Know of a Good Formula for Reflux Babies?

My daughter had reflux and was on Zantac since she was born. We changed to gentleease formula in the fusia container, it was a miracle, she is still on it a year later, hope it works.

I used Nutramigen by enfamil. It is in the orange can. It is a little expensive, but helped my little one with his stomach problems. Hope this helps.

Neocate. My now 13 month old twins had terrible reflux. They still continued to spit up on Neocate, however, they did not scream. Hang in there. It will go away. They are doing great and have been eating solids for 6 months.

Hello, D.,

Oh, sweetie, let's get him off those genetically-modified market formulas. There is nothing good about them and his little body knows.

Do you know about goat's milk? See www.realmilk.org for info and sources near you. I am in Altadena and know of an excellent source. This would be a great base for a formula recipe if you cannot breastfeed.

If you are interested, I have some superior formula recipes. I'm at ____@____.com very best,

T.

Dear D.,

I had great success using probiotics with my child. Probiotics are live microbial organisms that are naturally present in the digestive tract and vagina.

Probiotics means " to life" and refered to as "friendly" bacteria. They promote health include suppressing the growth of potentially harmful bacteria, improving immune function, managing lactose intolerance, help in treating various digestive tract problems, and helping to produce vitamin K..... It also very effective in treating diarrhea as well.

This product is called "Life Start" and is being used by hospitals to treat premature infants. You can find it at Better Nutrition or get them to order it for you... The manufacture website is: http://www.natren.com/life_start.asp

God bless,
O.

HOLY MOLY! Try the soy!! We went thru the "I don't think he's allergic to milk" for a full 12 months, tried every formula out there, put rice cereal to thicken it up etc... Sure enough,12 months later and numerous doctors visits later, he in fact was and still is allergic to milk. The very day we gave him soy he quit throwing up (except behaviorly, IE: didn't want to go to bed or throwing a fit, his poor gag reflex was so sensitive he could vomit on demand.) My son was born 6 weeks early, 4.6 pounds when he was born. After giving him soy he gained weight (imagine that, keeping the stuff down) and he also ate better. I think because his stomach was so upset before with the milk he didn't want to eat. I used to think that I would literally die while cleaning up vomit. He is now 5, still cannot drink strait milk but has no problems with any other dairy products. My advice having lived thru a year of this is try the soy. There is nothing wrong with it and if it helps your baby, it helps you as well. TRUST ME, it was the best thing we could have done. Now we keep soy milk in the house for him and regular cows milk for the rest of us. I would try soy. The worst that could happen is you have to go back to regular formula... I understand where you are completely and empathize with you. Let me know if you have any other questions I can answer!

Both my girls were preemies, so unfortunately, I know about reflux all too well..lol..We tried Enfamil AR which has a rice cereal type product in it to thicken it, which makes it harder to reflux! It didn't help with my daughter, but I've heard it works great! We ended up on Nutramigen..Helped with the fussiness, etc of it.. So, I would try the Enfamil AR, it's available at almost all places!

Well you've already had good replies but I didn't see anyone mention the formula Elecare, me niece was on that for a long time she had a very sensitive stomach and it was the only formula that they found she kept down. It's rather expensive I would go on EBAY and buy a couple cans to try it out and the you can buy a case of it for what you would pay 1 or 2 cans for. My son had that problem too when he was in the hospital still and actually he was sighlenty aspirating fluid into his lungs so they had to give him a stomach surgery called a fundoplication which basically prevents him from burping/throwing up and burping even...I'm not suggesting this I'm just tell you because his stomach was still very sensitive and bubbly...He did okay with the gentlease. I would ask to see a GI just to make sure that his system is working properly. Just to be safe. And like many said, the Reflux he will most likely grow out of, it may take a few months even. I was so excited to see my son stop the gagging because he couldn't throw it up. He was also tube fed for his first year and a half. Go with your instincts, so many voices can get confusing. Best of luck.

It's been a couple of years - but we had good luck with Enfamil AR - but only the pre-mixed can formula - not the powdered. It's expensive - but worked for us. We also used a prescription med from the Dr. when it was really bad - but for the life of me I can't remember the name. Good luck.

Hiya D.! My first son could NOT keep anything down. It was almost projectile. He had a hard time latching on to bottles and I had milk duds...so we were in a quandary. I switched bottles until I found one that he could suck from...then switched formulas almost monthly because nothing seemed to stay down much so we just stuck with Enfamil. We tried Soy and all the others but honestly it didn't really matter what he was on because they all reacted the same. But what I did, at the advice of our pediatrician, was add a little rice cereal to my son's formula. I only had a couple of bottles that I opened the nipple a little more (to allow the cereal to pass) because I figured that if it didn't work then I wasn't going to ruin all my bottles. Holy Cow, it worked WONDERS for my son! He also had problems with constipation and by 3 month's he was already on pureed prunes to help. The reason we did rice was because it would pass through the nipple better than oat or mixed cereal...but when I started to give him little bowls of cereal we did oat (for his constipation).

