Ugh the dreaded formula
I’ve been pumping and supplimenting sence my baby was born.
In the hospital they gave him enfimil… which has a ton of chemicals and is garbage.
When I got him home I started him on babys on k y organic… half that, half breast milk. He loves it , and did really well with it. Then [name_m]Saturday[/name_m] I just gave him all formula at night… hoping he would sleep a little longer and I’m so sick of pumping… sence then he has been backed up. … only pooping like once a day and only after he’s had some breast milk. …he got gassy so I bought some gripe water. And if I give him that he will poop as well. I want to stop giving him breast milk because I’ve had it with pumping. But he was never fussy before and now he’s struggling to poop.
Does anybody know of any organic formulas… that are Gentle and help with constipation. I want something healthy for my baby, not a bunch of chemicals and unnatural garbage
When are this young, their digestive schedules are all over the place anyhow. It takes awhile for that to sort itself out no matter what you are feeding him. If he continues having problems when you switch over, definitely talk to your doctor about it.
As to formula types, Gerber Gentlease makes one that helped with our eldest son’s gassiness. It’s not organic, but the milk proteins are predigested so its a little easier on tiny babies. Target makes a wide variety of generic formulas that imitate the large brands (the ingredient lists are identical) so that can be a good way to try out different types should you need to.
Make sure that you let the bubbles settle in the formula before you feed the baby. You can try adjusting the angle that you hold the bottle at, too. That can really help.
[name_f]Earth[/name_f]'s Best makes an organic formula, though the ingredients in formula are so broken down that I’m not sure it matters if they’re organic or not.
If it’s really important to you to not use formula, you can check for breast milk sharing groups in your area. Women donate excess milk, you go pick it up. Look for human milk for human babies or eats on feets. I personally think formula is awesome and I have a completely amazing, brilliant and extremely healthy four year old as proof of that. But this option does exist, should you want to take advantage of it.
I’m not sure if this helps: but organic formula made my daughter extremely gassy and upset her stomach. We wanted to give her a natural, organic formula, but it just didn’t work out. We ended up giving her regular similac, which is just what she digested best and was happiest on.
I had to google milk sharing because I couldn’t believe it actually existed. That concept freaks me out to no end! I’m a paediatric nurse, and in my hospital expressed breast milk needs to be double checked by two separate nurses using two identifiers to ensure the right baby gets the right milk. If a baby is given another mother’s milk it’s a big deal (involves blood tests for mom and affected baby) because it is a bodily fluid and a potential vector for pathogens/disease (we treat it as biohazardous).
Both of the listed milk sharing communities explicitly state that they do not screen donors. Please be extraordinarily careful if you go this route - honestly I’d say that the risks outweigh the benefits.
I don’t know much about formula, so I hope someone else can help you out on that front. You could try simethcone for the gassyness - reviews are mixed on whether it’s actually very effective but it might be worth a shot!
I never heard of milk sharing either, it freaks me out as well. … that doesn’t seem very safe to me. …
My poor baby is so constipated, I ran out to get Gerber good start gentle, because online it said this helps best with constipation. It’s not organic. … but hopefully he will feel better in a few days
When they are so young, any switch in milk (breast to formula or even switching formulas) will cause gas and constipation. You have to give it a few days before trying to switch and then expect to start all over again.
[name_m]Even[/name_m] though by the end of the time I was pumping, she was only getting about 2oz a day (and drinking probably about 50oz of formula), she still got constipated when I stopped giving her that tiny bit of breast milk.
I gave her some prune juice to help, but she was almost 6 months, so definitely don’t try that without asking a pediatrician.
We’ve pretty much found that any formula was as good as the next. I breastfed Saela exclusively for 10 months, and when I had to supplement with formula, we gave her up&up brand from Target. She was older, and had no ill effects, but we did the same with my other daughter at a younger age and she was fine as well.
Feeding your baby and keeping him happy is the #1 priority. Is there a reason why you don’t breastfeed exclusively? What made you want to pump instead of feed? Have you considered increasing your supply naturally? Breast milk is best for many reasons you expressed to us, so to avoid the formula, I would probably try and figure out breastfeeding a little more to avoid formula all together.