Trouble with Formula After a Recent Switch

You may want to consult the dr, since he is still so young, but I have watched children with similar issues. Their drs recommended either 1 tbsp. of Karo syrup or 1 oz of prune juice in with the formula once per day.

As someone else also mentioned, constipation can at times be a sign of dehydration, while its unlikely at this age, its also possible. You could try mixing an extra ounce or two of water in the bottle (unless he doesn't finish them already).

Hi B., my name is L.. I am the mom to 5 yr old and 2 yr old boys. Boy, does your situation sound all to formiliar. We went through something pretty similar with my oldest when he was your sons age. My peds recomended Nestle Good Start because it was most like breast milk (with consistancy, grit, etc. in regaurds to the reflux; which worked great and we stuck to). But the switch between breast milk, enfamil lipil, to good start was enough to send his sensitive digestive track into cronic constipation that we battled with for almost 4 yrs. We started helping him out with a little prune juice every day (he was only 3 mo at that time). Our frustrating battle took us to a gastroenterologist. He ended up on Miralax (great stuff, not habit forming, no cramping, and not a stimulant) for a while. Anyway, long story short.....the doc said the key is to make it easy on them to "go", because if it is hard for them, straining, stomache pain, etc. then they "won't go" making it all the more difficult(those little smarties will associate pain with pooping and wont do it even as young as babies). At first I didnt like the idea of constantly having to give him something just to "go" (wheather it was prunes, fiber, or the Miralax). I thought that if that was the case then there was something "wrong" so we should just fix it. But that was not the way it worked for us. He just has an extremely sentsitive digestive track (that is getting better as he gets older :)) and needed some assistance going through the first few years. They were the hardest on him (and other little ones), going from milk to soft foods to solids to cows milk, its just a lot on their little systems. I dont know if any of this was any help to you at all, but I wish you well for you and your son.

I am in the exact same situation. Jake is almost 6 mo. and I put 1-2 Tbls. prune juice in his 1st bottle every morning. If I skip any, he doesn't have a movement. Then I have to increase juice until we can get back 'regular'. His Dr. suggested the prune juice but I had experimented with Karo before that and got good results until I started reading that you shouldn't give corn syrup to babies. The only reason I switched to the Lipil was because Gentlease is so hard to find sometimes(and it's hard dragging a baby from store to store!)I did think of switching brands also, but after reading your responses I think we'll just tough it out with the juice. We're working on solids now so hopefully that will help too. Good luck!

My daughter was on the Enfamil since her birth and also had constipation issues. I asked my pediatrician about it and she told me that the reason was the high amount of iron in the formula. I asked her if I should switch to a formula that had a lower concentration of iron, but she warned me that children that young need the iron and to seek alternatives to dealing with the constipation. I gave my baby prunes everyday, and it didn't seem to be a problem. If he takes the prunes, that's the best laxative for him, but if you're at all concerned, you should talk to your pediatrician. Good luck!

I had the same trouble when I switched kinds of formula. The pediatrian said it takes a good two weeks for your baby's body to adjust to the change. He was right. After the two weeks everything was back in good working order.

I suggest giving him water a few times throughtout the day or some juice. I have discovered that water is good for babies when they are constipated.

One thing that we did with my youngest daughter was to put a tablespoon of dark Karo syrup in her bottles. This helped as a quick releif for her. In the end we ended up having to put her on Miralax powder. I would talk to your doctor about it. They do like to try the non medicine ways of solving this problem first. Good luck! Happy New Year!

Hi B.!

I have twins that just turned 6 months old. I too use the Enfamil formula. I started out with both of them on the Enfamil Lipil. My little girl does great on it but my little boy does not! He does the same thing, grunts, turns red, kicks, cries, gets bad gas/bellyaches and gets constipated. I changed him over to the Gentlease Enfamil and we haven't had any problems with it and he's been using it for about 5 months now. I think maybe you should try going back to the Gentlease. Aidan does still have trouble with "harder" stools so when I notice this or when he doesn't poop in a day or so my ped. recommended giving him pear juice in his formula and it works great! I just buy one of those four packs of the Gerber pear juice and put a few ounces in an early morning/afternoon bottle and we usually have a good diaper by early evening.

Let me know if you have any questions.

A.

I had the same problem with my daughter however she was on Similac with Iron. Our doctor said that the iron was causing the constipation and to switch to a different formula. We now use Carnation Good Start and have never had a problem with constipation since. I would just double check with your little one's doctor to see what they recommend. Hope this helps!

You can try babies magic tea to get your baby ease from reflux and constipation.

Not sure if this would work for your 5 month old but it worked for my 2 week old. I put a half ounce (you probably want to use more since your baby's older) of baby Gerber pear or prune juice in her formula. I did this once in the morning and once in the evening. It worked. Maybe you could do that and wean your baby off of the juice gradually?

If the Enfamil is the culprit, my ped prescribed Zantac which I give 2x a day with a dropper. Maybe if you get that medicine, you won't need to use this Enfamil, which may be causing the constipation?

Why did you switch formula? My daughter has had problem going since birth & she is now 2. She has gotten better now that she is active & she eats alot of raisins. She is normally okay but I can tell if she didn't have her raisins. The doctor also put her on miralax(sp)before I found how well the raisins work. So I would talk to your doctor & see what they have to say & if you were not having problems with the gentlelease I would put him back on it, my daughter was on it up until I switched her to milk.