At 4.5 months you might want to ask your pediatrician if they think a bowl of rice cereal once a day would be fine as well. Every child's different, and my kids were both BIG boys from the start and were introduced to solids around 3-4 months. The cereal didn't come up at all like the formula did for my first son...so it might be something to consider.

Good Luck :)

Hi D.,

My daughter had the same problem and was in excruciating pain. She did not have a milk allergy either but Good Start Soy was the final solution (with a prescription of baby Prilosec as well). I thought I was going to lose my mind but I noticed results immediately. I would feed her a couple of ounces and then burp her, then finish the rest and burp again that also helped. I feel for you, I really do, but I would give the Good Start Soy a chance and check with the doctor about the Prilosec. I really didn't know anything about soy when I started, all I knew was that I needed a solution and fast :)Good luck to you.

I used Enfamil AR but it has been 4 years now, so I don't know if they still make it! It worked wonderful with the Dr. Browns bottles.

Good luck!!

Hi D.,
I feel so badly for you and your baby. It's heartbreaking to see them suffer and to suffer with them. I have been a licensed daycare provider for almost 28 years now and have children and grandchildren so I have pretty much seen it all. I get irritated with docs that "think" that they will probably get the same reaction to soy as they do to cow's milk. They would rather give tiny babies meds. before trying something as simple as soy formula, or goat's milk. Most babies in my experience are not allergic to cow's milk, but sensitive to it. I have lost count at how many babies I have cared for in the last 28 years that have benefited from a change to soy formula- and I always have them start with the PRE-MIXED LIQUID. If docs. had to live with these babies who scream in pain and kick their feet, etc., I'm sure they would change their advise. They are taught to go for the Rx. I have seen babies who after awhile could finally "tolerate" cows milk without tummy pain then change their symptoms to earaches, tired light circles under their eyes, etc. I have seen children with terrible ear aches and close to getting tubes in their ears stop milk and the earaches stopped as well. It's shocking what the kind of cow's milk we have today does to our children. I'll get off my soap box now. :) My advise would be to switch to LIQUID soy formula, Target brand is fine, swaddle your baby tightly, feed at an incline, burp well and OFTEN not just after feeding, and use gas med. when necessary. I would have your little boy sleep in his swing as well. After a month or two you could try soy powder, but if he has a problem with the powder, go right back to the liquid, we had to do that with my grandson. God bless you and your family and thanks for listening,
V.

I agree with several other moms- and from personal experience time may be your best answer. We consulted a peds gastroenterologist and he said breast milk was the most easily digestible, but we struggled really bad with the reflux anyhow. It took nine months and then he went from a moaning, cranky baby to a happy boy 90% of the time! We were told to try nutramagen if we were to try formula. I guess it would be worth a try, though I know it's pricey. Feeding our son in an upright position (almost sitting) and keeping him that way for at least 20-30 minutes after eating was the most helpful thing we did. Best of luck to you and your little one.
S.

Hi D., I am going through the same thing with my 13 week old daughter. She has sever reflux (she would cry day and night and could not get any sleep from being in so much pain). She did not have the spit up kind but the burn her esophagas kind, she she was in pain all the time! I felt awful for her! Well I took her to a Ped GI DR and first she tried axid which we got no results now we are on previcid, and it does take about 4 weeks to work and she is doing much better. But she is still on the axid with the previcid, one neutralizes the acid and one blocks the acid. Now, my little baby does drink Simulac Alimentum and I had put her on that before seeing the GI Dr as my older baby was sensitive really bad to milk based formulas also so I had alot of good experience with this formula. The Alimentum (I have heard from all the Drs) tastes the best of all the expensive, hypoallergenic formulas, but it too takes a few weeks to settle in, we did not see results until around 4 weeks of being on it. As my daughter was getting bad rashes on her face from the simulac sensitive and the advanced so I took her off it and put her on the Alimentum. I do know most people say stay away from SOY! It does not show that it in anyway has helped reflux babies. And in most cases if your baby does have a milk or lactose allergy they say more than likely there is a good chance your baby will be allergic to SOY. It is very hard but set him up for at least 30 minutes after a feeding, and of course the burping is important, and of course prop him up when sleeping. All of which it sounds like your doing. We use gripewater as soon as my daughter gets the hiccups, it seems most reflux babies get hiccups really bad, it helps the hiccups to go away pretty fast. And if you can get him to take his naps in a swing I have heard that is the best thing so they are sitting upright. We put our little girl in the swing for naps but not at night she sleep in her crib at night. Email me if you have any other questions I am happy to help with what I can or know so far. Good luck, I hope he gets to eeling better soon!

