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April 2014 Moms
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Better Off Alimentum Than On?

nycgirlkatnycgirlkat member
in April 2014 Moms
I feel like because of DD's colic we've been playing "formula roulette". She is still really fussy/gassy on Alimentum and now she gets gas at night, even in her sleep she fusses/whines. I've been hearing good things about Similac Total Comfort, but DH and I are hesitant to change formula again. We're seeing the pedi on Friday for her check up/vaccinations so I'll discuss with him, but I'm just seeing if anyone has had better luck off Alimentum. Pedi wasn't totally convinced DD is lactose/milk protein intolerant so he might be open to switching her, but who knows...
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Re: Better Off Alimentum Than On?

  • jenskurnjenskurn member
    I am personally not a fan and I feel like pedis push it big time. It's made for lo's with milk allergies. Aprox only 1 of 100 babies have an actual milk allergy yet everyone I know has a baby on it ( sorry... This has been making me mad lately). With DD, she had eczema and constipation. We tried the Alimentum and it made her miserable. I think it was so thin that it made her reflux. With this LO my pedi suggested it for constipation. I refused and within a wk his belly adjusted to the regular formula.

     

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  • pete0121pete0121 member
    How long has your lo been on it. The body needs a while to adjust.
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  • sayysayy13sayysayy13 member
    My snow was Awful on the alimentium ! Cried non stop! We switched to similac sensitive and he's way better
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  • pete0121pete0121 member
    If your LOnis better on something like similac sensitive or enfamil gentlease then there is no reason to be eating Nutramigen/alimentium. These of for milk protein allergies and are lactose free. Gentlease and sensitive would still have the lactose (just more broken down) therefore would cause the reaction.
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  • Starfish+77Starfish+77 member
    My DD was briefly on Alimentum and hated it. I couldn't blame her since it smelled awful. I agree with PP..it was so thin yhat I believe it made her reflux worse. Ultimately she did great on similac spit up. We bought the ready to feed since there was less bubbles so I think made her less gassy. Or can always buy a formula pitcher and mix up larger amount in advance. I know what it's like playing formula roulette! DS is 8 weeks and we are in formula number 2.. Ughhh! Good luck!
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  • Starfish+77Starfish+77 member
    Oh and whatever you do, do NOT try soy! It was so constipating that when my daughter finally did poop after 5 days she had blood in her poop. So that's why they wanted her on alimentum because Ped thought she had a milk allergy..umm she had blood in her poop due to straining from the soy! So I never recommend soy formula to any friends with LOs.
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  • woodstephaniewoodstephanie member
    We switched to Gerber gentle after two weeks on alimentun. His reflux stopped and he became less gassy and irritable. The dietician on our cleft team re recommended the switch.
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  • nycgirlkatnycgirlkat member
    Thanks, ladies!! We feed LO the ready to feed Alimentum. Someone suggested trying the powder so that it was less heavy in her stomach. My pedi also has us trying a little bit of rice cereal in her formula because I think she has a bit of reflux, but the cereal seems to be doing more harm than good on her tummy. I gave her only a quarter of what the pedi recommended twice today just to see and after her 7 pm bottle with the cereal she wailed her head off for 3 hours and spit up....I think we probably won't try that again for now.

    Oh and @starfish‌+77, she was on soy briefly and it was bad. She had diarrhea, constant spit up, curdled formula in her mouth all the time so we came off of that after a few days. Not going back to that!!! We're actually on our 5th formula (6 if you count the Similac Advance that reeked havoc on her stomach) ....We've tried Similac Sensitive, Enfamil Gentlease, Nutramigen, Soy and now Alimentum.

    My husband thinks we should go for it and try the Total Comfort, but I can't take any more wailing. Tonight I had to put her down in her RnP, walk to my bedroom and hit my pillow a few times from the frustration. Not my finest hour, but I was a wreck too!!!
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  • fourthnlastfourthnlast member
    Whatever formula you choose, make sure you give it at least a week before switching.
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  • Starfish+77Starfish+77 member
    nycgirlkat said:

    Thanks, ladies!! We feed LO the ready to feed Alimentum. Someone suggested trying the powder so that it was less heavy in her stomach. My pedi also has us trying a little bit of rice cereal in her formula because I think she has a bit of reflux, but the cereal seems to be doing more harm than good on her tummy. I gave her only a quarter of what the pedi recommended twice today just to see and after her 7 pm bottle with the cereal she wailed her head off for 3 hours and spit up....I think we probably won't try that again for now.

