can someone offer me some advice- 6 week old- feeding probs (forumla fed baby)-

[mummysweeangel1]

Hey everyone, looking for some much needed advice on anyone thats going through or gone through the same as me....(beware...big lonnnng story looming)

My DS is 6 weeks old, he was a big baby - over 9lbs - we started feeding him on SMA gold when he was born (although he had to be tube fed for a few days in hospital due to low sugar levels)- however he took the feeds ok until about 3 weeks ago -

He takes an ounce or 2 at the most of his milk, then he starts squirming and crying as if somethings hurting him (even after breaking good amounts of wind- if that makes any sense) he is also bringing up alot of the milk after he drinks it and only gives me a dirty nappy about onced a week- which is a very runny one - sorry tmi. PLenty of wet nappys though.

My HV suggested i take him to the GP, which i did , he advised that it may be an intelorance to cows milk but advised he wouldnt be able to prescribe any alternative milks for him just now incase he "gets into trouble"

Anyway he told me that i should "choose" a milk for him myself and see how he is with it (didnt fill me with much confidence to be honest)- Anyway i have tried Aptamill Comfort, and although DS didnt seem as uncomfortable, he will only take 2oz - sometimes 3oz at a push, then refuses the rest (he feeds between every 2.5 - 3.5 hours)

I am at my wits end and just want my baby to enjoy his feeds, i feel so helpless and frustrated and to be honest its actually making me feel really down and hopeless :( :(

My older DS who is 3 had reflux for the first 12 months of his life, but it never seemed to hurt him, he was happy enough and took all of his feeds and gained weight etc so there was never a need for the doctor to give him anything for this.

Can anyone help ?

Hi
I'm not very experienced being a new mum, but I have read up a bit about reflux. It did say reflux symptoms can vary quite a lot, and for some babies they can scream and cry and refuse to take feeds, as well as arch their backs during feeding. I guess it can be really painful for them. I also read GP's often need to be pushed to give them a test.
I'm sure you will get a reply from people who are more experienced than me, just thought I'd pass along what I had read (although as with everything, every book etc will tell you something different!)
Good luck and hope you get some answers soon.
x

thankyou for the reply newmummy - i sometimes feel that the doctors think i am just being paranoid mother , but its not them that has to sit with an unhappy baby who is clearly hungry but wont feed properly :(

x

Can you take him to see a different gp? You can point out that the previous dr suggested trying a different formula. You have, it hasn't helped so you want them to do something else now. You may need to be pushy.

How are his dirty nappies on the new formula?

My dd fed small amounts regularly at that age but she didn't have the discomfort.

Is he gaining weight ok?

Hi,

I'm not sure if this helps as I bottle fed mostly breastmilk so that might make a difference, but at that age my DD was offered 90 mls (3 ozs) every 3 hours and she rarely finished the bottles but is absolutely fine - is his weight gain ok? If so - I'm not sure those volumes at 6 weeks are really a problem?? Maybe when he seems in pain it is just he is feeling full up?

You could ask to see an infant feeding advisor - there may be one at your local hospital or the hospital that dealt with your antenatal / postnatal care. Since it's their FT job they may have better ideas than a GP who, with the best will in the world, can't be an expert on everything.

If you want to go down this route it may be useful to keep a diary starting now with details of each day's feeds, nappies and symptoms.

If he has an intolerance to cow's milk then he needs another non-dairy formula. I'm shocked your GP refused to prescribe anything! I would go back and demand a formula for allergic babies.

Wondering the same as sarahev - is weight gain ok?

BUT.... I completely know how you feel. It is awful. DS2 has very similar problems and I cry nearly everyday. He drinks 2 oz then screams when he is obviously hungry and struggles to drink the rest. Also, he couldn't drink even if there was a slight bit of distraction so I'm always stuck in a quiet dark room. We spend all day (I mean all day) feeding him as he is hungry, but can't drink more than 2oz in one go. Sometimes I try to force him to drink 5oz within an hour as I have another toddler to look after so can't really just sit down and feed him every hour, but he would scream like I was torturing him and everyone constantly accuses me of overfeeding him as he is a really big and fat looking baby ( just what I need when already close to tears).

Thankfully for us, he is now 6 months and is drinking much much better. I hope this doesn't sound 'so far off' for you.

We were given infant gaviscon as DS2 throw up loads after a feed, but instincts told me it isn't actually reflux as his favourite position after a feed even now is lying flat. True enough, he continued puking and screaming during feeds so we stopped eventually. We also tried Aptamil comfort but that made everything worse. Oh, he also very strangely did one runny poo around once in 5 days when around 6 weeks old. Although that all changed once we started weaning. I didn't really go down the 'milk intolerance' route as I felt extremely uncomfortable switching him to non-dairy formula(once again down to instincts), but perhaps for you it might feel like the right thing to do?

Just posting to offer you support as I know how lonely it feels, especially when no one around you seems to have the same problem. I felt very 'judged' by other mums, some who were very verbal with the overfeeding accusations. The only person who understands me is DH as he's there to see things 24/7. But even so, if he's been working quite hard for a week and doesn't see the baby much, he sometimes also does the "you are overfeeding him" thing but very quickly changes his mind when I throw him the baby to look after. :) I do hope you manage to find out what the issue or cause is, and have a much better feeding experience in the next few months than what I had.