You may be at a stage in your baby’s life where you consider switching from nutramigen to regular formula. Switching foods slowly is always the best tactic, especially if your baby has a milk allergy and you’re unsure how they will react to formula. However, you can switch to formula once they’re older than six months.
Switching from Nutramigen to a regular formula isn’t something you can do all at once, and the best course of action is to go slowly. You can mix some formula into the Nutramigen and gradually increase the amount until it is the only thing left in the mixture.
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When Should You Stop Using Nutramigen?
You can use Nutramigen as your baby’s only nutritional source until they are six months old. You can even wait to switch over until you’re really to switch to solid foods as well. Ensure that when you decide to change, you move slowly to see what reaction your baby has to the switch.
When dealing with an allergy, you mustn’t switch your baby’s food source too quickly. It may be that you start switching over to formula only to find that your baby doesn’t react well to it and have to go back to Nutramigen. You’ll only know whether it is the right time once you start going through the process.
Remember that you should talk to your baby’s doctor before starting the switching process as they can give you some ideas on how to do it properly, and it will be a heads up for future appointments to ensure your baby is taking to formulas well. If your baby starts vomiting due to taking formula, speak to their doctor for advice.
What is the Best Formula for After Nutramigen?
The best formula for after Nutramigen is Similac Alimentum. Similac Alimentum is a hypoallergenic formula that helps babies with milk allergies, intolerance, reflux, and even colic. You can buy it in powder form or ready-to-feed.
Alimentum is a predigested formula which means that the proteins are easier to digest. Since the proteins in breastmilk are usually what causes a reaction, the typical symptoms from a milk allergy or intolerance won’t show up for a predigested formula.
However, this formula is more expensive than regular formula, and it doesn’t have a sweet taste. You may find that your baby refuses to take their bottle at first, but they will adjust to the taste over time. You can still use regular formula instead, but the proteins may cause adverse reactions, so be careful.
How to Switch Formulas
You will need to slowly switch from Nutramigen to your new formula by mixing the two over several days. Since you’re dealing with a baby with food sensitivities or allergies, it could be helpful to keep notes of how they react to the change if you need to speak with a doctor later. Ensure that your doctor knows before starting the switch.
A new taste is likely to upset your baby a little so switching immediately is never a good idea unless you’re willing to deal with the crying session that follows. You will need to put together a schedule for increasing the amount of formula you are using and ensure that you leave room to adjust the amounts depending on how your infant responds to the new formula.
An example of a schedule might be:
- Day 1: 75% Nutramigen, 25% formula
- Day 2: 50% Nutramigen, 50% formula
- Day 3: 25% Nutramigen, 75% formula
- Day 4: 100% formula
You may want to draw out this schedule more since you will be watching to see if your baby has any reaction to the formula, especially if you aren’t switching to a hypoallergenic formula or using milk products. Pick a schedule that works for you and talk to your doctor about it before starting the process.
How to Overcome Bottle Refusal
Your baby will likely refuse their bottle once they taste the different formula. Mixing the new formula with Nutramigen is a good way of covering up the new taste, but your baby may still fuss about the change. Being patient and trying a different bottle or feeding location could help.
If your baby refuses their bottle because of the new formula, you don’t need to lose hope. Just because your baby doesn’t want the formula in the first couple of days doesn’t mean they can adjust to it over time.
Some tips for dealing with bottle refusal are:
- Figure out why they are refusing the bottle. It may be easy to assume it is because of the new formula, but it could also be because they’re uncomfortable or overtired. Finding out what might be causing your baby to fuss besides the formula can give you a baseline for later feeding sessions.
- Make it familiar. Ensure that you are mixing enough Nutraigen with the formula that they can’t tell that the new formula is there until they get used to the taste. It’s okay to stay with the same mixture ratio for a few days so your baby can adjust.
- Change your location or position. Picking a new place that is quiet and doesn’t have a lot of distractions may put your baby in the mood to accept something new. They may refuse a new taste because they strongly associate the Nutramigen taste with the location in which you usually feed them.
- Feed them when they’re tired: If your baby is already a bit drowsy, they may be more open to trying something new. Try feeding them right after they wake up.
- Be patient. It will take some time to switch from one food source to another. You may need to change how you feed your baby to accommodate they’re feeling on any given day.
Conclusion
You can switch from Nutramigen to regular formula, but you will need to pick something that mixes well with Nutramigen. It’s easier to change very slowly by mixing the formula with the Nutramegin and increasing the formula over time. Ensure that you keep an eye on your baby’s reaction and stop if there’s vomiting.
