Unhappy baby...Is it the formula?

[hrk]

Glad to hear that things improved so much, and I hope this is just a little blip in the radar.  Hard to tell with teething in the mix.  H eats less, but drinks more with teething.  He didn't get his first teeth until nearly 8 months.  He has always been a big drinker, though.  He does wake a bit with teething.  It seems los are different in how they react to teething.  If it is teething, do meds or gel or tablets help at all?  That may be a good idea to help you figure that.  But I can understand being cautious about meds.

It does seem odd that all this is coinciding with the change to formula full time.  Talk to your pedi and see what he/she thinks.  Like I said, we waited too long to go to the gi.  If it takes a while to get in to one, you may ask for a referral and tell your dr you would like to err on the side of making an apt (and cancelling if all should clear up with a tooth appearing or it going away).

As for sleep training, it was so much easier to do when lo was feeling well on his adjusted med dose.  It would be nice to rule out any thing medical for you, otherwise it could be in vain (making you both crazy).  I felt like I was banging my head on the wall.  It really was so much easier to reduce my interventions to get him to sleep, as they became less necessary.  ;-)    

[Megewansmum]

Thanks Jean I will definitely be seeking advice from the pediatrician. I will also suggest a gi too and see where we go from there. I hate to see my LO so unhappy it really isn't like her at all. I would hate to think that it was caused by something I'm doing that is supposed to be helping her when all I'm doing is making matters ten times worse for her.

[Megewansmum]

Hello...I need advice again please.

LO absolutely hated Nutramigen and went on a hunger strike. She would only eat 1oz a feed and had only 5oz all day! The pediatrition suggested we try Similac Isomil Soy formula and she loves it and can tolerate it. The NW's were getting less, only twice for feeds and a couple of times besides where she would resettle. Unfortunately though now it has all gone haywire again.

She started to take more at feeds 5-6oz and was going 4hrs between them. Now she is back to 3oz feeds every 3 hours. For the past couple of days her poos have been getting more and more solid although she is going everyday. Yesterday she was straining and crying but nothing came out. She later cried again and passed a small hard bullet. I saw the public health nurse who said that she may be slightly dehydrated which is causing constipation. She suggested giving her 1oz of water a day which I have been doing. I have also been giving her a feed of pumped breastmilk and adding 1oz of breastmilk to each bottle too which I thought would help. Nothing seems to be helping though.

Has anyone used Isomil had similar problems? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated I hate to see LO in pain. Thank you.

[mmom]

We definitely had problems with Soy.  We didn't have refusal with the hypoallergenic formula though.  Liz went through this I think.  So hopefully she will pop on this thread and offer some advice.

[Megewansmum]

Thank you. It seems such a shame that we found a formula that she likes and can tolerate but it seems to now be making her constipated. Seems so cruel after trying so many formulas. I can't bear the thought of switching again. She really won't eat the hypoallergenic ones, Nutramigen or Allimentum. Not much else left she can eat!

[mmom]

If she can tolerate it in every other way and it is only making her constipated, can you ask your doctor about a stool softener?  We had to give a 1/2 tsp of Mirilax in the morning and at night while my LO was on soy.

[Megewansmum]

Thank you. Is it just something that Soy does to babies?

[deb]

Well, in our case soy actually had a different effect, nasty smelly poos and lots of gas, but then again applesauce can constipate some kids while loosening up others, so I would suppose if you an have one kind of digestive effect, others aren't a big stretch. And when mine were constipated we would also give them a syringe of water with each feed as well till it passed, and ocne they were old enough we'd add a bit of prune juice to a bottle/cup as well.

Might it be OK to try mixing the formulas and see if she'll drink a combination? She might not hate the taste so much that way. You could try a small portion, like an ounce, that way and see if she'd accept it, and if not have a bottle of the soy ready right away (you already know she likes that).

[Megewansmum]

I phoned the doctors this morning and she recommended a tiny amount of baby prune juice aswell as warm water. I have just mixed 4oz of breastmilk with 1oz of water and she has taken 4oz of it so hopefully that might help too.

Bless her she has just been crying and straining and produced yet another tiny, hard lump. We went for a walk in the stroller and she wouldn't sleep just cried all the way back home. I think she is in some discomfort :-( I hope her bowel sorts itself out soon.

The public health nurse has just e-mailed me and said that it is quite common after being on formula for a month. What a nightmare!