Know of a good formula for reflux babies?

Me again :) Does anyone know or can reccommend a really good formula that has helped for reflux babies, my son has pretty bad reflux and medication isn't working and I want to try another type of formula.....my son is 4 1/2 mo. old......We have the 45degree angle going, as well as keeping him upright as much as possible after feeding etc....still no luck :( I am about at my wits end at the moment and I feel so bad for him....PS- he has been on Good Start for the last 2 1/2 months......My Dr. doesn't think it's a milk allergy, so I don't really want to try soy, we have tried adding rice to the formula-didn't work either....I am not sure what else would be better then good start....I appreciate all suggestions..

Sorry about the going back to work thing, but try goat milk.

Hi,
My daughter does well on Similac Sensitive (which is lactose free). My friend's son uses the Similac Alimentum (? I think that's what it is - it's in stores) and she says he is a different baby - but it is really expensive - try the Sensitive first. Good luck!

Hi Denise,

You may want to google "reflux and chiropractic care"....my chiropractor has successfully been treating infants, and it is making a world of difference.

Good luck!!

Why don't you want to try soy? This has seemed to work for many. Would you be open to breastfeeding. You didn't mention if you tried or not. If you did breastfeed and then stopped it might not be to late to try again. google Jack Newman. He has a wonderful breastfeeding clinic and also suggest Domperidone/Motillium if you want to increase/start up breast milk. Many women who adopt use the domperdone to begin lactating. If they try and put your baby on Reglan make sure you google all the side effects beofre you go eith that.

I also had a reflux baby and went through all the formulas and breast milk. On a visit to the doctor about this he advised making sure we "overburped" the baby too. Often there is just enough air in their little tummies to cause the reflux. His advice was, burp, burp and then burp again... and if your not sure burp again! We ended up with a much happier baby. (He's 11 months now and doing great)
We ended up with a combination of breastfeeding and formula. (Carnation Good Start was what we settled on not soy, it upset him worse) But the doctor's advice was the deal changer. Most times we would eventually get a tiny burp but then things were much better. Good Luck!
P.S. My husband is now a world champion burper!

I like the similac sensitive too. We tried Good Start and it just got too expensive and didn't seem to make a difference. A bonus is you can get the Similac at Costco and if it doesn't work you can get your money back. (I do not reccomend the kirkland brand). Ask your dr for a variety of samples and you can go that route too. Also have you tried switching bottles? Sometimes that makes a huge difference. We were using the Avent bottles (dumb bottles). My favorite it the Playtex drop in's. They get all the air out before you even hand the bottle to your baby. Now my daughter crawls around with the bottle hanging from her mouth. Good Luck!

My 2nd daughter has reflux so severe. She was seeing a GI doc once a week. She was on every drug known. We also tryed a chiropractor because I heard that chiropractic can help with reflux and after 4 months of treatment 2x week at $35 per visit no improvment at all. We tryed alimentum (pre-digested formula), nutramagen (pre-digested), similac sensitive (lactose free), soy formula etc. We even used the enfamil AR (which is just a thicker formula) WE settled on the goodstart because if none of them were going to make it anybetter then I wasn't going to spend $30/ can on the pre-digested stuff. She ended up spitting up so much that she was considered failure the trive and was placed in the hospital for several weeks where they went thru the gontlet of formulas and more medications. Long story short nothing helped except time...It became less frequent at about 7 mos. then about 9 months where I noticed that it had been quite awhile since she spit up. My friend is convinced it was the chiropractic treatments, my doctor thought it was the medication, my mommy instinct told me that she just needed time for her tummy to get stronger. As long as your son is not loosing weight its not bad, just get good reciving blankets and lots of them!!!!! Your doc. might perscribe a baby zantac or prevacid just to coat his esophagus so it doesn't burn when he spits. My last baby had reflux too, but not as bad, I use the lactose free and mixed it with goodstart 1/2 and 1/2 and it wasn't helping at first to much, but now that she is 7 months she doesn't spit up anymore...I think it just takes time....sorry!!!

I used Good Start for a long time to then switched to Enfamil's Gentlease, then switched back to Good Start. The thing that helped my son was going on Prevacid. We tried Reglan, Zantac, all kinds but Prevacid worked. Hope this helps and hang in there.

Hi, Denise!!
My daughter had a similar problem and she was a LOT better when we switch to Similac Sensitive RS. It is specially formulated for babies with reflux.
The only thing is that she was already with Similac and I don't know if you want to change brands...
I wish you all the luck!
Love,
Karla

Get a second opinion about the milk allergy. Have you tried soy based formula? If you take him off the milk based and symptoms decrease on soy, I think you might have an answer. Also if all else fails, try goat's milk. You can get it in condensed cans or fresh these days. I raised all THREE of my children on goat's milk after they became allergic to soy formula (which i gave them after weaning as our family has loads of milk allergies on both sides). I used goat's milk until they were each about 4 to 5 years old. Only one of them is still kind of sensitive to cow's milk as an adult, but he just limits the amount he consumes. The other two are just fine as adults. Is it really reflux or is it just severe burping? Have Xrays been taken? Have you consulted a gastroenterologist? One who specializes in infants/small children? There is something wrong here. By the way, if you use goat's milk you must supplement with iron. Have you also tried a nutritionist who specializes in infants with digestive issues? Please let us know what happens.

