Abdominal Pain

I have three older boys that all had similar problems as your child when they were 2-4 months old. I tried changing formula, eating conservatively so my breast milk wouldn't cause problems, different bottles, different sleeping positions, etc. Nothing worked. With each of my children around 4 to 5 months of age the pain went away. Hopefully your child will also improve as his digestive system becomes stronger. Make sure to always burp him after eating!

Hi C., There is someting in the formula that is causing this and it could be as simple as extra iron in the formula or some other additive to help babies grow or get extra vitamins and sometimes their system can't take these and it causes them pain. When one of our kids had this sort of pain we went to a health food shop and got herbal catmint or peppermint tea and put boiling water in with the leaves and let it steap and strained out the leaves and put a little honey in it and just put a little bit of the tea in a bottle and put more boiled water with it so its not too strong and gave to our baby and it helped bring up wind and settled the baby. You don't need much of the tea or water I would suggest about 1/2 ounce of tea and the same with the boiled water and if you think its needs more water put more in it as you don't want it too strong just a weak tea and give to baby the same temp as you would when feeding formula. I hope that this helps you and good luck with your baby. Ed

I had the same problem. I went through 5 different formulas until I switched to Similac Sensitive. It worked the best. Also, our Doctor said they usually grow out of it by three months.

i changed my sons to nutramigen in sept when he was 4.5 m/o. he's still on it. the gi dr suggested adding oatmeal w/no soy & it's worked well. he's 10.5 m/o & weighs 22 lbs & his stomach is doing much better. it does get better after the 1st 4 mos. i have twin boys. take care & blessings!

S.

My first child had the same problem. He was allergic to milk and soy and lots of other foods. Medical doctors were not any help. We used lactose free formula and it worked great before he started with real food. Once he was on real food, I figured out he had lots of other food allergies. We took him to a chiropractor/accupuncturist for allergy treatments. No needles, no drugs. They just "fixed" his allergies and the stomach issues went away.

After all the issues with our first child, I took the second baby at 3 weeks for his first allergy treatment since it's so non-invasive.

We used Dr. Kathleen Maher in Arlington. It's a drive, but her treatments have lasted 3 1/2 years so far. The accupuncture treatments I used to begin with only lasted one year, but there's an accupuncturist on every corner now doing NAET treatments so it's easy to find one. The NAET treatments did work and my baby wasn't in constant agonizing pain for a whole year. Since Dr. Maher is a chiropractor your insurance may cover the treatments.

Peace be with you, I have three boys all who have acid reflux, the middle one went through all the formulas as well. He is currently 12, and sleeping. At the stage you are in, we held him like a football, putting him on his belly, quite often. He did sleep a lot in his bouncy seat, next to the bed so when he began to fuss we could tap the seat. He also loved to sleep in the swing during the day. Always where his head could be supported to avoid choking. We played "Wheels on the Bus" moving his legs as if he were riding a bike. It was a very long process, we worked with the doctors, agued with the doctors, in the long run, it was a long process but we are very close.

I agree with Carolyn...You maybe changing the formula to much. I was told to at least stick with a formula for two weeks. Changing it often will really make for an upset stomach.
I also used Dr Browne bottles, but I switched the nipples. All three of my kids had gas/spitting up issues and it was from gulping to much, sucking too fast. I switching to a slower flowing nipple. Think it was a johnson and johnson one (it says on the labels different stages for different flows).

I hope your little one feels better.

Try letting him sleep sitting up in either his bouncy seat or infant carrier. I have done in-home day care for 36 years. I have had great success with this!!!! Don't discontinue anything. Just add the sitting up and a sound machine!!!! Good Luck

Laura C nailed it. Sally Fryer at Integrative Pediatric Therapy ###-###-#### is the one to call. My son had a horrible stomach. He would nurse and cry at the same time. She "fixed" him. Good luck!

get a second third doctor opinion.

Both my sons suffered with gas pains for several months after they were born. It is very common, but hard to deal with because you hate them to be in pain. I think you should pick one formula and stick with it. Changing so many times may be causing more of an upset to his system. Use the Mylicon and burp often. Try putting him over a pillow or your lap with his bottom slightly raised. It sometimes helps the gas to pass. Good luck!

What has worked for me and many use it for what they call colic......Nature Sunshine Cat Nip with Phennel. This helps the pain by letting the child pass gas and burp. My uncomfortable children and screaming kids immed calmed down. I now give it as a baby shower gift.

Hello. We've been going throught the same thing with our 7 week old DD. We started out on Similac Advance then switched to Good Start which is what we had to put our now 2 1/2 yr.old son on, also. We started the Neutramigen last Friday and have also been giving her Prevacid Solutabs for a couple of weeks now, too. Since changing to the Neutramigen I have noticed a signifigant improvement in her symptoms. We have far less spitting up/vomiting/gas and she is not nearly as fussy and irritable as she was. I would say for you to give it a shot and see what happens. Hopefully it will work as well for your son as it has for my daughter. Take care!

