Switching from Formula to Milk - Stockton,CA

Great suggestions, but no one mentioned that you're not supposed to introduce milk until 12 months old.

Someone else already recommended prune juice in his formula but I have to echo it. I had this issue w/ my first daughter and it worked great. By the time I had my second, I didn't even have to ask the dr what to do - just added some prune juice. I think they need the nutrients in formula still...

Instead of giving him supplements and aloe vera water, try the bananas, rice, applesauce, toast diet to help with constipation. I'm wondering if the aloe vera water and supplements are messing with his digestive system, that is already hurting. Sometimes we try to help too much with what we think are good things and they turn out to hurt the situation. I would take him off of the other stuff and change is diet. Want to make sure you know constipation is not the inability to go poop, but the hardness/firmness of the poop when it comes out, a lot of people make the mistake of thinking constipation is not pooping. Did you have him checked for milk intolerance, he may simply be sensitive to it. Also, I thougt spitting up was normal, it is when it is projectile to worry. My 9 month old still spits up her formula and we don't think twice about it. She is gaining weight and other than that healthy. Are you feeding him too much at one time? Just some thoughts. I hope everything works out and your son feels better soon. Take care

Hello K.,
Baby’s digestive systems aren't ready to process milk until they are a year. My daughter has been constipated pretty much her whole life. Our pedi had us stick with formula until we could get it softer. It was taking too long for me, so we switched to whole milk and whole yogurt. We give her 8 oz of whole milk yogurt in a smoothie each morning, with 1/2 cup fruit/veg. It has probiotics in it and also calcium and the fruit/veg is 1/2 the amount she should have each day. Then we also add a teaspoon of flax seed oil (helps loosen her up and keeps her skin and hair soft). We also added Fibersure at one point, but that didn't work. We also give her 4 oz of whole milk with dinner. We were told 12 oz of dairy a day. Other things that will help with constipation are lots of fruits, veggies and WATER! Water makes a huge difference in my daughters poop. If she doesn't get enough water we give her whole fruit ice pops just to get water in her.
I hope this helps. I know how frustrating and heart breaking watching your child constipated can be. If you want more ideas, I can try to help feel free to PM me.

I added 1 oz of prune juice to my daughter's 6 oz bottle of whole milk once a day to ease the constipation. (We called it her chocolate milk :-) Worked like a charm! You also may try getting him to drink more water and white grape juice during the day, in addition to his daily routine of milk. I noticed the formula for older babies constipated my daughter more than whole milk. She got past the whole milk constipation after a couple of weeks.

From what you wrote, it sound like you have been trying to get him on cow's milk since he was eight months old? You are not suppose to introduce cow's milk until after the first birthday. His stomach just may be too immature for the change so soon.

Lots of us who are intolerant of cow's milk have no problem with goat's. It's really pretty good, especially goat cheese (which now comes in the form of cheddar and mozzarella too!) Good luck, it sounds like your son has some food intolerances that will challenge you both. Many people do grow out of them though. (Celiac disease is often associated with other food issues, something to keep in mind.)

i had the sme problem with my son he had to be on the enfamill AR and i so wanted to move to whole milk as it is cheaper. we ended up keeping hi on the formula for an extra month and then switched him to whole milk at 13 months. he spit up for about 3 days but by day 4 he was keeping it down. i also only give him milk with bed time or naps he does not get milk any other time and it has been like that for him since about 9 months. the constipation went away with him when we started to limit the amount of milk and also gave him other food that would help like pruns every other day. my son is now 15 months and he has a normal diet. your son will eventually grow out of it.

I have had friends try goat's milk with some success. Formula has lactose so not sure that 's the problem. What about lots of water?

Sorry to contradict Nikki, but the BRAT diet is actually a bulking diet for dealing with diarrhea; it's also excellent when a child has had a stomach bug and is getting back onto solid food.

Spitting up and constipation are related. Your biggest issue here is that your son had a bowel motility problem. Our son had both reflux and constipation. My best advice is to stay with the formula until you can get into a pediatric gastro-enterologist. This type of digestive issue is more than most pediatricians can treat (our son finally grew out of all this eventually). While some babies do have issues with lactose, it is very unusual. If you cut lactose out of your child's diet unnecessarily, his system will make less lactase enzyme, which is what causes lactose intolerance. Soy formula did not help our son at all (we dealt with this issue a bit earlier than 11 mos), and soy is a common allergan. We ended up having to give our son Pediasure, which unfortunately has a lot of sugar, but also has tons of nutrients and is incredibly easy on kids' stomachs. Pediasure saved us. Please do seek out a pediatric GI, though. There are other things you can do to help your son with digestion. Solids will help with reflux but can intensify constipation. It can be pretty tricky. We ended up using Miralax powder under the doc's supervision, as well. Also, please be sure to transition your son slowly to any new milk or milk substitute. Mix a bottle of 3/4 formula, 1/4 other liquid, and stick with that for a week. Then change to a 50%-50% mix for a week, and then go to 1/4 formula, 3/4 other "milk" for a week. Switching too quickly can also cause problems. I hope this helps.

