similac sensitive was a big fat failure, need opinions

MrsJoeDirt

So my little guy has been eating like a champ.  or more like a piggy.  he seemed to have some trouble with gas and fussiness on the similac early shield.  we were using drop ins bottles and switched to the ventaire whiched helped a little, but he still had a lot of gas that seemed to be painful.  So i decided to slowly switch him to the sensitive formula.  my lack of sleep got the better of me and I didn't look at the ingredients list carefully, just the information on why it would help with gas and fussiness.  Yesterday and last night were the worst ever!  he pooped fine at night, but still seemed to be in pain, he would take his whole bottle and be wide awake instead of sleepy, he would go from screaming to barely content to screaming again for hours.  so this morning I look at the ingridients.  Its made of mostly corn syrup and sugar.  Ugh!!!  No wonder he had such a hard time on it.  Stupid me for not looking at that more carefully.  (I compared the vitamins and such to the early sheild and totally neglected to look at the actual ingredients.)  Never will I make that mistake again, I don't care how tired and desperate I am.

So here's where I need some opinions.  Should I put him back on the early shield that he was on or try Good Start?  (Which i have here and looked at the ingredients)  I know his pedi will say to give the early sheild some more time, but its been two weeks (he's been on it since day 1) and he is still having gas.  If it was your baby, what would you do?  Follow the pedi's advice or follow your instinct and try the Good Start?

MrsJoeDirt

oh, and avent and dr brown's bottles were a no-go for him.  he wouldn't take them.

and we give him gas drops in each bottle and some in his cheek if he seems to need more.

 

LeighMonkey

Holyshit!  DS has been on the sensitive for about 2 days now because I thought it would help with his gassiness.  We switched from early shield too.  I didn't even THINK to read the ingredients.  Dammit, now I feel bad  

Telyco

We use Enfamil Gentlease (started for the same reasons you are describing) and we noticed a difference shortly thereafter. That being said - he was still gassy and would have moments where he seemed like he was in pain. I think some babies are just like this (extra sensitive to gas) and it is something they basically have to grow out of. He is fine now - gas-wise.

Ashley Pharez

First of all THANK YOU for making this post. DS is having the same exact issues with the early shield and I was thinking about trying the sensitive out of desperation but now I WILL not. My pedi said the same thing to give it some time but I can't stand seeing him in pain. 

If you gave the early shield 2 weeks and saw no improvement I say go for the goodstart or I've heard enfamil gentleease is great. I'm only giving it a week and if his gas isn't better I'm going to try the enfamil. GL!

MrsJoeDirt

when I told my husband what the first ingredients were he was also shocked.  i feel like a dummy, but at least I caught on today instead of waiting the week like I had originally planned. 

i think i will try the good start then.  We had two cans given to us, so if that doesn't work out at least I didn't have to spend $20 to find out.

i e-mailed similac about the sensitive formula, we'll see what they say.  I can't imagine that corn syrup and sugar are good for an infant, especially in the first ingredients.

LucyPevensie

I supplement with Similac - started with early shield - then switched to sensitive - recently switched to Organic and then found out that it too had a ton of SUGAR in it - organic sugar - but still, sugar - sucrose.  All formulas are sweet but most derive their sweetness from lactose - a milk sugar that is less "bad" than sucrose.  I was so piissed - organic formula - that's full of basically table sugar.  I think Similac sucks - and was piissed when i realized the sensitive we'd been giving him was mostly sugar too.  we're back on early shield now - I should switch to enfamil on principle but the similar RTF bottles are really convenient for us - so we're sticking with it for now.  But I think they are jerks, I really do.  How can ALL THAT SUGAR be in baby's best interests, you know?

MelissaS79

Our DS had the same issues with gas on Similac Early Shield so we switched to Sensitive. All went well for about 2 weeks and then I noticed his poop was not as soft as it used to be and he was having gas again. About a month ago we switched to Good Start and I will say that I love it. It has been working great for DS. He will still have occasional gas, but rarely and they seem to be less painful for him.

This is of course just my experience as I know every baby is different.

Good Luck! : ) 

Janimal

We use Similac Alimentum hypoallergenic.  It costs the same as Nutramigen, but supposedly provides more calcium.  Pedi said after 6 months we can try regualr formula again, as she may outgrow her sensitivity.  We tried Advance, Sensitive, and Soy, and hypoallergenic is the only way for us.