Enfamil Lipil (Gentle) vs Similac Advance with Iron

I've heard from many sources (even a relative of mine who runs a daycare center) that Dr.Brown's bottles are the best for reducing gas. As far as the formula, I'd definitely ask your pediatrician for ideas- they are the most knowledgable, and sometimes they have samples you can try out. Another idea for you- what about breastfeeding, and/or pumping and bottle feeding him for a few months? It sounds like he did very well on the breast, and if you pump consistently, you'll be able to keep up your milk supply for quite awhile (especially if you are actually breastfeeding when you can as well). My baby couldn't get the hang of breastfeeding, so I pumped and bottle fed for almost 6 months. Whatever you do, this stage will likely end in a few months. Until then, invest in some thick burp cloths and a really good detergent! Congratulations!

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I would switch to Nestle Good Start supreme. I have an outstanding nutritionist who recommended it for my daughter when I had to stop breast feeding. They do something to the proteins to make it easier to digest.

Good luck!
L.

My son did better on Enfamil than Similac. I used the gentle and regular. My doctor told be to put gas medicine in the bottle which helped. We just put one squirt in each bottle and we did that for a couple months. It really helped.

Have you tried Carnation? I used Similac for my first child, but used Carnation with my second, and she was much less of a "spitter upper" than my first. Now, who knows if it was the formula or just the child, but it might be worth a try.

My other suggestion would be to try a different style of bottle. A friend of mine uses bottles that have a tube down the center of them. She said they really help control the air bubbles...which would minimize the gas and spit-up.

Regardless, since this is your second child, you know that this is a very short-term situation. The newborn stage seems like an eternity when you're in the midst of it, but it's really just a couple of months. Your son will be digesting easily in no time. Hang in there!!

When it comes to formula, I've basically tried all of them at one point w/ both my sons (Ben, 3 and RJ, 6 months). I didn't find much difference in them except Ben would spit up on Enfamil and Similac, and did well on Carnation Good Start. Bonus being that the Good Start was a bit cheaper as well. RJ HATES the taste of the Good Start, and is a perfectly happy Similac eater with no spit up issues. My advice would be try the Good Start. It's not going to hurt anything, and who knows? It may help :) Good luck!

My daughter (born in 2004) used Similac Advance with Iron and we thought she spit up more than she should. We experimented with different types of bottles and ultimately chose Dr. Browns. The bottles have some sort of filtering system to minimize air intake and - sure enough - they immediately eliminated about 80% of the spitting up. I would recommend trying them if you haven't already.

Good luck to you and good digestion to your son!

J. H.

I had my son on similac soy after I quit breastfeeding. It really seemed to help with the gas and with the spitting up. My doctors put my son on the soy, because they felt maybe he had a milk protein or lactose allergy.

I also started out with breast feeding and switched to formula later on. My daughter hardly ever spit up, but I noticed she was fussier with Similac and I ended up switching her to Carnation. My son on the other hand, was a major spitter upper. He didn't cry or seem in pain, just spit up a lot. I started him on Similac as well and ended up on Carnation. He still spit up, but not quite as much.

Good luck!

Hello - we had a little trouble with formula with our first as well. It sounds like your little is doing fine but if the spitting up is excessive you may want to try a Soy-based formula. We used (I think from memory) Isomil Advance with Iron. It helped my daughter with gas and she was still getting the nutrients she needed. Since your little one is only 3 weeks old it may take a few weeks for him/her to adjust. You may want to wait a few weeks and then try another one. Your doctor can give advice too - we called when we had issues with Similac. Hope this helps! Good luck and congrats.

Hi My name is S.. When my daughter was an infant, she had a lot of problems with spitting up also. She ended up being alergic to cow's milk based formulas and they switched her to a soy based one called isomil. She did fine after the switch. Good luck, and Congrats on the new baby!

