" nipples (I used with the drop in liner system). Other bottles, the formula flow seemed to be too fast. Then the baby swallows a bunch of air and gets gassy, spitty, etc. I used the slow flow nipples their whole bottle career, not just when they were tiny.

I had alot of problems with my little girl on formula too. We tried Enfamil with Lipil, Gentlease, and finally the dr. decided she maybe couln't tolerate the proteins in the milk to digest them. We tried Similac Alimentum, it's kinda expensive, but she was 100% happier and more comfortable within a couple days. She used that until she was 6 months old, then we slowly changed her over to Nestle Good Start. We just had to mix it for awhile so she could adjust to the taste. The extra money was definately worth her comfort.

My son is almost 9 months old and I have been feeding him Enfamil Lactose Free and have had very good luck with it. He wasn't gassy or fussy anymore. Although the formula did make him constipated, I added a little corn syrup or prune juice with his bottle. Good Luck if you give it a try.

I have a 7 month old son and my milk supply has started to go down. I have found Similac Advance (blue cover) to work great for us!

Amber,

We used Carnation goodstart with my oldest and it worked wonderful.

My youngest didn't take to it very well, he was gassy on it as well.

I use the Sams Club brand of Enfamil Gentleease with him. It works pretty good, but his poops are a little firmer, sometimes hard. One thing that added to the firmness of my son's poop was he was having his bottles made by 3 different people at one time (that's when I had the most problems). If more than one person is helping make the bottles, make sure they are making them the same way and correctly. The water should be measured out first and then the formula should be put in. Make sure you/they aren't "packing" the scoop of formula.

We still have an issue with Gas sometimes, so we use Gas drops. You can pick up a generic brand and it does the same as the name brand, but it's cheaper.

Immediately take her to the Dr.then talk to your druggist see what he/she says, they seem to be more helpful than Dr's at times.Really concider ORGANIC GOATS MILK ,IT IS A WONDERFUL MILK WITH LESS ALLERGIES ETC.
But do keep pressing on with your Dr--also try corn syrup into the formula for constipation,that is what us old time mother's did,best of luck-

Hi Amber,

We had a similar situation with our boys and found the best results with Enfamil LactoFree. We started with traditional formula, then went to the Gentlease with improvements but no solution, and then went to the LactoFree. Switching brands/kinds of formula is kinda rough on babies' underdeveloped stomachs, so you want to try and not to change much.

The difference between a Lactose-free formula and a soy formula is that lactose-free is still cow's milk but has the lactose removed. Soy is made with the milk of soybeans.

Anyways, lucky for me I just so happen to have a nutrition book that compairs the nutrient content of many popular formulas! It even includes formulas manufactured by Wyeth Bright - who often makes "generic" formulas. Each brand has a different composition of nutrients, and so it forces you to choose what nutrients are more important to your baby than others in order to decide which formula is "best." For an infant, really ALL nutrients are important so you can't make a fair call unless your child had some digestion disorder.

The bottom line, there is not a huge difference between any brand. That being said, let me add a comment about the generics. We had to buy the generic lactose-free or soy during times when money was tight for us. One thing I did notice with generic vs. name brand was the CLUMPING. There was always a big difference in how much the generic formula clumped over the Enfamil - and indirectly that is important.

One thing that is very important for ALL babies fed ANY formula is ratio between the amount of formula and the amount of water. Directions on the formula are very important to follow - not for sales or to wake your baby, but because of electrolyte balance.

When the generic formula would clump all the time, it did not dissolve very well in the bottle, and it was difficult to get the proper ratio of food to water. This can increase risk to the electrolyte balance and the amount of nutrients the child is able to absorb, so for me, I always purchased the Enfamil when we could afford it. I hated the clumping because it was more work for me to break it up all the time or try and remove the clump, or heat the formula HOT so that it would dissolve completely, then make the child wait for it to cool down, etc.

I know it's frustrating and tiring to watch your child upset all the time. Keep working with the pediatrician on finding a formula because I'm sure there is one that will make her happy.

Also, the constipation IS due to the iron content in formula. We added 1 tsp. of 100% prune juice to one bottle feeding each day, and it cleared the problem up within 24 hours. If for some reason they didn't poop 24 hours after getting prune juice, we gave 1 1/2 tsp. and that for sure did the trick. We did end up having to do this each day until their first birthday (unless they got diarrhea - which happened too).

We also used the Mylicon gas drops because they did reduce the amount of after meal fussiness - something we were desperate for with 2 of them. It was the difference between sleeping through the night or NOT when we gave it to the last bottle before bed. This lasted until they were eating more and more solids than bottles - so towards the end of the first year.

Sorry this is so long, but I hope you find it helpful. Good luck!

Contact a peditrican that deals with allergies because if it is a allergy solids may soon hurt her also.
My nephews daughter was born early and had this also due to a blockage her younger sister had the same thing so ask a gastrial doctor please if this could be where the problem is.

I hope you and baby have a happy life together.

We went through the same situation, and finally ended up on the Target version of Gentlease (because he didn't like the taste of the Enfamil Gentlease). The one thing I would say is that you should give formula some time to work before switching again because it can take a while for those little tummies to adjust to something new. Good luck, and congrats on the baby!!

Amber,
i have a month old granddaughter and we had the same problem. We found out that it wasn't the formula, it was her bottle.so we went to shopco and got the less colic bottles, she was getting to much air from her other one. Newbornes need to start out with the bags to have less air.it may take a day or two. But it worked out for her . Hope this is what you need take care B.

I have found that goats milk resolved the issue with not only my children, but also my neice, who had the problem to an extreme. There is powdered goats milk. I have found it at woodmans, otherwise walmart and woodmans both have the liquid form in the dairy, but look carefully.

We had good luck with Similac Advance, and our little guy was super gassy as well. However, it's expensive, so we switched to the Target Brand with DHA and ARA, and we LOVE it more than Similac. It's very fine and silky, and as another post said, it's less foamy and produces less air bubbles. Plus, it's 1/2 the cost of the Similac. Good luck!

Hi A.-
Sorry this is so late- I'm a med. professional- 47yo mom of twins and I was in oncall for the last 3 days.
I am also a wellness coach. Many of my clients use aloe for their babies and it gets rid of that gassy/colic stuff babies have. It's about processing proteins for many. Aloe heals the inside of the body just like the outside. Anyway- I'm heading out of town for a couple weeks- but if you want more information, you can look at my website at http://www.mydietshop.org and look up herbal aloe concentrate. Our aloe is doctor recommended- and it has the alloitin removed- the stuff that is laxative like. YOu can email me too at ____@____.com
Have a blessed day,
B. Jarmoluk