My 2nd daughter has reflux so severe. She was seeing a GI doc once a week. She was on every drug known. We also tryed a chiropractor because I heard that chiropractic can help with reflux and after 4 months of treatment 2x week at $35 per visit no improvment at all. We tryed alimentum (pre-digested formula), nutramagen (pre-digested), similac sensitive (lactose free), soy formula etc. We even used the enfamil AR (which is just a thicker formula) WE settled on the goodstart because if none of them were going to make it anybetter then I wasn't going to spend $30/ can on the pre-digested stuff. She ended up spitting up so much that she was considered failure the trive and was placed in the hospital for several weeks where they went thru the gontlet of formulas and more medications. Long story short nothing helped except time...It became less frequent at about 7 mos. then about 9 months where I noticed that it had been quite awhile since she spit up. My friend is convinced it was the chiropractic treatments, my doctor thought it was the medication, my mommy instinct told me that she just needed time for her tummy to get stronger. As long as your son is not loosing weight its not bad, just get good reciving blankets and lots of them!!!!! Your doc. might perscribe a baby zantac or prevacid just to coat his esophagus so it doesn't burn when he spits. My last baby had reflux too, but not as bad, I use the lactose free and mixed it with goodstart 1/2 and 1/2 and it wasn't helping at first to much, but now that she is 7 months she doesn't spit up anymore...I think it just takes time....sorry!!!

Hi, D.!!
My daughter had a similar problem and she was a LOT better when we switch to Similac Sensitive RS. It is specially formulated for babies with reflux.
The only thing is that she was already with Similac and I don't know if you want to change brands...
I wish you all the luck!
Love,
K.

When my son had that problem his doctor put him on nutramigen, it's by enfamil, and it helped.

Enfamil makes a formula just for reflux, give that a try and also try the Enfamil Gentlease. It's fantastic for my kids. Good luck.

I like the similac sensitive too. We tried Good Start and it just got too expensive and didn't seem to make a difference. A bonus is you can get the Similac at Costco and if it doesn't work you can get your money back. (I do not reccomend the kirkland brand). Ask your dr for a variety of samples and you can go that route too. Also have you tried switching bottles? Sometimes that makes a huge difference. We were using the Avent bottles (dumb bottles). My favorite it the Playtex drop in's. They get all the air out before you even hand the bottle to your baby. Now my daughter crawls around with the bottle hanging from her mouth. Good Luck!

Get a second opinion about the milk allergy. Have you tried soy based formula? If you take him off the milk based and symptoms decrease on soy, I think you might have an answer. Also if all else fails, try goat's milk. You can get it in condensed cans or fresh these days. I raised all THREE of my children on goat's milk after they became allergic to soy formula (which i gave them after weaning as our family has loads of milk allergies on both sides). I used goat's milk until they were each about 4 to 5 years old. Only one of them is still kind of sensitive to cow's milk as an adult, but he just limits the amount he consumes. The other two are just fine as adults. Is it really reflux or is it just severe burping? Have Xrays been taken? Have you consulted a gastroenterologist? One who specializes in infants/small children? There is something wrong here. By the way, if you use goat's milk you must supplement with iron. Have you also tried a nutritionist who specializes in infants with digestive issues? Please let us know what happens.

Hi,
My daughter does well on Similac Sensitive (which is lactose free). My friend's son uses the Similac Alimentum (? I think that's what it is - it's in stores) and she says he is a different baby - but it is really expensive - try the Sensitive first. Good luck!

Is he gaining weight? My third child had the worst reflux but was gaining weight so after many tests including a colonoscopy he just had an allergy though mild. He basically grew out of it. He was mainly breast fed which didn't make a difference and the bottle, same thing. Try having him take his time but don't worry if he is gaining like he should.

Hi D.. Looks like you have lots of good advice. We put our daughter on the Similac Sensitive RS and that seemed to work the best. Also our pediatrician recommended that we prop up the head of her crib so that she could rest after she ate at an angle. Phone books work the best. No moving them around for about twenty minutes after they eat too. And small amounts of plain yogurt; no fruits, and especially no strawberry. Good Luck.

Our Dr. recommended Simulac Alementium- which worked like a dream for my reflux baby. And I tried them all.

Any formula like Enfamil A.R., it has added rice starch so that it will thicken in the stomach and be less likely to be spit up, I have a 2 month old with reflux as well, I was breast feeding and am lactose intolerant myself and was told this could be passed to my daughter so I switched her to LactoFree Enfamil which helps her but the next step would have been A.R.. Hope it helps, Similac makes a formula with rice starch as well. Good luck!

