Issues with Most Formulas

Nutramigen worked great for my son. He would vomit too from regular formula and if I consumed any dairy (he was combo fed). We had issues with soy constipating him and tried adding small amounts of juice to help the constipation. That did not work. I would give Nutramigen or Allimentum a try. What a difference the right formula can make. It is expensive but worth every penny if the baby is happy!

Some babies are allergic to both soy and cows milk protein. You might want to try the Nutramigen for that reason.

My daughter puked up everything except the carnation good start formula. I don't know if it'll work for your little one but it sure did for her, with no constipation.

Good luck :)

try organic formula or see if you can get approved for donor breastmilk.

Are you making the Formula... by FIRST putting the water in the bottle, THEN the scoops of formula?
Or are you, putting the scoops of Formula in the bottle first, THEN adding in the water?
If you are doing that, then there will not be enough water in it, and it will be too concentrated.

Have you tried "Earth's Best" Formula?
Grocery stores have it.
You can check it out on Amazon and read the reviews there.

Also, maybe try a different nipple. Maybe it is too fast flowing, thus he's getting it too fast too much. Hence, vomiting...

Also, Formulas tend to have Iron in it... and this can sometimes cause, constipation.

First and foremost, you are going to get a lot of flack from women about using formula at all. Just ignore them, they do not understand the difficulty for some women or obstacles that do not allow all women to breastfeed.

Now that I got that off my chest, here are a couple of options for you.

First, try feeding less, more often. Sometimes this will help with the spit up issues. I am nursing my 4th baby and she pukes constantly, so just remember that not all puky babies are because they are on formula.

Next try putting a small amount of corn syrup in the bottle with the formula, about 1/2 tsp. for every 4 to 8 ozs. This will help with the constipation. The rice cereal will help with the puking but will make him constipated, the corn syrup will help here.

Next, really establish if he is uncomfortable with the spit up or is he just puking without much fuss. If he is not uncomfortable I wouldn't keep changing formulas, this could make him more fussy. I know for a fact that the constipation will really upset his tummy so maybe focus on that. If he is really uncomfortable with the spitting up, then try Baby Bliss Gripe Water. You have to use the Gripe Water by Baby Bliss, other brands carry Gripe Water and it does not work. This will help with an upset tummy. Just give a tiny bit before and after eating or any time it seems he is uncomfortable. It is 100% natural herbs and perfectly fine for babies.

If at all possible I would stay away from the drugs. I think we are WAY over-prescribing in America these days and our bodies are made to fix itself on a lot of fronts. I will admit that with my second child I used a prescription drug for what they call silent reflux, but he was in SERIOUS pain all the time. After about 2 moths of the drugs working successfully I discovered the Baby Bliss Gripe Water and was able to take him off the scripts (he was also breastfed).

I hope some of these solutions work for you, I would try them before switching to Nutramigen. That stuff is seriously yucky tasting and hard to get babies to eat it.

Good luck!

P.S. I didn't make it clear that if he does not have an upset tummy with the puking then let it be. Babies puke and it is fine, maybe a pain for you but fine for them.

Has he seen an actual GI doctor? That might be the way to go.

Hi R.,

Don't know if you are open to it, but I'd give a pediatric chiropractor a try. I've been taking my son (almost 4) since he was 6 weeks, and he hasn't had any ill effects. Ped chiro has been proven to reduce/cure colic, so I have to think this might be worth a try.

Good luck, and as Tiffany stated, don't take any flak about using formula personally. It's been a firestorm topic on this site as of late, and it's more about the personalities of the posters, and nothing to really to do with anything grounded in reality. Hope that helps. I hope they have the decency to leave you alone.

I never used ProSobee, so it may be a soy formula, but if it's not -have you tried a soy formula? It was just the thing for my second baby.

While my LO didn't have vomiting issues, she was VERY constipated during her formula days. It was so bad I tried corn syrup and laxatives. When she had her b.m.'s she couldn't get them out so I had to physically help her and she would get little tearing. I kept asking her doctor if we should change her formula but she kept telling me no. Finally I just did it anyways and it stopped. There was just too much iron in her old formula. I switched her to Good Start. I was stubborn at first thinking it wasn't as good as Enfamil which is what I had been using. I wish I had followed my instincts and done it sooner.

I had the same problem with my son who is now 6. We tried every formula but he threw everything up and was not gaining weight. My grandmother who took care of him during the day started giving him canned milk with a tbsp of karo syrup for every feeding. He had no problems with the canned milk and kept everything down just fine. The doctor told us they were concerned that the canned milk would lead to obesity but he is still in the 25% for his age. The canned milk was a good option for my son so if you get to your wits end it might be worth a try. Good luck!!

I agree with the first post...get to a Pediatric GI doctor.

I had a friend whose baby would projectile vomit after every bottle--- until she started making his formula bottles in advance. Meaning, she would make the bottles, (put them in the fridge), and let them "settle." I don't know why this worked for her, but she figured out that feeding him bottles she had just shaken/mixed made him vomit. (she called it the milk-shake). Of course, formula is only good for 24 hours once mixed with water, but she learned that she could make a "pitcher" of formula the night before and then all of his bottles were ready to go for the following day. All she needed to do was heat them up and he was good to go.

Your baby might have a sensitivity to whatever protein is in the formula, but it wouldn't hurt to give this a try-- you never know if the fix is this "simple."

My question is why are SO many babies being diagnosised with reflux, having gut issues, constipation. This should not be but is because of the genetically modified foods and other environmental issues that we have. Try www.neocate.com as I know lots of families that have had great success with this one when there were these kind of issues involved.

You also need to read up and become very informed of what is in vaccines. My daughter developed many allergies, probably because of the ingredient being in the vaccine along with an adjuvant which stirs the body up to react to an invasion hence the ingredients in the shot, to build up antibodies. Dairy, soy, wheat, yeast, and in most are eggs - all allergans for some. Take the time to read the package inserts of every shot. It will take an extra several to thirty minutes to do so but the overall health of your child is important, for both sides of the vaccine controversy.

Nutramigen worked really well for us. It is the only thing that saved us.

try good start soy. my daughter had issues like that with every formula but good start. if constipation persists put some little tummies in his bottle a couple times a day to help until his body can regulate :)

This sounds like reflux. I'm not sure what you are considering as constipated. My son - currently 4 months spits up after every burp and the amount is significant. However, he is gaining well so pediatrician is not concerned. He has a BM diaper about everyother day on the Similac Sensitive for spit up liquid (which contains rice starch). Our pediatrician said that as long as he's not going more than 3 days without a poopy diaper he is fine.
Good news is that they tend to outgrow reflux as you add solids and they learn to sit up/stand up and finally walk. It's messy but shouldn't last forever.