Colic, Constipation & Changing Formulas

mainesm

My baby boy turned 8wks yesterday. Over this past weekend he started to get out of hand fussy, we believed it was from being constipated from Similac Soy formula. We helped him pooped with a thermometer and then the next day with 1/2 teaspoons of light Kyro Syrup. Called the doc and switched him to Similac Alimentum... after 24 hours we saw a difference, a BAD one! He screamed all damn day!!! Both my husband and I felt that this was not the right thing for him. It was our gut feeling so now we are trying Geber Good Start Gentle. We've been told it's thinner and gentle on the tummy. It's not as advertised, b/c Similac and Enfimal have the monopoly on formula. I hope it works or I hope he grows out of this stage soon.

Any one else having these issues?

BTW this stress doesn't do any good for my diet... Stopped by McD's today for breakfast. FML

lovelyrose11

We had the same issue with my first son! The only formula that worked was Enfamil Gentlease and we had to put the syrup in 2 bottles a day. Also, little tummys makes gas drops that you can use at this age that help as well.

mainesm

Lovelyrose... if things don't get better I may have questions for you later. Thank you for your reply. I am taking your "had" as a good sign... they say they grow out of this colic, I hope mine grows out of it sooner than later. ;(

RBXChas

I just joined this group in prep for my own postpartum adventure, but I do have a two-year-old son for whom I supplemented BFing and pumping with formula, and at three months I switched him fully over to formula. My dad and my BIL (my husband's brother) are both pediatricians, so it was nice having that support when I felt horribly guilty about formula. But anyway, talking to them did teach me a lot about it!

Soy formula will make hard poops and/or make it very difficult for your baby to poop. I had a sample can of Similac soy, and my dad told me to just get rid of it (I gave it away on Craigslist).

Otherwise, they said, just go with whatever works for your baby. Everything I used made my son more likely to spit up and/or gassy except Gerber Good Start Gentle, so we went with that. (Even Good Start Protect caused gas.) The good news is that Gerber is less expensive than Enfamil and Similac! The bad news is that no one makes a generic, and Costco doesn't carry it.

At 9 months I switched to Good Start stage 2 Gentle formula. I was anxious to switch because it was cheaper than the stage 1 formula (since by the time most people think about switching to stage 2, they're pretty much ready for regular milk, so Gerber needs to sweeten the deal a bit), so I called my dad and asked him if it was ok to switch. He wasn't sure what the difference between the two stages of Good Start was, but their Gerber rep happened to be in his office at that moment and told him the only difference between stage 1 and stage 2 was that stage 2 had more calcium. Thus my dad told me to go ahead and buy stage 2.

Then about a month later Gerber changed up all their pricing, and stage 2 got really expensive and cost more than stage 1! Thankfully we only had so much longer before we could switch to milk, or I'd have been really pissed about it.

But anyway, point being, I had your issues - go ahead and try the Gerber Good Start Gentle - it worked well for us!

mainesm

RBXChas - Whoa that you so much for you feedback! Your insight is very helpful. I think it was such an horrible idea to do the Soy and I am so sorry that I did now. I really hope the Gerber Good Start Gentle works for us. Our son has not been himself for a while now. I think it started with constipation from the Soy and now from trying to fix what the Soy did.

Has anyone ever used Colic Calm? I have friends that swear by it, but they also swear by Soy formula... so I am starting to think what worked for them, might not work for us... but isn't that true with just about everything??

chelleangel78

My baby was a nightmare with colic and gas when he was a newborn! Amazing as it may be we had HUGE success with Targets Up N Up Brand sensitive. It's the generic form of Similac Sensitive! I can't rave about it enough and the price is to die for cause it's literally HALF the price of the others. We also had a TON of success with gripe water for the colicyness. About a half ounce to an ounce of apple juice should help with the constipation though. I wouldn't use the syrup that stuff is so yucky.

lovelyrose11

Lovelyrose... if things don't get better I may have questions for you later. Thank you for your reply. I am taking your "had" as a good sign... they say they grow out of this colic, I hope mine grows out of it sooner than later. ;(

Yes, the great news is that it did seem to get better over time. But, we always had to use the syrup and gas drops. However, once he started drinking real milk and solids everything was fine. I know it is a major struggle and I feel your pain! My 11 week old doesn't seem to have this issue thank goodness!