I've breastfed, so I don't know any formulas (sorry!), but I just wanted to mention that it might not have anything to do with the formula, so switching won't help :o) When they have reflux, it's because the little flap thing isn't closed correctly so if they eat too much or they have an air bubble in their tummy (which then comes up!), they overflow. Reflux usually goes away once they're sitting up (so around 6 months or so). Just burp him well every time, and it'll probably help :o) My son has a bit of a reflux problem (he was 6 weeks early which makes it quite common, evidently!), and it's been gradually getting better - he's 5-1/2 months now, and it's not NEARLY as bad! Hang in there!

Anyways, just wanted to let you know that it's probably just something you'll have to live with for a little while longer, so don't stress too much about the formula! :o)

Hi Denise,
We used Nutramagen (I think it is soy,not sure of the spelling) for my twin girls. We tried every formula on the market- this one worked the best. Bought it at Target or Ralphs Grocery stores. We also used the "cereal nipples" from Babies R US, they are a nipple with an "X" hole so only pressure from babies' mouth releases the flow of milk, instead of flooding milk draining constantly from a round hole. THe "Baby WHisperer" actually came to my house before her unfortunate demise from cancer and suggested both the formula, the nipples, adding rice to the formula, and zantac. My girls had it pretty bad and to tell you the truth, nothing completely eliminated the problem but everything above helped. My girls are four years old now and almost grown out of it.
Best of luck to you- I know its really hard!
BIg hug!!
Pamela

one of my twin daughters had some refulx problems in her first 2 months as well. I tried multiple formula's (all specifically for refulx) and had no results and I didn't want to try soy at all either, but I eventually switched and have had no problems, but I also found that by adding a small amount of single grain cereal to the bottle has been a lifesaver. The cereal coats the stomach and esophagous and allows the formula to stay in the stomach, and I made the cereal somewhat thick and making the hole in the nipple slightly bigger. she is now almost 5 months old and doing wonderful and finally started gaining weight!!!!!!! I used the Enfamil refulx formula's as well, and now stuck with Enfamil soy.

You'll have to give your baby a good week off of any dairy to know if the dairy is causing the problem. Use the rice formula if you are not nursing. My daughter went through this and I found that dairy was the problem. I was so relieved in finding this out. Thankfully, my doctor was supportive in not using medication right away and finding any food allergies first. All doctors use different treatments. Therefore you'll have to do your own research as you are doing now. Good Luck!!

Enfamil makes a formula just for reflux, give that a try and also try the Enfamil Gentlease. It's fantastic for my kids. Good luck.

My son was a reflux baby, and we too went through lots of tests. It came down to keeping him strapped in the chair for 20 minutes after he ate cause he's so active. If you're baby is active, it's probably normal and he'll outgrow it. Only if he looks ill should you continue to worry, otherwise relax.

Take this from a mom who has a lot of reflux experience: there is no formula that is going to make this go away. I chose the one that stank the least when it came up--Neosure. My daughter was in fact a preemie so started on it anyway but I kept it up for a good nine months, then mixed it with the regular stuff from then on.

When you say he has not responded to the medication are you talking about the zantac? That did nothing for my daughter. We moved her to the Prilosec compound at about your son's age and it made a HUGE difference. She still spat up a ton and was a lousy daytime sleeper. But she was MUCH more comfortable for the most part and I felt like she wasn't burning out her esophagus. If you haven't done yet, go to a pediatric g.i. dr. and have them do a ph probe. You will then know the extent of his problem. I am very sympathetic and you should def. try a different formula, but really that is probably not what is going to matter for this.

Denise hang in there! I know that we feel bad for them but from experience we just have to let it pass. My son Andrew was the same way! Everytime he drank his bottle, 10-15 minutes later he was spitting it right back up! It wasn't until he was about 6-8 months when he started eating real solid foods, well as solid as they can get, that he kept his food down. He too was on Good Start! I am sorry I am not giving you any better news, but always have multiple change of clothes and lots of spit rags!

Jennifer - Mom of two boys, 7 & 3

I haven't read any responses yet, so I hope this isn't redundant. We use/d Enfamil AR. Our daughter was having seizure like episodes (the formula would come up and block her airways) when she would we would lay her down after feedings. We kept her proped with a boppy in our bed (we were too scared to leave her in the crib at the time) after feedings...which seemed to help. As she got a little older and was able to spit up just fine (not too much)...we put her back in the crib. This and using the formula seemed to help.

Brandi

Mommy to 14 yr old son; 11 month twins; and 8 months pregnant w/a little girl