Switching Formulas?!?

[lks]

My 8 week old son has had constant digestive issues. He was 4 weeks premature and the docs said that his digestive system is still a little immature. He has been incredibly constipated for the past 4-5 weeks (beginning around the time I stopped mixing breast milk with his formula and after a 10 day course of antibiotics). Also around this time, we switched from Enfamil Premium Lipil to Nestle Good Start Protect Plus (Green Label). DS took down Good Start much better, but he has been unable to poop since this switch. Our doc told us to use glycerin suppositories and anal stimulation to help coax him to relax his butt and poop... And both of these tricks help him to poop, but he cannot seem to poop on his own and pushes and strains, and grunts, and screams all day trying to poop. Our doc then told us to try soy formula and we did, but nothing changed. I also read some scary things about soy and decided that if we aren't 100% positive that DS is lactose intolerant, then I don't want him on soy. So, we just switched again to Enfmail GentleEase (Purple Label).

IS ALL OF THIS SWITCHING SAFE??? ARE WE HURTING OUR SON BY SWITCHING SO MANY TIMES???

[JBaxter]

No your not hurting him but sometimes it takes a while to find the right formula. Have you tried adding probiotics to his formula? I did that with Jack .. and still do actually. They make them in powder form for babies. The Similac sensitive helped Jacks constipation but every baby is different.

[heatherandlouis]

My son is allergic to the corn syrup and maltodextorin in powdered formulas and it caused him horrible problems. He is also allergic to milk and soy so he uses Similac Alimentum. You just need to find the right mix for him :) Have you tried a ready to feed formula as well?

[srhs]

The switching is fine, IMHO. People often jump around from brand to brand.
It is recommended that you taper down the old and up the new for a gentler stomach transition, but if you are having stomach problems with the old, I'm not sure that's productive either.

GL finding the right one!

FWIW, the pedi GI told us to give our LO powdered Miralax in bottles every day for his lack of pooping, and he's BF. We don't do it because he doesn't take a bottle for us, but that's a different issue. Only throwing it out there because at least one doc thinks that's a safe option.

[Melaine]

The formula that caused my girls the least issues (reflux) wound up being the cheapest, plainest kind without DHA/ARA. We also switched around a lot until we found that.