To change or not to change?!

[Lola90]

Hi ladies,
Ethan really seems to struggle with wind which infacol has helped slightly, but he seems to be in agony with stomach ache. He wriggles around arching his back and really screeching and you can literally hear his stomach gurgling. He alternates between extremely loose poo and then constipation for days. I actually took him to the Dr's to get checked out because he seemed so distressed with it. She took his temperature, felt his tummy etc. and couldn't find anything. So I'm thinking maybe its the formula? He's on SMA. Does anyone have a similar experience with SMA? Is it safe for me to change to something else? Would I need to do it slowly or just change over completely? And should I ask a Dr first or can I just change to another brand?

Sorry for all the questions!!
I'm trying to do a bit of research into making this decision as I'm not 100% sure that it is the cause of his discomfort.

 

[ke29]

Sma do a comfort formula looking at their website. You may be best to ask the careline team about whether to wean or straight change. https://www.smanutrition.co.uk/about-sma/careline-330.aspx

 

[Shineystar]

Dunno if this helps, but Im changing to hipp combiotic for the same reasons. (its also cheaper!) I was considering this or the comfort milk, but ive heard the comfort milk can also make them constipated as its thicker? plus i realised I would need new teats etc so thought best to try the other milk first.

I'll be starting it later today, so i can let you know how it goes if you like

 

[Ktothema]

SMA has a reputation for causing wind and constipation issues. Ds has been chopped and changed a bit due to his reflux. Started with aptamil but he got badly windy and I realised the formula wasn't mixing and was clogging the teat, so switched to hipp. Ds loved hipp but then the reflux started. Onto SMA staydown which helped for a week, then onto gaviscon and SMA (advised to stay on SMA to not upset him further) but after another week he was refluxy, blocked and terribly windy. So put him back on hipp. He's far happier again now though having to use gaviscon and ranitidine for the reflux.

We've always just changed him over straight away, though some people recommend doing it slowly.

 

[skunkpixie]

Like PP has said SMA is notorious for causing constipation in some babies, as it contains no fibre and more iron than the other brands. From what I have heard from other ladies alot of them have had success when switching from SMA to Aptamil.
If you are going to swap milks then I would just do it 100% and not waste time phasing out the old formula etc xxx

 

[dizz]

A friend was having similar bother with SMA recently I think.

 

[Lola90]

Thank you ladies
I have decided we're going to change brands. I haven't completely settled on which one but after another night of him writhing around in pain trying to poop I really feel like its the right choice to try something else.
He eventually did a poo this morning and it wasn't pleasant! TMI!
x

 

[ktod]

We had trouble with sma and sma comfort for constipation. Like PP said Hipp has worked out really well for us.