need formula help

my insurance covers similac isomil and now i want to give them something else. im a paranoid mama and want to switch their formula.
can someone please advise me as to what i should try? or what else my insurance company might cover?

i *think* i would like to try the nestle good start as per some of your recs. is it the regular one? anything else i should research and consider? i am thinking that insurance won't cover the 'regular' formula...only special ones, right?

 

i can't remember why you decided on soy, but if it is due to a milk protein allergy/intolerance your best bet would probably be one of the hypoallergenic formulas, similac alimentium or enfamil nutramigen. if your insurance covers the soy it should cover the other too which would be really great because it is very $$. the only other drawback to those formulas is that they smell like dogfood and don't taste all that great either.

if they were on soy for health reasons i would suggest talking to your pedi before making any changes too. and try not to freak out, there are lots of babies that have been on soy and are just fine.

 

i cant sleep. LOL. i'll be up all night now.
we are on soy for spitting up/reflux. but i feel like they were put on it so quickly in the hospital. they put the boys on it bc one of my LO's didn't have a bowel movement for 48 hours and the other LO was spitting up so badly. they both have reflux but are on zantac for it. im thinking i can switch their formulas with the ped's consent but would realllllly like to have the insurance pay for it. LOL (obviously)

 

i think you could probably try a regular formula since they got started on soy so early, you really won't know how it will affect them until you try it. they could be just fine with a milk based formula, but you are right, insurance won't pay for the regular stuff... you are still BFing, right? have you removed dairy from your diet? if not, and the boys seem fine, they might not have a problem with dairy...

now stop worrying and go to bed!! LOL! i need to take my own advice!!

 

i am pumping. they get about 2 bottles of BM a day and 3 of formula. sometimes they can get a little more BM when i'm better at pumping.
thank you for your help...i appreciate it!

ETA: they have been fine ever since they went on zantac.

 

Similac sensitive(orange can) or enfamil brand imo. I think goodstart would also be good. My sister had good luck with that one

 

Can you pump more so that you can give more BM and not worry so much about formula?

If not, I would go with a hypoallergenic formula like Alimentum or Nutramigen.

 

I think if you haven't tried a regular milk based formula, then it wouldn't hurt to try it. Your insurance won't cover it, but you can get generic versions of both enfamil and similac that are about half the price of the name brand cans. Your babes are also almost 6 months old so their digestive tracts will be much stronger, which can help with the spitting up problems.

There is no generic version of good start so it's up to you whether you want to spend the money on it. My babes have been on full formula since 6 wks, and at 6 months they were going through about 2.5 cans a week, at $24.50 a can, it adds up. It makes our budget very tight, but my kids all did the best on it.

 

i haven't tried milk based formula since they were in the hospital but i think i want to now. do i 'wean' them into it or just change it.
im assuming unless its soy, alimenutium, etc, i'll have to pay 100% out of pocket, right?

 

I went cold turkey when I changed formulas. Also, you might call your pedi and ask if they have some samples to try before you make a financial commitment, even if it is just one $25 can. We recently changed to Gentelease and our pedi gave us a case to try initially, then four more cases when we decided it worked for us.

 

When I switched one of my LOs to soy formula I did so cold turkey, and he had horrible diarrhea. I have no idea if introducing it more gradually would have helped, or if he just couldn't tolerate soy. In any case after that I switched our babies from Gentlease to Enfamil AR, and then later to Enfamil Premium, and I always introduced it a bit more gradually. I didn't have a problem when I switched those two times either. At the time they were getting about 4 oz, so the first couple of days I would only put 1 oz of the new formula mixed w/ 3 oz of the old formula, then 2 + 2 oz of each, and then just the new formula. Perhaps it wasn't worth the trouble, but after the hellish 2 nights I spent with the LO that I tried soy on I didn't want to take any chances!

You should call your insurance company and just find out what types of formula they will cover. Though I don't know if I would put them on Nutramigen or Alimentum just because insurance would cover it and not regular formula, if they didn't need the hypoallergenic. I tried Alimentum with my sensitive LO and he HATED it and would thrash his head from side to side to avoid taking the bottle.

 

i just made them a bottle of regular similac. its 6oz. is that too much for them to go into a new formula? they generally drink 6 oz.
or should i dump half and do half soy, half new formula.

 

We haven't used much formula, but when we did, we used the Kirkland (CostCo) brand and really liked it. My LOs went back and forth between that and breast milk easily. It's well priced compared to the national brands.

 

I am a self-proclaimed formula changing freak. I keep thinking that I'll find something that will help their reflux/colic- some kind of miracle formula to go with my miracle babies. No such luck yet. We were on Good start Soy for almost four months. Recently I switched to Good Start Protect Plus (Green Can) because their reflux seems so much better and I would prefer a milk based formula. The Soy really didn't make much difference, and they stayed constipated. The Protect plus is supposed to help with gassinss and fussiness due to some sort of probiotics. We've tried Similac Advance, Similac Soy, neosure, Enfamil, Good Start Supreme, Alimentium, and Good Start Protect Plus. Honestly I can't tell much of a difference in any of them.