Changing formulas..?

Question

My 2 1/2 month old has been taking similac advance but tonight he has been doing nothing but spitting up and being fussy he has spit up almost five times in one hour. He has always spat up with regular similac but not as much as tonight. Would it be ok to try him on similac advance soy formula to see if there is a difference I heard that helps with spit up fussiness and gas which he also has ALOT. Or is it not safe to switch without consuting his doctor or has anyone swithced and not had a problem and by switching I mean from regular to soy in similac.

Answer 1

Please call your doctor. I am not a "call your doctor for every silly little thing" type person, but if you are wanting to switch formulas, the doctor should be the one to tell you.

Your little one may have a flu bug. The doctor may want you to bring the baby in for an office visit.

Soy formula is not a "fix all". My oldest could only tolerate soy. My youngest had a terrible time on soy.

Answer 2

Wow, your situation sounds familiar. My little girl was on similac advance to and we had the same problem. I was so worried because I would feed her two ounces and half would come right back out after I burped her. We asked her doctor if we could try soy and he said absolutely, and that we should try every kind/brand etc til we find the one she likes. He said alot of people think that its a bad thing to switch but its not. We tried everything, the "comfort proteins", lactose free, the formula for spit up, enfamil, nothing worked she was always spitting up and always so fussy, and farting all the time. LOL. Poor thing. We finally got with it and bought Similac Soy and she has been so much better since. No more crying, no more farting and no more spit up (sometimes it almost seemed like she was throwing up the regular formula). Oh, and we did not switch slowly or anything. We just switched and she was fine. It took three days for the soy to start working its magic. I hope this helps.

Answer 3

I can relate to the spitting up, as my son did that after every feeding right from birth (in January 06) until about 2 months ago.

I find it interesting that you mention how much your baby spits up after ingesting Similac Advance. At four months of age (and breastfeeding from birth), we started our son on Similac Advance as well, and I found the gassiness, fussiness and spitting up really got bad.

The main reason to contact your family doctor before switching formulas is to find out if your baby has any digestive problems. Your baby may be lactose intolerant, or like our son have acid reflux (in our case it was minor), or maybe there's another reason behind the reactions your baby has after feedings.

We did notice that with each formula change, there was a bit of gassiness and fussiness for the first week or two, regardless of the brand. (I should mention that we were never advised to try soy based formula, but that may be different in your case). In the end, it was Enfamil A+ for Babies Who Spit Up that kept our son's feedings in his tummy, and the gas and fussiness to a minimum. The only thing we noticed was that in the first two weeks, our son had less frequent "doodoo" diapers because of the thickening rice starch in the formula, which he didn't have with other brands.

Below, I found some info for you from www.babycenter.com. I don't know if you are in the States or in Canada (like I am) so the names of the formulas I mentioned may differ from the ones available to you. In either case, I wish you and your baby the best! Good Luck!

P.S- Whichever formula you choose, and however things turn out, I can almost guarantee that there will come a day where the spitting up ebbs and eventually disappears, and the laundry pile will slowly get smaller. =D

Answer 4

I went through this with all 3 of my children..the first one was in the Drs. every week..we went through 4 formulas before going to soy. My second one we went straight to soy. My 3rd one we went from Good Start, to Enfamil..after all that..I just went straight to Soy. It doesn't hurt them usually, but, to be on the safe side I would consult your Dr. in case there might be acid reflux problems. My daughter was finally diagnosed and now has Prosobee, and takes Zantac..its worked wonders. Also you can try infant gas drops, it reduces the gas in the tummy to reduce spit up, and cramps from the gas. At least until you get to the Dr.s or can make an appointment to get in. Sometimes if you have a good Dr. you can call them and ask about it over the phone, and they can give you a simple yes or no about changing formulas.

Answer 5

I always consulted my doctor before switching formulas to rule our allergys and intolerances. Also, the doctor may want to check for other conditions. Consider this because it will help put your mind at ease, and they may suggest a formula better suited for your child than either the Similac advance or Similac advance soy.

Answer 6

I would consult your Dr.

There are many reasons that your baby could be spitting up a lot, or being fussy. And, I would not just want to assume that changing the formula would fix it.

The Dr. will be able to help you find what is wrong, and what to do to fix it. If a change in formula is what is needed, the Dr. can recommend a formula that would work for your baby (some babies can be very sensitive to changes in their diet, ie. formula).

Answer 7

You will want to switch him slowly and it wouldn't hurt to talk with his doctor just to be sure or even just the after hours nurse. Does he seem to be in pain at all cuz that can mean he is spitting up cuz of acid reflux. My son had that and he had to take medicine to help calm his tummy. Sometimes adding cereal to the formula can help, too. Or you could try burping him more often again like when he was littler.

Answer 8

Personally I hated similac with both of my kids, my son was the same way and we found out that he had reflux which there is meds. out there for that (talk to the child's doctor) we used Enfamil gentlease with him and that A.R Enfamil until he could have regular Enfamil. I have heard that Similac has side effects that's why I stopped using it and never used it again, before switching him I would talk to his doctor and see what he says.

Answer 9

I had similiar experiences with my baby, he was always gasy and suffered stomach upsets, I thought he was lactose intolerant as my nephew was.

I changed him from normal formula to a soybase formula without no fuss or complications. He also had terrible skin allergies at the time, these cleared up when I changed him to soy milk.

My doctors advice was to try it for two weeks and see whether there was a difference. It can't hurt to change as long as you don't chop and change formulas all the time.

Remember that all babies are different and different things can work, it is trial and error. As long as he is thriving, don't worry!

Hope this helps, also some drops for reflux could help too! We used to give our baby Donnalyx for wind pain.

Good Luck with your angel,

Jackstar xx

Answer 10

does he seem uncomfortable after he eats. is he getting red and arching his back. these are signs of reflux. my son did not spit up the first days after his birth. and then he started and it got increasingly worse. the doctors thought he was just eating too much because he was still gaining weight. it got to the point where it was hurting him to eat. i ran across an article in a parenting magazine that described his symptoms exactly. i insisted that he was tested for reflux, and sure enough. he took medicine 4 times a day until he was about 6 months old.