Hi there.
I have a 4yr and 2 yr old and this is what I tried and it seemed to work for my children. I nursed both children till 6 months and the I had my daughter on Infamil w/ Lipl- she seemed to do with with this. However, my soon was another problem thinking I could use Infamil for him. I couldn't I had to use Similas advance and I use Milcon Gas Drops before each feeding with the bottle. This seemed to help him with less spit up and gas problems. Also, Gengeric gas drops work just fine.. from Drug mart or walmart. Also, what I had to do is after I fed my son I had to keep him up right for 5-10 minutes before laying him down or I would keep him upright in the swing.

Good Luck
L. B

Hi, I had the same problem when my daughter was little. She is 2 now. She had a little bit of Reflex 'coz she was throwing up a lot. The formula switch did not help me. Altho, Here is what I did even tho it didn't work everytime,

1. After every meal I used to burp her really well
2. keep her inclined for a little bit after a bottle
3. We never traveled right after she ate.

These did help us a little bit.

Hi A., my grandson (now terrible two)threw up all of the time from day one! We thought it was the fromula so we swithched to the Lipil just as your son. Month after month we washed more and more onesies! He also had a problem with his bowels in the beginning like getting constipated a lot and or gassy. The doc suggested to switched to SOY milk and that all went away. It's worth a try just to see if he keeps it down. He just my have an allergy to regular milk/ liquid or powder.
Hope it helped.

Hey A.!
I had your same problem when my son was his age. I went through 4 or 5 formulas, until I found the right one. I found that plain Similac, not the advanced, but still with iron, worked the best. I was kind of reluctant at first because it wasn't "advance", but it worked the best. Good luck, hope this helps you out.

A.,
Trying switching to soy. He may have trouble digesting the dairy proteins. Our pediatrician recommended we switch to soy and it made a huge difference.

Hi A.,
I am a foster mother for an adoption agency and have brought 37 newborns home from the hospital in the last 4 1/2 years. It has been my experience that if the fussiness, spitting up and general discomfort come in the first 30 min after feeding you might want to try a soy based product..Isomil is the Similac version and Prosobee the Infamil. It takes about 3 days to notice a difference in contentment, but if it is the formula causing the problem the spitting up should improve quickly. The soy products are nutrionally sound and does not mean your son will always have milk allergies, it just means he is having trouble digesting it right now. You can also try leaving him upright in an infant seat or carseat for 20 min after he eats. Some babies are just spitters, but if he is uncomfortable also, your instinct is probably correct and it is the formula. You can check with your ped before you switch, altough sometimes they don't understand how fussy a little one might be. Good Luck! Angee (The Baby Lady www.cincibabylady.com, I'm not a nurse, only motherly advice and experience)

Hi A.,

I find enfamil lipil to mix better and in general be better tolerated but for spit up Enfamil A.R> tends to help a lot also. Another brand that touts being closest to mothers milk that a lot of moms have success with is Good Start Carnation and it has more of the proteins (whey) like moms milk as compared to casein (cows) milk in the mixtrue vs the other two brands (similac and enfamil). Hope this helps. Sincerely
K.

We had the same proble with our son. He ended up having to try zantac (and prevacid which worked better than the zantac).
We saw a really good pediatric gastro guy Dr. Belknap. Loved him! Try sitting your son up for at least 20 mins before laying him down after eating. Believe me this is a pain at 2 am!! Also try propping the head of his bed up so he isn't lying flat. Good Luck- I feel your pain!!

One of our twins has horrible reflux. We tried Enfamil AR which has added rice starch. It's the only thing, besides breastmilk, that has helped. Apparently the rice starch makes the formula heavy enough that it isn't easily spit up. Hope this helps!

Hi A.,
Congratulations on your second son (and first son as well). My advice is less product based and more "baby" based. It sounds like your little guy's digestion needs a little tweaking - nothing difficult but very beneficial. Let me know if you want more info.

My daughter was breast fed for about 5 months when I had to stop. We also tried Similac Advance and she was spitting up a larger quantity and more often than what I would consider normal. We tried another brand with no difference. However, when we switched to Enfimil Lactose Free, the quantity and frequency both declined and she was much less fussy. There has been no problem introducing dairy products now and she is drinking milk at age 1. I hope this helps!

