Formula milk issue

[Andia1]

Hi all, my little one is 11days and is experiencing painful bowel movements after each feed. Is very hard to calm her down as it seems like she's lots of gas. I try to make breaks for her and wind her each time but it doesn't help much or work at times. I have tried to change milk few days ago for a lighter version with colic and constipation option but it was getting worse for her. Now is just hard to feed her as each time she cries 😢 any ideas what to do?

[sweetchild1989]

Can I ask when she goes for a poop what colour is it. I'm only asking as my lb had this and his poop was very dark green to almost black and it turned out he was lactose intolerant.

Have you tried to massage her tummy and do her legs gently in a cycle motion this is meant to help loosen there bowl movements. But I would speak to your mw/hv hope it gets better for her soon xx

[Andia1 in reply to sweetchild1989]

It's yellow in colour. She does 1 about every 12hrs. I tried massaging her but when she's on bottle it's impossible to calm her down as she takes few sips and cries. I already spoke to midwife, apart from giving advice on massage and infacol they weren't much of help 😩🙁

[claire16c in reply to Andia1]

At this age they should be pooing several times a day. Please give your midwife a call

[MrsCherry0121 in reply to sweetchild1989]

Our little girl was like this it was horrible to watch her. She would poop every 4 days and it was just like water. Her poops did change to being like this until she was about 4/6weeks old. So it was a challenge. How old is your boy now? I’m not sure what to do about weaning her odd lactose free milk is it something they Will be able to have as they grow up? There isn’t too much. Online about it x

[sweetchild1989 in reply to MrsCherry0121]

My lb is nearly 19 month old and he has grown out of it.... when he turned 1 he grew out of it he has been having normal milk and dairy stuff with no problems. When he did have it he was having colief drops in every bottle he had and I think that helped him. I know some babies dont grow out of it, so that is something you would have to talk to your hv about, but I'm sure you can get lactose free milk. Sorry if this dobt see much help x

[Seb9]

I would say at 11 days old if you have concerns call your health visitor and ask for a check up.

I haven't bottle fed but I have read that pace feeding your bottles so they're more similar to breast feeding can help, as with bottles it's very easy for them to take a lot of milk very quickly and miss their bodies telling them that they are full up. Perhaps check you're also using the slowest teat so baby has to take the milk as slowly as possible.

How much are you giving her each feed? At 11 days old their tummies are tiny so if she's taking on too much at each feed she might be struggling.

Have you maybe thought about trying to breast feed her or express to see if your milk is better for her? At 11 days a lactation consultant could probably talk to you about how to do this? Your milk might be better for her tummy than formula? Hope you get it sorted, it's horrid when they're not happy, good luck x

[Andia1 in reply to Seb9]

Thinking about it now it might be that she takes in too much and then struggles. I'll buy slow flow bottle ASAP but I've noticed that giving her my milk doesn't bring that effect on her. Unfortunately I don't have as much of it to keep her on breast milk only. I gave her some boiled water in between the formula milk and noticed that she was calmer and fallen asleep. It may well be the eating issue. I'll observe her, as I'm not getting much of advice from midwives 🙁

[Seb9 in reply to Andia1]

Also look up pace feeding, so that it takes longer and is harder for her to guzzle her feed.

When you say you don't have much breast milk, what makes you think your supply isn't enough for baby? Just if you wanted to switch to full time breast feeding you might be able to let her up your supply so that you can not have to give her formula if it doesn't agree with her.

My little one felt like she was on me 24/7 those first few weeks while she regulated my supply and at times it felt like I didn't have enough but then when my supply upped she had enough.

Perhaps your health visitor or midwife could put you in touch with a lactation consultant or you could look up a la leche league support group in your area?

[Andia1 in reply to Seb9]

I've changed bottle for anti colic one and it seems like it helped with trapped air. Although she still wants to eat a lot and that I think makes her a little bit constipated. I can provide up to 90mil a day of my milk. At the minute I'm not getting enough time to express more either and trying to latch her on breast didn't work hence will stick with bottle.

