Question for formula feeders :)

[RainbowDrop_x]

I did ask this question in the FF section but it didn't get many responses so thought I might have more luck here.

My friend has an 8 week old baby who is FF but she gets quite upset after feeds and my friend is wondering if it's the way she makes her bottles up so I said id ask here for her.

How do you guys who do FF make your bottles. Thank you

 

[Willow01]

I had a tommee tipee machine so that made the bottle up for me thankfully!! Has she checked the flow of the teat isn't too much, or if that's ok maybe the baby needs some I facial or gripe water for wind.

 

[Loozle]

I'm BF this time but have FF before. Is the baby draining the bottles? Could still be hungry if she is.

 

[kellyc1987]

I had a tommee tipee machine so that made the bottle up for me thankfully!! Has she checked the flow of the teat isn't too much, or if that's ok maybe the baby needs some I facial or gripe water for wind.

I also have a tommee tippee perfect prep but before I had that I just followed the instructions on the formula box, boil kettle and let cool (no longer than 30 mins) add water to how many oz scoops of formula e.g 4oz to 4 scoops.. shake to mix and cool in a jug of cold water.

As previous poster said it could be trapped wind so maybe some infacol or gripe water may help.

How many oz is she giving/how often?

 

[angelwings7]

I use the Doctor Brown bottles which I find to be really good as both my son and daughter both suffered wind. I also use infacol in their bottles which makes a huge difference. Might be something to look into.

 

[LilFooshFoosh]

Wondering if it just started happening; baby's digestive system makes some changes/developments around 8 weeks. My LO got gassy and upset after feeds (especially in the evening) for a few days around then so I had asked the ob. She would be ok and then cry in short bursts like she was in pain, then fart like a grown man. I can't remember exactly how long it lasted but I'd say no longer than 8 days.

I've also heard not all brands agree with all babies so she could try switching formula if she can get a sample size or something. Try asking the ob or pediatrician, they usually have sample cans sitting around.

 

[SoupDragon]

When my DD was that age we used to put colief in all her bottles and used infacol too as she was really gassy and couldn't seem to get her wind up very well. She took a loooooot of burping after each feed and we couldn't lay her down for a while after a feed or she'd get upset too.

We don't completely ff but she gets her bm in a bottle too and we added the colief to that as well. We went from slow flow teats to medium flow at 3 weeks old because she was collapsing the teat from sucking so hard to get the milk out fast enough.

We use SMA and were considering switching to SMA comfort, but we just stuck with the colief as it seemed to work. We use tommee tippee bottles, we did try the munchkin latch and medela calma ones but DD didn't like them.

Because of the colief I didn't make my bottles up fresh when needed, I batch-made them the night before and they stayed in the fridge til they were needed, as the colief needs a while to work on the lactose. I stopped the colief at 12 weeks, but I still batch make her bottles now and DD is nearly 11 months and has never suffered for it

The HV might be able to offer some suggestions on what to do...change of brand, infacol, colief, change of bottle...all things to consider.

ETA if your friend decides on colief, get her to ask the gp for it on prescription...a tiny bottle costs £11 and it only lasted us 5-6 days!

 

[MindUtopia]

It could be so many things. It's really hard to even take a guess without knowing more. It could be reflux. It could be whatever brand of formula she is using doesn't agree with her LO (mine had this reaction to Hipp Organic - it was awful, screaming in pain after feeds and projectile vomiting, when we changed back to cheap ole Cow and Gate, it was fine again!). It could be wind. It could be just she needs to be upright and cuddled after, especially if she is trying to lying her down (a wrap is great for this). It could be she's still hungry. It could be a growth spurt. It's so hard to guess. As for how I made bottles though, I did it as it said on that package. Boil the kettle, let it cool for 20-30 minutes, then make up the bottle and cool to feed or cool and put in the fridge for later, then use within 12 hours. I would doubt it's how she is making the bottles though as the effect of making them incorrectly, if there was any at all, would be a bacterial infection, which would be pretty serious and obvious, much more than being unsettled.

 

[RainbowDrop_x]

Thanks ladies.

It's not a new thing she's done it since birth, shes on cow & gate, she spoke to a pharmacist to get advise on switching to aptamil and it turns out the ingredients are EXACTLY the same so that would have been pointless. Sometimes she drains the bottles sometimes she doesn't but you can guarentee 20 minutes after a feed she'll scream for a good 45 minutes to an hour. She's been Drs and they've told her its colic/reflux so she's on gaviscon and uses infacol/gripe water with feeds but baby's never sick after a feed so she's baffled as to how the Drs concluded reflux. She then went down the lactose free route but that made no difference, went back to the Drs and all they did was told her to double up on gaviscon.

When I say unsettled that's putting it quite mildly. I had an easy ride with my daughter when she was a baby, she fed she burped she slept repeated it all in 3/4 hours. My friends baby stops breathing, she gets upset to the point she can't calm down, I've seen her give herself a nose bleed with the straining from her crying, it's heartbreaking.

 

[Loozle]

I'm surprised to hear that cow & gate and aptamil have exactly the same ingredients because my ds2 - who suffered from silent reflux - had awful gas pains and green poo when he was on cow & gate, I switched him to aptamil and he was 100 times better with it.

 

[RainbowDrop_x]

I'm surprised to hear that cow & gate and aptamil have exactly the same ingredients because my ds2 - who suffered from silent reflux - had awful gas pains and green poo when he was on cow & gate, I switched him to aptamil and he was 100 times better with it.

I know it's shocking. Next time your shopping grab both tins and have a look at the ingredient list. The only difference was one had 0.1 less sodium than the other but I can't remember which way round it was.

 

[mel28nicole]

Could be an allergy? Lactose intolerant?

 

[staceymxxx]

Straight away i'm thinking lactose intolerant? id go back to doctors if baby hasn't improved x