Switching formula often is really hard on their tummies... give him time to adjust to the medicine with out switching formulas... keep him on the carnation gentle or enfamil and the soy formula can be harder on their tummies and produce even more gas than regular.

chooes a formula and keep him on it. switching is hard on their tummies.

try a hot water bottle under his tummy and let him lay on it with his knees under his tummy.

or place him on his back on your knees and gently push his feet tward him bending his knees to his tummy this helps gas...

good luck
A. J

Try taking him to a chiropractor. There's an awesome one in Hurst - Dr. Haggerton at Lifetime Family Wellness. He's a ways away, but totally worth the drive!

My son had the same issues and it turned out that he had acid reflux. He wasn't spitting up however they did do a sonogram and you could see the acid coming up. They put him on Enfamil AR and also on a presciption for relux (I can't remember which one - he's almost 3 now). Good news, it did magically clear up when he was between 3 and 4 months. I know it's hard seeing them so uncomfortable. Hopefully he will get some relief soon!

I KNOW this doesn't help, but he'll outgrow it. My son and grandson both did this and at about 8 months, they both outgrew it. With both, they ended up on milk formulas after trying them all. I think they just matured to the point that they were able to tolerate a formula while on milk.

The only thing that really helped was to put them on their tummies on your legs to burp them. The pressure on their little tummies helps some.

Good luck.

D. Kimbriel
Grandma to 2 beautiful boys

I tried everything you did and we even did the prescription and nothing seem to help when my boys were infants. The pediatric gave me my last option and it was to try Nature Sunshine Cat Nip with Phennel. It worked...it was amazing! You can find it at a health food/ vitamin store that sells Nature Sunshine products or purchase online. My boys are 6 & 8 and are happy & healthy children.

It sounds like your son might have reflux (GERD). My daughter went through the same thing. Have your doctor test him for reflux and in the meantime ask for Prevacid. It really helps. It takes about ten days to really start working, but it is worth the wait. My daughter was a completely different baby once the medicine began working. She wasn't crying from the pain and she was sleeping through the night. If your doctor refuses your request, I would get a new one. Good luck!

I went through the same thing with my son. You may want to seek a Gastrologist. That is finally where we ended up & my son was diagnosed with a protein allergy to cows milk. We had to use Neutramagen AA (amino acid) which is a prescription formula.

My daughter who is now 2 1/2 went through the same situation as you are describing. We finally found relief with Nutramigen and giving her reflux medicine. We went through the formulas one by one like you have described, but Nutramigen was the only one that gave her any relief. She is a great solid food eater and eats about everything now. I know your pain when your child wakes up screaming because the have gas, tummy ache, and reflux. Just remember that you know what is best for your child and you see the pain that they are in every day.

I had the same problem with all 3 of my kids. One thing that helped was letting them sleep in their infant carriers. They cried and cried if I laid them down.

I breast fed our son but with the twins I switched from Dr. B's to the Playtex drop-in bottles and they worked great. You just have to make sure you squeeze all of the air out. They were a lot easier to clean, too. :) Make sure you are burping him halfway through the bottle, too. That made a huge difference.

Last, I agree with someone else that changing the formula too often can cause problems. I used the Enfamil Soy and it worked the best. It was the easiest on the twins stomachs. Later, I switched to the Lipil.

He will grow out of this but it sure is tough in the meantime. Hang in there!

i don't know what age is your son but try burp him at helf of the feeding and again when he finish and i use equate infant gas drop it works better for my daughter than mylocon drops and try to rub his tummy with a little of olive oil for about 10 min a day and also try place the baby's head on one thigh and his stomach on the other. Using an upward and circular motion, gently pat the baby's back thuis help to reduce the gas in stomach

Get a second and or third opinion. You know you child better than anyone. If you feel that there should be something to be concened about there probally correct.
Good luck and God Bless

I went through this with both my kids. I used all of the stuff you mentioned and probably a few more. My daughter finally settled in on nutramigen and it worked wonders for her, my son had the same issues but nutramigen didn't work with him but goats milk did, the goats milk was mixed with several other items to give it the vitamins and taste needed for a baby but it worked well. Both went to regular whole milk around age 1 and never had any other issues, my daughter is now 23 and a new Mom as of last Thursday and my son is a 6 year old soccer star! Every suggestion came from our Pedi who speculated that baby’s digestion issues come from their little intestines not being fully developed. Whatever the cause it is painful watching your child in pain. Good luck.

You can try chamomile tea. This used to help my daughter when she suffered from colic. Don't make it as strong as you normally would. If you make a lot of it keep it in the fridge, it will keep for about 36 hours.