Ruby is, as I have probably mentioned in previous posts, an incredibly good natured baby. However, she has one issue that can turn her from an angelic cooing happy girl to a screaming hellion. In short, Ruby is the rootingist tootingist baby. The gas, which is simply entertaining when adults get it, is painful to infants. She will wake up from a sound sleep screaming and tooting. Our doctor recommended switching her formula to a lactose-free milk based version. My sister had mentioned that Good Start did best for all her children so I decided to try it first. There are no real firm directions on how to switch a baby's formula. The ever helpful can directions state "When switching formula, do it gradually." That is vague enough to bother my right brain. Does gradually mean mix it and the old formula in the same bottle or alternate bottles or what? Anyway, it was a moot point because even with half a bottle of it, she was miserable and screamed constantly instead of a little. Next, we tried Simolac Sensitive which is the lactose-free milk based version. She liked the taste so much better that it prompted me to read the ingredients.
Corn Syrup Solids, Sugar, Milk protein Isolate, Safflower oil, coconut oil, soy oil...
Whoa! I am feeding my baby liquid sugar. All the online research I did and books declared that it is perfectly fine to feed infants this and there would be no developmental results. The vitamins are the same. Just for fun, I tasted both this formula and the regular Simolac. I agree the Sensitive was sweeter, but I don't think I would want to drink either. However, bottles are kind of fun to drink out of. Wouldn't that be a cool bar? It would make sure you didn't drink too much at once. On second thought, it reminds me of when pacifiers were in for Raves. never mind.
Well, in the end, I don't care what its made of because she is so much better and since we switched she sleeps through the night fairly often. It does cost a little more, but what price, happy baby? Speaking of which, you always hear how expensive formula is. I was ready to really shell out the dough. However, it works out to about a dollar a bottle. Considering I've thrown down $4 on a mocha from Starbucks, I have a hard time getting worked up over feeding my baby for less than $10 a day.
10 comments:
I'm certainly no expert on this (or really any) manner, but I did a search and found this:
Parenting magazine
But on second thought, if you need lactose-free you may not have another option.
Jamey looks like such the old hand at feeding in this picture. I can't wait to meet Ruby this weekend (you are bringing her, right?).
"The gas, which is simply entertaining when adults get it"
I dunno, if she is lactose intolerant the gas won't get much more amusing as she grows older.
If I don't have Lactaid I don't sleep through the night and am damn right irritable too.
The article is about high frutose corn syrup. Is that the same as corn syrup solids?
Yes, we are bringing Ruby this weekend.
Hopefully, she is not actually lactose intolerant and it is just an immature digestive system.
If I'm not mistaken, the solids are just corn syrup with most of the water removed.
Don't worry about her being lactose intolerant, all babies have gas, some more painful than others. It usually peaks around 4-months-old. Have you tried Mylicon gas drops for babies? They are inert and were a miracle solution for our colicky babies.
We dose her with Mylacon like nobody's business. Without it, she is really sad and unhappy. In fact, even with the lactose free formula, she has to have the Mylacon as well. Thanks for the advice. Nice to know it will be over soon!
BTW, I asked my pediatrition and he said the corn syrup was fine.
Fine if you want a big fat baby. I'm calling social services right now...
Stacy,
Our baby had colick really bad (which just means she was extremely gassy) and our doctor put her on prescription gas drops (they are called Levison or something close to that.) The Mylicon just wasn't cutting it. It was a miracle for us! You might want to ask your pediatrician about it if her gas keeps up. Good luck!
Andrea
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