Help Finding the Right Formula

Wow, you're getting some great advice. My son (Aiden) too had reflux as a baby. We used Enfamil Gentlease (designed to reduce gas) and I mixed rice cereal when he was younger and then graduated to oatmeal cereal. Rice cereal seemed to constipate until I switched to oatmeal. I made about a 50% mix of cereal and 50% mix of formula, stuck it in the blender and made up a day's worth of bottles at once. As young as your baby is, I would just thicken up the formula enough to make a difference and graduate from there. We also elevated his mattress.

We were able to alleviate most symptoms of reflux and only occasionally have to use the medicine. The day care would also use his bottles as an example to other mothers with similar problems on what helps.

Enfamil also has a formula for spitting up. It makes a thicker bottle without adding cereal.

Good luck!

1 mom found this helpful

Hi B.!

I do not know about the Similac Alementium, but what I do know is that I have had excellent results with the Good Start in the past with my kids when I had to supplement. We never had the gas problems with it and if something did come up, then the Good Start and the Milicon worked wonders..... And you are right, it is cheaper and cost efficient. I hope that this works for you, it can't hurt to try, right?! I have 4 kids and I personally never had any problems with the Good Start...

I have also learned a LOT about infant/children's health since I have had my kids, so if you are interested I would love to talk with you.....!

Have a great day and good luck!

C. P

I had the same problem with both of my kids. I switched to Soy formula and the problem with their stomachs was solved..Good Luck!

Hi there. I just wanted to share my experiance with you. We have a baby girl who is now 5 months. She had the same problem Aiden does. We used all the tricks (Feeding her in a more upright position, buying a wedge pillow for her crib to keep her at an angle, etc.

I did try Carnation Good Start with my son when he was an infant and it was horrible. He went from spitting up to projectile vomiting.

With our daughter I didn't even try that. We too used Mylicon and it helped sometimes. We also used Little Remedies "Grip Water". It seemed to work better and has only natural ingrediants (mainly Ginger). After speaking with the Pedi. we also switched her from Enfamil Lipil, to Enfamil Prosobee which is the Soy formula and it worked great.

The good news is, as their tummy's grow and they begin solids, the problem usually corrects itself anyway.

Best of luck and by the way.. I love the name Aiden. It's so chic!!!!

B.!!! My 4 year old has always had gas and stomach problems but my peditrican introduced me to some products by Advocare that I now give all my kids everyday...and they like taking it...they ASK for it!!! It is a nutritional supplement that has that good bacteria, lactobacillius and acidophoulus...or whatever they are. We've not had a problem since. My peditrician gives it to her kids as well. Call me and I'll talk to you about it. I SWEAR by it!!! I can even send you the information on it to give to your peditrician so he/she can give you the "okay" to put it in the formula. I also used Nestles and that worked the best for my kiddos. ###-###-####

Hello. Soon after his birth, my (now) 5 year old had a similar problem-he had a very hard time digesting formula and very difficult bowl movements. I tried everything and the last thing I looked at was Good Start (a girlfriend told me about it) I tried it and never had any other problems. The only thing that I don't understand is how giving your child GS is a step back?? It wouldn't hurt to try it and the price is great. My 5 year old is about to finish Kindergarten and he had a great first year of school. Good Luck.

bless your heart i know how you feel, my son cody did the same thing when he was young we had to put him on goats milk the doctors told me not to because the fat wasnt high enough but its the only thing that would let him rest we would go on car drives just to get him asleep that went on for about 2 months he was nine months when i started the goats milk we had tried about 10 diff formulas and nothing worked he keep loseing weight he would cry because he wanted to eat and then he would cry cus it hart to eat he would just get sick everywhere he still has to take meds. for the acid but is healthy amnd happy so you may just wnat to try new things docs. dont know everything your his mother listin to your self J.

Hi B.,
I have always used Simalac Organic. Organic is always best. I have never had any problems with it at all. It is exspensive but worth it.