[Chloe0789 in reply to Andia1]

Hey, how much you pump is no indication of how much milk you have, I’ve been breast feeding for almost 7 months and I can only pump 30ml, if you are interested in continuing breast feeding there is a group on Facebook that can help they are called breast feeding yummy mummy’s

[Bakingcupcake in reply to Chloe0789]

Yes i breastfed and couldnt express much....i never had any problems with my LG with wind/constipation or tummy troubles i believe because she was breastfed...my friends who bottle fed were always experiencing issues, i just felt sorry for their LOs!

[gigitv in reply to Bakingcupcake]

I once thought I have no milk but believe me unless you have a condition , you as a mother will have milk. Just try to eat more , pump more. Let baby latch on your breast as long as possible. Baby will become fussy or draw its head backward when she/he’s done. If she/he is not fussy, let it continue to latch even if you think you have no milk. Because no pumps are better than baby. The milk will come eventually It takes a few days for some, even a month to have full supply of milk. Just don’t give up, believe in the nature of mother’s body. It will react to baby’s milk demand. Don’t wait until later to try to pump because it will take more effort since baby will need to eat more.

I started to pump at month 2 and my baby dont need as much formula . Before it was like 80% formula milk, wish I have done it sooner. Good luck!

[Katierm1990 in reply to Bakingcupcake]

This is completley untrue, no one had ever found a increased correlation to bottle feeding a baby and colic/ digestive issues. Fair enough that the mum may want extra help to continue breastfeeding and any advice on that is more than useful, but saying you felt sorry for babies as they were bottle fed which caused their issues is only going to cause mum guilt and it's a load of rubbish and puts unneeded pressure on mum's when fed will always be best.

[Bakingcupcake in reply to Katierm1990]

Err not completely untrue as thats always what you hear bottle fed babies complaints about!!im not trying to guilt anyone thanks that is my experience of my friends always in trouble and desperate as their LOs always seemed to have issues and all formula fed....but if shes thinking of trying BF little one go for it theres so much support out there with different groups etc you dont have to be alone or beat yourself up basically...

[Seb9 in reply to Andia1]

Any amount of milk you can give her is amazing and definitely helpful is she can digest it better and doesn't struggle so much. Expressing is hard work so good on you for doing it, perhaps you could

Sorry to hear about your latching issues, you might have already spoken to someone but la leche league, NCT and your local NHS midwife unit might have peer supporters who can help you with that if it's something you want to persue.

Otherwise it's sounds like your doing everything you can, the more baby grows the better their digestion will get so it might just take some time to improve. With my little one I found the only thing that settled her was being carried about and lullabies. Have you maybe tried putting baby in a sling/carrier and going walking, being upright and in motion might help to settle her and get things moving in the right direction xx

[Georgielouise]

I had the Philips Avent anti colic bottles and used aptamil milk - I had this problem with my little girl and when I changed milk and bottles she was much better. Used the same with my little boy and sometimes used infacol. Also if she will drink it try her with water - boil it and cool it down then feed - this can move things along if they are constipated. Also hold your baby so they are laying down on their front supported under their belly by your hand obviously making sure she can breathe ok- pat her back. Lots of burping throughout the feed too. Feed a little then stop and burp her then carry on .

[Andia1]

Thanks for advice All, I will continue to express as it's easier for me. And putting her on breast didn't work at all, just nothing comes out and she cannot even latch on it. I tried giving her some warm boiled water and it helped last time with constipation. She seems to me like she's overfeeding at night hence the constipation. Shouldn't she drink up to 90 mil a feed? Sometimes she can drink 120mil and ask for more. I think the issue is her eating too much and struggling to digest. In that case I can only use water in between so she doesn't eat too much again. Or any ideas how to regulate this?

[Annh17 in reply to Andia1]

You feed your baby what you want, whether its formula or breast. Mg LG when she was younger suffered with trapped wind, we tried infacol, didn’t work, then used gripe water which we continued to use till she was 9 months, when she stopped having milk.

Also massage, bicycle legs, it’s so heartbreaking seeing your little 1 in so much pain. 1 time will always stay with me, LG was in so much pain, trapped wind and hadn’t had a poo for quite some time, every time she tries to go, would just break my heart, we tried the cooled boiled water, massage, bicycles legs and pushing legs to chest, that definitely worked. I would hold there for a few seconds then release and continue doing that.

