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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

how to use Colief..?

19 replies

duende · 01/10/2009 22:10

Hi. I have just bought some colief drops for my very unsettled DS, 8 weeks. we tried infacol, gripe water and dentinox, but they don't seem to have made much difference.
I have just read colief's leaflet and it says that you should add the drops to the formula 30 minutes before feeding. how do people do it when preparing bottles and feeding on demand...? I'd be grateful for any hints.

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Friendlypizzaeater · 01/10/2009 22:18

My LO had colief (though 7 years ago now) I remember having the bottles ready made up in the fridge with bright post it notes on with the time the bottled was prepared

I used Colief, Omnicomfort and Dr Borwns bottles and it did work - not sure which of them did it but I didn't change a thing till he was 8 mths old !

You can get colief on prescription if it works for you

Good luck

Littleover · 01/10/2009 22:43

This brings back memories of my dd2, she fed every 1.5-2 hours (going a bit longer at night) after coming out of scbu and was unsettled all the time. It peaked at 8 weeks and calmed down at 10. We used colief for a couple of weeks and went back to infacol. We always made up extra feeds to cover ourselves, keeping a bottle on the go for an hour and then preparing the next one. We sort of fell into a pattern after a week of faffing around and predicted hunger before she screamed for a top-up. Is he unsettled as in wind/discomfort or do you think he is always hungry?

Original poster

duende · 02/10/2009 08:35

littleover - he is unsettled as in wind/discomfort cries during feeds, arches his back, struggles to bring up wind, is sick a lot. it's making both of us miserable. i am beginning to wonder if it could be reflux or lactose intolerance.

friendlypizzaeater - unfortunately, we are not supposed to be making FF in advance & storing in the fridge anymore...thanks for the hint about getting C. on prescription

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Littleover · 02/10/2009 22:29

Hi duende

How is your ds doing with the colief? Has your health visitor seen him feeding? Ask about infant gaviscon. I managed to do a feed with dd1 just before my gp appointment and wore the same top that was pretty much covered in sick. Our Dr saw this was not normal possetting and gave us infant gaviscon on repeat prescription. We also had it for dd2.
It made the feeds more relaxed for both of us and took the sickness down from about half the feed to less than an oz (can't do metric). Neither girls were what I would call content babies until they got to 12 weeks. I remember how I used to dread the feeds but once the sickness calmed down it meant they were comfortable and the back arching almost stopped. We still used infacol for a while with both of them as well.

Worth a try!

heverhoney1 · 02/10/2009 22:43

There is small print about making up feeds before use. Something about storing in the coldest part of the fridge being ok for 24 hours. I would NEVER store for 24 hours but have to admit what I did when using colief was - make a new bottle up just as I was about to feed DD the last. The bottle would then be a max of 3 - 4 hours old. It was a compromise of rules but I felt it had to be better than seeing DD in pain like that. It worked a treat colief made her a different baby. GOOD LUCK!!!!

Original poster

duende · 03/10/2009 09:15

thank you! how soon did you notice a difference heverhoney1? i have been giving my DS colief for two days now and so far it's made absolutely no diffference at all.

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Original poster

duende · 03/10/2009 09:35

littleover, no improvement at the moment. I am taking him to my gp on Monday and will talk to her about reflux/ lactose intolerance. will ask about gaviscon. did you BF or FF? if FF, what formula did you use?
LO also vomits a lot and I am dreading every feed now. I so wish he could just be comfortable and happy

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Littleover · 03/10/2009 21:27

I FF both girls and used the normal Aptimil. This was recommended to me by several mums as it, apparently, is less rich. I had 2 crash sections and was in shock after the first delivery and with the second she was resuscitated twice and we were told she had a 25% chance of surviving the night ( it was 11pm when she was born!) so I didn't get those special bonding moments with either of them. I didn't see dd2 until she was 2 days old as she was blue-lighted up to London to secure the scbu bed. I tried to BF dd1 but she fed every 30 minutes and I don't think I had it in me to try that hard.

I digress.... With dd2 we tried the easy digestable Aptimil but it is a lot thicker and it doesn't go through the smaller teats. When we used the next size up she couldn't cope with the faster flow and it would cover us both again. She would then scream even more so we went back to the normal formula.

