Enfamil Sensitive vs. Similac Sensitive – Who wins? [2022]

Feeding your baby for lack of mother’s milk can be a real challenge for many parents. This means you have to feed your child formula.

But, this is easier said than done when your baby has a sensitive stomach.

Some children spit up as soon as they consume some formulas and others experience delayed digestive issues.

In light of this, it’s important to understand the difference between Enfamil Sensitive vs Similac Sensitive.

We’ll briefly explore their ingredient lists and nutritional makeup along with how it directly relates to mimicking breast milk.

There are some tradeoffs with each but they also have many good things as well.

If you’re a parent struggling to find the right formula for your infant’s sensitive tummy, keep reading to learn more about how Enfamil Sensitive compares with Similac Sensitive.

While this will give a brief overview, those who find the information compelling should do their own research.

Note: Make sure to also read my review: Alimentum vs Neucate as this could be better options for your baby.

Enfamil Sensitive vs. Similac Sensitive – How We’ll Compare Them

To understand what Enfamil Sensitive contains versus Similac Sensitive, we’ll take a detailed look at the back labels of both products in relationship to real breast milk.

This will be best to transition between the two without upsetting your child’s belly and delicate digestion system.

• Ingredients List Overview
• Nutrition Info; Mother’s Milk

Ingredients List Overview

One of the most important factors to treat your precious little one’s stomach sensitivity is the ingredients that make up the formula.

It’s essential that you understand what they are, how they benefit your child, and if the product does what it says it will.

Enfamil Sensitive

Enfamil Sensitive is available for babies with lactose intolerances. However, it isn’t ideal for infants with galactosemia.

According to Enfamil’s website, their sensitive formula contains the following constituents:

• Vegetable Oil (coconut, soy, palm olein and high oleic sunflower oils)
• Corn Syrup Solids
• Whey Protein Lipid Concentrate (milk)
• Milk Protein Isolate
• Mortierella Alpina Oil
• Potassium Citrate
• Calcium Phosphate
• Schizochytrium Sp. Oil
• Sodium Chloride
• Potassium Chloride
• Magnesium Phosphate
• Zinc Sulfate
• Calcium Carbonate
• Cupric Sulfate
• Ferrous Sulfate
• Potassium Iodide
• Sodium Selenite
• Choline Choride
• Soy Lecithin
• Ascorbic Acid
• Inositol
• Niacinamide
• Riboflavin
• Calcium Panthothenate
• Thiamin Hydrochloride
• Vitamin E Acetate
• Vitamin B6 Hydrochloride
• Folic Acid
• Biotin
• Vitamin D3
• Vitamin K1
• Vitamin B12
• Taurine
• L-Carnitine
• Vitamin A Palmitate

As you can see by the list above, it has many vitamins, electrolytes, nutrients, and minerals that will be excellent for your baby’s development.

However, for the company to promote the product as ideal for babies with lactose intolerance, the milk additives are a bit concerning. It’s not nearly as soy-based as expected.

If your baby was consuming Enfamil’s Gentlease, this is not a good trade-off for it either. In fact, many people have complaints in regards to children’s digestion with increased fussiness.

Some babies don’t go to the bathroom as much and others experience horrible constipation.

Because of all this in relation to the ingredients, Enfamil Sensitive gets a 6 out of 10 points.

Similac Sensitive

The milk-based sensitive formula provided by Similac lends itself to caring for your baby’s gas and fussiness.

It supports brain and eye development along with strong bones. Plus, there are no artificial growth hormones.

The ingredients are:

• Milk Protein Isolate
• C. Cohnii Oil
• Soy Oil
• Coconut Oil
• M. Alpina Oil
• High Oleic Safflower Oil
• Corn Syrup
• Sugar
• Short-chain Fructooligosaccharides
• Beta-Carotene
• Potassium Chloride
• Potassium Citrate
• Sodium Citrate
• Calcium Phosphate
• Magnesium Phosphate
• Ascorbic Acid
• Ascorbyl Palmitate
• Soy Lecithin
• Choline Chloride
• Ferrous Sulfate
• Lutein
• Taurine
• Calcium Carbonate
• Inositol
• Choline Bitartrate
• Zinc Sulfate
• L-Carnitine
• Magnesium Chloride
• d-Alpha-Tocopheryl Acetate
• Calcium Pantothenate
• Vitamin A Palmitate
• Mixed Tocopherols
• Niacinamide
• Folic Acid
• Copper Sulfate
• Thiamine Hydrochloride
• Riboflavin
• Pyridoxine Hydrochloride
• Potassium Iodide
• Manganese Sulfate
• Phylloquinone
• Biotin
• Vitamin D3
• Vitamin B12
• Potassium Hydroxide
• Sodium Selenate
• Nucleotides (Disodium Uridine 5’-Monophosphate, Adenosine 5’-Monophosphate, Disodium Guanosine 5’-Monophosphate, Cytidine 5’-Monophosphate)

While Similac Sensitive offers a solid array of ingredients, there is one problem with using it.

