Cow and Gate Comfort v Aptamil Easy Digest

[Hillbilly]

Is there any difference?

I have a 20 wk baby who retains wind badly and it wakes him up a lot at night. I am thinking to change to one of these 2 formulas.

Does anyone have any experience of either?

BTW he is half BF half FF.

[jellies]

We used Aptamil from about 20 weeks.. worked really well and infacol prebiotic..
But found out C&G and Apt are owned by the same company Numico so is effectivly the same stuff yet C&G is a lot cheeper!

[MrsDandOllie]

DS2 is on the aptamil one. I actually bought it by mistake first of all thinking it was the ordinary aptamil but DS has been so settled and happy on it that i dont want to rock the boat and change it even though its much more expensive!!
I may be wrong here though but I thought these 'easy digest' type milks were actually to stop babies being sick so mucg, not for bringing up wind... I think thats more things like gripe water etc for that...

[tiktok]

Hillbilly, read the list of ingredients on the side of the pack. There may be a difference in the starch or sugars used, in particular, but whether either is 'better' than the other for your purposes, I wouldn't know!

Just because they are made by the same company doesn't mean they are formulated in the exact same way - Numico makes lots of formulas - but of course formulas are not really all that different anyway, though the 'special' formulas introduce new ingredients. For example, Comfort has potato starch and glucose in it. I don't know about 'Easy Digest'.

They're marketed as a response to some very vague 'symptoms' - it's the 'Stay Down' type formulas which target the sicky babies, and they're made with rice starch that thickens in contact with stomach juices, MrsDandOllie.

[Hillbilly]

Thanks everybody!

[Hillbilly]

Toktok - In your opinion, are these easy to digest formulas supposed to help trapped wind?

[Hillbilly]

Sorry I meant Tiktok!

[tiktok]

You could try ringing the manufacturers to ask about this, Hillbilly - they are promoted as being 'gentle' and 'helps with digestive problems' which is all very vague and unconvincing to me.....I honestly can't see how potato starch would help with wind, to be honest, and the reason it is there is to soften the stool, which it does. Whether that will also help with wind, I don't know.

[Swaliswan]

I only give my DD formula on her cereal (for the extra vitamins and minerals) and had similar problems. My DD can't tolerate C&G at all (throws it back up) but has done fantastically with Aptamil easy digest so they can't be the same. Unfortunately, you can't try them in tetrapak form like you can other formulas so you need to pick one and pay out for a big tub (ASDA sell easy digest cheaply btw). Although it is still much harder for DD to digest than BM, it is much better than normal formula for wind and constipation. You may get a couple of days of increased wind when you start using it though (according to the leaflet inside the carton ) but I didn't find this with DD.

[AngieEssex]

We started our baby daughter on sma gold and she was fine for a week then the inconsolable crying started, day and night, fists clenched and legs pulling up. we changed her to cow and gate comfort at the advise of my midwife because of her bad wind and colic. The wind has been much much better, although she suffers from it a little bit it is nothing like before. she farts alot more and burping is easier, but her farts and poo absolutely stink!!!

Only thing is she was going a few times a day and it has now slowed to once everyother day which seems to gripe her up a bit. Overall i would say if your baby has bad wind it is defenately worth switching.

I am considering switching her to aptamil easy digest as i have heard good things about it, but if it is more expensive and a similar formula not sure if there is much point.