Infant formula is a breast milk substitute that is produced to feed babies from birth and is as close in composition as possible to breast milk. Its main purpose is to provide a child with all important microelements to grow as healthy, as it would while drinking breast milk. Choosing the right formula can be difficult, especially if your baby has digestive problems.
What Formula To Choose for a Baby With Digestive Problems?
The right food will not only keep the child healthy, but will also have a healing effect. Here is our top of baby formulas for a gassy baby, and children with with constipation and colic:
- Milk-based formulas. Those are the products made of cow or goat milk. Goat milk is also a good choice if a child is allergic to cow milk-based food. Such mixtures contain components that improve digestion, like probiotics and prebiotics, breast milk oligosaccharides, Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, etc. Examples:
- HiPP Hypoallergenic HA
- Holle Goat
- Holle A2 Milk Formula
- Jovie Goat Milk Formula
- Fermented milk formulas. They are made from milk that is first fermented with lactic acid bacteria and then dried. The lactic acid bacteria in the formula have many beneficial properties that can help gassy babies. For example, they activate the growth of healthy intestinal microflora:
- HiPP Comfort
- Nutrilon Fermented milk formula
- Anti-reflux formulas. These food products are medicinal and cannot be purchased without a prescription. They are prescribed by a pediatrician if the baby often burps. For such babies, food needs to be thickened to improve digestion. This is why we need this formula:
- Hipp HA Combiotic
- Hipp Anti-Reflux
Choose your child’s food carefully. Even a completely healthy child needs nutrition that suits its body. In the case when a baby has colic, constipation, spitting up, or a child is gassy, it needs a special formula to improve and support his digestion.
Signs That Your Baby Needs a Special Formula
Some babies have more sensitive stomachs than others. Parents notice specific patterns in their child’s behavior, related to nutrition and digestion. It is recommended to talk to your pediatrician, if you notice warning signs:
- Frequent spitting up. If your baby frequently spits up after feeding, it may be a sign of reflux. In this case, a child needs anti-reflux formula that will help its body absorb the food.
- Excessive Gas. Bloating or gassiness can be indicative of a sensitive stomach or dietary intolerance. Consider purchasing a formula for a gassy baby.
- Mood changes during feeding. Your baby doesn’t understand what exactly makes it feel bad, but its body senses a connection between nutrition and discomfort. If a child cries or fights when you try to feed it, maybe there is a problem with its current formula.
- Poor weight gain: If your baby gains weight too slow, it could be related to digestive problems affecting their ability to absorb nutrients.
If parents notice some of those symptoms, or others, like skin rashes, frequent crying, or even blood in stool- this means that they have to act immediately. Noticing the problem in time is a way to fix it. Manufacturers provide a large selection of baby formulas for children with different conditions, like gassines, allergies, digesting food difficulties, etc.
Why Does My Baby Have Digestive Problems?
- Newborns often suffer from colic caused by wrong nutrition or changes in weather. The true cause of these infant pains lies in the unstable functioning of the baby’s digestive system and adaptation to new living conditions.
- Constipation in an infant causes abdominal pain and inability to go to the potty for more than three days. This condition often occurs after a high fever. The child’s anxiety can be eliminated by giving him an enema, after which the intestines are released in the form of copious stools and the baby calms down.
- Intestinal volvulus and gastric volvulus also occur mainly in newborns. Characterized by acute abdominal pain, vomiting, intestinal motor function is practically absent, as is stool. The child is nervous, the tummy is swollen asymmetrically. Treatment can only be surgical.
- Excessive gas syndrome is a pathology in which too much gas is formed in the intestinal loops, which is accompanied by rumbling in the abdomen, discomfort and bloating. This condition is one of the most common health problems. The smallest – infants – are especially prone to it.
- Diarrhea in infants that eat baby food is not a rare occurrence. The wrong formula can cause diarrhea, reluctance of the child to eat, vomiting, weight loss or excess weight.
Despite the fact that some abdominal problems in babies are congenital, most diseases arise due to improper nutrition. Parents should be careful when choosing special foods for their babies. With the help of your pediatrician, you can choose any formula that will help your child feel better.