Hi D., I have a son who just turned two in March and he had reflux when he was a baby. We was on the regular formula and still had alot of trouble, we tried a lot of different formulas and soy worked great for my son! We also found out that when my son was 5 weeks old that he had Pyloric Stensois ( you can google it) and had to have surgery. How often does your son spit up. My son was spitting up a lot and when we put him on soy it got a lot better but he still had problems and he ended up at the point where he was throwing up. After he had the surgery he was so much better but I noticed that his stomach was sticking out a lot after he would eat. We were in Guam at the time but when we moved back to the states, I was getting concerned about it. We took him to the G.I. Dr. to see if he still had the reflux ( which I knew he did) and they did another upper GI which showed that he had it and they did a couple of other test and come to find out, he still had the same problem that he had surgery for. He had to have surgery in March again for pretty much the same thing. I couldn't believe it! He is doing so much better now and his stomach isn't huge anymore after he eats and his reflux is gone! I just wanted to share this with you. I know what you are going through. It's no fun for you or your baby. Take care and if you have any questions feel free to e-mail me. God Bless!
P.s. my son was on prevacid from the time he was 5 weeks old, up until recently! It worked great for him. I would recommend taking your child to a G.I. Dr. that way you can find out what is wrong. Oh, we also found out that my son is allergic to milk. take care!

BREAST MILK. Get a GREAT lactation educator, a pump, and get your baby latched on. Breast milk is by far easier to digest than any formula and healthier. Read up on formula you'll be astonished at all the harm it can cause. The can only raises concern. There are women all over the country fighting to get the harmful chemicals taken out of your babies can of formula.

My second son had reflux pretty bad as well. The Doctor had him on the Premie formula from Similac (Neosure) since he lost so much weight. Your pediatrician should have samples for you. If not, have the nurse contact their Similac rep and the can order some for you. It is a soy based formula. My son is 21 months and he is allergic to ALL dairy products. He was also on medication for awhile too. If that medication does not work ask your doctor to prescribe another one. You can also ask about the dosage as your baby is growing you may need to increase the dosage for it to be more effective. Also, keep him upright for about half an hour after feeding with a "boppie" or something similar. I feel for you! It was very frustarting for me because we tried everything too. He started spitting up less and less as he grew older. Hang in there! I hope this helps.

Check with your Dr. first, however, I have twins that had the same reflux issue, and my husband and I changed them to Carnation Good Start Formula, not soy just the regular formula. Never had a problem with reflux again. They are now 13years old. Hope this helps!

To digress for a second, our oldest was breastfed exclusively until he was about a year, and still had tummy problems the first few months. He slept in his carseat for a few months, which REALLY helped, and sounds like you are already doing something like that. They didn't even have reflux meds when he was a baby as far as I know. And if they aren't working for you, you might consider taking the baby off them, because from my personal experience, those tend to have a rebound effect each day. When the acid disappears due to the meds, the body thinks it need to produce MORE acid, not less, so the problem gets worse!
But to answer your question, when we did start giving our son formula, we had to give him the lactose free formula. See if that helps :) Soy was horrible for him. And we still all drink Lactaid milk in our family.
We also used Mylicon, which although for gas, seemed to help everything as well when it was acting up. But I know this doesn't work for everyone either.
I hope your work transition goes smoothly :)

Hi there,

My son also had reflux when he was a baby. We had tried many different formulas and really the only one that worked was Enfamil Soy. That didn't seem to bother him as much. His specialist also recommended that he use a pacifier as much as possible. The saliva helps breakdown the affects of the reflux. We had him on special medications and only when needed (when he was really bad) the specialist recommended that we give him a teaspoon of Mylanta. At about 6 months, the reoccurance of the reflux seemed to become less frequent and he was over this by his 8th month. He's great now, and is able to eat pretty much anything.

I hope this helps. Good luck!

D.,

My son had reflux and for meds we tried Zantac and for formula used two different ones. At first we used Enfamil and then we used the Costco brand. If you have a membership or know someone who does you should try it. It is cheaper for alot more and it is very similar to Enfamil. My son's reflux compltely went away. So hopefully this helps!!!

S.

You'll have to give your baby a good week off of any dairy to know if the dairy is causing the problem. Use the rice formula if you are not nursing. My daughter went through this and I found that dairy was the problem. I was so relieved in finding this out. Thankfully, my doctor was supportive in not using medication right away and finding any food allergies first. All doctors use different treatments. Therefore you'll have to do your own research as you are doing now. Good Luck!!

Hi D.:

My daughter used Enfamil Gentlease Lipil for my grandsons stomach problems. He was breast fed from birth but when she started to ease him into regular formula he would get very ill, we found that the gentlease worked wonderfully, try it and see.

