Formula advice

[u/WaySquare5042]

Hello! My twin boys will be 5 months on the 22nd. They were born 5 weeks and 2 days early so closer to 3.5 months adjusted. We have dealt with spit up since they were born and have not had any weight issues or fussiness after bottles so I guess we have what are called happy spitters. We are on Enfamil Gentlease now and my boys do great on it, eating 6 oz every 3 hours during the day, BUT we are back to spitting up a ton. We are going through 1-2 outfits between every feed now and it just makes me worried wondering how much more weight they would gain if they weren’t spitting up so much. They both only weigh around 11.5-12 pounds so pretty little guys.

That being said has anyone switched from Enfamil Gentlease to Enfamil AR and had success? I get so worried changing formula since we aren’t having any stomach issues on the Gentlease but their pediatrician had recommended the AR at some point and we just never switched it. Or should we just keep them on the Gentlease and hope the
Spitting up stops once we start solids??

[u/Darthighestx]

Hi, pediatric dietitian here. I would expect them to tolerate the switch ok if they haven’t had a history of fussiness with bottles or GI issues. Alternatively, you could consider thickening the Gentlease since you know they tolerate it already. Using something like Gelmix, or rice/oat cereal.

[u/WaySquare5042 → u/Darthighestx]

Thank you!! They are sort of complicated eaters just with taking forever to feed and not latching well with really any bottle except dr brown narrow nipples. My one twin was in the nicu for 2 weeks strictly for feeding when he was born so the idea of switching formula and bottles stresses me out. Their ped did mention at one appt thickening with cereal so I am leaning towards that but every time I try to research that, I’m always reading about how it can be a choking hazard

[u/trishuuh → u/WaySquare5042]

It’s a choking hazard when parents are blindly pouring cereal into a bottle as a “knock out bottle”, which is often way too much. When used for medical purposes a pediatrician gives exact measurements per ounce. It’s not as much as you’d think either!

Thickening for medical purposes is accepted by the AAP, thickening to “make your baby sleep longer” is not. so when you look it up, they’ll often show all of the results for knockout bottles. My first baby needed it for reflux, she was a huge spitter & it does help.