My baby boy is 11 days old and I am having a horrible time trying to find a formula that will work for him. I first tried Similac Advance and he had severe and painful gas and he spit practically all of it up as soon as he was done eatting. So then I put him on Similac Sensitive RS and that helped his spit up problem really well, but he still had the gas issue, at times worse then he did before. So I then decided to switch him to Nestle Good Start Natural Cultures, because I had to put my daughter on that and it solved all of her problems. It was a great formula for her and she was very sensitve. But, he spits-up the Nestle Good Start right away, he doesnt seem to have gas with it though. So, because he is spitting it all back up he is always cranky and wanting to eat and then just spits it right back up. Any suggestions as to what formula I should try now!?
Hi Amanda,
I am sorry you are going through this... I have not delt with this issue personally but I know some of my friends have.. I used enfamil formula.. and some of my friends that had problems with severe spit up used a special type of enfamil go to www.enfamil.com
then under products there is an area of questions you can answer to help see what formula they suggest or you can call them directly (problems feeding) maybe also call your babys doctor do you think it could be acid reflux? also, maybe your baby's doctor has some free samples of formula you could try..
sorry I am not much more of a help.
Lenc
best "formula" is the chiropractor...no joke. Give it a shot was amazing for our son! Who slept in a sleep wedge for a month before we decided to get him in! And he had the worst "silent reflux"...Oh and switching formulas too much over a short period of time is hard on the body!
Its been a while since I had an infant but I had issues with formulas too.with both my younger ones:( Did you ever think a product like soy in the the formulas was causing problems. Another thing is switching formulas to fast. It is hard for the tummy to get used to another product. Time will tell and babies all have gas, its just less bothersome if its mild.
We used Enfamil brand that was a salmon color label - it's specifically for spitter-uppers.
I also suggest using one formula for a period of time. If that doesn't work, try one that doesn't have milk in any form in it. I can't remember the brand that my daughter fed her daughter. It is expensive. She used the non-dairy based formula because her daughter tested allergic to milk. The pediatrist used a blood test. My granddaughter had same symptoms.
I would stay away from anything that has soy in it. Soy, as is milk, a common allergen. My granddaughter was also allergic to soy.
I think the name of the formula is something like Nutrigimen.
Amanda,
My son is now almost 7 months old, but we had issues with formula as well when he was a newborn. Honestly, I'm not sure we had the same issue, but my son was very uncomfortable all the time. He had gas and and acid reflux. We tried the same formulas you have tried, but none worked. Our doctor finally recommended Similac Alimentum. Alimentum is for kiddos with really sensitive tummies. It is broken down more and is easier for them to digest. It is pretty spendy, but as soon as we switched him over to that he was a completely different baby. We kept him on that for 6 months and just recently switched to Similac Isomil.
I hope this helps a bit. If nothing else at least you know that your baby is very normal and that a lot of newborns have this same issue.
Keri
mother to Austin 20 months and Dillin 6 months
Have you tried nursing? Formulas are harder to digest.
Well at 11 days old, might be hard doing too many switches of formula. Both my kids had gas and spit up and ended up on Similac Soy formula. It seemed to help, but they hard to tell since their systems are so immature at that age.
I had the exact same problem. The one and only formula my daughter could do was suprising Walmarts generic lactose free milk. Even soy was a no go. But the lactose free worked wonderfully. Good luck! :)
We switched our son to Nestle Good Start. It uses just the whey and not the whole milk product which is much gentler on babies tummies. We noticed a HUGE difference with the switch. There are several types of Nestle Good Start you could consider using. We had used Similac and Enfamil before discovering Nestle Good Start and would recommend it to anyone with the changes it made for our son and the next baby we used ONLY Nestle Good Start and didn't have problems at all with formula for her. A friend of mine switched her daughter from Similac (what they gave her at the hospital) to Nestle Good Start and was also sold immediately, after the first bottle her daughter was a whole new baby.
How often are you burping during feedings. Newborns need to be burped at least every ounce or so. So that is 4 burps in a 4oz bottle. I don't care if they are eating great and you don't want to stop, they will but then it will all come up with the burp at the end. They cannot handle any air until about 9 months. And the comment about all babies having gas, not true if you get the burps out. You have to do this or you will have a very uncomfortable baby.
As for formulas, we did Carnation Good Start for my daughter so she could have a bowel movement easier. I concur with the comment about sticking with something for a bit to see if it works though, that is the only way to find out truly if something doesn't work or does.
Amanda,
Hi. I used Enfamil Low Iron for my first child. We had her on the high iron, but it caused her to have horrible gas and when we switched to low iron it was a complete change. I don't know if that will help with spit up as we never had a problem with that. I have not seen it in the stores but maybe you could order it online.
Nancy
Amanda, we had the exact same problems early on. I would highly suggest sticking with the Similac Sensitive since it works for the spitup but add 1 drop of Mylicon (or generic gas drops work just as well) for each ounce of formula and shake it up in the bottle with it. This worked WONDERS for my little ones gas issues. I tried giving her the gas drops straight as a single dose but it didn't do anything to help with the gas, so on the suggestion of a friend of mine I put them directly in the bottle and it was like night and day. I also like that this way she was getting a much lower dose of the gas drops than if I'd have been giving them directly with each bottle.
She still got some gas from the formula but the gas drops made the gas just move through her so instead of it backing up and making her miserable, she just tooted a lot and seemed fine. As she got older and the gas wasn't as bad I reduced the drops to 1 drop every 2 oz of formula. Now that she is 22m old I still occasionally put a few drops in her nightly milk if she's had something for dinner that I suspect might give her gas.
My son needed Enfamil A.R. It greatly reduces the spit up. The best thing you can do for the gas is burp more often. My son had a great ability to hold in his bubbles. If I let him, he'd vomit all his food even just from a little bubble. If you gently jiggle his belly, you can hear or feel air bubbles.
Have you tried Soy fomula or the lactose free formula? If you are still having issues, then you need to take him to the dr. A friend of mines little boy would do this and he had an underdeveloped tummy and had surgery.
I would suggest a naturopath to see if he is allergic to formula. Also to make sure the gas isn't something else.
Can you give him breast milk until you know more?
Congratulations on your new baby! Can you breastfeed?? That would solve most of you issues..........hopefully!
I know this is not the answer to the question you asked - but, you didn't say why you aren't breastfeeding - it may not be too late to start, if you find a good lactation consultant to work with. Breastmilk is so much better for babies. Or if for some reason you aren't able to breastfeed, you could look into getting donor milk. and I'd agree that taking him to a good chiropractor or craniosacral therapist could help greatly.
Try goat milk formula or buy goat milk from Whole foods/ New Seasons.