Hope it helps

my son had it bad right around then too and i was breast feeding and sometimes supplementing w/ Good Start..the meds did NOT help they were gross..what did help was giving him a little oatmeal by Earth's Best..that stopped it..the doc told me to do that..said avoid rice it constipates them..i figure oatmeal is better than Zantac.

You can try several things...
1. Nutramigin which is expensive but is known to help.
2. Get a G I consult, these specialists have the expertise to know how to treat reflux. You may have to insist to get a referal if your doctor doesn't readily suggest this. You are your son's advocate and if his reflux is that bad then you may need to be the squeeky wheel to get hem treated.
3. take your son to see a Chinese Medicine Doctor. Dr. Ruth McCarty in Aliso Viejo is phenomonal. She can treat your son and she will help. I took my daughter to see her and she helps her reflux. Along with my daughters GI doctor too.
Good luck!

My son was a reflux baby, and we too went through lots of tests. It came down to keeping him strapped in the chair for 20 minutes after he ate cause he's so active. If you're baby is active, it's probably normal and he'll outgrow it. Only if he looks ill should you continue to worry, otherwise relax.

Why don't you want to try soy? This has seemed to work for many. Would you be open to breastfeeding. You didn't mention if you tried or not. If you did breastfeed and then stopped it might not be to late to try again. google Jack Newman. He has a wonderful breastfeeding clinic and also suggest Domperidone/Motillium if you want to increase/start up breast milk. Many women who adopt use the domperdone to begin lactating. If they try and put your baby on Reglan make sure you google all the side effects beofre you go eith that.

My baby had reflux, not really bad, but bad enough that he slept in his car seat every night for the first 6 months. His doctor said it wasn't milk related, but I had heard otherwise from my friends who experienced the same problems. I was breastfeeding and as soon as I stopped eating any dairy I noticed that my baby kept his milk down. When I began supplementing with formula I tried regular formula, which he threw up, then he kept down a sample of soy formula. But the soy formula is really stinky so I tried a lactose free formula and he had no problem keeping it down. It was just the LactoFree Infamil formula, the GentleEase did not work. At nine months my doctor said to try dairy again, I tried cottage cheese, my baby threw it up. My friends all said he would grow out of it after a year. Amazingly enough when I tried dairy again at 12 months he was fine, and has been fine since. So - hopefully in your case it is just a lactose intollerance your baby will outgrow.

Hi D.,

After several formula's I went to ***Alimentum by Similac***. It is very pricy but within 3 days we saw a drastic change in my daughter. My Dr. and I tried several other solutions but this one did the trick.

Maybe your Dr. can write a perscription for this to help cover the cost. I never thought of that until after she was off of it. By 16 months we were able to use a regular "Next Step" by Enfamil with her.

She is now 23 months and I have a 9 month old with reflux also. I was nursing 100% and have started supplementing with formula (regular) and it is hurting his tummy so I have had to up his does of Zantac. I am trying this method before going to Alimentum as he is much older than your 4 month old.

Good luck,
H.

My son also had refulx and after 6 formulas we had to put him on similac alumenten and we didnt have anymore problems at all.

Nutramagin in combo with med's from your pediatrician. I feel for you...It's very difficult. Wish you well,
Blessings,
S.
Clips 4 a Cure

Hi D.,
I'm not really sure if changing the formula wil make that much of a difference. I used nutramagen. It seemed to lessen once my daughter was on the meds for a couple of weeks and as she got older. I have never heard of a miracle cure to reflux because every child is so different but wish you the best of luck. My daughter is 2 yrs. old now and has had no reflux problems since 1.5 yrs.

Kathy

It could be pyloric stenosis where the muscle to the opening of the stomach hasn't opened enough, so reflux happens. I had it as an infant, but didn't have surgery. I was fed something that helped force the opening to the stomach. However, my nephew had it as a newborn in 1989, and they did surgery on him to correct the problem.

one of my twin daughters had some refulx problems in her first 2 months as well. I tried multiple formula's (all specifically for refulx) and had no results and I didn't want to try soy at all either, but I eventually switched and have had no problems, but I also found that by adding a small amount of single grain cereal to the bottle has been a lifesaver. The cereal coats the stomach and esophagous and allows the formula to stay in the stomach, and I made the cereal somewhat thick and making the hole in the nipple slightly bigger. she is now almost 5 months old and doing wonderful and finally started gaining weight!!!!!!! I used the Enfamil refulx formula's as well, and now stuck with Enfamil soy.