B.
www.MoreForMyBaby.com

My son, who is almost two, had the same problem. After trying different formulas and medicines, I determined that he is either lactose intolerant or allergic to cow's milk. I switched him to Soy formula (and now soy milk), which is lactose free and the issues cleared up very quickly! I wish I had done it sooner. It took me over 6 months to figure it out.

S.

Hi B.,

Lots of stuff for you to read through, so I'll be brief. Acid reflux was an issue with our son as well. Was on two medications until 9 months of age which was when he was able to be weened from it. I have a thriving, healthy, braniac-like 4 year old boy now who was fed Nestle's Good Start throughout most of his first year. Good Start was actually recommended by his pediatrician, by the way. Differing opinions may not help you, but I wanted you to hear of a Nestle's success in case you'd like to try it.

Good luck!

Val

The Good Start is awesome! I used it with both my sons. My 2nd had colic and reflux. It was the best by far. Also try Gripe Water instead of the Mylicon...it works alot better and can be found at Peoples Pharmacy if your in Austin (about $12 a bottle, can be paid for with your HSA or FSA card). All babies have some gas but i noticed a considerable difference with the Good Start and Gripe Water. Also, the Dr. Brown bottles helped. Good Luck!

My son is 12 yrs now but we had similar issues as well. The Doctors back then would not advocate Nestle's either but it felt that they were pushing Infamil Iron instead of suggesting it. We tried all different kinds of formula until we tried Nestle's Good start which worked so much better for him but Nestle's Soy cleared up the problem all together. I asked my pediatrician at the time why Infamil verses Nestle's and he said Infamil's ingredients were better. I asked for specifics and when he couldn't give me any other than that reason I did some checking to support what he told me. I found no evidence to support his claim and changed pediatricians. I am still with the pediatrician we switched to. My thought is that Doctor's are still practicing medicine and their opinion is swayed just like the rest of us. They have an accumulation of medical knowledge we go to for advice. You just have to be proactive with doctors and who knows that better than mom. Keep trying, until you get the right fit. Your on the right track. Just keep questioning if something doesn't seem right. Trust your instincts.

Same thing with my son, we tried everything out there and the only thing that has worked is Enfamil Pro SoyBee (the soy formula) in conjunction with that he has been on a low dose of prevacid (prescribed by his doctor). Now he is a year old and just fine, we are slowly trying out organic whole milk to see if he can make that change...
Good luck, sometimes it does take trying different ones!

Good Morning!

We had the same issue with our son . . . tried ALL formulas in conjunction to Mylicon, Gripe Water, acid reflux medication, etc. I believe there are two formulas that really tackle the gas/reflux issues . . . Since you already know about Symilac Alimentum, take a look at Infamil Nutramigen. I guarantee this is not a step backward; however, it's not cheap, but greatly reduces the symptoms you speak of. I'd like to hear how things go in the future =)

I would suggest the cookbook "Nourishing Traditions" by Sally Fallon and her Raw Milk Baby Formula. I have it listed under suggested readings on our web page www.sandcreekfarm.net b/c it is one of my favorite cookbooks, we actually own over 90% of the books on our list. You can just click on it and it will take you to a link to purchase it direct from the book company. We know lots and lots of babies on this formula and all of them are thriving. I can help with most all of the sources for the ingredients or point you in a direction. The babies that have come to the farm have been as run down as adopted crack babies and have come back a couple of months later, plump, beautiful and content. Give it a try if you want the best nutrition for your son. Also, reflux is normal in a 2 1/2 month old b/c the muscle at the top of the stomach is not tight and functioning at this age. Any bending, movement, etc. can cause a projectile of milk. You will notice that it is not normally curdled but just the same as it went in. There is nothing abnormal about this in my opinion. However, giving medication to anyone that lowers the acidity in the stomach will cause the bottom opening of the stomach to NOT open. It works off of pH levels. This can be very bad as the contents of the stomach do not get removed to the small intestine at the proper rate. Take a look at www.westonaprice.org, it is a research foundation that has loads of good information on nutrition and health that is God's way, not mans. I have a degree from TAMU in Scientific Nutrition and this is a daily area of study for me. Take a look and read with an open mind. Chemical medications from your Doctor are not all they are cracked up to be. The pharm. companies pay big dollars to medical colleges to have their medicines promoted. Just follow the money and then see if that is really related to your good health or their pockets.

