should I switch to formula. help tummy problems?

[chezabel2]

Hi
LO is 19 weeks. Untill she was around 3.5mth we had severe colic and then we had 2 weeks great sleeping eating etc.
Hit 4 months and boom. Stops pooing regular (averaging 8 days) and starts thrashing ALL night and is fussy at breast a lot.
I think it is gas related? We tried all the drops, massage her belly daily etc but it is getting worse and she is getting upset. Even after a poo she still thumps all night.
I have a fairly bland diet as gave ibs.
I havent changed my diet at all. We have not been sick.
I do eat diary but not excessive and eat bread everyday.
I am a little reluctant to cut out as I will be hardly eating anything then & struggle to keep weight on.
DO you think she would be better on a gentle formula instead??
Lo is happy enough in day / in between feeds except for some tiredness as thumping all night. She is consistently on 50th percentile for weight.
We are getting quite distressed about seeing her go through this and I feel guilt ++ that im doing this to her/cant help :-(. Any advice?
Thanks in advance

unfortunately I wasn't able to breastfeed so I'm unable to offer advice on possible solutions to allow you to continue to bf and solve the problem, hopefully someone else will come along that can offer help on that front. From experience of my own situation, my DD, now 20 months, had horrible stomach problems. She would go 5 or 6 days without pooing and would frequently and suddenly start screaming and thrashing about making it obvious she was having stomach cramps. It turned out she had a cows milk protein intolerance and was put on prescription formula by the dr which really really helped and in the end the intolerance had passed by about 10 months so everything is back to normal now and she has normal dairy. Obviously getting the prescription formula was an easier decision for us as DD was already formula fed so I don't want to interfere in your decision as to whether or not you continue to bf (I was desperate to be able to do it but sadly couldn't) but thought it might help to tell you what worked for our DD. Hope things improve soon.

Thanks for the reply. Thats what I have been wondering whether she has milk intolerance and all the colic was about that too?
To be honest I was considering changing to formula at 6 months anyhow. Shes been quite a difficult baby and breast feeding as lovely as it is kind of means you can never really get a good break from each other ( longer than 3 hrs) &I could never pump to leave a bf bottle.
Was your little one upset through the day too? Because mine isnt really and I think its because she is so active she moves the gas through but at night she is still for too long.
Plus did u try any non prescription formulas first which helped?
Thank you so much for the input. I didnt realise jow hard a baby would be!!! X

I just read that bk. It sounds terrible that I want to get away from her! I just mean being able to go out and not been constantly on a timer! X

Chezabel, if you suspect it may be milk intolerance and you are planning to put her on formula in two months anyways, I would say give formula a shot, but one on prescription that is for milk allergy sufferers. You might find that she is more likely to drink that now anyways than at 6 months,when she is more likely not to like the taste of it. Also if you are suspecting intolerance or allergy, get a referal to an allergy specialist too. All the best

not terrible at all, everyone needs a bit of freedom! We tried a comfort formula (either Aptamil or SMA, can't remember which sorry) but it didn't really make much difference. Sounds like my DD was the opposite though as she would be really upset during the day but it didn't bother her during the night as she stopped feeding at night quite early on. I think if you were considering formula anyway then there's no harm in going to the gp's and speaking to them about a possible prescription although may not offer it straight away as it took a few visits before us for them to acknowledge that it was a prolonged problem that we had tried to solve ourselves with no success! good luck whatever you choose to do!

I found that GPs were happy to prescribe the special formula. It depends which one you want. You could go for partially hydrloysed like Aptamil Pepti or fully hydrloysed like nutramigen, see this website:

www.isitcowsmilkallergy.co.uk/getting-my-baby-diagnosed/visiting-the-doctor/

Just to give you a perspective from another side, my DD was EBF and it was around 5 months we discovered she was CMPA. She had silent reflux and is still very unsettled with hourly wakings at night. I wish I could put her on formula and tbh I wish I had done that since birth, because she has been a bottle refuser and will not take a bottle at all. Had she been on formula from the start, CMPA would have been treated and diagnosed much earlier, and would have saved us both a lot of heartache. So don't feel guilty for trying formula, in the long term it may be the best for both of you.

Is it the not pooing regularly you are concerned with?

Do you know it's totally normal for poo habits of ebf babies to change and they can go upto 2 weeks without pooing and still be in the normal range. 4 months is a classic time from things like this to change.

The fusing at the breast could be something else unrelated. I'd recommend you speck to breastfeeding councillor about your concerns. I see nothing that points directly to cmp intolerance without further investigation first.

If this is the case anyway formula unless prescription non cows milk will actuary just make things worse.

Thanks for all the replys
ArtsFine how have you managed your LO then? Cut out all diary from your diet?
Im saying all this about trying formula but my LO has never had a bottle so I might find myself in similar position.

MigGril The pooings just part of it. It just seems at night that about roughly 90 min after a feed she thrashes like mental and cant settle untill literally the next feed which calm her for s little longer. She is not getting any proper rest poor thing neither are we. So it seems as the milk is hitting her intestines its causing aggrevation / gas etc. Reacting to something.
I think we dont notice it as much in day as she is thrashing about / active anyhow and then zonks out.the thrashing started or got worse when the pooing stopped.

Im going to book a gp appointment but I dont hold out much hope.

Thanks again

I can see why you are maybe linking this to the point but from understanding breastfed babies and how there digestion works I'm not sure it's a problem.

A fully trained breastfeeding councillor will be able to.go through everything with you and see if it's link or not. They are actually trained to spot stuff like this, more so then most people realise. I'd contact NCT it BfN breastfeeding helpline.

I'm wondering if anyone ever suggested silent reflux with the colic?

MigGril no, no ones ever said anything about silent reflux. There was times I wondered myself but it was never felt that was the case.
We have although briefly had a great settled time for a few weeks prior to hitting 4months sleeping and eating well and pooing regular.

There are some breast feeding support workers I coukd speak to be I dont know how qualified they are. Also I found thier info was very different from midwife/healtg visitors /gp!
I might try call breastfeeding support line tomorrow and try get in gp.
Im thinking of stopping dairy from tomorrow too see if any difference.
Thanks for the help ??

I put that in about settled period as no symptoms of anything and surely if reflux it would have been there then. But I suppose so should an allergy?
And I put a smiley face on end not question marks!!

Yes that's why I was wondering about the allergy as you wouldn't have got any period of settled behavior.

like I said 4 months is a common time for changes in gute development hench the pooing less often and am wondering if the behavior at the breasts isn't something unrelated.

Be warned it can take several weeks to see a change when cutting diary out of your diet. Have you had a read on kellymom website? lots of good fact based information there.

Yes breastfeeding support workers vary in training and qualifications. Which was why I specified NCT or BfN I'm fully aware of there training and what they cover. if there is a medical you would need to go back to a doctor of courses. But they can offer great support.

Breastmilk is by far the most easiest digested, generalist thing for your lo to eat. Even if reflux or allergies are involved, it still is better unless a baby is failing to thrive.

DS has CMPA and soy allergies.i agree if you've had a settled period then I very doubt it's allergy related if you've not changed your diet.

FWIW DS would go 6-12 days without pooing, which is normal in BFed babies. One if the plus sides I always thought

Four months was a crappy sleep time for us though. I thought I was going die from sleep deprivation but then it passed and he started sleeping through! There a big developmental leap at this age as they transition from newborn to having more abilities.