# Preemie moms dealing with digestive issues?



## Whisper82

My twin girls were born seven weeks early and are now three months old. They spent about a month in the NICU and ever since coming home have had major digestive issues. They are super gassy, constipated, have reflux, and I think their little tummies hurt a lot after eating. I've been told preemies have to play catch-up with the development of their digestive systems, so they tend to struggle for a while as a result. However, I also feel that their preemie formula is a major culprit of a lot of the problems my girls are having. We have tried several things to manage the issues, but my girls are still struggling. Here are some of the things we've tried:

Breast feeding: I have done everything imaginable to try increasing my supply, but just don't produce nearly enough milk for even one baby. Don't even get me started on how stressful and guilt inducing it is for me to be unable to exclusively breastfeed. :cry: Just trust me when I say I've done everything I can. They still get whatever I am able to produce.

Sleeping on an incline: Definitely the most helpful thing so far for the reflux, though it is against the recommendations that babies sleep flat on their backs. 

Gas drops: A little helpful, but these kids are still super gassy. 

Baby tummy massage/leg movement: suggested by physical therapist. Again, minimally helpful for the gas and constipation, but not a magic bullet. 

Juice bottles: recommended by pediatrician. Daily juice bottles seem to help with constipation, but might be increasing tummy aches? 

Switching formula: There are three brands of preemie formula sold in our area, and there seems to be no real improvement when we have switched brands. Gerber Nourish is the only sensitive preemie formula we have around here and it has been super hard to find so far. I might try ordering more online, but I'm not even sure it has been very helpful. 

So, although we have experienced some improvement, my kids are still pretty miserable. They are supposed to stay on the preemie formula for three more months, but I am seriously considering taking them off of the preemie formula and trying another kind of sensitive formula. It is really hard to see them feeling bad so often and it is not easy taking care of two fussy twins. It is also hard to focus on making sure we do juice bottles, tummy massage, leg movements, and gas drops all day every day just to to stay functional! :dohh: We have avoided prescription meds as we were told in the NICU that meds can result in even longer lasting digestive issues. 

Have any of you taken your preemies off the special formula early? If so, did they have any growth issues from the lower calories? Have any of you tried prescription meds? Any other tips that might work?


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## nyba

Whisper - you are doing a great job so don't stress!

At 3 months, is there a reason they're telling you to use preemie formula? I don't even know what that is, we don't have that here? Are they in good weight? If I were you, I would be looking at different formulas. Mothers know best and if you think that's a big part of the issue, I bet you are right.

(Oh and my nephew slept in a chair for the first 4 months of his life as he had such bad reflux - you have to do what works best for you and the babies!)


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## HappiestMom

was just going to suggest instead of just a straight up bottle of juice what about a bit of juice in each bottle..we switched formulas because Dex was having super runny poo with the blue similac but Gabriel was having normal ones...and now Dex was having super formed ones that were causing him pain and stuff so I bought the little 4 pack of gerber apple and prune juice drinks for toddlers and put like a cap-full in each of Dexters bottles and its helped his poos become normal and easy to pass just like Gabriels..that way its kind of mixed in and not such a hit of pure laxative to his system..... mine are eating about 4oz every 3 hours or so...it took two bottles with the juice in it before they were semi normal and now they have all been ok....


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## sweetieinva

Hi Whisper82...our girls are almost 7 weeks old now, they were born 4.5 weeks early. Our little Sarah was in the hospital for a little over a month, she developed necrotizing enterocolitis, which is a digestive condition. Luckily, it was caught early and they were able to treat it with antibiotics. Due to this, they held her feeds for a week, so right now she just hit 7 lbs. She is on a special preemie formula called Pregestimil, which is a 22 calorie formula.

Our Leah is about 8 lbs and on Enfamil Enfacare, another 22 calorie preemie formula. Suprisingly, she is the one we are having more trouble with as far as being gassy and uncomfortable. I have been doing the gas drops in every bottle for about a week and a half now, which seems to help a little. We also do the leg movements. A couple days ago I decided to try gripe water, which a lot of people recommended, and it seems to be working even better than the gas drops. She also seems to like the taste of it! 