    Oh and @starfish‌+77, she was on soy briefly and it was bad. She had diarrhea, constant spit up, curdled formula in her mouth all the time so we came off of that after a few days. Not going back to that!!! We're actually on our 5th formula (6 if you count the Similac Advance that reeked havoc on her stomach) ....We've tried Similac Sensitive, Enfamil Gentlease, Nutramigen, Soy and now Alimentum.

    My husband thinks we should go for it and try the Total Comfort, but I can't take any more wailing. Tonight I had to put her down in her RnP, walk to my bedroom and hit my pillow a few times from the frustration. Not my finest hour, but I was a wreck too!!!

    I am sorry you're having such a time with the formula! I have been there (DD now 18 mos) and the uncertainty sucks. Even now with the 2 and DS crankiness I have to step away a times bc I feel like it's just too much at times. Unfortunately my DH and I seem to take it out on each other. Hang in there and have a drink :-)

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  • bwong83bwong83 member
    Formula roulette is the worst, having to watch our LO suffer as we experiment is no fun at all. We did notice that the similac sensitive helped with his gas but still had mild reflux we are trying the ready to feed instead of the powder and it seems to be helping even more. the consistency is different and the LOs tummy reacts differently too so it's worth a shot.
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  • pete0121pete0121 member
    How old is LO? That's a lot of formula. I totally get it. With DD 1 we went through 3 but with each one we had to give it a week or two. Bellies and digestive systems need time to adjust. Have you discussed seeing a pedi GI with your pediatrician? With DS we didn't know but he had blood in his stool. DD1 clearly had blood. She eventually ended up on Neocate, an amino acid based formula. So expensive. So very expensive and gross but did the trick. She took it for 3 months and then could move up to Nutramigen and eventually Gentlease. I feel for ya, but once you find what works, you will all be happy!
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  • nycgirlkatnycgirlkat member
    DD is 6 weeks and I'm a FTM so we did change formulas way too much too soon on our own. Our pedi was not happy with us, but we were desperate with all the non-stop screaming. She has been on the Alimentum about 2 weeks today. She was on the Soy for a week and the Sensitive for a week and then all the others we would switch for 2 or 3 days and change.....Very, very bad, I now know! :-( I'm going to give the Alimentum powder a try first to see if that helps. If by Friday it's not any better I'll speak to my pedi about the Neocate since we are seeing him on Friday for her vaccinations. Which I'm sure will also be fun..... It's heartbreaking because she can never settle down and be comfortable enough to really sleep/nap well. And yes, @Starfish+77‌ I think my husband and I will be in divorce court or one of Isis getting buried in the back yard soon. All we do is yell and snap at each other. It's all so stressful!
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  • jenskurnjenskurn member
    nycgirlkat said:
    DD is 6 weeks and I'm a FTM so we did change formulas way too much too soon on our own. Our pedi was not happy with us, but we were desperate with all the non-stop screaming. She has been on the Alimentum about 2 weeks today. She was on the Soy for a week and the Sensitive for a week and then all the others we would switch for 2 or 3 days and change.....Very, very bad, I now know! :-( I'm going to give the Alimentum powder a try first to see if that helps. If by Friday it's not any better I'll speak to my pedi about the Neocate since we are seeing him on Friday for her vaccinations. Which I'm sure will also be fun..... It's heartbreaking because she can never settle down and be comfortable enough to really sleep/nap well. And yes, @Starfish+77‌ I think my husband and I will be in divorce court or one of Isis getting buried in the back yard soon. All we do is yell and snap at each other. It's all so stressful!
    Don't beat yourself up.  We did the exact same thing with our first and she ended up just fine.  Follow your gut.  I feel like Pedi's are super quick to switch formulas not realizing the trouble it causes for everyone involved...not to mention the expense.  It will get easier! 

     

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