I am in desperate need of some advice!
My 4-month old daughter is a spit-up machine. There is no end to her spitting up, and, as a result, she is constantly hungry. I go through one package of formula in less than a week, which is costing me tons and tons of money! The formula should be lasting longer than this, and I may as well flush $5 down the toilet every time another river of spit-up lands on my shoulder.
I need some practical, wholesome advice on what to do. I've tried everything my pediatrician recommended plus a few tips I read on various websites, but nothing has worked. Here's an example:
Trial and error with formula. She is currently on a generic form of Enfamil AR.
Hold her in a more upright position during feedings.
Keep her in an upright position for 30-45 minutes after feedings.
Burp in between ounces. i.e., drink one ounce, burp, drink a second ounce, burp, etc.
Feed her less at one time, but more frequently.
None of these suggestions have yielded any changes. She continues to spit-up and spit-up and spit-up. At this point, I'm in denial about the possibility that I may just have to wait for her to grow out of it. I'm determined that there is a solution, and I'm almost certain someone out there has been in this same situation and can help me.
And the person that provides me the most effective advice will get a $20 Amazon giftcard.
Please comment and leave me any advice you may have.
P.S. To all you die hard, anti-formula moms out there: The reason behind why I do not breastfeed is none of your business. But, I promise with all of my heart that I have a very legitimate reason for bottle-feeding my child. Trust me when I say I would love nothing more than to feed my little one FREE breast milk, but such is not the case for me. As much as I know how much you'd love to lecture me on how I'm ruining my child's life by not breastfeeding, it really is unnecessary.
Does the formula have milk/dairy products in it? Maybe switching to a non dairy formula will help. I have heard by a couple of moms who breastfed that they had to cut out milk/dairy products while nursing because baby was allergic to milk products and it would make them spit up like that. Usually if that is the problem a child will outgrow it by 2 or 3. Good Luck!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Becky. I will give it a try!
DeleteHave you tried the soy formula? I remember when Shane had such a hard time when he was tiny, the pediatrician put him on soy formula. He did SO much better! It's worth a try.
ReplyDeleteI've been so focused on formula that is supposedly for taming spit-up that I haven't even considered soy, or non-dairy options. I'm going to give them a try! Thanks!
DeleteReagan had similar issues. We used similar sensitive (orange box) and it solved the problem. And good for you for being ok with formula!
ReplyDeleteThanks Ashley! I'm glad to know switching formulas worked for you. I'll give the orange box a try!
DeleteSimilac not similar... Dumb autocorrect
ReplyDeleteHas the dr saud anything about her having reflux? Beckham was on medicine for it and it helped him soooo much. He ended up being in soy formula too. Beware it smells nasty. I've never breastfed either. Yay for formula fed babies!!
ReplyDeleteSounds like soy is a popular solution. Thanks for the advice!
DeleteHas the dr saud anything about her having reflux? Beckham was on medicine for it and it helped him soooo much. He ended up being in soy formula too. Beware it smells nasty. I've never breastfed either. Yay for formula fed babies!!
ReplyDeleteCarrie had really AWFUL reflux. Every time something went down, pretty sure more came up. It is very discouraging. We tried all those things too and I kept hoping one would do the trick-not so. I was going to type the whole story, but here are the important parts:
ReplyDeleteXantac-tried this medication which works for some. It tasted awful and Carrie didn't do well with other things in her mouth so it made her puke.
Prevacid-I think this worked the best for us. They have it in solu-tab form which is really nice but very expensive if your insurance doesn't cover it. BUT -our saving grace was that you can get it OTC in capsules. We used the OTC prevacid. In the morning before she ate anything else, I would mix it up in a tiny bit of rice cereal or smash it up and put it in bread and feed it to her or you could probably put it in a little bit of formula and give it to her with a break between the little amount with medicine and the actual meal. Then I'd wait about 20 or 30 minutes to give her any other food. And it seemed to help most of the time. You only need one pill a day and you get a 6 week supply for less than $20 (I think). I'd break open the capsule and empty the medicine out of it. It takes about a week for it to really make a difference.
We also went to a chiropractor for a little while and it seemed to help at first but stopped helping.
Also, feeding her solid foods helped. Instead of watering down the cereal, I would make it pretty thick and it was like it would soak up the extra acid and keep things down better. I don't know if you are close to doing solid foods or not.
We also tried Wild Orange essential oil-didn't work, made it worse for us.
Hmmm, I think that's all I've got. Hopefully one will help! Oh yeah! One other thing, we did have a swallow study done to make sure everything was working anatomically. They have a bottle with a solution in it and I can't remember the name and they have the baby drink it under an X-ray machine. It's really cool to watch the swallowing.
Good luck!
Thank you Heather! I didn't realize there were OTC options! Glad something worked for you!
DeleteThat's no fun that she's so spit-upy. My nephew Hunter had reflux really badly when he was little and gripe water helped for quite awhile before they decided to switch him to prevacid. The doctor also had him do soothing sucking, which was using the binky as soon as he finished eating. The continued sucking motion helped to keep the formula down. It didn't stop the acid production, but it did prevent the spit-up. Hope it helps.
ReplyDeleteThank you! I've researched gripe water but haven't tried it yet. I'm hoping I can solve the problem with just a formula switch but it seems as though I may have to be open to other options. :)
DeleteMy boss had to use goats milk... sounds gross but she said that was the only thing her baby would keep down
ReplyDelete