I know exactly how you feel, I found they picked up on my anxiety and we were all uptight before the bottle came out! I gave up on colief as it did no better than anything else I had tried. I didn't try loads of different bottles either, I used Avent. It's no comfort now but it won't last forever.

Is he putting on sufficient weight? I was accused of over feeding as both girls were gaining too much some weeks but I followed the manufacturer's guidelines for their weight and they didn't always finish it.

Original poster

duende · 04/10/2009 15:49

Littleover, I am sorry to hear you had such traumatic experiences.
I breastfed to start with but for a number of reasons have had to switch to mixed feeding. as it usually happens, DS is now mainly FF with a couple of breastfeeds a day.
we are using the normal aptimil too. we tried the easy digest one but I didn't really see much difference.
he is putting on a lot of weight and is always hungry. I hope I won't have to join weight watchers with him by the time he's 3...

OP posts:

Littleover · 04/10/2009 20:19

Duende, didn't realise how much I waffled on until I read it back today

Good luck with your gp tomorrow, fingers crossed. A friend of mine had the same feeding problems with her ds and her gp commented that if "baby is weeing, pooing and putting on weight then there isn't much wrong with him" so be prepared to fight your corner!

Original poster

duende · 04/10/2009 21:24

you did't waffle at all thank you for replying.
sorry if I sound a bit matter of fact sometimes, I'm usually typing one handed and in a hurry.

yes, I am prepared to have to fight my corner, I have heard the same comments from the midwifes and HVs as your friend.
I know he is putting on weight, but at what cost...?

anyway - day 3 on colief and today has been a bit better. fingers crossed....

OP posts:

ElectricElephant · 04/10/2009 21:56

If you want tips on making up formula in advance (from a science bod) then please say - not going to force it on you, but there are ways to do it to totally minimise any risk (and loads better than adding formula to cooled water)

Original poster

duende · 05/10/2009 11:25

yes please! it would be much appreciated.

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teatank · 05/10/2009 12:08

hi duende hope everything went well at the docs. i had the same problem 12 months ago. my ds cried uncontrolably for hours after each bottle. i used to make up a bottle an hour before but doubled the dose of colief like it said on the instructions. i also used doctor brown bottles which where fantastic. the colief worked for my ds but it took about 7 days to notice the difference. i hope you have the same success. goodluck

ElectricElephant · 05/10/2009 12:28

duende

I usually made up a few at a time, and always had to have at least one in the fridge. We had a strict rotation system where the newest bottles went straight to the back of the fridge.

Never had any in the fridge for more than 24 hours (was usually much less than that)

Right

-Fresh boil the kettle.
-Sterilise bottles.
-Put timer on for 20 mins for kettle to cool down.
-Bottles straight out of steriliser, filled with water up to required amount, add correct amount of powder
-lids/teats straight out of steriliser and onto the bottles.

-Put the bottles straight into a bowl full of very cold water - this will speed the cooling process so they spend minimal time at the danger zone for bacteria (about 5 - 60C IIRC)

Depending on the size of bottle, they should be cool enough in about 20 mins to go into the fridge.

I found it easiest to do it at the same time each day (after breakfast) so I knew when they were all made up.

HTH

(and sorry for rambling!!)

ElectricElephant · 05/10/2009 12:32

(oh, forgot to mention the important bit - don't let the kettle cool for more than half an hour - the water will probably have gone below 70C which is the temp it needs to be at to kill any bugs, so timer on as soon as you click it on to boil)

Original poster

duende · 05/10/2009 12:47

teatank - we use tommee tippee anti colic bottles, I think they are supposed to work in a similar way to the dr brown ones. how long was your DS on colic for?

electricElephant - thank you for this. I think this is the way we will do it, sounds a bit easier.

OP posts:

ElectricElephant · 05/10/2009 12:54

duende - you're very welcome.

Someone will suggest making bottles up with cooled boiled water soon I expect - just want to say that the reason I didn't do this is that formula isn't sterile, so was a bit anxious about it.

teatank · 05/10/2009 13:26

hi duene i used every bottle under the sun including tommee tippee. 10 of pounds later the last ones i tried were dr brown. i wish i would of tried them sooner. if you can afford 1 it may be worth a try. my ds had colic till he was about 8 months old. to find out if he still had it i used to halve the dose of colief and see if symptoms returned. when they did i went back to original dose. eventually he coped without it. hope this is helpful

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