I used enfamili Lipil AR with my son he had pretty bad reflux and the AR means added rice starch so it will thicken as soon as it hits his tummy and therefore make it less likely to gurggle and come back up. We also used Similac Senstive RS it has the added rice starch too but it was also lactose free and it worked wonderfully but it only comes ready to eat and at $6 a bottle for one day of food it's pretty expensive.
hth

Have you heard of Infant Potty Training or EC? I am doing EC with my 8 1/2 month old daughter and she is going potty in her Baby Bjorn potty chair probably 60% of the time !! :) Check out these websites and you can also just google infant potty training, or EC (elimination communication)to find more websites.

www.diaperfreebaby.com
www.theecstore.com (great baby sized panties and training pants on here)

Keep going!!! My daughter already tries to signal when she needs to go. Its all about communication and watching the signs of when they are about to go. Good luck!!!

Both of my children projectile vomited all formuala except the carnation good start. I would use that and try gripe water for the gas, it works wonders.

Hi B. T
you can also try the Simalac Advance that should help. Then to if her is having a reflex you should take him to get checked. Because when my 3year old was 2months old he had the same thing and the dr did not see it. And i had told them but they said to keep on feding him. Then it turned out that he need surgury. So if it don't work take him to go get check don't wait. Good Luck

I used soy formula with my daughter (who is now almost 11 months old) and any brand including the store brands have all worked well. I might try with the Good Start or Enfamil first but I noticed a huge difference in the urp. Don't worry putting him on soy doesn't mean he will have to be for the rest of his life. Now that she is on table food one her very favorite things to eat is sliced cheese and she also really likes mac and cheese and cottage cheese and she does fine with all of it. Also sit him in a bouncy seat for at least a half an hour to give his bottle a chance to settle. I know that your doctor will have opinions about formula but you are at home and I am never one to say to go against doctors but this is one area that I had to. I was on WIC when my daughter was born and I had to try everythin on my own and then talk my doctor into writing the release to get the WIC to change my formula. I would also say to try the Enfamil AR formula. I have a nephew that was EXTEREMLY refluxy and that is the ONLY kind of formula that would work for him. That reduced the amount of urp and then the medicine calmed his stomach. I am not aware of any formula that will get rid of reflux... that has to do with the sphinctor valve at the top of the stomach but, these are the ones that I have known to help. Also, don't give up after one bottle... you may notice a change right away, but it make take a day or so. There also may be a need to up the perscription. I don't like to medicate anymore than necessary but my daughter was about the same age as yours is now when we put her on Zantac. That worked wonderfully for quite a while and then she eventually ended up on Prevecid, which is what she is on now. Don't think that the medicine has stopped working just have the doctors do a weight check and see if he is getting the maximum dose for his weight. They don't usually start them out at the maximum so there is room to go when they get bigger. Sitck with it mom..... I know that this is a very frustrating time and you really want to pull your hair out.... keep at it and keep on the doctors. Remember, you are the one that is with your baby and knows exactly what is going on. Also I would keep track of how much he is eating at a time and maybe burp more often. I was told to try that and no it didn't help but reflux comes in different levels of severity. My nephews is MUCH worse than my daughters. A good website that has blogs and lots of good resources for you situation is www.reflux.org. My sister said that it was a God-send for her when things were really rough. Good Luck and let me know how things are going.

