Formula reaction - anyone know what this is?

[emilys_mom]

I'm hoping someone out there can help with this. Our 7 wk old DD is BF right now, but I am going back to work and will probably start weaning her to formula at some point.

She has had a really bad reflux issue and, at 3 weeks, we started giving her one Enfamil AR bottle right before bed because she wouldn't reflux it up and would sleep longer than 2 hours with it. I noticed that she started waking up around 5:30 a.m. and crying out and would not go back to sleep for 2-3 hours because of it. Like she was trying to poop and couldn't.

I deduced that it must be constipating her (she hadn't pooped in 4 days at that point and she'd been going regularly). I took her off the formula for about 2 weeks and noticed she didn't poop anymore often (which our ped. said was normal for a BF baby) and she still woke up naturally around 5:30 with gas (not screaming out) passed it, and would go back to sleep. In the meantime, medicine resolved her reflux issue, so I didn't need the formula anymore.

She also has an ear infection (poor thing!) and is currently on an antibiotic and I have been giving her Florastor along with it in EBM hoping to stave off a yeast infection. Last night I was so exhausted after a total of 3 hours sleep two nights in a row, I couldn't bring myself to pump to get something to mix the Florastor with. Instead, I mixed it with one ounce of the Enfamil for gassy and fussy babies. She woke up at 5:30 arching her back and screaming again. It went on until around 8:30 when we gave up and got out of bed.

Does this sound like some reaction to the formula? She had a similar reaction to an ounce of Isomil we gave her through an SNS once when I first got started so I was staying away from Isomil. Could it be a cow's milk issue? I read somewhere that BM has more lactose than cow's milk, so it doesn't seem like it can be lactose, or could it? Our first DD had no reactions to formula when we moved her to it, but she was 6 months. Could it be her age? You can probably tell I'm at a total loss here.

[manda]

We've had issues with formula with all three of our kids. I've pretty much decided it is the DHA and/or ARA because as soon as we switch them to the Good Start without either of those their back arching and crying stops. You'd think after one (and especially after 2) we'd just automatically start with that formula, but I always thought the DHA/ARA ones were better for my kids. I've done a little research on it (not much by any means) and found that DHA and/or ARA in formulas can cause gastrointestinal problems with some babies. Also, there isn't any proof that the DHA/ARA actually do anything.

[emilys_mom]

I was wondering about Nestle because I was wondering if the "comfort proteins" they talked about would be easier on her. I had no idea about the DHA/ARA- thanks so much for the tip!

[eliasmom]

Yep, plain old Good Start did wonders for my gassy and refluxy kid. I have no idea what those "comfort proteins" actually are, but I do know a lot of moms who have had success with it.