S.F. asks from Dallas, TX on March 04, 2008
Enfamil Gentlease vs Good Start
Has anyone had issues with Gentlease? My daughter is 6 weeks old and we switched her to it because the Enfamil lipil kept making her constipated. Now her stools are runny and she has bad gas. I am beginning to think it is Enfamil that is the problem. The other issue is that the formula is so runny. It doesn't seem to have much thickness to it and doesn't seem to sustain her very long. I have heard really good things about Nestle Good Start. Has anyone had experience with this?
So What Happened?™
WOW! The responses have been amazing! Okay so before I switched formulas I called my pediatrician who said for me to bring her in. He said this is very normal to have gas at this age and that it would most likely subside around 10 weeks (thanks Emily B who told me that too:) Apparently gas pains hit their height around 6-7 weeks so here we are. He did suggest that I change her to...get ready...Similac Allementum. HOLY COW! Talk about expensive! It smells horrible and she doesn't seem to love the flavor as much as the Enfamil but we shall see. She seemed to do better last night. My father in law who is also a pediatrician said if that didn't do all that great to try Soy formula. Not as expensive and achieves basically the same thing. So there you have it! Thanks again, and hello to the gal across the lake in Casa Linda! Great area.
Featured Answers
G.S. answers from Dallas on March 06, 2008
Hello!
I am a mom of 2 beautiful children. I tried the enfamil on both of my kids and it made them both very miserable. Constipation, gas, spitting up all the time. I switched them to the Nestle Good Start and never had another problem. I highly recommend that formula. Its very easy on their lil tummies. I hope this helps
Good Luck!
G.
More Answers
M.L. answers from Dallas on March 05, 2008
Hi S.,
We tried all of the various Enfamil formulas and my son was still constipated. As soon as we tried Good Start, it was like magic...no more gas, no more constipation. We used this formula until he turned one without any more problems. Give it a shot!
K.T. answers from Dallas on March 05, 2008
We had the same problem with Enfamil Lipil and Lipil Gentlease, but we switched to Lacto Free Lipil and it was wonderful. No more constipation, no more stinky gas, no more MAJORLY stinky poop. I haven't tried Nestle Good Start. You may want to ask your pediatrician as well. Mine suggested trying soy if the lacto-free didn't work. Good luck!
C.G. answers from Dallas on March 05, 2008
I can't help with the formula, but we also live in east Dallas across the lake from you in Casa Linda. Just wanted to say hello!
G.S. answers from Dallas on March 06, 2008
Hello!
I am a mom of 2 beautiful children. I tried the enfamil on both of my kids and it made them both very miserable. Constipation, gas, spitting up all the time. I switched them to the Nestle Good Start and never had another problem. I highly recommend that formula. Its very easy on their lil tummies. I hope this helps
Good Luck!
G.
K.E. answers from Dallas on March 05, 2008
Hi S.:
My best friend is a prediatic doctor and has helped a lot with both my girls. This is the advice she gave me. My 11 month old had GERD and very constipated. We switched to Good Start with Comfort Proteins for easy digestion and within a week we saw change. For the constipation we gave her 2 ounces of water every day. You probably see a lot of constipation because of switching formulas. Your daughters body isn't handling all the change. Hope this helps and if you need every need anything I am not too far from you. Northwest Highway/Jupiter.
C.R. answers from Dallas on March 04, 2008
Hi S.,
I ended up using Parents Choice's Gentle from Walmart and it worked great. We had no problems at all with it. All the others seem to cause really loose stools and gas. It's cheaper that the others too. I also since have noticed that Sam's sales a large container of a Gentle brand at a great price. Too bad they didn't have it yet when my son was using it! On the same note, some will say not to do alot of switching with formula's but I disagree. I kept doing it until something worked for us. I would know within a few days to a week if something was going to work or not. You can buy the small cans to try it out and maybe get a sample from their (different formula's) web sites or maybe aleast score a coupon to test them out.
Hope it gets better for her soon.
C.
N.O. answers from Dallas on March 04, 2008
I started Enfamil Gentlease when my son was 8 weeks and the only issue we had with it was it made him spit up a whole lot!
We switched him to A.R. Lipil and he did just fine with it. From my experience, Enfamil does seem to be a more constipating formula. I ended up swithcing him to Similac and was more pleased with Similac than any others we tried including Nestle, (he hated the taste of Nestle).
You could also go back to the Enfamil Lipil and add a little prune juice to the formula to help him go. We'd mix about an ounce to a bottle and my son never knew it was in there but if we gave it to him w/out the formula, he wouldn't drink it.
Good luck to you!
E.B. answers from Dallas on March 05, 2008
gentlease/goodstart are basically the exact same thing. it's like coke vs pepsi. same product..different brand. the consistency of the formula has nothing to do with how satisfied the baby is. all 6week babies are fussy...they don't like where, are frustrated! and just need some time to adjust to their new environment. gets better around 10 weeks or so... they also don't do well with introducing "food" into their gut and have lots of gas and tummy discomfort. I will say... around 6 weeks is the time that you will see effects of having a "milk intolerance" and the side effects are pretty severe. screaming inconsolable after feeds due to the pain in the tummy, blood in stool (maybe not able to see with the naked eye), lots of spitting up.
if you see any of this, ask your doctor to do a guiac on the stool to detect microscopic blood there and can tell you that
the little one truly is allergic to the milk. By the way...I am a pediatric RN of 10 years and a mother of 3. hope this helps.
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