Alternating Formulas from one feed to the next?

kms8616

Gabby was a preemie born 6 weeks early and required stomach surgery to open up her intestine and bowel connection.... we were in the NICU at CHEO for 24 days.... now shes at 8lbs 4oz and will be 12 weeks this Sunday. She isnt sleeping through the night, having trouble with formula feeding... shes very gassy. Using playtex drop in liners bottles... She started on Goodstart formula (ready made) in the NICU and came home to powder, which immedietly started gas problems so we switched to the concentrated version which worked better but still gave her gas. Pediatrician changed her to Enfamil Gentlease, but that only comes in powder format in Canada and she isnt taking well to it - her gas is much better but she only drinks about 2oz before she wont take anymore and gets fussy and cries because shes still hungry. Husband and I did an experiment tonight and went back to Goodstart ready made and she took 6 oz in no time... we will just have to wait and see if she gets gassy again. 

So my question is, can we alternate these formulas to give her tummy a break sometimes with the Enfamil Gentlease; but keep her taste buds happy by giving her the Goodstart every second or third feed... Ive put a call into my pediatrician to see what he says as well......

natalie202

Hmm... I think my next step would be offering a small amount of Gentlease more often to see if you could get her drinking enough that way.

If that doesn't work, then I can't see why alternating temporarily would be a problem, though I think you'll see a lot less of the gas reduction benefits until you can get her fully switched.

Kaymee

How long has she been on the gentlease? I'm pretty sure it takes something like two weeks for a baby to adjust to a new formula.

We had issues with DS1. He started on good start. He was okay at first, however it ended up giving him awful gas. We switched to gentlease, and surprisingly that was even worse for him. Third time was a charm with similac sensitive. However, it took quite some time to figure out a formula that would work for him.

hlb622

I wa just wondering the same thing! I looked it up online and found a study that was done at the University of Virginia which found that "switching baby formula is safe; infants did not have tolerance issues when switched from one formula to another regardless of brand. In addition, gradual versus immediate switching made no difference in tolerance."

Here's the rest: https://m.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-clinical-research-shows-need-for-baby-formula-education-182174191.html

I'm a nerd, so I love research! :-B