My 7Month Old Baby Detests Formula

My 10 month old had problems with enfamil and similac. I spoke with her pediatrician and recommended I try the Parents Choice a brand at wal-mart. I daughter loves it. All formulas are regulated by the FDA. I compared the labels on all of them and they are all the same. Give it a try. Not to mention the Parents Choice is half the price of Enfamil and Similac.

Contact "Tree of Life" Customer Service - They are a health and wellness distributor. I know they have organic babyfood and they probably have formula. If you can't order directly from them they can tell you were to locate a store who carries the products near you. They service all over the US and in other countries.

Hi P.,

I want to congradulate you on a fine job breastfeeding so far. It is actually harder than some people say but it has it's easier benefits as well as health benefits. It does require a little work which is why many people choose to not even try or don't make it very far. Your baby is changing everyday and her body is giving her cues to tell her when she needs to eat or not. This age, combined with teething is a time when she isn't growing much or will start thinning out from what I call the "five month fats". Most babies reach their chubbiest at about 5 months. At 7 months, they most likely will have learned to crawl and are moving around a lot more and eating less, causing them to start to look more like a toddler rather than a blob of little rolls. I believe this was God's carefully thought out plan to allow babies to bulk up for the active, uncomfortable ( teething) stage ahead. She simply doesn't need or desire to eat at much. Although she may continue to turn to you to eat and then 30 seconds later is dropping off to go or is frustrated and cries, she is mainly seeking the comfort or nursing and then wants to play again or have your attention. Moms who breastfeed until their kids are 2 or 3 can tell you that once or twice a day 9 at bedtime usually) is the only time they nurse long enough to actually get a feeding, but during the day, those babies will turn to mom for all of 10 seconds and it's like you have a different child, more calm, relaxed and able to handle the world. You can try offering tylenol 20 minutes before a normal long feeding, especially in the evening. Avoid the baby orajel type products, dentists say stay away from them. You can give her one of those net baby food thingy's with frozen baby carrots or bananas in them. You can even put a tablespoon or two of yogurt or smashed fruit or sweet potatoe and freeze the whole net, allowing her to suck on the frozen goodness and calm her inflamed gums. Then, wipe her face quick and nurse her. The little food will stimulate her appetite and will numb her gums a bit. She may nurse longer. I wouldn't worry about it much. She doesn't need formula and even pumping will only diminish your milk supply and you will end up quitting all together. If you have been pumping and giving her bottles, she is learning that that is faster and will insist on using a bottle, the best to get her to lose her bottle memories is to just quit. She will be a bear for about three days, but will learn that if she wants to eat, she needs to settle down and calmly and slowly nurse, like she used to. This is the best way to give her ALL of the benefits of breatfeeding, not only in nutrition, but in the emotional bond and relaxation that it brings. Bottle fed babies can still have cuddle time, but it does lead to a faster, more distracted feeding session. Teach her now to slow down and relax as often as possible. Good Luck, whatever you decide it will be best because you are choosing so out of love and concern. Best of wishes. I would suggest joining a breast feeding support group and an attachment parenting group. You may be the one to encourage a mom with a tiny one to keep at it when they see you BF.

Hi, P.. Well, your daughter's right about the Enfamil. It's disgusting. I haven't had to feed an infant for a very long time, but for relief bottles I used Similac. It tastes good and in fact was similar in taste to my breast milk, although it was somewhat thicker. Your daughter may be rejecting the bottle/nipple as much as the nasty-tasting Enfamil, so if she's ready for a sippy cup, you might try a tastier formula in something like that. A different nipple might be the key if she can't use a cup yet. Some nipples taste bad and have a weird texture. You might also try mixing your breast milk with a couple of ounces of a good formula and see if she will adapt to it. Gradually add more formula until she is ok with it.

Also remember that nursing is more than eating. Make sure she doesn't miss out on the cuddling she gets while nursing.

Be patient with her because teething is a very disruptive time in a baby's life. She doesn't understand why her mouth hurts all the time, and she's irritable. This is a bad time to introduce major changes to her, so make changes as gradually and smoothly as you can. Good luck, Hon.

Peace,
Syl

My suggestion would be to trust that she will continue to nurse and get enough to eat. I am curious what you mean about "can't keep up with her by pumping."

I would also recommend that you check with the La Leche League for some other tips about the ups and downs of breast feeding, particularly during teething -- basically, if you are there to feed her when she is hungry, and she is happily nursing and then stopping when she is done, then she is getting enough to eat.

Don't worry about her getting enough to eat. Trust in her nursing instincts and your body's milk production -- these normally coincide very nicely. She is refusing the formula for a reason ;-)

Sometimes you have to use your own judgement. am a great-grandmother of 11 now, and mother of 5, grandmother fo 9. My 1st baby wasn't getting satisfed, so my mother-in law told me to give him regular milk and cereal. I did this at about 3 months, and raised 5 healthy children.

Hi!
I had the same situation when my son was a baby, just try different brands until you find the one that works for your baby girl.
Good luck!