A., congrats on your new baby, and what a wonderful gift to have breastfed your son for that first 10 days - mother's milk is so amazing, so bursting with nutrition and immunity, and the absolute best way to feed your baby... but it can be really difficult at times, especially if there's a lack or support or accurate information.

You ask in your request, "Does anyone have any recommendations as to what could help the situation?" Well, I do not know what lies behind your reason for weaning to formula at 10 days old, but if your son was doing better on breastmilk than on formula, why not switch back to breastfeeding?

If you have decided not to breastfeed because you just don't enjoy doing it, it's good that you are being honest with yourself and your baby (resentment and breastfeeding aren't a good combo!). If you are stopping for other reasons (not sure about your supply, feel that cow's milk is better for your baby than human milk, have concerns about going back to work & breastfeeding, are experiencing lack of support from family or friends, etc.), please know that there are mother-to-mother groups where you can go for accurate info, encouragement, and support for breastfeeding.

If interested in doing so, you could almost certainly get your son back to the breast and build up your milk supply once again. Especially since you're only 3 weeks postpartum, the odds are really in your favor if you wanted to resume breastfeeding. At the end of this response, I'll include contacts, in case you are interested in getting your son back to the breast.

If you decide to stay with cow's milk based or soy based formula, I hope you can find one that is less harsh on your little guy's developing gut.

Again, congratulations on the birth of your son! :)

------
Here are some contacts to support you if the idea of switching back to breastfeeding interests you:

Phone Support in Pickerington
* Dianne 614/864-7707

Mother-to-Mother Breastfeeding Support Meeting
LLL of Reynoldsburg
Meets 2nd TUES each month, 7:30pm @ Reynoldsburg United Methodist Church.
* Leader: Charlene 614/864-1949 ____@____.com

Other LLL groups around Columbus:
http://www.discoverohio.net/LLL/index.shtml

API Circle of Columbus
Meets on the 3rd SAT each month from 1-2 p.m. @ Wild Oats Community Room, 1555 W. Lane Ave
* Leader: Karina Brown ____@____.com
http://www.attachmentparenting.org

Just another viewpoint. My son had extreme gas that caused him great discomfort. I breast fed exclusively for the first 3 months. We gave him the gas relief drops and it helped everyone get lots more sleep. My doctor said they are completely safe and you can not overdose a baby on them. She said we could give them every 2 hours if needed. My son also spit up, just as you described, not huge amounts but more than normal. It didn't matter whether we held him upright or for how long. At first it didn't bother him but it slowly developed into him "burping" and then doubling over and crying uncontrollably. Around two months we had him tested for reflux and when that came back positive the doctor put him on pepcid. He became a totally different baby after that. The two hour walks around the house ended and again, we all got a lot more sleep. He is now 9 months old and a wonderful, smiling child.

My youngest (I have 3) is now 7 months old and we had the same problem with the spitting up. There were 2 things that helped with us and that was medicine whether it be prilosec, prevacid or zantac. We have tried all of them, but seemed to like Zantac the best. Just ask your PCP for opinion.
Also what helped was putting rice cereal in the bottles. This was also reccommended by our pedes. dr. It helped so much and she rarely spits up ever. Some people would tell you that the baby is too young for rice cereal in the bottle, but me daughter started it at 3 weeks. So again ask your PCP.
I also found that the expensive bottles did not help in my situation.

I love the similac with iron I would stay on that my son never spit up on it but my daughter did every bottle so its just babies are different the gas and fussiness try giving him mylacon drops they work great for gas and fussiness, that was my life saver

i also recommend dr browns bottles. for us, they made a big difference.

Hi A.

The bottles with the straws in them are called Dr. Brown bottles. I used them with my second son and he seemed to be less gassy like the other person wrote

Also my second son was on Nestle Good Start. It seemed gentler.

Maybe that would help

Good luck