Our pediatrician said that as long as both are gaining weight appropriately, that once they hit about 2 months old, we can switch them to whatever formula we want to try. So, I would think you would be ok to try something else at this point. We also use the crib wedges to allow them to sleep on an incline for naps, but right now at night I have them in their bouncy seats to sleep. 

Hope this helps a little! :)


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## HappyBunnyAB

Oh whisper I'm sorry you are dealing with this. We struggle with constipation too and we have switched formula twice. We are using soy milk since my son broke out and was digesting the milk too fast. I wonder why you have to wait in order to change formula. I hope you find something soon. Big :hugs:


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## Whisper82

Wow you guys have some good tips! 

Nyba - The girls are doing great with their weight gain. Both are over 10 pounds now. I can see why your nephew had to spend four months sleeping in a chair for reflux. I tried to lay the girls flat last night and it was a no-go.

Mrsjerome - Great tip to put a little juice in with the regular bottles. Sounds easier to just add the juice while preparing the bottles than to make a separate juice bottle. We are definitely going to try it! 

Sweet - I am going to try the gripe water. And I am glad to hear your pediatrician said you can switch at two months...helps me to feel it is probably not too crazy for us to try something else at this point.

Happy - yeah it's a bummer isn't it? Are you using straight soy milk or a soy based formula? My mom suggested soy milk today and I was thinking of trying it. 

Good feedback everyone. You guys are all such creative thinkers!


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## HappyBunnyAB

It's soy based formula. Dominic has been having a bowel movement everyday. Natalie doesn't have any issues but we switched her as well. I hope you find something that helps.


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## rory83coyotes

I tend to have babies with digestive issues. It sounds like they may not be tolerating the preemie formula very well. Honestly the best thing for two of my babies was to switch to soy formula. If you need to bump the calorie content to make it 22 to 27 calroies there are formulas for that. you just add a little extra to the water. We had to mix our ODD formula or breast milk up to 24 calories to help her gain weight since the only preemie formula comes in 22 calories. The NICU we were at taught us before they would let us go home. 

I would say to push for the meds. They made a huge difference for us. They kept putting up off saying they would catch up, BLah blah blah. At two months when ODD was throwing up most of her food and not gaining weight they finally put her on prevacid. She was a new baby. Would sleep at night, lay flat without screaming, keep down her food. 

With my YDD we literally never went anywhere without a change of clothes for us and three for her, and a large bath towel or two. She would just give you everything back and drench you. They wouldn't put her on meds until she was one month old. I was in there the day of her one month birthday going ok we are here. Fix her. I think the Dr that I was exaggerating, until in my sleep deprived state I forgot the bath towel and my Dd made a puddle in my lap and on the floor. She wrote me a Rx right off. We started on zantac but didn't see much improvement and switched to axid and prevacid. We also put her on soy which she tended to tolerate much better. Between the three of those things she went to have normal amounts of spit up. Hope you can find a solution that works well for you. Oh and had another thought, we could never do the ready made formula. That always gaurenteed a vomitting session. On the powder and mix with water.


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## tlm

Whisper, I feel for you!! I am dealing it high this also! One of my sons has severe issues, first we thought it was colic but now have figured out its reflux! Totally sucks!!!! He is on Prevacid now which seems to help better than anything else. We tried gas drops and other reflux meds too but they didn't help.

We have taken him to a pediatric gastroenterologist and have found somethings that help. He is on Nutramigen for formula which is milk free and more sensitive. He was on a preemie formula (neosure). We also thicken his formula with oatmeal cereal which is supposed to keep the formula down and not cause him to reflux as much. In doing this you have to cut the bottle nipple to allow the cereal to come through.

I was getting frustrated with our pediatrician because I feel like we had reached the end of his expertise in this area so I made the appt with the GI and have been very happy. Might be something for you to look in to. :)

Hope this help!! Keep us updated!


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## tlm

For constipation our GI said to give him prune juice. I am giving him a little in every bottle. It seems to help, he still doesn't go everyday but its better! When they are constipated it aggravates the reflux! We have also used glycerine suppositories too, but I really try to make that a last resort! I don't like putting anything that isn't necessary into his little system!!


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