Unless you test, you can't know for sure that it isn't a milk allergy. She needs an IGE test to see for sure. Here are some choices:

Elemental formulas are also lactose free and are made with hydrolysate proteins, which are easy to digest for infants with protein allergies. Types of elemental formulas include Nutramigen, Pregestamil and Alimentum.

My daughter used Nutramigen and once she did well with that for a few months, we switched to Good Start. She did OK with both. Good Luck!

Hello D.,
I had twins three 1/2 years ago. My two had reflux and a milk allergy. I would first have a second opinion but if you don't want to do that then you can ask your doctor to perscribe Neocate, that gets rid of both reflux and milk protien allergy but you can only get it by perscription. It is very expensive as well, most insurance companies don't pay for it but I know it made my children much happier and it got rid of all symptoms.
Best of luck to you.
L. S.

My son way the same way and it was awful. We tried Good Start to begin with and I felt it actually made things worse. We went to soy and making his bottles with chamomile tea and it worked. After a couple of months, we weaned away from making the formula with the tea, and all was well. Good luck and God Bless!

Hi,

Our baby had reflux and the only thing that helped was a combination of Enfamil AR and Prevacid. It took 2 weeks for the Prevacid to kick in but once it did, his reflux was MUCH better. Good luck!

Sincerely,
R.

Hi D.,
So sorry to hear your little one is going through this, and it definitely rang a bell. We tried about 4 different formulas and adding the rice for my son and none helped until we gave him Enfamil AR. This was perfect, it has an "added rice starch" that helps thicken it and being heavier makes it stay down. I don't know why the cereal didn't work, but this did. He was also on medication, first reglan then zantac. Hope this helps you.

My son has reflux as well. One of the things i did was put gripe water in his bottle. That seemed to calm things down some but he would still have his bad days. I have been using the Enafamil Lipil as well.

What medication has he used? I'm just curious because both of my daughters were on baby Zantac (prescribed) for 6 months. It took a few weeks for the baby's system to adjust and then it worked fine. Of course, until that spincter muscle or whatever it is called grew, they spit up everything anyway. But at least they weren't uncomfortable from it. I nursed so my thought is that it probably doesn't matter what your son has because if my own milk didn't work, and I switched everything I ate, then formula probably doesn't matter either.

Sorry about the going back to work thing, but try goat milk.

I know this is going to sound crazy, but it helped my two girls. One is now 11 & the other is 2.
Try giving the formula either cold or at room temp. Do not give the baby warm formula.
I picked up this hint from my sister & it worked wonders for us. I really did not want to switch to soy!
Good Luck!

I haven't read any responses yet, so I hope this isn't redundant. We use/d Enfamil AR. Our daughter was having seizure like episodes (the formula would come up and block her airways) when she would we would lay her down after feedings. We kept her proped with a boppy in our bed (we were too scared to leave her in the crib at the time) after feedings...which seemed to help. As she got a little older and was able to spit up just fine (not too much)...we put her back in the crib. This and using the formula seemed to help.

B.

Mommy to 14 yr old son; 11 month twins; and 8 months pregnant w/a little girl

I used Good Start for a long time to then switched to Enfamil's Gentlease, then switched back to Good Start. The thing that helped my son was going on Prevacid. We tried Reglan, Zantac, all kinds but Prevacid worked. Hope this helps and hang in there.

Take this from a mom who has a lot of reflux experience: there is no formula that is going to make this go away. I chose the one that stank the least when it came up--Neosure. My daughter was in fact a preemie so started on it anyway but I kept it up for a good nine months, then mixed it with the regular stuff from then on.

When you say he has not responded to the medication are you talking about the zantac? That did nothing for my daughter. We moved her to the Prilosec compound at about your son's age and it made a HUGE difference. She still spat up a ton and was a lousy daytime sleeper. But she was MUCH more comfortable for the most part and I felt like she wasn't burning out her esophagus. If you haven't done yet, go to a pediatric g.i. dr. and have them do a ph probe. You will then know the extent of his problem. I am very sympathetic and you should def. try a different formula, but really that is probably not what is going to matter for this.

My 6 mo old daughter is on good start formula and 15 mg previcide solutab and it works great.

S.

Try Gentle Ease. It worked for my son. Good luck, S.

I've breastfed, so I don't know any formulas (sorry!), but I just wanted to mention that it might not have anything to do with the formula, so switching won't help :o) When they have reflux, it's because the little flap thing isn't closed correctly so if they eat too much or they have an air bubble in their tummy (which then comes up!), they overflow. Reflux usually goes away once they're sitting up (so around 6 months or so). Just burp him well every time, and it'll probably help :o) My son has a bit of a reflux problem (he was 6 weeks early which makes it quite common, evidently!), and it's been gradually getting better - he's 5-1/2 months now, and it's not NEARLY as bad! Hang in there!