Hi. After going through many formulas, very expensive ones even, I finally made the decision to use the Nestles Good Start and my son did very well on it. He was always spitting up with the other ones, but not with the Nestles. I know it is hard to go against what the Dr is telling you, but sometimes you just have to do what you think is best. I went through months of the other formulas - doing what the Dr recommended, then finally did what I thought would help. Good luck and hang in there.

We have 4 children, and we used Nestle Good Start for all....and were always very pleased. I recommended it for my nephew born 2-17-08, my nieces born 3-27-08 & 5-5-08. The 2 older ones are already using it, and the parents are very pleased. They parents of the newborn plan on using it too. I think you should at least give it a try...otherwise you'll never know. As a parent I know it's very hard to see your child in any discomfort, so I REALLY hope this helps...especially your son!! Good luck!!

My granddaughter was born with acid reflux disease and the doctors put her on Zantac and had my daughter feed her Infamil AR formula and she did really well on it. There wasn't a gas problem with it either. She is now a healthy 18 month old.(Still has a slight problem with the reflux, but only if she misses a dose of her Zantac).
I hope this helps you. Good Luck.

Okay, I feel i am A bit of an expert on this. Both kids had reflux and I used Dr. Brown's on both. My daughter is adopted, so I didn't have a choice of breast milk with her and we tried every formula available in our area and she did the best with Nestle's Good start. I don't know why Dr.'s will not advocate that formula. I don't know if it has to do with not having samples in the office, which I hear now they don't do anymore, or what. But Nestle's doesn't have all the literature the other two name brands do, so that may be it. I am not sure. Anyway, it was best for her.

My son I breast fed until about 3 mths and then his colicky reflux problem got worse everytime we fed him. I adjusted my diet till I was eating only the blandest of foods and still no help. No dairy, wheat, nuts, bananas, strawberries, chocolate, caffeiene, sugar, salt bla bla bla. Then I put him on formula and it got better, but not gone. Tried different ones and found that Nestle's soy did the trick. Enfamil reg & soy constipated him something horrible and Similac reg & soy had him spitiing up like excorcist. So, hope this helps. I listened to the Dr.s and tried all thiers then as a mom, listened to my gut and tried other things and I know what I did was right. Good Luck to you and you little one. When you find the right one, you will know it!

My four girls all had reflux as did my sister's. Good Start does help a lot of babies with reflux. Soy has been used commonly but I would try that as a last resort as soy really isn't good for anyone, particularly baby boys. Here's a link to one of the many thousands of articles about this http://www.mothering.com/articles/growing_child/food/soy_...

Dr Brown's bottles are very popular for reflux babies.

Burp frequently, feed the baby reclining- not sitting up or lying flat. And then put him in a reclining bouncy seat or swing for thirty minutes. You can try propping up one end of his bed or mattress.

You may want to try Enfamil Prosobee Lipil. It is a soy product that works wonderfully. My neice drinks this due to terrible acid reflux and constant spitting up. Along with this, we put a wedge in her crib which also greatly reduced the amount of sit up. Also, she doesn't have painful gas like she used to since switching to a soy base formula.She was put on this at 2 mths and is now 5 mths. Good luck, it will get better.

My little boy was also very "gassy" and spit up an abnormal amount. I tried 5 different formulas, including Similac soy and Nestle regular and soy. I finally tried Similac Sensitive, and he hasn't had a problem since. It might be worth a try.

I had the best luck with Emfail AR. It is for babies that spit up a lot. They also make Emfail Gental. That my sister used for her son that had a lot of gas. It was not harsh in his stomach. My doctor gave me samples so I did not have to vuy a whole can to see if it worked out. You might ask! Good Luck!

I had some problems with my son when he was 2 months old we used a combination of mylicon before he ate and the nestle good start after using the enfamil gentleease, the nestle equivalent of gentle ease was just as good and eventually as he got older we were able to switch him to a regular formula. Also to help with the acid reflux we would add a little bit of rice or oatmeal baby cereal to his bottles and just poke a slightly bigger hole in the nipple, it not only helped with the reflux but it made him full and helped him sleep better. One more thing with formula being so expensive go look on ebay, people are selling checks for various brands of formula for pennies on the dollar a lot of times and it can save you a fortune!

