To switch or not to switch - gassy baby

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epistletimothy

New member
My 8 week old has been through some changes with formula, we started on similac 360 from the hospital and around 3 weeks she started getting bad gas and pain so we switched her to similac sensitive which worked for about two weeks. She then got sooo constipated around 6 weeks and cried while passing hard poop, so our doctor recommended enfamil reguline, which she HATED and gave her forest green smelly diarrhea, but I found that when I give her a little of it in the morning with other formula it helps her poop without diarrhea so my doc said that’s okay to do. I did some research and it seems the similac sensitive isn’t great for LOs because they aren’t usually lactose intolerant and they have sucrose which isn’t great for LOs so I put her back on similac 360 but she’s walking up crying with those gas pains again.

Should I:
1. just say f it and use the similac sensitive with reguline
2. Stick with 360 and ride the gas wave bc it will hopefully pass
3. Try a new formula that will hopefully not need a combination

To add - we do all the gas tricks (burping, paced feeding, tummy time, mylicon, etc.)

THANK YOU AMAZING MAMAS!!
 
@epistletimothy Our doctor put our LO on famotidine Rx for reflux, which helped. She also recommended Mylicon gas drops and probiotics. Neither helped and the probiotics made him worse, so we discontinued those. So many have great success with those though. We are on nutramigen formula and that has made a difference. The thing that made the most difference though I think was just time. He’s 10 weeks and so significantly better.
 
@virginiac It was so weird since many people have good experiences and I didn’t even really know they had any side effects lol! Demon drops 😂😂😂
 
@epistletimothy We also had HORRIBLE gas on 360 and had really irregular BMs maybe one every 2/3 days! We also tried sensitive and it made my guy SCREAM! We tried adding gas drops which helped for a few days but ended up switching to Similac Pro total comfort which has helped so much with the gas pain and has made my little guy so much more regular!
 
@epistletimothy Okay we’re in the same situation so I’m commenting to follow this lol. We are back to using 360 from switching from advanced care which we get through WIC. Baby boy hates it. We need another solution. He has his appointment next week but he’s so bad idk if we can’t wait until then.
 
@epistletimothy I know it's less convenient for on the go, but I found the mixing pitcher method/ ready to feed options really cut down on those fine mixing bubbles. That being said, we ended up switching to hypoallergenic formula and it helped a LOT with gas, but made reflux worse 🤷‍♀️

Sometimes it's just such a guessing game, especially when they're still growing their digestive system and there is a 2 week adjustment period. It's so hard to know if it's the formula or just the growth period!

Anecdotally, 360 made my girl SUPER gassy too, to the point where we'd have to change diapers every 30 minutes because she'd toot out enough of a streak 🥲 it was a nightmare from 5 pm to 4 am.
 
@epistletimothy What worked for/was recommended to us:

Give gas drops before feedings for most effectiveness. Mylicon is the brand we used. This breaks gas up into smaller bubbles and easier to pass. Turns out our baby has (had) cow milk protein allergy and this helped.

Similac Alimentum is what was recommended and worked for us. I prefer the ready to feed, which is more expensive, but smells less yucky and my kid liked it more.

Baths help loosen muscles to help gas / poop come out

Frida windi was a game changer and used 2-3 times a week until baby was 16 weeks old.
 
@epistletimothy I had a chronically constipated baby. You can actually just do one bottle per day of reguline and it has the same effects as if you did it all day. Just don’t add any probiotics to the formula bc there’s enough in the reguline plus whatever other formula you land o

If you end up making a full switch you should try similac pro total comfort. Changed my gassy babies little life lol
 
Wait wrong kid! lol
My son was constipated. We did both.
My daughter was just gassy and colic and we did the total comfort alone, she doesn’t have poop problems
 
@epistletimothy I went through something very similar. Started on Similac 360/BM and baby got super fussy around the 4 wk mark so I jumped ship to the Sensitive version (didn’t realize you’re supposed to gradually transition) and it was a disaster. Projectile spit up and extreme fussiness. I also didn’t realize around this time babies have to learn how to poop on their own and they can seem super fussy and like they are constipated/belly pains etc. The only thing that really helps is gas drops, bicycles, belly massages etc. until they learn to poop on their own.
Also just anecdotally - our ped thought our little guy had a milk sensitivity, so she suggested we try a soy formula and it’s helped a ton. He definitely seemed much more comfortable and less fussy after we switched. He’s still on it and is doing great! Our ped also mentioned that Sensitive formulas seem to do more harm than good in her experience (NOT saying they aren’t good or don’t work for some, but just in her experience they don’t seem to be needed as much as people think).
 
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