Anyways, just wanted to let you know that it's probably just something you'll have to live with for a little while longer, so don't stress too much about the formula! :o)

I also had a reflux baby and went through all the formulas and breast milk. On a visit to the doctor about this he advised making sure we "overburped" the baby too. Often there is just enough air in their little tummies to cause the reflux. His advice was, burp, burp and then burp again... and if your not sure burp again! We ended up with a much happier baby. (He's 11 months now and doing great)
We ended up with a combination of breastfeeding and formula. (Carnation Good Start was what we settled on not soy, it upset him worse) But the doctor's advice was the deal changer. Most times we would eventually get a tiny burp but then things were much better. Good Luck!
P.S. My husband is now a world champion burper!

Try Neocate....it's expensive, but worked amazing for my daughter. she was like a different baby after switching off the other two formulas we tried!

D.,

If it were me, I'd try Neocate or Elecare. Just because your doctor doesn't think it is a milk allergy doesn't mean it isn't. Using a hypoallergenic formula will answer that for sure. My now 18 month old is intolerant to dairy and allergic to soy. The proteins are very similar to each other and it isn't unusual for a baby to react to both. Fortunately I'm a breastfeeder because my baby couldn't tolerate any formula other than Neocate. But I had to be completely dairy and soy free the entire time I nursed him (which kind of sucked but he's healthy so it was worth it). He had horrible reflux and the meds didn't help at all until I eliminated dairy and soy from his diet and mine. Keep in mind that if you try it, you are going to have to stick with it for several weeks. It takes 3-4 weeks for dairy proteins to leave your body after you quit consuming them. With my baby, he was better after the first week but not "great" for about 3 weeks. After that, he was an entirely different, happy child. All of the crying and screaming and spitting up stopped and he actually slept for hours at a time. You can special order neocate from a pharmacy or you can get it online.

In my experience, pediatricians are a horrible source of information on food intolerance and allergies in babies. My pediatric GI doctor wasn't much better. The only thing that will answer the question "is he reacting to dairy" is eliminating it.

Good luck,
T.

D. hang in there! I know that we feel bad for them but from experience we just have to let it pass. My son Andrew was the same way! Everytime he drank his bottle, 10-15 minutes later he was spitting it right back up! It wasn't until he was about 6-8 months when he started eating real solid foods, well as solid as they can get, that he kept his food down. He too was on Good Start! I am sorry I am not giving you any better news, but always have multiple change of clothes and lots of spit rags!

Jennifer - Mom of two boys, 7 & 3

When my son was born, he had issues with Enfamil Lipil...it would just come right out after he drinks it, not all the time but often. Dr. changed his formula to Enfamil Gentlease and he did a little better. He also had bad eczema (red, dry, itchy rash mostly on face, arms and legs, including open weeping sores on arms that required bandaging twice a day) but the Dr. didn't think he was allergic to milk. After having lots of steriods and antibiotics and going to the Dermatologist, he got the blood allergy test done (at age 9.5 months) and it turned out that he was allergic to milk, soy, wheat, peanut, corn, and egg...and through the elimination process, also rice. The Dr. was very surprised. He also didn't think he was allergic to rice because it's very uncommon. Then we tried Enfamil Nutramigen, as recommended by the Dr., which made his eczema worse. I tried the Similac Alimentum and eliminated rice from his diet and immediately 99% of his eczema went away. I understand that your son may not have eczema but what appears to be reflux may be an allergic reaction. Your body can react differently to an allergen...you can have a runny nose, diarrhea, vomiting...not just hives. I would suggest that you get the blood allergy test done before putting more medications into your son's little body. I regret having my son exposed to so many meds at such a young age. Had I known the blood allergy test existed (and not only the skin allergy test), I would have pushed for it early on (I'm an RN). His nurse told me about it and told me to ask him for it. Sometimes the Dr. doesn't know everything, you need to work with him as a team. You know your child best. Also, often times if you have an allergy to milk, you'll have an allergy to soy as well. I hope this info. may have been helpful. Take care and good luck!

Hi D.,
We went through 3 formulas once I stopped breast feeding until finally finding that Enfamil Gentlease worked for our little girl. Don't do soy formula, it is bad for little tiny babies! She is now 15 months old and once she began drinking the Gentlease, life became a little easier for her tummy! Good luck!

