Hi all,

I'll try and keep it short and sweet so I don't run the risk of losing you lovely ladies half way through but basically I'm all confused about what I should be doing that's best for my baby.

Here are some facts so far.

DD is 17 weeks old
She currently weighs 13lb and is a happy and contented baby.
Is sleeping in her own bed from 6.30pm - around 4.30 has a dummy and goes back till around 6.45.
After a nasty stomach bug at 2 weeks suffered with 18 days of vomiting and diarroea paeds said it was viral.
DD was on SMA gold and then the extra hungry up until 6 weeks old and loved it.
After the 18 days of V & D HV and GP said she must be lactose intolerant and prescribed her nutramigen.
She has been on nutramigen since 7 weeks - she doesn't enjoy her feeds like she used to however she does take her feeds. She also has gavisgon infant powder in her feeds as she developed reflux.

So my concerns are this!! She takes her feeds at around 7, 11,3 she is absolutely shattered by around 6 ish and creates to go down and usually is down around 6.30 however I struggle to get her last bottle into her as she's not due until 7, but she just doesn't want it!! You would think then that she would wake starving during the night but no she's happy to go straight through and will happily wait until 8 ish the following morning if I didn't give it to her at 7 ish - I just figured that's her make up I guess she's just not a particularly hungry baby!! So I decided to try something with her the other day and gave her a small amt of baby cereal around 5 ish and she LOVES it! So my questions are - if she's lactose intolerant surely she would be having a reaction to the cereal? As there is milk In It??? Secondly how do I calculate how much formula she needs taking into account she has a serving of cereal? at the mo she's having 24oz formula and a serving of cereal-is this enough?

Also I'm considering trying her on normal formula to see how she responds- I was considering one of the comfort formulas as obviously they are gentler as I'm not convinced she's lactose intolerant. Any advice on the best comfort formulas would be a great help. Please please if anyone could give me some advice I'd be soooo grateful xxx

My lo had a similar terrible bout of gastroenteritis which left him cows milk protein intolerant (which is different to lactose intolerance). Until we switched him to Neocate he was sick all the time which we thought was reflux but was actually CMPI.

With the last bottle of the day - maybe just put her to bed at 6.30 without it and dream feed at 10pm or when you go to bed (ie, put the ottle in her mouth when she is in her bed and see what she takes).

Check the cereal packet for the ingredients. Its unlikely to have milk in it - you add the milk by way of formula. It may have wheat in it which I dont think you are supposed to give to babies under 6m so check for that (it can cause tummy damage).

I personally wouldnt replace formula feeds with cereal at this point.

Hi,
Gastroenteritis is what my DD had which is what Gp, believed gave her this intolerance.
I have tried dream feeding her but it's a complete no go she doesn't suck at all she is in such a deep sleep by then iv tried everything but she just will not take a dream feed! Even tried when she was younger waking her at 11 and she would still fall back asleep on the bottle!! What I've started given her at the moment is the aptamil creamy porridge that's suitable from 4 months. She has 1 spoonful mixed with 3 spoonfuls of water. I tried it as she's still not keeping her formula down but with the creamy porridge we don't even get a spit up. I've also noticed she's sleeping much better without that last feed but I'm still concerned whether she's having enough?
I have checked the ingredients there is no wheat in it but there is milk in it. Xx

In that case I would be tempted to just follow your baby and stick with what you're doing.

A rough guide to see if they are 'getting enough milk' is to take your babys weight in kg and multiply it by 150ml. And that gives you roughly what they need in a 24 hour period. 1oz of milk made into cereal is 1oz of milk.