Help with Formula - Transition Has Caused > 1 Week Long Diarrhea

The doctor didn't recommend putting him on pediasure? When my son turned a year (dealt with weight issues all his life) he was put on pediasure. His stools actually became harder. We go back and forth actually with hard and soft although now finally it's more soft (he's 10 months). There is no milk in the pediasure though so maybe that will be better for him. I don't know if you need more calories than that for your son as I don't know his weight issues. Although, the diarrhea will likely subside as he gets used to the new formula. Just have to give it a little time. But also in the meantime if you're dealing with weight issues this is a great time to give him extra fat since those foods are binding. We had to find the right balance of fatty fiber rich foods for my son to keep his hard stools at bay.

M.

With my first 2 children, I breastfed until about a 1 year and then switched directly to whole milk, per my pediatrician's suggestion. At about 10 months, we used some formula for when I was away and my daughter had terrible diarrhea and stopped gaining weight, we even thought she might have celiac disease. Fortunately, when she turned 1, I switched to milk and the diarrhea completely disappeared. Good luck!

I would stop with the formula - it's an artificial substance and there are much, much better whole foods you can give you your baby full of healthy fats. I second all the recommendations from the last poster regarding things like real butter (organic!), avocado, etc. Avoid vegetable oils other than olive oil. And do lots of coconut milk and coconut oil - TONS of good fat and it tastes SO good!

K.,

My daughter needed to gain weight as well but I wasn't asked to put her on formula. The doctor said to add butter where possible in her food and cook as much as possible in olive oil. We saw a feeding specialist and she suggested Carnation instant breakfast drink instead of pediasure, it has less sugar and is less expensive.
Other high fat foods:
AVOCADO - you can mash this with banana or put it in the blender with banana -this makes a pudding consistency and if you add a 1/2 block of tofu it is a mousse like consistency. You can also mash avocado's and pears and add chicken to it for a really nice meal. I put chicken in the mini chopper and can get it as fine as eraser shavings if necessary.
PASTINA - star shaped pasta. I cook this, drain it, put it back in the same pot, add an egg and a dab of butter and cook, stirring the whole time til the egg basically disappears. You can also add peas or carrots to this. I sometimes grate carrots and zucchini into pasta dishes. With leftover pastina you can make a cheese sauce of a Kraft single ripped up and put in a bowl with some milk. Put in the microwave for 20 or 25 seconds and stir til combined. You can put almost anything in this cheese sauce.
EGGS - we had a slice of cheese to scrammbled eggs.
BREAD - cinnamon raisin toast with cream cheese is really good. Brown bread with butter.
CHEESE - shredded cheese as well as Kraft singles or even the baby bell cheese is good. Look for middle cheddar or mozzarella -whole fat of course.
FRUIT SMOOTHIES - I use fruit anything they like and whole fat organic ice cream - vanilla. Mix in the blender and freeze for a 1/2 hour. This is also good when they are teething, as are frozen blueberries.
YOGURT - drinkable yogurt is good too. Stoneyfield farms has a low fat one but I recently saw in one store that Yobaby came out with a drinkable yogurt. The feeding specialist recommended giving my daughter yogurt everyday.
SUNFLOWER BUTTER - this is instead of peanut butter. It is low on the list of allergies and is even used in public schools as an alternative if a child won't eat the lunch of the day. I put this on wheat crackers, on a english muffin or in place of peanut butter in recipes.
TOFU - really good for protein. I add it to cream soups or in pasta sauce. I daughter doesn't really know it's there and it's really good for her.
WHEAT GERM - you can add this to a lot of things. Just add it to the portion you are serving that day. Do not mix into something then store for later - it seems to turn black and for me at least is very unappealing to eat. You can roll banana pieces in the wheat germ for easier pick up.

You didn't say how much your son has lost but my daughter was born in the 5% and is now below the 3%. However she gained 1 pound 10 ounces on this high fat diet in 3 months. The doctor was happy with that.

Hope this helps.
L. M

Try using the Next Step Soy formula. My son had very bad allergies and I had him on that until he was about 18 months. He now is 6 1/2 and drinks Soy Milk. Soy is gentle. Also, look at his other foods and make sure they are higher in fat. I am currently working to get my 6 1/2 year old to gain weight -- Whole Milk Yogurt, Full Fat Cream Cheese on his bagels, a bowl of vanilla ice cream before bed. And the list goes on.

A lot of products have emusifiers and other additives that are very difficult to digest. A lot of kids with weight issues and even major failure-to-thrive problems do fabulously on a great and patented kids' supplement called Now for Kids. I can give you more info if you want. In addition to the tens of thousands of regular customers, the company has a humanitarian foundation that alone feeds 43,000 people a day, many of them malnourished children. They respond beautifully in a very short period of time because the product is so rapidly absorbed. So there's not a lot of intestinal stuff going on because there's very little to actually digest before it's absorbed at the cellular level. That might solve your problem. Let me know if you want to connect with other parents.

My son did very well on Nestle Good Start. I've read that it's closest to breastmilk, and one type of their formula contains natural digestive and immune cultures that would help with the diarrhea. You may have more of the same at first, but overall it should be easier to digest (comfort proteins). My daughter also had trouble gaining weight (still does) and her doc recommended Pediasure after she turned one. I also noticed that vitamins helped improve her appetite. Best of luck to you!

Try goat milk if you have a local source, like a health food store, or a dairy goat farm nearby. Goat milk is very easily digested and the fat content should help him gain weight. Good luck!

I had problems with my dauther and put her on nestle good start and it worked great

Hi K.,
Is there a reason why your pedi hasn't put your son on whole milk yet? Our pedi put our son on whole milk at 12 months and since then he has been right in the middle for weight in his age group. Not sure if it is related, but it did seem to help with the gain.