breast feeding vs. formula

[Anonymous]

I use a hospital-grade pump as well, and it’s been very nice. I rent mine from WIC (for free). I’ve been renting it (and pumping) for 17 months now, and it’s worked really well for me. If you don’t qualify for WIC you can rent it from the hospital like Ann Marie said.

[Anonymous]

The Medela pump in style is what I used. It was wonderful but its pricey.

[Anonymous]

Okay, usually what happens with a refluxer is you try something new, like formula and it will work for a week and then things will go back to normal again. With my first son everytime I would switch his formula he would be better for a week and things would go back again. I would recommend bfing. There are enzymes in it that actually help refluxers. Also it is easier to digest. That being said, you are the mom and I think you should do what you think is best.

As far as sleep goes, I think it is very common that no matter what formula or bm or med. the baby just doesn’t sleep well. Not that that helps much. I’m just saying not to stop bfing just for the sleep. you might find that you stop bfing and do formula and it doesn’t change. Good luck with whatever you decide.

[Anonymous]

I don’t know if you can get infant gaviscon in the US. But this is essentially a formula thickener. And you can use it with breast milk. You spoon feed them the thickener and then you breast feed like normal. It then supposedly thickens in the stomach. You need to OK it with Dr for longer term use and it might be a tad constipating (although this will prob be less of a problem for breastfeeding). I’d be interested in knowing if you can get it.

[Anonymous]

I also didn’t know what to do with Carson. I bf until he was 6 months and then our specialist almost insisted we switch to Neocate. Oh, it would help him sooooo much………. Well, his nights are no better than they were. His weight is quite low and we struggle to get him to take the Neocate formula. For me, BF was easy and wonderful and I wept for days/weeks after he was on Neocate. I was on a very strict diet so eating brownies did help me through it! FOR US, Neocate was not a miracle formula that healed everything up.

Glad you have made a decision! Like you said, day by day, week by week. You can always change your mind.

[Anonymous]

I’m glad you made a decision. Here’s my 2 cents: people always said to me that reflux would go away at 6 months. My first son spit up constantly for 9 months and regularly till he was 1 year old. I thought all those people who said it would clear up at 6 months were crazy. Then I had my 2nd son. He went from soaking my shirt 2 to 3 times daily, to 1 x per day at about 5 months, to now spitting up maybe 1 to 2 times a week!!! And, his other symptoms (grunting, wiggling, back arching, crying, inability to sleep) pretty much all disappeared at 6 months. Now at 8 months, we’re even medicine free. So, basically my 2nd did clear up his reflux by 6 months. This could happen to you!!! So, keep breastfeeding. What I’d do so you’re not constantly reassessing your decision, is say, I’ll re-think this at x date (when baby is 5 months, 6 months,etc). This way you can function and find other things to worry about!!! Good luck. Once I decided to keep breast feeding the 2nd, who is MPI, things actually got better. Hope this works for you as well.

[Anonymous]

Partyof4,

All 3 of my boys have outgrown their reflux (for the most part) by 6 months. Caden, our youngest, is now symptom free for a week or more at a time. Then, out of nowhere he’ll have a few days of fussy, colicky behavior again, and I’m assuming it’s the reflux. BUT, this is SO much better than we were doing a month ago! So, I can honestly say that for whatever reason, my boys seem to outgrow reflux by 6 months. He’s even napping now!!! That is such a hugh milestone for him. He slept 2 hours in my bed yesterday while I did things around the house (this was unheard of a month ago). So, we’re on our way out with reflux (at least I hope and pray)!

Also, we suffered through horrible colic for the first 4 months, so it doesn’t mean that my situation is easier than those who outgrow it at 9 months! I know there are some who don’t have the colic to deal with, but the babies outgrow their reflux at 9 months rather than 6. They’re just all different I guess.

[Anonymous]

Laura,

I agree with hellbennt and others that it’s obviously a very personal decision that only you can make, but I was in your boat (in a way) with Caden a few months ago when he was having horrible mucousy bms, and he was SO colicky! He never spit up much (silent reflux), but it was so hard to deal with day to day. I kept thinking that surely my breastmilk was the problem and seriously considered weaning to formula. Well, I stuck it out, and here we are at 6 months, and he’s doing great on my breastmilk now, so whatever was bothering him wasn’t due to my milk. I will say that I DO have OALD, and once that was under control he started doing better all around, although it didn’t get rid of his reflux.

I just thought I’d share a little of my story as encouragement for you. Do what you feel comfortable doing, and you’ll know if weaning is the right thing for you if you decide to do it. For me, I just didn’t want to wean him, as he is our last baby, so I chose to stick it out (I’ve breastfed all 3 of our sons). I’m glad I did.

