Which Formula to Give a Colicky Baby?

I don't know about formula but have you tried giving her Gripe Water? It works really well. We buy it at health food stores but I have seen it at the drug store in the baby aisle too. HTH!

My daughter was moderatly colicky and the only formula that worked for us was the enfamil nutramigin (sp?). It is a bit pricier than the general formulas, but it was worth every penny if it soothed her. Good luck and know that the colic WILL go away eventually.

Amamda, I don't know about formula, but do get a copy of the DVD "The Happiest Baby on the Block" - the advice for crying babies is outstanding. I got one at Borders - at the time they were out and had to order it for me - as a gift for some new parents and they swear by it. Good luck - J.

I have to agree with Laura Lee. True colic is several hours of uncontrolled crying for no known reason and it simply must run its course (at about 12 weeks it just disapears). My first had this and cried for 6+ hours!

If the formula you are using is the problem your daughter would be fussy whenever she ate (or shortly afterward), which doesn't seem to be the case.

Some newborns will cry for a shorter period each evening and this is really just venting all of the stimuli they've taken in all day. If you think about it, everything is new to an infant. Every sound, sight, smell, everything that touches them, etc. and they've not developed a 'filter' system yet to determine what can be tuned out as unimportant, so they are usually pretty overstimulated by the end of the day. They have very few outlets for all they are feeling. Smiles and laughter are pretty thin on the ground at this stage so even 'happy' stimulus can only be vented through crying. My grandmother used to call it a baby's 'fussy time' and really no amount of dietary change, cuddling, meds. etc. can help with it. That was a hard thing for me to take with my girls since being unable to help your baby is a terrible thing. It gets much better as babies are able to express emotions in other ways. A good belly laugh is a great stress reliever!
It will get better soon!

What times is she crying from and to? Is it too early to put her to bed, if she would sleep? My daughters doctor said most babies have a "witching hour" where they cry for for a few hours at night. They are kind of letting off steam from the rest of the day. My friend stopped this from happening with her son by putting him to bed around 6 or 6:30 (his witching hour started around 6) and in turn he sleeps a little longer and she doesn't have to figure out why he's crying.
Best of luck,
C.

Hi A.,
I feel your pain! My now 3 yr old daughter was VERY colicky, and to make matters worse, I had postpartum depression. This too shall pass, as our pediatrician said, and he was right. I have read about the use of probiotics for colic treatment, wish I had read it when Paige was colicky. Even some formulas have probiotics now. One thing that saved my life was the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Dr. Marc Weissbluth. I found that the crying was less if she was getting enough quality sleep. His rule is no more than 2 hours of wakefulness for newborns. Which means getting them back to sleep within 2 hours of waking from their last sleep. I also kept her close to me in her Snugli during those times. Swaddling helps for some babies, unfortunately my daughter HATED to be swaddled from day one so that wasn't an option. If you want more info on Dr. Weissbluth, email me.
Sincerely,
L.

I feel for you. My now 18 month old was very colicky.

What at least helped with him not crying during the feedings was the Enfamil Nutramigen formula. It will be sticker shock, it is very expensive BUT after 4 days my son at least stopped crying during feedings. It smells terrible and at first the baby may not like the taste but it can really help since it is hypoallergenic.

What saved me was our Fisher Price Aquarum bouncer seat which he lived in pretty much during this time. Me gently rocking him in it is the only thing that comforted him. Although I will warn he became dependent on the bouncer and it was a rough couple of days by the time I broke him of the habit at 6 mos. old. Best of luck to you! This WILL get better! Colic usually passes by 12 weeks .

I had twin girls in January. One of them had a really tough time after eating. I tried 7 - 8 formulas; see my notes below ... for each baby it is different so a lot of trial and error.

BTW, switching to Dr. Brown's bottles helped us a lot. Our babies couldn't handle the flow from the BornFree bottles and the Dr. Brown's have a vent system that really helped. Reduced gas which reduced upset stomachs and crying.

Just one thought: Mylicon, gripe water, new bottles and switching to lactose-free formula were still not enough. At the encouragement of my night nurse who felt one of my girls had acid reflux, I asked our doctor for a prescription for Zantac. This helped within about a week. The screaming and squirming after eating stopped and our baby slept much better.