There may be a collection of problems that are causing the gas pains.

The formula
The bottles ... some offer a less air,colic, gas solution
A combo of both above
How does he sit/lay when taking a bottle? Maybe slightly sitting in a semi-recline to feed him so he's getting less air.

I went through this with my son, I changed the brand of bottles, and sat him in a semi-recline position when I was feeding him. Though he still had the occassional gas, it helped A LOT.

My only suggestion is try a number of other things.

i don't have any info on formulas, but from my experience with 4 kids, plus many years of child care in several churches, the best thing to do is prop a child up after a bottle. a swing or excersaucer work really well, even when they are small, a couple of small blankets rolled up and strategically placed in the swing should work. don't stress, it seems like forever, but they do outgrow it.

My son had the exact same problem at that age. We kept him on the Alimentum, because it caused the fewest problems, but switched to the ready to feed which helped a lot. Very expensive but necessary, I found a huge difference. Also I used Mylicon, Cocyntal (a homeopathic colic remedy), and Colic Ease (an aromatherapy gripe water) I got a NumiMed pacifier to dispense the colic and gas meds. We call it "magic binker" because it allowed him to get the gas out and not have the tummy problems. It was very expensive, but worth it. You can get the Colic Ease and the NumiMed pacifier at The Breastfeeding Shoppe. They are on Mamasource. And I order the Cocyntal from organicpharmacy.org or you can ask your local health food store to order it for you. It is made by Boiron. I only had to do this until he was six months, and now only when introducing new foods. He also started tolerating the powdered formula at six months. I found the best deals on the ready to feed Alimentum on Ebay, but don't get carried away bidding, I usually paid $40-45 per case including shipping. Bid at the last minute. I tried Nestles but it made the gas bad again. Hope this helps.
I am a stay at home mom of my late in life 7 month old baby boy. My daughter is 18 years old, but also suffered from colic/gas.

Okay, my youngest is 4 so it's been awhile but I can tell you what worked the best for us! Take a look at the bottle that you are using in addition to the formula. I finally bought one Dr. Brown's bottle just to try and I was hooked! They were WONDERFUL and really did help. Since then, I have hooked other mommies with babies who have gas issues on them, too. They come in the standard bottle and then one with a wider nipple, too. They have little parts inside so they aren't necessarily as easy to wash (although I just stuck mine in the dishwasher) but they are SO worth it!

Good luck!
B. :)

I tell you what help me with my son and he is now 11 yrs old. I fed him soy formula and it did wonders for him. I don't know if it will work for you but it never hurts to try. Soy is very easy going for the stomach and healthy for anybody. Hope this helps. Good luck!!! S.

Hi B.! We went through 8 different formulas with my son after nursing him for 8 wks. He was on 3 different reflux meds and had difficulty with all formulas. I resulted to Goats milk. I kept him on Goat's milk from 2 1/2 months till he was 8 months old. At that time, I tried Similac Isomil which he was able to tolerate. At 11 1/2 months, I was able to wean him off all of his reflux meds.
Most Docs will advise against Goat's milk because it lack Vit. B12 and folic acid, which are essential for babies. I found a liquid vit. supplement with the highest amt. of Vit. B12 and folic acid to give him. Goat's milk protein is broken down and easier on the tummy.
Gentle Tummies is also a good treatment for gas- it is homeopathic and safe for babies.
Hopes this helps.

My 2 month old has the same problem and I've been using Similac's soy formula and it has helped.

My 5 month old was diagnosed with silent reflux around 2 months of age (after being told numerous times it was just colic/fussy behavior!!!) We were on Good Start, but made the switch to Nutramigen and it has worked wonders! Unfortunately I think you just have to try and see what works for your baby. Good Luck!