Check out diapers.com. The have a list of regular and organic named formulas. This is a trial and error for her since she doesn't like Enfamil. Have you considered Soy formula? It might have a taste she likes.

I went through the same type of thing with my daughter not really liking Enfamil - Nestle Good Start is by far the best tasting - it was the first formula that my daughter would drink after I couldn't nurse any longer. Try mixing it with breast milk and that will help with your supply issue. Start with 1/2 oz to 1 oz and go up from there as you need to. You may also want to try using a sippy cup. My daughter didn't like the bottle at all and I switched to the Gerber Nuk Learner cup. My daughter not only took the cup instantly but she guzzled down the formula without any mixing...

Every baby is different so you will just have to try them all and see which one she will take, but don't give up with the nursing. See if you can maximize the most out of what you can give to you baby, but if you feel like you need to supplement for the best of your daughter then do it... It was the decision that I had to make for the benefit of my daughters growth.

Good luck to you and I hope that everything works out!

My son did the same thing. I had to keep trying and he aquired a taste, but we had to start on the premixed liquid form. We tried Similac and Enfamil and our dr said there isn't much difference in the two. Good luck!

my daughter would not take enfamil powdered formula it had to be ready to serve or the concentrate that you add water to.

Have you met with a lactation consultant to help you with teething and nursing? In my mom's group today we discussed teething and nursing and one mom suggested pushing the baby's face into the breast when she's having trouble and do to the inability to breathe the baby will detach and then reattach with less problems. I haven't tried it yet because my baby isn't teething yet, but I'm sure the two of you can working this nursing problem if you try. It is definitely better to keep her off formula and remain nursing. Sorry, I just can't get behind formula no matter what brand. You are definitely providing your daughter with better nutrition than formula ever could. I'm sorry that it makes you uncomfortable and may even hurt, but there are ways to get through it or women would never nurse past teething and worldwide, they do. If your baby is biting try this website http://www.kellymom.com/bf/older-baby/biting.html it seems to contain some pretty good info. Otherwise meet with an LC and they can help where the internet can't.

Breast fed babies don't want formula, it's not what they are accustomed to. But they will take it eventually, you just have to keep with it. When you begin to introduce it, be sure to mix it 3 parts breast milk to 1 part formula, at first, then adjust to half and half, then 3 to 1 formula to breastmilk, etc...

We also used Carnation Good Starts with ours, and agree that it is less smelly. It was suggested to us by our pediatrician and we never had any problems once the "introduction" was over. And it is cheaper than the "name" brands.

Stick with it, she'll get there.

Mix half and half formula and breast milk

Hello, at your daughters age, I'd suggest adding some fruit First Stages into her formula! My son loved it when I added peachs, apple sauce,ect.. Good Luck!
Kathy N.

I also have a 7 month who is teething..he nurses fine at his bedtime feed (6:30pm) and during the night (which is not good for my sleep), whenever I try and feed him during the day he is so distracted, he hardly seems to eat, I have tried with formula but no succes yet, I bought the Nestle Good Start, natural cultures. sorry I don't have any great advice but just wanted to let you know that I'm in the same boat.. I am going to keep trying with the bottle and formula during the daytime..

Hi, my son spit up a lot when he was a baby and his pediatrician recommended Enfamil AR -it has the added rice starch to thicken it and help keep it down. I found it smelled much sweeter and he seemed to like it better too. So you may want to try that? Good luck!

I'm still breastfeeding my 9 month old so I personally don't have experience with him not eating formula. However, my friend went through this when she got really sick and her milk supply really went down. She couldn't get her son to take a bottle of formula from her but he would for her husband. He was just so used to feeding from her breast he didn't want to change with her. Eventually she was able to feed him. Just try having someone else feed her a few times. It might work for you.

We adopted a baby from Guatemala at 8 1/2 months old. He wouldn't take any of our formulas, so we added some soy milk in with the Nestle Natural Cultures and it worked like a charm. He loved it.

I remember my husband found a Daddy Taste Test on the Internet saying Similac tasted best.

I would suggest Carnation Good Start formula. It was designed to digest better than other formulas. I used it to supplement breastfeeding for my last 4 kids and it was great! (Doesn't smell so bad either...smells more like milk). I looked for the website for you so you can look at the info and I think they may have coupons on there too. Good Luck! www.verybestbaby.com

Hi P., Most stores carry organic milk. I use Stonyfield Farms. It is less expansive than Horizon Organic milk. When my children were that age, they were eating baby food and drinking whole milk with liquid vitamins. Of course this is up to you, but when my kids were hungry, I fed them. You can get this milk at any grocery store. I buy mine at Wal-Mart. I hope this helps.

We use Similac Organic (green can), but there's also Earth's Best Organic formula. Organic is more expensive than regular, though, just as a head's up.

My son Josh suddenly stopped nursing so formula was my only option. Josh like Similac Soy he was allergic to regular formula. If enfamil makes a soy maybe you can give it a try the taste is different and a lot of babies prefer soy to regular any if they don't have an allergy.

Be blessed

I am a Single mom of a wonderful three and half year old