Formula notes (sorry for the length):

*We started w/Similac Advance -- this is what the hospital gave us to take home. Seemed ok as far as we knew but one of my babies screamed a lot -- due, we now know, to the acid reflux and probably not the formula.
*When we ran out, we switched to Enfamil Lipil (equivalent of the Similac) because someone gave us several boxes of the glass bottles for free. Again, one baby was mostly fine with a little gas but the other was not happy.
*So we switched the Enfamil ProSoybee Lipil -- Initially, this seemed to be having a positive effect but then the crying and discomfort started again -- again, perhaps due to acid reflux, not the formula.
*This is when we tried Nestle Good Start (not the culture naturals though) and then Enfamil GentlEase -- both have partially broken down proteins that are supposed to reduce gas. Ironically, these two did just the opposite for us! Their systems did not like the extra help. Both girls had *huge* gas issues - the gas started to bother their tummies while they slept waking them around 4 or 5 am with crying and gassy sessions. Also, we would have problems during the day when they would cry and try to pass the gas.
*We did briefly Similac Sensitive which is for gassy babies but I think it is the same as the two above -- "easy to digest" with partially-broken down proteins led to major gas for the girls. We also tried Similac Sensitive AR because the doctor gave us a sample; this has added rice starch for acid reflux making it thicker but since spitting up wasn't the primary issue with us it didn't matter too much.
*Finally, my husband remembered that lactose-intolerance runs in his family. That's when we switched to Enfamil LactoFree, the gas went away within a day and the girls were happier.

And, from 7 - 9 months, after their systems got stronger, I weaned them back onto a regular formula with lactose (Enfamil Lipil). Now they eat yogurt and cheese and have no issues.

A.,

I know nothing about formula as our daughter is breast fed, but when she had colic symptoms we used gripe water and also had a chiropractor treat her. He was specialized in working on babies. There is an article on colic in child magazine www.child.com which is quite interesting. Go to the link and the story scrolls across the home page for you to click on.

Good luck.
C.

It may take a few tries to find a formula that works best for her (becareful in switching too quickly which causes constipation). Unfortunately there is no magic formula that will help with colic. You should run to the store and purchase "The happiest Baby on the Block" DVD, there are some awesome techniques that may instantly soothe your daughter and help her with any discomfort. Also if she seems gassy try doing bicycle legs for her and gently press her legs/knees into her stomach to try and releive any built up gas. Mylicon is about as good as giving your baby water, it is not clinically tested so not worth your money. The 5 S's in the DVD will hopefully be a great start.

Good luck!!
Steph

hi there

She may not be colicky in as much as just gasey, are you sure you are burping her correctly ? our son didn't cry at first but a couple of mos later , he did.. so we switched formulas from emfamil <<< way TOOOOOOO rich to carnation goodstart.. it was a much thinner formula and helped immediately.. our son no longer cried, so I never thought he was colicky just gasey from that rich formula.
I 'm not sure if it's still called carnation good start.. but I think Nestle's owns them
good luck

Hi A.-

We saw a Gastro-Ped for our sons acid reflux and colic and used, like many with success over the others, Nutramigen by Enfamil. It's pricey...you could try Enfamil's Gentle Ease first to see if that helps before going to the most hypoallergenic formula.

My daughter cried for hours every evening, so I gave her baby gas-x, simethicone drops. Gas gone, baby stopped crying.

Stephanie

Unfortunately with colic they just have to outgrow it..but it can drive you nuts in the meantime. Mylicon drops helped us as well as Good Start formula. Our son, Sam, would do better if we put his seat on the dryer while it was going...of course you HAVE to stand or sit next to it with your hands on the seat all the time, so we soon began to drive around with him every night. We got the Harry Potter books on CD and loaded up in the truck with our older daughter in the backseat and drove each night for about an hour till he quieted down and drifted off. Once he was asleep for 20 more mins we were able to take him home and put him in the crib. To this day, 8 years later, whenever we pull out our Potter on CD's for a long trip it brings back GOOD memories of our nightly drives to quiet Sam. Turned out that the Colic ended up bringing our family together for at least an hour each night. Not a bad thing in the end.

Good luck, hope you make it thru it with your sanity.

C.

Please accept my empathy for your babies colic. My first daughter had it for 6-weeks 3:00 to 11:00 PM everyday. I was 18 years old and wanted to scratch my eyes out. After two more kids and 4 nieces and nephews and age (43) I have learned a few things. Here goes:

Colic is uncontrollable crying with no known cause. It usually happens toward the evenings. If you want to try the formula change option try something completely low allergy like Nutrimigen, Alimentum or Pregestimil. It is worth the expense if it helps. Of course ask your doctor.

My daughters swing helped the best. When she could not be calmed down I would put her in her swing and she would fall right to sleep. Something about the rythmic motion. Also you can put the baby in a front pack carrier with their legs drawn up.

Your doctor may recommend Mylicin which is a over the counter gas treatment for babies. It could be colic gas. Yet another form of torture.

Do make sure the doctor has cleared any other issues such as ear infections or bladder infections that could be causing issue too. Once the illness's have been cleared try the alternatives.

For the swing you will need to pack blankets all around if it is a seat. Trust me the swing was a blessing once we knew what she had.

