Do you think I should change milk brand?

[susan_1981]

My baby is almost 4 weeks old and I did combination feeding at the start but really struggled with the breastfeeding so switched exclusively to formula feeding for my sanity and to save my baby's frustration! So we use Cow & Gate number 1. He seemed to be fine on it for 2 weeks but then last week, he has been less settled.

I put him on colief drops thinking he possibly had colic and also switched bottles to Dr Brown's, which I think may have helped as he is certainly less grumpy but he still seems to be in pain sometimes with his tummy. He certainly isn't constipated but he cries a lot after we feed him (not every time but most times) and he will sometimes stay like that until he's had a poo. It is almost like he is straining to go and once he does, he's better.

I called my health visitor about this earlier this week because he had a really bad night where he wouldn't stop crying for a long time - which I know can be colic - but earlier that day, he had sicked up pretty much a whole bottle of milk and had been extra sleepy that day. She said to hold out with the current Cow & Gate because if I changed it straight away, I'd never know if he was reacting to that. So do you think I should switch brands? If so, any recommendations? My friend swears by Aptamil which I know is the most expensive but my health visitor mentioned Aptamil Comfort but then Cow & Gate do a Comfort version as well. So I don't know whether I should switch brands entirely and go with Aptamil or stick with Cow & Gate but go to the Comfort version or just to stick with what I've got. Is it normal for a baby to see really uncomfortable after feeding - even though we will wind him for a good 30 minutes afterwards and he does generally bring up a fair amount of wind?

 

[beth_terri]

I would stick with it and mane sure you give a really good wind after. My little man was unsettled on his formula for a good 2 weeks. We now use dentinox colic drops and burp him really well after each feed. He's much happier on it now. If you switch it will possibly upset him more rather than letting his stomach settle to the cow and gate. Also keep giving him water xx

 

[susan_1981]

Oh haven't been giving him water. Will try that in between feeds x

 

[MrsButterfly]

My lo has been really unsettled too lately and he was on aptamil and I've recently changed him to hipp. Sure different babies settle better on different milks but aptamil certainly wasn't helping my little boy and when I googled it I found loads of similar stories. Seems that it's a very rich milk so can be difficult to digest. But sure there are 10 stories of people who love it for every bad one. It's a bit of a lottery!!

 

[holliepop]

my baby was so fussy after a feed and inbetween and i changed to aptamil and i really did see a difference the first bottle. I've seen on this forum that comfort milk can cause constipation. Why don't you try an aptamil carton so your arent wasting £9.49 on a tub, thats what I done for the next 3 feeds he was due.

 

[susan_1981]

Oh that's a really good idea. I may try that. He cries after every feed so I'd like to see if we can sort it or if I just have a moaning Minnie on my hands x

 

[time]

i would personally stick to the cow and gate for now, maybe add a bit of infacol to a bottle and see if that helps, and if baby is still very uncomfortable then i'd probably switch to the cow and gate comfort milk rather than changing brands completely, a few friends have switched to comfort when they had the same problems as you and it worked wonders!

 

[babyfromgod]

I would change him if he is unsettled after his feeds as it is probably upsetting his tummy, but then again he may just need to get used to the formula. You could give it another week and then decide

 

[susan_1981]

Thanks everyone. As he has still been unsettled and we are coming to the end of his Cow & Gate usual formula, we have bought a few of the ready made cartons of Aptamil milk so will give it a go x

 

[Bumblebee117]

I switched from cow and gate (tried both number 1 and comfort) to hipp organice combiotic and since then my LO is a very happy boy. Has daily poos and winds very easily after feeds.

maybe just buy a carton of that too if aptamil doesn't do it.

 

[AimeeM]

I like the hipp organic it seems to be good at keeping LO pooing a lot. I think it can be normal for tiny babies to have trouble pooping and pooing. My LO struggled a lot and was BF, the health visitor said it takes them a while to get used to their bodily functions.