My LG loves her milk and literally wouldn’t come up for air, but we stopped this and burped 2-3 times per bottle, which we found did help aswell.

I hope you find something that helps xx

[Seb9 in reply to Andia1]

At 11 days old the recommendation is up to 90ml 2/3 hours apart, but all babies are different, perhaps you could try giving her the 90ml very slowly so that she recognises when she is full up?

I would say, although you probably already know to be careful of giving water as their little bodies don't hang on to all their nutrients and salts very well so they can loose electrolytes and get water intoxication if they have too much, so if you are giving water maybe check with your health visitor on the amount of water that is safe to give.

[claire16c in reply to Andia1]

While you seek help you could try nipple shields. Please don’t give baby any water - babies under 6 months can not have water xx

[Loopy_lass]

Hi,

Sorry your little one is struggling. It's hard when they are so tiny isn't it.

I breastfed my little boy but he had a similar problem except experienced tummy ache overnight which prevented him from sleeping. After he had a bowel movement he was fine. We found that it helped him by giving him some tummy time as the gas/milk was able to move around and be less uncomfortable for him. Also did the bicycle legs which eased it slightly. He didn't really like tummy massage. Took him to numerous doctor appointments and they all told us different things, colic, reflux, dairy intolerance so I even started a dairy free diet but it didn't make a difference. He grew out of it when he got to about 4 months so I think it was all to do with his digestive system still developing perhaps? Does your little one like tummy time? We also found that a warm bath helped ease it too. Hope you find a solution soon xxx

[BecxBecx]

Hey, I think I read somewhere on this thread you said you’re formula feeding because you couldn’t pump much? How much you pump does not correlate at all with your supply, and I’m surprised more education isn’t offered on this topic. Do you have a la leche league in your area? They can help should you wish to continue breastfeeding. All online meetings right now.

If you want to switch back to breast, make sure you offer the breast each time before attempting formula. It’s possible to re-restablish your supply.

No judgement either way - fed baby is the most important thing.

[claire16c]

Hi there. Just echoing the thoughts above really. Reach out for help to get baby latching- there are lots of video support groups at the moment or some areas have one to one. At 11 days old the midwives can come out to your house to help. Formula can make some babies constipated and it’s not as easily digested as your breast milk Which explains the problems you are having. The more you feed or express the more milk your body makes. Expressing is not an indication of supply. Babies can take a lot more.

If baby is having problems latching on then please do call the National Breastfeeding helpline and they can talk you through it. And ask your Midwife or HV to refer you to skilled bf support. Your baby is only tiny so plenty of time to learn!

The number is

0330 100 0212 for the helpline x

[Andia1]

I never heard of that league will google it. She gets proper pains from that milk and strains a lot ☹ it's awful as I don't know what else to do. I tried changing milk to cow Gate colic&constipation but she was getting on even worse with it. I gave her about 20mil of water but she started chocking on it 😒 not sure how much actually got there. I feel so helpless not sure what else I can do, it's awful to see her struggle 💔 ☹😩

[Ajl46]

I feel your pain - my baby wouldn’t latch at all despite help from many midwives, a cranial osteopath and a lactation consultant. Turned out she had a tongue tie plus bruising from an attempted forceps delivery which was causing the difficulties but even once these issues were dealt with she wouldn’t latch.

I wanted to give my daughter as much breast milk as I could and in case it’s helpful info, I’ve been pumping for nearly 6 months now and supplementing with formula to top up. The only type of pump which works for me is a hospital grade one which I have rented from a company called Ardo (Medela also hire them out). I can pump about 400 ml per day (via 6 sessions of 20 mins each). Whatever you decide to do, bin the mummy guilt - fed is best.

If her constipation doesn’t get better soon I’d be tempted to call the GP.

Best of luck to you xx

[Andia1]

I've started doing longer breaks for her whilst feeding and watching how much she actually drinks. I need to admit it got better, she started to poo more and her belly seems to be less painful. I think she got used to bottle now and I'll stick to it and breast pump in the meantime which is easier for me as well. I think the biggest issue with me is the time it takes to breast pump especially when she needs my attention which at the minute feels like 24h/7. And I bearly get time to breast pump twice a day ...