The pain is once you figure it all out, they are over it. And the true blessing begins. Take Care, LLP

We had milk lactose intolerance in our family so I used soy based formulas. My kids never had any crying problems, but I wish now that I had never used soy. I have read so much about soy being estrogenetic, and causing hormonal problems in fetus's and infants.
One thing I wish I had given my babies is Cod Liver Oil. I have read so much good stuff about it! I do give it to them now, but my kids are 12 and 8, and I missed a good opportunity to give them a superfood when they had the most development.

I know many babies are put on drugs for crying (colic)and reflux. I would advise you against that. Here is what I read about Antacids in babies:

An increase of 600 % in pharmacutacles given to infants and children for GERD in just the last few years. Many of the meds have not been appropriately tested in children at all so very few of these drugs are approved by the FDA and are given "off label". They can cause development delays, severe vitamin defeciencies, absorption diffculties and failure to grow. Once the meds are stopped the problem usually returns. Many times colic is a symptom of a food or substance intolerance of some kind.
Here are just a few examples of med problems:
Mylanta/malox- nurotoxin (has aluminum in it) depletes calcium and phosphorus.
Zantec- Depletes calcium,folic acid,,iron,,b12,D ,and zinc.
Tagamet- decreases stomach acid, males can get enlarged boobs (estrogenetic) and prone to pneumonia.

www.nutritionalconcepts.com/article/refluxmeds.htm

Hi A., there are a couple of different issues here that are raised by the previous posts. Gas reflux or just plain old gas, etc. is NOT colic. There is the possibility that your child has these issues so I would ask the doctor to check out all possibilities. We went through exactly this trial and error with our now 3.5 month old. I turned out nothing was physically wrong - the doctor checked her poop, we tried her on gas reflux meds, etc. She just had plain old colic that will unfortunately not ease no matter what formula you use. We tried a bunch of different ones and nothing changed her behavior because nothing was "physically" wrong - as you can see there is a difference between colic and physical probs like gas reflux or food allergies (which is the only way your child's behavior will change as a result of changing formulas). You may wish to go through the trial and error to make sure though, I don't know what the situation is with your child.

However, what worked for us was swaddling with the miracle blanket (no other method worked because my daughter could get out of the swaddle - she is a feisty one!), coupled with white noise....the method is laid out by The Happiest Baby on the Block book....which I vividly remember reading at 3am on the border of losing my mind because my child would not sleep and kept crying - eek!

Let me reassure you that no matter what the issue is - there is light at the end of the tunnel - just stay on top of your doctor and don't let them dismiss you as a worried mother...that just means you are doing your job! Good luck!

By the way - my little one is on Similac Sensitive RS just in case you wanted to know!

My breastfed daughter cried every evening for 4+ hours for the first three months of her life. Like others we racked our brain for a cause, but ultimately she outgrew it on her own. I think some babies get overstimulated really easily. If it was a feeding issue, you would expect that the crying would happen throughout the day, not just in the evening.

Some things that worked for us (besides nursing) were:
1) getting her on a nap schedule (never kept her awake longer than 2 hours) -- this helps baby not get too overtired/overstimulated by end of day.
2) swing

Our daughter hated her carseat and baby carriers so those were never an option for us, but maybe would help you?

Good luck!

i dont know much about colic and nothing at all about formulas, but i will say that a few months ago my newborn was doing the same thing as yours and i could not quite pin it down to upset tummy. yes, he is gassier than many, but i just thought there was more to it. what i realized upon slowing down and looking at my baby's needs was that he was way overtired. evening in my house is hectic -- three year old dinner bath bed routine -- and i was not realizing how much time had passed since last nap. my baby can not stay up for more that 1 or 2 hours without need for sleep. if he does not get put down at right time, it will take him hours to wind back down. its always worth a try. before her usual fussy time, make sure she is fed, put her in a sling and take a walk outside or try something you know will get her to sleep if she needs it. at the very least, doing something pleasant like getting fresh air may help her if she is in pain!

Give him babies magic tea. It worked wonder for my colicky and reflux baby.

A.
Call your daughter's pediatrician before you make anymore changes.

A.

Easy; Similac Isomil Advanced Soy formula. Guaranteed to reduce colic and gas.

Hi A.,

It is frustrating to see your baby not well with any thing going on with them. My granddaughter was colicky and I found giving her pimag water and putting her on a magnetic pad all of her discomfort went away.

If you would like to learn more go to www.nikken.com/ninamarie

Feel free to email me if you have any questions.

Have a happy and safe holiday.

N. Marie

Try Nutramigen. My nephew was prescribed that for the same reason.

Be careful and don't any funky formulas with goats milk when you don't know what your doing...ask your pediatrician. there is nutramigen, enfamil gentle ease, and soy products...ask your doc. you don't want to be continuously changing your infants food. There is gripe water made by wellements at whole foods, it worked for our daughter.

