New Mum Worries

[Squidgeyy]

Hi all,

I’m a new mum and reaching out for advice with my daughter who is 8 weeks old.

My little one was born 4 weeks early. We had minor complications when she first arrived into the world with her blood sugars nothing else was a concern.

As she was early I had no milk. I tired stimulation for milk and I had nothing. I felt awful as I couldn’t provide for my daughter.

At hospital we were supplied with Cow and Gate but once we came home I changed too Aptamil.

Once home I recorded bowel movements to be normal until the stools become green. When the stools had become green she had stop passing regularly and wasn’t going up too three days. Within the three days she was trying to push hard, drawing her legs up to her chest and going red in the face. Naturally I googled what to do and tried her with some cooled boiled water. Nothing happened.

Next we paid a visit to our local health visitor how recommended to change her milk. We are now using Cow and Gate Comfort for colic and constipation. Her feeding schedule hasn’t changed and she is taking recommend dosage however this milk has now given her diarrhoea and she seems to not settle after her feed like she did with Aptamil. Only comfortable having cuddles.

My question is should I change back to Aptamil or should I continue using the Cow and Gate? Or will this upset her more?

TIA x

[Sisi14]

Hun do what you feel is best for your lo.. I put my lo on aptimal and she was satisfied on that one too. You could try her back on the aptimal and you can add a drop of orange juice to boiled cool water to help...but if you are concerned just speak with your health visitors or doctors. Mothers instincts are always best xx

[emmab178]

When you say she has diarrhoea now are you sure that isn’t normal? I’m not an expert (my first is 5 weeks old) but her poops have always been very loose and yellow and this I was told was normal.

What I would do is take a photo of a dirty nappy and show it to the health visitor and see what they say.

We’ve had huge wind issues that last week which we didn’t have before. She also poops every 36 to 48 hours. The HV said this could be because we’ve increased the formula amount as per her age and that’s why it won’t have been an issue before but it is now.

My daughter will only settle with cuddles as well, apparently you can’t spoil a baby too much with cuddles.

There’s a lot of trial and error with babies just try to only change one thing at a time and give it a few days to see if it has a better effect before trying something else. Is the baby still struggling with feet up and wind? There’s infacol or dentinox that can help with trapped wind.

Also I had a c section and it took 2 weeks for my milk to come in but formula will give baby everything they need so try not to feel like a failure x

My mum told me that with babies something may work today but tomorrow it might not and you just have to do your best

[Dad101]

Hi and I'm sorry your having these issues, but well done for being concerned. Both my son and daughter had similar issues with bowel movements and my daughter still suffers from constipation at age 3 years. Please use this link for images if stools so you can better assess your childs movements.

babycenter.com/baby-poop-ph...

There are other products available including organic brands available at health shops and online.

As for being unsettled this normal at 8 weeks and enjoy the cuddles while they last.

[JNDuce12-13]

Its all trial and error, one thing I would say is if you feel she was better on Aptamil and you want to change her back, do it gradually. Give her a cow and gate bottle then a Aptamil bottle so it’s not a full shock to the system. I’m shocked they didn’t give you some medicine to help her go. My son was on Aptamil, got badly bunged up. So was perscribed a laxative, it worked within hours, he was like a different baby. He only needed the one dose to get things moving. Do what you think is best, and as far and settling only by being snuggled up, enjoy it, I have to pin my 4yr old down for loves these days. I used to have that problem and was told I was making a rod for my own back, so over a few days each time he went down I’d sit rubbing his back till he went to sleep on his own. It worked well and I’m glad of it but if I had my time over I sit with him and snuggle him.

[Charlen3S]

She will have the runs as her body is adapting to the change. When you change to any food her body is adapting. If you feel she was more settled on aptimal they do colic and constipation milk. We tried that on our wee one who was displaying all you have said. I had milk issues after losing almost all of my body blood volume during emergency c section so I was still trying to bf too. Once NY milk finally came in fully and around four weeks I was managing to get a good latch being big breasted turned out at six week check gp thought might be allergic to cows milk put her on prescription milk and it all went away. My wee ones poos starred to go green on prescription milk and continued to be like that.