I’m starting to introduce solids now, too, and I’ve found that he is sensitive to certain foods, so we’re going really slow. So far, he has had no reaction to pears or carrots, but everything else I’ve tried has caused either gassiness, a rash, or both. All grains are out for now (we tried rice cereal and oatmeal and had a fussy, gassy baby), bananas are out, applesauce is out, and sweet potatoes are out! Those are the foods I’ve tried so far. You just have to do what works for you and your baby

Oh, and I tried cutting out dairy and almost everything else! I did TED from Dr. Sears’ website, and Caden didn’t do any better. So, I started eating whatever I want after that, and he did no worse…

So, for us eliminating foods from my diet wasn’t the answer either

Good luck with whatever you decide!

[Anonymous]

I’m probably going to be clubbed to death for this suggestion— but does your baby sleep on her tummy?

Violett also spits up a lot if she’s ever lying flat on her back, so we have her sleep on her tummy. She never spits up when sleeping anymore.

We use the Angel Care Monitor by BebeSounds (an alarm goes off if baby stops breathing)— it makes us feel secure knowing that she’s breathing when sleeping on her tummy.

Just a suggestion to add to the fabulous advice you’ve already gotten!

[Anonymous]

As soon as Carson could lift his head we put him on his tummy. I too was hesitant but he slept much better. If you have Angel Care, I would be so comfortable with that.

[Anonymous]

It’s such a difficult decision. I also beat myself up trying to figure things out. I just wanted to say good luck.

[Anonymous]

Wow! I really appreciate everyone’s replies and advice!

DD (Abigail, 3 months) is sleeping on her belly with mattress raised with books. She’s small enough now, she is not slipping down but I can see how a Tucker sling may soon be needed. She’s been on her belly for at least 7 weeks now. She has great neck and upper body strength, so I’m no longer worried about SIDS. Although I did look into the Angel Monitors when she was younger.

I am definitely sticking with BF’ing as long as I can. I wasn’t sure before writing this post but after reading your replies, I’m convinced this is what I need to do. I do give DD 1 bottle of formula in the middle of the night. If I BF her in the middle of the night then she’ll spend the next 2 hours spitting up. If I give her the AR formula, then she might spit up once and go right back to sleep… until morning!

Did the AR formula REALLY help (and continue to help) your infant?

Ok, so I thought I researched overactive letdown enough, but maybe I didn’t. I will research it more when I have time but let me ask you… can OALD be happening just in the early mornings and first part of the day? Because DD goes all night without nursing, by the time morning comes, I have full breasts. i really always have actually. So the first part of the day she is definitely getting more milk. I think this is the case with most BF’ing mom’s, from what I read. So I didn’t think I had OALD. However, I know in the mornings she is getting the foremilk mostly. In the mornings I usually only nurse her from one side and then starting in the middle of the day I’ll nurse both sides. So I think she’s getting my milk fast and it’s the foremilk. Is that OALD? Her stools have always been a perfect yellow. The consistency changes at times but I figured that was due to the little big of formula she’s getting. This morning before her morning feeding, I manually (I’m visiting my folks in Florida and forgot part of my breast pump, so I have to do it manually) expressed some milk. Not a lot, but a little. She still spit up her usually amount though. And I’ve read that they need that foremilk for hydration????

My head is spinning.

What do you know about Levsin (hyoscyanmine)? The Ped ordered it. Her nurse told me she prescribed this because I asked for a larger dose of Prilosec and she wouldn’t do it. I used to give it to DD when she seemed gassy or fussy. The doc wrote for it to be given for abdominal pain or spitting up. ????

Just another comment. I can’t help but notice it seems like a lot of reflux babies also have/had colic. My DD did but it ended at 10 weeks.

Ladies, thanks so much for your help!

Laura

[Anonymous]

I just wanted to comment about the colic thing. Many doctors will tell you that colic is just a term for they don’t know what is wrong with your baby. Basically the colicky behavior is due to the pain of reflux. I think Dr. Sears talks about this on his website. Ask Dr. Sears .com and also another mom put an article on here from a Dr. that just wrote a book about how colic most of the time is reflux. Colic he says, is a waste basket term. Just thought I’d share. I wish I could tell you more about bfing. I don’t know a lot about OALD. I am starting to think I have it on the left side. Whenever Justice eats from the left side he chokes. He doesn’t do that on the right side. Also the left is always fuller. Anyway, maybe you could go http://www.lalecheleague.org and get some more info. It has been my experience that most peds know nothing about bfing.

[hellbennt]

If her stools are regular mustardy seedy breastfed baby stools then personally I wouldn’t address your diet just yet…that’s just me…

[Anonymous]

You have to do what is right for you. I stopped breastfeeding after 3 weeks b/c my son had only gained 2 ounces in that time and was not thriving and we have since found out that he has a milk protein and soy protein allergy and needs a hypoallerginic formula, which didn’t stop the spitting but did stop the fussing. We are on prevacid and mylanta supreme and very frequent small feedings of no more than 4 oz every 60-90 minutes when he is awake. You may want to try these small frequent feedings to see if that helps. They haven’t stopped the spitting totally ( have only been doing this for 2 days) but he hasn’t spit up in his crib for the last 2 nights which is a miracle in my book. Best of luck with your decision. I am a dietitian and not breastfeeding broke my heart, but my son’s well being was more important to me.

[Author]

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