What Formula Is Best When You Have A Gassy Baby With Possible Acid Reflux?
My little girl is 5 weeks old and is gassy. She is a pretty good baby otherwise but sometimes when she spits up it comes out of her nose. Sometimes she regurgatates the bottle but very unfreqently. She also sometimes sounds like she is gurgling She is such a good trooper though, she rarely cries at all and easts about every 3 hours. I have tried the mylicon drops and they seem to work only for a short period of time. My baby”s doctor has put her on medicaine for acid reflux and told me to switch the formula to Nutramingin. When I did this after 2 days she seemed worse than ever. I put her back on Good start but have keep her on meds. I dont know what to do with her now. Is there a better formula anyone has tried with a baby with these symptoms. Can you really go by what the formula says it is for on the label. Why wouldnt Soy be recommended for gas/fussiness by doctors instead of putting them on meds and saying its acid reflux. Help!!
Tags: Acid, Baby, Best, Formula, Gassy, Have, Possible, What, When, With
September 21st, 2009 at 1:17 am
I would suggest Enfamil Gentlease. My daughter was very gassy and this formula helped a lot. It is no more expensive than the other brands either. The pediatrician put her on soy for a while but I wasn’t crazy about that (it stinks plus I read some controversial articles on soy formula being linked to ADD. . . don’t take my word for that though. . . research it if you think Soy would be best of your baby). After we tried the soy I put her back on regular formula and the gas and spitting up only came back. That’s when my mom happened upon the Enfamil Gentlease. We were traveling and ran out of formula. The first store we could find didn’t have the regular Enfamil so we gave that a try. It worked wonders for her! I kept her on that until she was 11 months then I switched to the Next Step Lipil for a month or so and now she’s on whole milk with no problems.
September 21st, 2009 at 2:01 am
Doctors usually say it’s acid reflux when symptoms worsen if baby is laid flat shortly after eating. My daughter was the same way at first and we helped by keeping her head elevated, we let her sleep in her bouncer, swing and carseat, as well as elevating her crib on one side. I had to put gas drops in every bottle I gave her until I demanded we try a different formula. She was gurgling a lot(spitting up and swallowing it again, eww) and she’d just spit up in the back of her throat so much that she was drooling white instead of clear. We just switched to Isomil a week ago and what a difference. She’s 7 months now and old enough to burp herself, but with the Similac Advance she was tooting and burping and gurgling all the time. Now she’s only spit up once in the week since we changed. I’d tell the doctor you’d like to try a soy formula now, especially if there is any lactose intolerance in your family anywhere. Your situation really sounds like mine, so I’d try soy. If she’s not fussing a lot before the reflux medicine, then she probably doesn’t have reflux. Keep in mind that young babies don’t neccessairily “know” how to control the esophagus, and that most have a touch of reflux but few really need medicine. Good luck!
September 21st, 2009 at 2:09 am
I used Allimentuim – premade liquid. My baby couldnt handle any formula that was made from powder.
After a few months, we switched to Soy formula – and again, my baby hated the powder ones – so we had to use the premade liquid kind.
September 21st, 2009 at 2:56 am
I think either Good Start for gassy babies
September 21st, 2009 at 3:32 am
my daughter was put on alimentum. (she had a twin brother they put him on it too, to try and not worry if she got a bottle that was his). my daughter would violently throw up her bottles, coming out nose and mouth. a few days on the alimentum really helped. we also fed her as upright as we could, take lots of burp breaks. try not to jostle the baby after a feeding, she spent alot of time in her carrier sitting upright. keep the bulb syringe handy to help clean her out after an “episode”. the first few times it was scary but then we learned how to deal with it and help her. others were still scared when she did it. if you are not happy with the suggestions or explanations from your dr, find a second opinion.
September 21st, 2009 at 3:40 am
well, you have many many options. But first you need to figure out the exact probem your baby is having. . Acid reflux or gas? Or even both. Did your doc do a barium swallow, or just give her the medicine?
They make many formulas. . i’m not as familiar with Good Start, but i know that Similac Sensitive and Enfamil Gentlease have less lactose which supposed to help gas and fussines. Enfamil A. R and Similac R. A. are thickened with starch for babies with exsessive spit up, vomiting, acif reflux. There is soy, which is supposed to be easier digested ( but sometimes constipating ) Lactose Free, and Hypoallegenic. You just have to try a few, give them time and find the right one. Good Luck!
September 21st, 2009 at 4:22 am
My son had colic. . and we immediately switched him to Good Start and it totally worked for him.
September 21st, 2009 at 4:40 am
oh i feel for you and your baby!! i just went through this EXACT same thing. even the spitting up where it comes out the nose!! My son is 4 weeks old, and at 3 weeks he was extreamly gassy and uncomfortable, so i tried the drops which did nothing. He was spitting up and it would come out his nose once in awhile. So i took him into the Dr. Where they said “its normal” i said it wasnt normal and i changed his formula to similac Alimentum. And 2 days after doing that, i seen a change. Now its like having a whole new baby! Its amazing how much of a difference this formula makes, He doesnt even spit up anymore, hes very happy and i havent had a gas problem since
Goodluck to you!!!!
Mom of 5 boys!!
Just a side note, my son was also sent home on Goodstart, and you have to give the formula more than 2 days to work. The first 2-3 days will be very rough because she will be adjusting to a new formula and her tummy needs to get used to it. So thats all normal. Try a formula for at least a week before changing again. Every formula works different but it takes at least a week before you will see the big effects of each brand of formula
September 21st, 2009 at 5:09 am
my daughter is will be 8wks thursday and had the same exact problem in the beginning but i was never put on meds i tried cereal but it made her constipated so now i use similac advance-soy and it is awsome not only does she holds it down it also keeps the gas off of her but i still use mylicon drops every now and then.
September 21st, 2009 at 5:41 am
Definitely try the Enfamil Gentlease. My daughter didn’t have major problems, but I found they were really reduced when we switched from regular Enfamil to Gentlease. Gentlease has partially broken down Formula, so it’s easier to digest. If money is an issue, we eventually switched to the Target version and my daughter did great with it, too. (Only $15 a can!)
September 21st, 2009 at 6:37 am
If it’s reflux, you’d most likely see an improvement within 2 days. My daughter (7 mos now) has been on relfux medication since she was 2 1/2 mos, and I can definitely tell you: you see a difference!! She would cry so much (almost the entire day) before we started Zantac, but we noticed her getting better really fast afterwards. So it’s probably just gas. Some spitting is very normal in babies. BUT: you should also know that reflux doesn’t necessarily mean a lot of spitting up. In a lot of babies, acid from the stomach goes up and down in the esophagus without any obvious vomiting. Just thought you should know these facts about reflux.
For gas we’ve tried Ovol, which made a difference, but not huge.
As for the formula, I can’t help there, my baby’s breastfed, which apparently works best for reflux.
Good luck!
September 21st, 2009 at 6:44 am
Taking the advice of our pediatrician, we switched my son from Similac Advanced to Similac Isomil (Soy) at about 1 month due to gassiness & it really helped. We switched him back at around 2 1/2 months and had no problem.
Good Luck!