Enfamil Nutramigen?

Question

My 5 week old daughter was on Enfamil Lipil (with Iron) for four weeks. My husband and I noticed that she was extremely gassy on it. She was passing the gas though and I was giving her Mylicon drops with every feeding. I called the Dr. and told him that she was very gassy and he switched her to LactoFree formula. She has been on that for a week and is spitting up horribly. I called last night and he said to switch her to Enfamil Nutramigen. I feel that she was OK on the Lipil to begin with and I would hate to continue to switch her since she is only 5 weeks old. She has been fussy but she does sleep through the night...9 pm to about 3:30 am. Is there a true need to switch her agian??

Answer 1

regular formula contains large cows milk protien called casien. a large chunk of babies dont tollerate this well. Your doctor telling you to switch to lactose-free was basically.. well... dumb. nutramigen has broken-down casein proteins... so theyre pre-digested and don't cause such a problem. It is really nasty though.

I would seriously find a new doctor. And its more a comfort thing... if your babe is already showing signs of dairy intollerance and shes on formula, it will probably never get better. You best bet would be to relactate and give her digestive system the enzymes it needs to grow a healthy gut flora.

So...
Regular formula: has lactose and casein
Lactose free- no lactose, but has casein
Nutramigen- no lactose and broken down casein...

Babies arent typically intollerant of lactose (its very rare) but about 50% of infants are intollerant of casein.

Answer 2

Nutramigen is expensive but I agree its the best formula out there. My boys were 14 weeks premature and I breast fed exclusively for 4 months and the boys were gassy the entire time. When the milk dried up we tried several types of formula and Nutramigen was the only one that worked.
The boys only needed to use it for about 6 weeks until their systems matured and then I gradually switched them to a soy based formula and we are doing fine now at 8 mos. Oh and it is perfectly healthy. My boys are thriving.
The other thing that worked wonders was exercising their legs in a bicycle movement to get out the gas. I did this each diaper change for a couple min per baby and it really helped.
The drops and tablets only work on a small percentage of babies so don't be discouraged when they don't work long term.
The bottom line is babies are gassy regardless of what you feed them. We only switched because the gas was causing them pain and it was well worth it for a reduction in screaming!

Answer 3

You get SOOO many horrible answers on yahoo answers...lots from people who have no idea what they are talking about. Your DR is trained and knows whats best..most of the time. Alot of people talk about their baby farting..being gassy...but when they fart that just means its not building up in their belly. Farting is good..lol! Nutramigen is AWESOME...it works wonders for babies with constipation, fussiness, colic, etc. I was in the EXACT same situation with my son. And when it came to switching his formulas yet again I was skeptical and saying I dont want to change it AGAIN. He had been on 4 formulas by 3-4 weeks old. Nutramigen is the ONLY formula my son can tolerate. Not even NEOCATE which is suppost to be the best formula available from another country! Nutramigen is expensive, but most insurances will cover it since its "prescribed" by your DR. So yes try it! It may take 4-5 days to throughly work its way through babies system, but it is SO worth it. Also..if your baby has any constipation problems nutramigen will help SO much...baby can poop so easily! Good luck and for babies sake please try nutramigen you will be SO glad you did! Feel free to email me if you have any questions!

Answer 4

The spitting up may look bad and normally it looks like more amount then it actually is. If your babies weight is not being affected by the spitting then you should stick with the nutramigen. Nutramigen is hypoallergenic which means that the proteins used are broken more than other formula. AR just means that it is normal formula with rice added to it. If your child was having problems with normal formula and you switch back to the AR you will see those symptoms appear again.

Answer 5

If you feel that she is doing ok with the what's she on now then there is no reason to switch her over. Especially if it's just gas. Everyone gets gas and I don't agree that doctors switch just because a baby complains of gas. Only if there is a serious problem such as reflux of allergies shoulda baby be switched. Plus Nutramigen is really expensive and smells really bad. LOL. My personal opinion. My daughter had all kinds of milk allergies and reflux, we had to try different kinds.

Answer 6

No- Nutramigen smells and tastes disgusting- besides being really expensive. I swear by Enfamil Gentlease. It is the best and I guarantee will solve your problem-it did ours. Our pediatrician said that Nutramigen and Alimentum were "very last resort" and not as healthy. Do your research!

Answer 7

Nutramigen is sooooooo expensive. Switching her formula will giver her diahrea but thats about it. I swear by Enfamil gentlease for fussiness, gas and colic. Its pure GOLD!!!!!!!

Answer 8

Nutrimigen is for gassy and colicky babies, so I would make the switch again. If you have been using the new formula for a week, with no results, I would switch to this one, for a week. If it is no better, then go back to what she liked before. Oh, and Nutrimigen is incredibly expensive, so you may want to go back to what she was on before anyway...

Answer 9

Two words; Colic tablets. They get rid of the gas in a flash. I would also check her for reflux.

Also make sure she is burped a ton. You'll be surprised that there will still be air in her tummy. Also try switching bottles. Bottles are culprits for excess gas.