Switching Nursing to Formula

[newmom2nate]

How do you switch from Nursing to Formula? 

My baby boy is now 5 months old and we feel like switching to Special Formulas is the only thing we haven't tried religiously to help with is "colic" / gerd, milk allergy. 

We were gonna try the Nutramagen, but my baby won't even take freshly pumped Breast Milk from the Bottle. ( Given by My husband or myself )  We've tried the Vent Air bottles, Medela, and a silicone nipple shaped like his pacifier.  We've even tried feeding it by syringe when he's calm (like we do for his Prevacid Medicine) but he cries so hard and we don't want him to gag.  The lactation consultant says that if feeding becomes a struggle to babies every time, that they'll eventually QUIT eating!

My mother in law babysat him once when he was 2months old on a Tues. and Thur. for 8 hrs each, and she said she used the formula (instead of the breast milk) I'd given her.  SO we took him over to the same Grandma's House and left to see if she could get him back on the bottle.  After he was there and it had been 7 hrs. of him not eating and 1 1/2 hrs. of crying she called us to say she'd tried everything, and that we'd better come and nurse him.

My 5 month old was sleeping 3hr. intervals at night when he was 3months.  At 4months he started waking up every 1-2 hrs. still screaming, but doubling over in pain from gas.  He'd almost be lifting himself out of the crib and curling up his legs to his tummy.  We'd pick him up and how ever long it took.....as soon as he'd pass gas he'd go back to sleep.  We are just going nuts.  And you know the poor thing is still tired cuz his eyes are squeezed tight like he doesn't want to wake up.

As far as ear infections....I don't think so, but I have certainly been watching for signs of : not eating, or sucking on his Binky.  Those are the only signs I know to look for.  Are there others?

Thank you so much!  Jessica and Baby Nate

[RHIANON]

Apr. 10, 2007 at 10:27 PM I do have one suggestion as far as formula, my daughter went through 7 different kinds before i found Nestle Good Start Supreme. That is the only one her tummy can tolerate. Since she has been on that and axid for reflux the colic disappeared in one day. It was gone. I know this will sound silly but have you tried the old bait and switch. Sometimes Cassie wont take the binky to go to sleep she wants a bottle, so i give her the bottle and pull it out and stick the binky in at the same time. Sounds crazy but it might work till she gets use to the bottles. Also have you tried feeding with a spoon? I got these colic tablets that seemed to work ok they have something for gas and chamomile to help them relax. Let me know how it goes!

[jennasmom]

May. 3, 2007 at 7:34 AM

This was my life almost perfectly other than the breastfeeding.  Jenna was SO gassy, she would just cry and pull her legs up until it would pass.  She also has reflux which was a whole other thing. Anyway, she is on Previcid twice a day for the reflux which helped ALOT, but the gas was still so bad and she wouldnt eat too much at a time before pushing the bottle away.  Almost as if she knew it didnt agree with her so she would push it away.  We were giving her soy, so the pediatrician suggested the Nutragiman or Allementum.  We did that for awhile, but it still did all go away.  We eventually hooked up with the GREAT peds gastro who had us one night give her only Pedialyte and see if she would drink it without an issue and have no signs of burping/ spitting up.  Although she was up every 1- 11/2, it was only because she was hungry since she was getting the Pedialyte.  She never burped, or cried in pain, had gas throughout the night and easily went back to sleep.  Based on this, he diagnosed her with formula allergies and had us try Neocate. Its pricey, but we found it on Ebay.  We tried it and sure enough what a difference it made.  Instead of drinking maybe 2 oz at a time during the day, she was drinking 5-6 right away and without any gas!  The doctor said there is like a big formula food chain, which kinda go like this...   Regular formula (contains milk), Soy formula (soy), Good Start (does not contain a protein the other 2 do), Allementum (no soy, milk or protein), Neocate (amino acid based, pre digested formula that contains no proteins and such).  So, the idea is to start at the bottle of the food chain for awhil and then slowly progress back up the 'food chain'.  Its all about the maturity of the intestinal tract.  When it does mature, there wont be 'pockets' in the tract and therefore these iritants wont get trapped in there causing these babies grief.  The other thing he told us was not to give her Gerber cereal.. only Beechnut or Earths Best- neither one contains milk or soy. 

Hope something in here helps.  contact me if you want to know anything else.