Hi D.~Oh I feel your frustration. My son is almost 2 and still suffers from reflux. He was born with a birth defect of his esophagus and has had 3 surgeries and has a feeding tube in his tummy in which he is fed through. His case is pretty severe. We tried every formula out there. The only one that worked for him was the Enfamil AR. He has also been on several medications, Zantac, Prilosec and currently in on Zegerid and Reglan which seems to be the right combination and is keeping his esophagus healthy. Zegerid is omeprazole/sodium bocarbonate powder for oral suspension which I mix myself and give to my son. Reglan is a motility medication which helps move things through, emptying the stomach faster. You can go to Marci-kids.com. It is the midwest acid reflux childrens institute and there is alot of information about reflux and the different meds for children along with the proper dosage. You can print out pages for your doctors review. I know it is heart breaking to see your little one in discomfort or pain and you feel so helpless! Hopefully your little one will grow out of it soon! There is also an online community at infantreflux.org which may be a great means of support. I hope this helps.

M. M.

Hi D.,

You may want to google "reflux and chiropractic care"....my chiropractor has successfully been treating infants, and it is making a world of difference.

Good luck!!

My son was using Alimentum and Nutramigen formulas interchangably - we used whichever one was on sale or that we had a coupon for because they are pretty pricey(sorry, I'm not sure if the spelling is correct on either of those!) Check with your pediatrician because they almost always have sample cans of formula at their offices for you to try out so you don't have to waste your money on buying it before you know it if it works or not. If neither of those work, definitely try soy - it certainly can't hurt to keep your options open. Also, there are several types of reflux medicines for babies, so ask your doc if you can try a different one. It took us three different medications until we found one that finally worked - and then it was like magic! Hang in there and please feel free to contact me if you have any other questions regarding baby reflux - I promise you that it DOES get better as they get older, but I realize that's the last thing you want to hear :)

Hi-

My baby didn't spit up much, but definitely had a lot of gas and cried/squirmed with regular formula. I finally tried earth's best soy formula and saw an immediate difference. He was only on it for a couple months and then I was able to switch back to regular formula. He is now on enfamil lipil after trying 5 other formulas and is doing great.

Dear D.,

My son also had a really bad case of reflux as a baby, he's now 8 yrs old. It'll get better as they get older. My son finally got over it at the age of 3 but his stomach was still really sensitive, he was prone in throwing up whenever he would get sick with a cough or when he would be overly active. Today, he doesn't get this at all :)
To answer your question however, I did end up changing his formula to a soy-based one and it helped tremendously. Why not just give it a try for a week and see the results? You'll find that when he eats solids he will most likely throw that back out so it'll be really important to give him vitamin supplements to make sure he gets the nourishments he needs. When he gets older, you can try Carnation Instant Breakfast and Pediasure (my son's specialist recommended these). What type of medication was he on? The type of medication my son was taking didn't fully stop the reflux/throwing up but did help him digest his food so that he could keep more down and neutralized the stomach acid so that it wouldn't burn his throat when he would throw his food back out. Our poor boys :( Hang in there D., as mentioned, it gets better when they get older so just take it one day at a time.

Enfamil brand powders seem to dissolve the best. My daughter had reflux also and she did the best on Enfamil. It didn't curb the problem though...neither did Zantac.

i think that enfamil makes Gentlease, which a friend of mine used for her daughter, also with acid reflux, and she can't stop saying good things about it. good luck!

Hi, I don't know if you have tried this, but I was a breastfeeding mom and I had a hard time with an infection in my breast so I had to substitute for a while and this was the closest to breastmilk, its called Enfamil, and I know there is like more then one formula, but my Pediatrician told me that the thinner the better. Take a look at breastmilk if you know anyone who pumps and you will see it looks so thin and watery, thats so its easy for the baby to digest. I don't know who told you to add rice but that is awful. Never make it thick for a baby especially one who is constantly regurgitating. I went back to work also and faithfully pumped. Ask your dr. if its too late to pump milk, if you have a problem with your baby at your breast they can still benefit from you pumping milk out and they never have to touch you. I breastfed for 2 years and my daughter stopped nursing at my breast after work after one year but still got breastmilk through a bottle. Enfamil saved my life she never spit up or smelled ugly for the week she was on it. I hope this helps, if not, don't lose faith keep searching but remember the thinner the better, never anything heavy.

Hi D.,
Try Enfamil Nutramigen formula.

Hi D.,
We used Nutramagen (I think it is soy,not sure of the spelling) for my twin girls. We tried every formula on the market- this one worked the best. Bought it at Target or Ralphs Grocery stores. We also used the "cereal nipples" from Babies R US, they are a nipple with an "X" hole so only pressure from babies' mouth releases the flow of milk, instead of flooding milk draining constantly from a round hole. THe "Baby WHisperer" actually came to my house before her unfortunate demise from cancer and suggested both the formula, the nipples, adding rice to the formula, and zantac. My girls had it pretty bad and to tell you the truth, nothing completely eliminated the problem but everything above helped. My girls are four years old now and almost grown out of it.
Best of luck to you- I know its really hard!
BIg hug!!
P.