spit up bf baby switching to formula

toeknee16t

Hey all! Just wanted to see if anyone could relate or had any advice. My son will be 6 months in a couple days. Up until now he has been bottle fed breast milk but my supply is dropping and I need to start introducing formula. He has massive spit up issues and at his 4 month appt was prescribed reflux meds because his weight gain was very low. We have not really noticed any difference after starting his reflux medicine. He is a happy spitter but literally spits up most of his bottles... We have also tried rice cereal in his bottles and if anything it increased his spit up. Yesterday I introduced his first bottle of formula around lunch time, I tried Enfamil A.R. He spit up normal after the bottle but the rest of the day/evening his spit up was massive, one of the worst! I am wondering if it was related to the formula or just an unlucky coincidence. Do I continue to try A.R. formula or do I move to something else? We have have our 6 month well check in the next week so I will be going over all this with my pedi but was hoping someone out there could relate:) I am stressing about his weight, starting to worry about long term damage of all this spitting up and now on top of this have the guilt of stopping his breast milk! Being a mom is tough!

gatchison

Wow this sounds like deja vu for me! I started introducing formula to my bottle fed bf baby with reflux around 4 months due to supply issues, and at 6.5 months finally switched to all formula. The exact thing happened with my DS, the first one we tried was Enfamil AR, and it made his normally heavy spitting turn into projectile vomit. I hated to switch around on him, but it just didn't feel right. When we finally did switch, we ended up on Similac Sensitive, and even though it's not a formula specially designed for reflux, it is a much better fit for my DS. The funny thing is, when we first introduced solids, rice cereal was the first one we tried and the same thing happened...explosive vomit and he was fussy all night each time we tried rice. When we gave up on the rice completely and switched to all fruits and veg, and it was a completely different story. He loves the fruits and veg and he is spitting up a whole lot less with them in his diet. My pedi tried to tell me that we must be mistaken because virtually no babies have a rice sensitivity...but clearly something isn't right when I give it to DS. Don't stress too much! It's awesome that you gave him breast milk as long as you could, and i say trust your instincts. If it doesn't seem like the Enfamil AR is a good fit, try something else. While it's not great to switch formulas like crazy, if one isnt working well it's better to get him on something that will be a better fit. But it's probably worth making sure it wasn't just a off day for your son. We stayed on the AR for almost a week before switching, just to be sure. The day we tried Similac Sensiive he immediately went back to his normal spitting up and I kind of regretted not switching a little bit sooner.

angiekillaire

I'm not sure about the reflux, but my son spits up a lot more on formula. I'm pretty sure, in his case, its because he gets a lot more formula a lot faster. I also had supply issues, so he wasn't used to having much in his tummy at once.  I give him a max of 6 oz at once. If he fusses after I give him 20mins or so and offer another 2 oz, which he usually doesn't take. This has helped. 

toeknee16t

gatchison:

Wow this sounds like deja vu for me! I started introducing formula to my bottle fed bf baby with reflux around 4 months due to supply issues, and at 6.5 months finally switched to all formula. The exact thing happened with my DS, the first one we tried was Enfamil AR, and it made his normally heavy spitting turn into projectile vomit. I hated to switch around on him, but it just didn't feel right. When we finally did switch, we ended up on Similac Sensitive, and even though it's not a formula specially designed for reflux, it is a much better fit for my DS. The funny thing is, when we first introduced solids, rice cereal was the first one we tried and the same thing happened...explosive vomit and he was fussy all night each time we tried rice. When we gave up on the rice completely and switched to all fruits and veg, and it was a completely different story. He loves the fruits and veg and he is spitting up a whole lot less with them in his diet. My pedi tried to tell me that we must be mistaken because virtually no babies have a rice sensitivity...but clearly something isn't right when I give it to DS. Don't stress too much! It's awesome that you gave him breast milk as long as you could, and i say trust your instincts. If it doesn't seem like the Enfamil AR is a good fit, try something else. While it's not great to switch formulas like crazy, if one isnt working well it's better to get him on something that will be a better fit. But it's probably worth making sure it wasn't just a off day for your son. We stayed on the AR for almost a week before switching, just to be sure. The day we tried Similac Sensiive he immediately went back to his normal spitting up and I kind of regretted not switching a little bit sooner.

 

Our stories do sound familiar! Thanks for all the info. I skipped his formula bottle today but will try again tomorrow...

toeknee16t

angiekillaire:

I'm not sure about the reflux, but my son spits up a lot more on formula. I'm pretty sure, in his case, its because he gets a lot more formula a lot faster. I also had supply issues, so he wasn't used to having much in his tummy at once.  I give him a max of 6 oz at once. If he fusses after I give him 20mins or so and offer another 2 oz, which he usually doesn't take. This has helped. 

That is also what I was thinking, the formula isn't as easily digested so maybe that is what also contributed to the massive spit up night:) Nothing changed as far as amount or bottle because he gets his breast milk in a bottle and 5 oz, which is how much formula I gave him...