Formula Issues- Please help

My DS is just about a month old. He was started on Enfamil Lipil and had severe constipation. I ended up calling the Ped. service one night because his constipation was so bad and he was in so much pain. The on-call ped. told me to switch to Enfamil Lacto-free. We were on this for almost a week when the constipation got even worse. He was miserable and on Christmas Eve was so out of it because he was trying to hard to go to the bathroom. When he finally went it was 6 or 7 inches of long, hard, log-like poop. I immediately called the service again and was told he should never have been on Lacto-free cause it causes constipation-great- and to switch to Gentlease. He has been on this for 2 weeks now. He has still had some constipation so I was adviced by the ped. to give him a 1/2 oz of prune juice every other day. This helps him, however I only get 1 poop diaper a day at best and it is very watery. He has had terrible reflux since being on Gentlease- he will spit up sour milk hours after a feeding and will gag as if it is coming back up. His belly seems to be really gassy as well. He will cry after some feedings throughout the day and his belly will be rock hard. He pulls his legs up and straightens them out trying to get the gas out as he fusses and cries. You can see that he is straining to either get gas out or go to the bathroom. The last few days he has had red, pimple like blotches on his cheeks. Could this be a allergy?

I plan to call the ped. tomorrow and see what I should do. I feel like this formula is not working and making him worse. Has anyone had any experience with these kind of symptoms? What formula should I be switching to? I was thinking Nutramigen, but I dont know.

Sorry for the long post- any advice would be much appreciated!

Re: Formula Issues- Please help

I would call the ped and bring him in. I don't have any experience with milk allergy but I hope you find answers soon!

Re: Formula Issues- Please help

You could ask the Ped about seeing a Pediatric GI...we're going to one today to discuss our issues...

Re: Formula Issues- Please help

OK I was in your shoes 2 months ago. We started on Similac Advance, made DS very gassy and uncomfy. Switched to Similac Sensitive (lactose free) and he got SO constipated. We tried the prune juice and the poor guy got so gassy and it didn't even work. The only thing that works for him is the glycerine suppositories (one cut in half). They work within 30 min. Anyway, I switched him to the Alimentum and that made him worse- he was so cranky and spitting up. Finally we ended up on the Neslte Good Start RTF and he is a new baby!! He's been on it for a month and a half and is doing fantastic on it. He poops every other day and that is normal, if he goes longer then that and seems uncomfy I'll use a suppository but that only happens maybe once a month.

Here is what I would do in your situation- first I would cut out the prune juice. That can make him gassy and it seems like he is going TOO much if his poop is watery. Or if you don't want to cut it out all together, half the amoutn you are giving him and see if he poops get better (DS's poop is a peanut butter consistency). I would ask your ped about getting him tested for a milk protein allergy and ask about switching to a different brand of formula ( I will reccomend the Good Start because it worked for us, but every baby is so different so it's just trial and error to find the right one for you). Also, I had switched to the Dr. Brown's bottles which helped with the gas.

I hope you are able to figure this out soon, I know how much it stinks to see you LO so uncomfy

Re: Formula Issues- Please help

I would def discuss with the ped, but also, get baby gas x or little tummies or one of the like - totally safe for NB's and it will help him so quickly with the gas issues.

Re: Formula Issues- Please help

We had the same problems with my son around 3 weeks. He was SO constipated on Similac Advanced. He would strain so hard, his head would turn bright red, he'd grunt and was miserable. You just knew he was in pain and it was painful to watch him try to poop.

We switched to Gentlease and that didn't seem to make a difference at all. We tried the whole prune juice, but it didn't seem to help all that much and i really didn't want to have to give that to him every other day or so (it can lead to dehydration).

I think we tried one other formula before going to similac Alimentum, but i can't remember which one.

Once we went to the Alimentum, he did great. It took about 5 days to notice a difference. He's been on it for 5 months now and doing great. He poops once a day and has no problem going.

If you switch to Alimentum or Neocate, see if you're insurance will cover it. Mine did.

Good luck. I'd definitely call the ped and try another kind though.

ETA: We tried gripe water, mylicon and gas x but nothing seemed to help.

Message edited 1/8/2009 8:41:44 AM.