Sounds like you are in the same situation I was in with my oldest...except we stopped with the cows milk protein a lot earlier with her (while I was nursing her, I was off of it 100%). One of the signs of being CMP sensitive (not to become confused with lactose intolerant, which is the sugar in cows milk) is constipation. Your son needs the fat in whole milk. I would suggest goat milk instead. It actually has more nutrients in it than cows milk and is digested more easily. I would bet that your son's constipation will be gone after a couple of weeks on the goat milk. Avoid almond, rice or soy milk until at least 2 years of age. My daughter is seeing a pediatric Gastroenterologist at Stanford for her reflux. The nutritionist up there has given me a break down of all the different types of milk. Those three do not provide enough nutrients for proper growth and development until after 2 years of age. Your son probably spits up without the thickened feedings (AR formula) because of reflux as well. You might want to discuss that with your MD. A little zantac helps a lot! I have found that the cheapest place to get goat milk is at Trader Joe's. It is $2.99 a quart but is well worth it for the comfort of our little ones. Also, avoid yogurt if he is constipated, especially if you suspect the CMP intolerance. You can get organic O'Soy yogurt with probiotics at Walmart. They come in a pack of 6. My oldest loves them! (They are the only soy product she eats) Prunes are a quick fix for constipation but regular use can become a problem when he body starts to rely on them for defecation. Increase his water intake as well as fresh fruits and veggies. At 1 year, your son's milk intake requirement drops to 16-24 oz in a 24 hour period. Don't worry if it doesn't seem like he isn't drinking enough when you make the switch, he will get thirsty and drink water/milk when he wants to. He is getting so many other nutrients from his other foods now so a couple of weeks of decreased milk consumption is okay and will not harm his growth/development. Good luck and remember, we are the only mammal that drinks another mammal's milk...no wonder a majority of people have a problem with it! You are not alone.

My kids were allergic to iron which made them spit up all kinds of formula AND my daughter was always constipated. What worked for us was to stick with whole milk and add a bit of prune juice or make sure he gets prunes as a baby food during the day. Apricots work too. The pediatrician said we needed to supplement with vitamin drops (chock full of iron) and that made the problem worse, I'd stick with the simplest solution then adjust from there, if it's not a lactose problem, it should even out and all that switching can be as upsetting to the system as the products themselves. Good luck!

Hi,
I had basically the same problem with my daughter spitting up from formula and bad constipation from both soy formula with added rice cereal to coat her tummy and then too when we switched to milk warmed with rice cereal. Gripe water worked wonders for the spitting up. She is now 18 months and I don't have a problem with spitting up anymore, however we still have a problem with constipation. I add prune juice to her bottle, maybe an 1oz to an oz and 1/2, sometimes just to one bottle a day or if she needs more I add it to another bottle, if you keep the amount of prune juice down hopefully like my daughter your son won't even know its in there, and it works great. I just heat up the milk a little warmer than usual, add the rice cereal and add the prune juice cold and stir it all up.
Hope this helps! Oh and one more thing when I made the switch from formula to whole milk watch out for diaper rash, which happens when you change their diets sometimes.
Good luck.
M.

The probiotics are unlikely to do much for constipation...but, over time, they may well help with the spitting up, especially if your son has been on antibiotics at all.
Sounds to me like his poor little guts might be confused from all the switching by now. It also sounds like he could use some water! Also, have you tried plain ol' Gerber baby food prunes?
I would keep with probiotics, maybe give him some yogurt, too, if he likes it, add a bottle or sippy cup of water on a regular basis (breastfed younger babies don't usually need water, but formula-fed ones often do--and, by the time they're eating food, regular water is a good idea for all babies--don't get fancy, just give him whatever water you drink). I would go back to his enfamil, & start cutting it with whole milk & see what happens. Soy milk is generally a nasty mix of not-so-natural ingredients--take a look at the label (& soy phytoestrogens may be implicated in hormonal issues for kids, such as precocious puberty). Keep in mind that low fat/low cholesterol is NOT good for little ones--they need fat and cholesterol for brain development!

We (my husband and I) dont drink milk at every meal or throughout the day. Typically we only have it in our bowl of breakfast cereal. Our son is the same way, he has never liked milk, and so I have just made sure to ensure he gets his dairy/calcium requirements in other ways (yogurt is a favorite, cheese, spinach, orange juice, etc) I would make smoothies with milk/yogurt/ mixed in with fruit and such. He'll drink that, but not milk.

I often hear of all the problems people are having with milk and wonder if a lot of it is because we give too much?? What did people in the old days do that had cows for milk? They didnt drink it all day. So why do babies constantly drink milk? Yes, it's good for you and babies need it, but we *can* get too much of a good thing.

I know this is not very much help, as you are asking about what type of milk to switch to for help with the constipiation. My suggestion is to make sure he gets at least as much water to drink as he does milk. Water is actually more essential (along with good foods for proper nutrition of course) to the human body.

All I'm trying to do here is hopefully give you a release from the guilt you might feel (with which I also struggled with my son) when he doesn't "get enough" milk. As long as he gets his nutritional requirements, you're fine.

I couldn't tell from your question so forgive me if you have already done this.

I had to transition from a lactose-free formula to a regular formula. My pediatrician confirmed that to do this, you can't switch from one to the other in one day. This would be the same if you were switching from formula to milk, I believe. You need to purchase both formulas (or milk) and then mix them and switch your baby gradually. For my twins, it took 2.5 months.

First week: 1 part (8 oz) new formula (or milk) to 3 parts (24 oz) old. If no problems after a minimum of a week then move to the next step.

Second step: 2 parts new formula to 2 parts old formula. If no problems after a minimum of a week, move to the next step.

Third step: 3 parts new formula to 1 parts old formula. When we moved to this third step the first time, my girls started having problems so we went back to the second step and stayed there at half / half for an additional month.

After a month, we tried the 3-to-1 mix again and they did well. I stayed there for a week or so and then transitioned them fully to the new formula (fourth step). We had no problems. I plan to do the same thing when I switch them to regular milk in about a month.

Re: the constipation ... as someone suggested, try good old-fashioned prunes mixed into a little baby oatmeal (vs rice ceareal which can be constipating) with some formula and clear apple juice. But I suggest only giving this to him in the morning so you avoid messy nighttime diapers.

Hope this helps.