Alimentum Question-Need advice!

I'm not sure whats going on.

We switched Chloe to Alimentum yesterday from Gentlease b/c she was so gassy and colicky.

Now she is spitting it up at least 3 times a bottle?

She was spitting up before on the Gentlease but not this much at all.

Is this something normal that occurs with changing a formula?

Those who switched to alimentum, how long till you saw a difference? The Ped suggested giving it a few days, but I heard with alimentum it should be more of a sudden quick change then when switching to other formulas.

I just feel so bad that eating is so hard and painful for her.

TIA!!!!!

Re: Alimentum Question-Need advice!

When I switched ds to alimentum it took 4 days to see a change. He had different issues, he stopped having bm's on simiilac advance. Once changed to Alimentum he had a bm on his own within 4 days.

I'd give it a few more days. Hope this helps.

Re: Alimentum Question-Need advice!

We saw a difference in a few days, but DD was only good on the powder, she had projectile spit up with the RTF.

Re: Alimentum Question-Need advice!

Re: Alimentum Question-Need advice!

if your already using the RTF, give it some. Is your DD just spitting up a liittle or is it projectile?

Re: Alimentum Question-Need advice!

Re: Alimentum Question-Need advice!

OK...pediatric dietitian here

First question: Why did you switch to allimentum? Does baby have true cows milk pro allergy or was it b/c of the fussiness? How old is LO?

True allergy will present in these forms:
excessive crying, pulling knees into chest, wheezing, runny nose, blood/mucous in stool, eczema.

If it is a true allergy I never recommend any Similac products, espeically allimentum. If you look at the ingredients, number 2 is table sugar - child gets 11tsp per day from Allimentum. And if child has allergy, their gut has all ready been damamged and the enzyme sucrase which digests sucrose has been removed. Therefore the sugar stays in the gut and ferments, making problem worse. Also, Similac products are the only ones on the market that do not meet recommendation for DHA. Recommendation is .2% and above, Similac has .15% and Enfamill, Good Start and most store brands contain .32% (double the amt)

Anyway..to get back to your question. If it is a true allergy, I would recommend nutramigen w/enflora LGG. It contains the probiotic LGG that helps heal babies gut from inflammation and damage done by allergy. If you want rtf, then do nutramigen.

I HTH! In my opinion, if baby was tolerating gentlease w/o allergy symptoms, stay put. Hypoallergenics are double the cost.

Re: Alimentum Question-Need advice!

For some reason my DD couldn't tolerate ALimentum she always vomited it from it, but she did fine with Nutramigen RTF (I was told to stay off the powder since she was gassy.) Of course she didn't really like it at first, but she never vomitted and eventually enjoyed drinking it. My DD did have a milk allergy.

Maybe try Nutrimagen?

My DS couldn't tolerate Nutrimagen, but did great on Alimentum. He did not have a milk allergy, he was put on it for his reflux.


HDRD0411 that's very interesting!!! I guess that explains my DD's reaction to the Alimentum vs. Nutrimagen. I never knew that!!!

Message edited 10/31/2009 2:16:37 PM.

Re: Alimentum Question-Need advice!

Re: Alimentum Question-Need advice!

I hate to say this but Im so much MORE confused now.

I just dont know what to do and wish someone would tell me

We JUST switched to the Alimentum last night.

She was having excessive gas. Screaming for 2 hours after a feeding and then finally a burp or passing gas, screaming and crying with legs bent in, arching back almost all day and night till exhausted and finally falling asleep.

She also is having green ( GREEN!) poop and needs assistance pooping ( and only goes every other day)....

She is spitting up , about 2-3 times a bottle, not projectile but a lot....and sometimes as far as 2 hrs after eating will then throw up.

I really just dont know what to do.

Re: Alimentum Question-Need advice!

Posted by dm24angel

I hate to say this but Im so much MORE confused now.

I just dont know what to do and wish someone would tell me

We JUST switched to the Alimentum last night.

She was having excessive gas. Screaming for 2 hours after a feeding and then finally a burp or passing gas, screaming and crying with legs bent in, arching back almost all day and night till exhausted and finally falling asleep.

She also is having green ( GREEN!) poop and needs assistance pooping ( and only goes every other day)....

She is spitting up , about 2-3 times a bottle, not projectile but a lot....and sometimes as far as 2 hrs after eating will then throw up.

I really just dont know what to do.

Re: Alimentum Question-Need advice!

we just switched DS to alimentum on wednesday. we saw a little difference by thursday and he was pretty good yesterday.

today he did spit up a few times during a feeding which he normally doesnt do.

hes a cranky colicky mess right now b/c the grandmas were here all day and he barely slept. im hoping he knocks himself out.

Re: Alimentum Question-Need advice!

oh goodness.. this sounds so much like my nolan... crying, screaming, kicking and ofcourse throwing up... sometimes spti, sometimes projectile.. and yes 2-3 hrs after a feeding too.. go figure.. we never had the poop problem - he has always gone 3+ times a day.. and its been green as well...(i think that may be a virus sometimes, b/c HOW can it be green if they only have formula)

i took like two days for us to adjust, but the spit up never stopped, until we started serioss solids... at 6 months (july 4th) he was still bad - i had throw up all over me all day (lovely).. what can you do..

what worked for us - zantac for the first 2-3 months on alimentum.. a tsp of rice cereal in the bottle to sit better.. and keeping DS as still as possible after bottles.. oh - and we slept him on his belly at 10 weeks - slept soooooo much better..

good luck!!

oh - and we always burped him on the hard wood or tile - less clean up!!

Re: Alimentum Question-Need advice!

The alimentum, zantac and adding rice cereal to Julianne's bottle were the combination to get her to stop spitting up so much. The medication helped a bunch but we saw much improvement once her gastro ped suggested the rice cereal

Re: Alimentum Question-Need advice!

The green stool is 100% normal. Because this is a predigested formula, it may be green. Most ped's forget to tell the moms this. No worries

Either try nutramigen or go back to gentlease. If neither of these work you will need to go to a complete amino acid product such as:

nutramigen AA
neocate
elecare

Re: Alimentum Question-Need advice!

DS went on alimentum after 6 weeks. He started out in the hospital on Similac Advance and eventually stopped having a regular BM. He became very gassy and miserable from not being able to go! I took him to pediatrician who then switched him to Good Start which was good, for the first 3 days and then same problem started. Let me say every baby is different! I'm a new mom and I felt like I had to take matters into my own hands. My ped did not want to be so quick to send him to a GI but I wanted to solve the problem.
I took him to DR.LEVINE @ schneiders children's hospital. WOW he was a life saver! I told him that I took the liberty of switching DS to Alimentum! He told me I did a good thing. He also told me to leave him on it. Luckily, My insurance covers it!! Also, I saw a true difference after about a 1.5 weeks. They have small systems and after being swtiched 2x it's hard to adjust. I did DEFINITELY notice that he could not handle the powder!! He had constant gas pains n spitting up! Once on the RTF he was a different baby. The Dr. also stressed to be that babies spit up! no matter what they are on sometimes .

Re: Alimentum Question-Need advice!