A., It has been 14 years but seems like yesterday. The colic was so difficult I would've loved to have answers sooner. I was breastfeeding, it was my first child, and I didn't know one thing I coulc do to help my baby feel better. Sadly, she was miserable for about 12 hours a day instead of 3-5 hours like most. Daytime was almost as bad as the evening and we were desperate. It seems like we got a lot of pressure to keep breastfeeding her, even though the crying and misery were unbearable. Finally, someone (a nurse, I think) took pity on us and advised me to quit nursing and feed my baby a formula called 'Nutramigen'. (not sure if it's spelled right, but it's close. I doubt it is still marketed by that same name anymore--but perhaps it is, or something like it is sold. I was told that the proteins or fats were in simpler form (or broken down) and this would relieve some of the gas and pain. She took her first bottle with comfort and slept for four hours immediately after drinking it down (she had never had a bottle and slept without crying for 1-2 hours first. So, I was thrilled and kept her on this formula. I was a much more 'sane' and peaceful mom after that. She still had some digestive issues like excess acid and horrible diaper rash from the excess acid. But that was small compared to the pain she had after every bottle before the formula change. She ended up with no residual problems with digestion, no allergies of any kind whatsoever, and very healthy overall. I wish you the best in your search for a 'cure' to your baby's colic. --K. T

The best, safest & organic formula:
http://www.naturesone.com/index.php

And buy at Walgreens Hylands Colic tablets (homeopathy)They melt in 2 seconds flat in their mouth (made with lactose) Trust me this were my only hope of calming my colicky child!!! They work like magic!!!
http://www.vitacost.com/HylandsColicTablets?csrc=PPCYAH-c...

Love, G.. :0)
http://stemcellforautism.blogspot.com/

"I know of nobody who is purely Autistic or purely neurotypical. Even God had some Autistic moments, which is why the planets all spin." ~ Jerry Newport

I hope you find something that works for your baby, but she might just have to outgrow the colic. My breastfed son cried for 6 hours a day until he was 12 weeks old. We made ourselves crazy trying to solve it. In the end, I just had to put on earplugs and hold him until it was over. The earplugs helped me keep my stress level down.

My youngest was like your little one. I'm so sorry you two are going through this. We slowly tried different formulas. The trick is to slowly transition from one to another (start with 3/4 of the old and 1/4 of the new for a couple of days then work your way up to completely the new brand) and stay with each one for a few days once the full transition is made to see if it is going to work for her.

Ultimately I ended up using goat's milk with corn syrup and a baby liquid multiple vitamin that didn't have potassium in it for my daughter after trying EVERY formula on the market. My guess for her was trouble digesting potassium since she also had problems with bananas once she started eating solids. I'm not sure if that is usual, but I was glad my aunt who used to be a nurse recommended goat's milk. It was a life saver!!! You may have better luck as the formulas on the market now are better formulated and you have more to choose from.

I also found tummy and leg massage helped often times. I would take off her pants and diaper and rub her tummy, legs and feet. She liked that and would calm down. Make sure to bring her knees up to her belly to help her expel any gas she might have. Good luck!

Anything organic. Earth's best is the most expensive but similar ingredients if not the same @ a better cost is walmart brand parents choice organic or I believe safeway or your grocery has an organic brand @ a better price. Then use baby's bliss gripe water or similar brand. You can find Baby's bliss @ Longs or the other ____@____.com when baby is having the symptoms.I have a 5 month old. The gripe water always helped my daughter. Here is a link to Baby's bliss so you can see what it looks like. It works the same as the mylicon drops the Dr. recommends but it is an organic/natural version. http://www.babyorganic.com/cart.php?target=category&amp;c...

We had colicky issues with our son, who is now 20 months old, but his was due to reflux, and he got drops from his doctor to help with that...and he eventually just grew out of it. However, my niece has major colicky issues due to her formula. My sister-in-law couldn't nurse because she wasn't producing enough milk. They tried every formula under the sun. They finally landed on soy formula (not sure which brand, but I think any soy worked for her). Turns out Addison, although not allergic to milk, had issues with dairy. She did great on the soy formula, and is now 15 months old and drinking soy milk and doing great. If you haven't tried soy formula, check it out, it might help.

Hi A.,

I had great luck with doctored up goat milk. We added a powder probiotic, fish oil, and folic acid. Goat's milk has molecules which are smaller and closer to the size of human breast milk so it's easier to digest than cow's milk. The ingredients in over the counter formulas are sub-optimal in quality so I preferred making my own formulas at home. It was at the suggestion of our pedi and we had great success. If your interested you can email me and I can give you the specific measurements and recs on which ingredients to buy. Best of luck to you and baby!