When you mix it, there are too many bubbles and an excessive amount of foam. Even if you put the bottle in the fridge overnight or stir it gently, they don’t subside entirely.

The ingredients are great, however, as they come with tons of vitamins and trace minerals. But, the sugar content is concerning.

Why corn syrup, sugar and fructooligosaccharides? It just seems high in sugar beyond what’s necessary for an infant. Considering all these factors, Similac Sensitive gets a 7.5 out of 10 points.

How They Compare

In terms of ingredients, Similac has many more than Enfamil. However, Enfamil is better for infants with lactose intolerance since Similac’s formula contains milk solids.

But, Enfamil also has milk yet they advertise it as being free of lactose. This is a little confusing and misleading.

Similac’s formula has a lot of sugar in it although milk-based. Plus, there are several desirable ingredients that contribute to many vitamins, minerals, metals, and other micronutrients that Enfamil doesn’t have.

Plus, it would seem, that many people report difficulties with their babies consuming Enfamil’s formula.

So, Similac wins out on the side of the ingredients. While it would seem Enfamil Sensitive would win out here, the effect it has on infants is the determining factor.

Far more parents and grandparents have complaints about how Enfamil affects their little one’s digestion. These complaints seem scant in regards to Similac.

Nutrition Info; Mother’s Milk

Aside from ingredients, the overall nutrition the formula gives in relationship to it being as close to mother’s milk as possible is another important consideration.

One of the most crucial purposes for using formula is specifically for when mom can’t produce the milk necessary. So, the composition must be comparable.

However, it’s important to note that breast milk is complex and science has yet to fully isolate its composition (regardless of what Bill Gates says).

Ergo, mom’s milk is superb and it will be very difficult to find a product that replicates it entirely.

Additionally, breast milk changes over time, especially when you include colostrums, it won’t maintain the same nutritional content. In general, there are around 60 calories in linoleic-acid-rich breast milk.

Plus there are around 7 grams of carbs, 4 grams of fat, and around one or two grams of protein.

Enfamil Sensitive

Keeping the typical nutritional value of breast milk in mind, Enfamil’s sensitive formula gets an 8 out of 10 points due to how high it is in linoleic acid.

While the calories, fat, and carbs seem rather high, it will be okay as a regular replacement.

The only concerning aspect of Enfamil’s formula is the high-fat content. Mother’s milk simply isn’t that high and babies don’t necessarily need that much.

The following details the exact measurements for the most important nutritional values:

• Calories: 100
• Protein: 2.1 grams
• Fat: 5.4 grams
• Carbs: 10.9 grams
• Water: 133 grams
• Linoleic Acid: 1000 milligrams

Similac Sensitive

While Similac Sensitive has a similar nutritional value as Enfamil, they get a 7 out of 10 points.

This is due to the low linoleic acid content and it should be equal to or higher than mother’s milk. Linoleic acid is essential to building strong bones, muscles, eyesight, and hearing.

Regarding other aspects of nutrition, there’s more protein in Similac Sensitive than infants require.

The closer to two grams of the formula is, the better it will be in terms of mimicking mother’s milk.

• Calories: 100
• Protein: 2.2 grams
• Fat: 5.3 grams
• Carbs: 10.9 grams
• Water: 132 grams
• Linoleic Acid: 780 milligrams

How They Compare

Even though Enfamil and Similac have near-identical nutritional values, some marked differences make Enfamil better in terms of nutrition.

The most important of these is the linoleic acid content. Enfamil is high, which is essential to a child’s development.

The Breakdown

The table below details the discussed points above. You can use this quick reference to compare and contrast the details as indicated by our scores.

	Enfamil Sensitive	Similac Sensitive
Ingredients List Overview	6 out of 10	7.5 out of 10
Nutrition Info; Mother’s Milk	8 out of 10	7 out of 10
Grand Total of 20 Total Points	14	14.5
Price	Check Price	Check Price

The Winner – Similac Sensitive

In regards to ingredients and nutritional facts being the closest to mother’s milk, Similac Sensitive wins out albeit not by much.

There are truly tradeoffs between the two since both are very similar. However, there are many less than desirable experiences in children not taking to Enfamil well.

Even still, Similac’s formula incorporates far more ingredients than your baby needs.

These encompass trace minerals, vitamins and other essential things to ensure proper development. However, it does seem to be lower in linoleic acid than Enfamil Sensitive.

This doesn’t lend itself well to mimicking mother’s milk.

However, many parents swear by Enfamil. In fact, their children won’t stomach anything else. So, even though Similac clearly wins out here, it’s close.

If it wasn’t for Enfamil’s promotion of being for infants with a lactose intolerance yet containing milk solids, they would have won out.