SMA comfort milk/colief

[SoupDragon]

We are thinking of changing to SMA comfort formula, as we are currently on 'normal' SMA with colief drops, which helps with DD's wind no end and has turned her from a screamy gassy baby into a very content one with only the odd blip. The only thing is to give the colief time to work, I am making up batches of bottles in advance, which I know goes against the recommendations to make up as needed. Plus the colief is SO expensive! £11 a bottle, which doesn't even last a week!

The HV has said it might be worth a try of comfort milk with colief drops in, and to gradually phase out the drops over the next few weeks. We'd obviously still continue to use the colief in my expressed milk.

Has anyone done this? Was your LO better/worse/no different on the comfort milk?

Also, what size teat will we need? We're currently using tommee tippee size 2 - would we need the variflow ones or are size 2 ok?

Thanks!

 

[felix555]

Yes I did this. My LO was on colief (although it was prescribed so luckily I didn't have yo pay!) And we switched to aptimil comfort (from aptamil 1)

The comfort milk was brilliant and worked better than aptamil 1 + colief.

I found colief worked brilliantly the first week or two and then stopped working.


I can't remember about the teats, it's a while ago but I definitely went up a size. I think from size 2 Dr Brown's to size 3 but my memory is hazy.

I'd personally not use SMA though because it's notorious for constipation and we had an issue with that so I'd switch to aptamil comfort or cow and gate.

 

[SoupDragon]

Thank you felix! I'm glad to hear your LO was better on the comfort milk, especially if the colief stopped working. We've been on it 3 or 4 weeks and it still seems to be working fine, so fingers crossed it will continue to work!

I hadn't heard that about SMA and constipation. DD's poos are always really loose...maybe because she's having some expressed breast milk too? Though I guess the comfort milk would be more liable to cause constipation than standard stage 1 milk, so she might encounter a problem on comfort milk even if she never has constipation on standard milk.

Is it ok to switch brands 'cold turkey'? It's not going to upset her stomach?

Not sure if we could get colief prescribed...will ask the GP when I see her tomorrow, though I find her extremely unhelpful so won't hold my breath!

I will look at getting stage 3 or variflow teats along with the comfort milk, she'll need them at some point regardless, so won't hurt to have them handy! The HV said the comfort milk is a bit thicker, so I'm imagining she'll struggle with a smaller teat.

Did you have a problem with the comfort milk separating at all? I've read that can be a problem. Did it mix back together properly if you swirled it, or did it stay separated? And if it's separated is it ok to feed? Agh, so many questions!

 

[felix555]

Hmm the comfort milk will make poo more runny still so be warned.

A tip I got .. phone up the duty doctor and tell them you need a prescription for colief. Worked for me!

It's ok to switch brands but probably just not advisable to keep switching often.

Never had a prob making bottles but I have a perfect prep and I found it the same making 1 milk and comfort.

Can i ask what the reason was for using colief? Was it wind?

 

[felix555]

Oh and if it separates you give it a good shake and its fine.

 

[SoupDragon]

Yes, the colief is for wind, she was having awful trouble getting rid of it and was screaming in pain. We were already using infacol, and have continued with thhat, but she's been so much better with the colief so it has to be that she's (temporarily, I hope!) a bit lactase deficient/lactose intolerant.

If the GP will prescribe the colief it might be worth leaving things as they are, but as the comfort milk is lactose-reduced already, our thinking is that it will make bottle preparation easier and safer as I won't need to make batches in advance and store them. Saying that, the HV didn't bat an eyelid when I told her that's what I'm doing, instead of making up on demand. I expected a lecture at the very least!

 

[felix555]

I agree if the colief is working and you can get it prescribed then continue with that. Although at £11 a pop if you pay yourself I'd definitely switch to comfort as it does the same.

I think very few people follow the strict guidelines on bottle making.

Good luck, hope they prescribe it for you.