colief - gosh its complicated!

[ImNotAnsweringIt]

I have been giving this for a week and have noticed some difference. However, I now think I have been giving it incorrectly (EBF). I was expressing a little milk (like, 5 mls) thinking it just needed the milk as a carrier to get the 4 drops into Ds's stomach. I thought it then worked on the milk in the stomach once he had fed. I know think (havin gread instrcutions and website again) that it breaks down the lactose in the milk before being fed, hence you are supposed to express off most of the foremilk (which is lactose-rich), treat it witht eh Colief, then feed thsi to your baby.

Can anyone confirm which is correct? I don't want to be going to all this trouble if I am wrong, as I had been keeping some milk in the fridge to put the Colief in, then feeding as normal, which maybe didn't work. Arrggghhh, its all so hard!

I always just used to put a few drops on my nipple suring the feed. However, I noticed the biggest difference when I ditched it and just switched to lactose free milk and drasticly cut down on all other dairy.

P.S Lactose free milk tastes just the same!

I rang the helpline as I thought it was such a faff to use and mixing it in the suggested amount of milk really meant having to give a bottle at the start of each feed, which I didn't want to do with a four week old. The helpline said the amount of milk was a recommendation only and I could alter it if I wanted, but it was recommended to use that amount to protect the enzyme, lactase and not render it useless.

It was such a faff I stopped using it after a few days. Apparently lactose intolerance is really quite rare anyway.

Save your money cos it doesn't work
www.breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk/pdfs/Colic.pdf

As Midori says lactase enzyme deficiency is vanishingly rare. Doesn't stop em trying to convince parents to buy this and other stuff which makes lots of profit

Thanks everyone. I have been having soya milk and no cheese/butter for weeks but the effects since using Colief have been much more dramatic. I'll stick at it for now as can't bear to risk going back to screaming baby. I am going to go back to the gp to try to get it prescribed (will see a different gp this time).

I'll have a read of that link, thanks.

I got a prescription from my GP. I had tried everything, and had cut dairy out of my diet, with no effect, and was at my wits end. My GP (a woman who had bf a colicky baby) was the one who told me about Colief, saying that it sounded like DS had a lactase deficiency. The results after using Colief backed that up (DS was like a different baby), so she kept prescribing it. I think he stopped taking it at about 5 or 6 months old.

I used it just like you describe - expressed a little, added the drops, then bf immediately. It was how the doctor told me to do it, so you are doing it correctly. I think you are confusing the bottlefeeding instructions with the breastfeeding instructions.

Definitely try for a prescription though.

from website:

Express a few tablespoons of milk into a sterilised container
Add 4 drops of Colief
Feed to baby on a sterilised, plastic spoon
Breastfeed as normal.

If feeding quite frequently (every 1 or 2 hours) then use this method:

Express approximately half a cup of fore milk* and store this in a refrigerator. Pour a few tablespoons, warm it to body temperature, add Colief® and give this to your baby before each feed.

If the feeds are small ? say 50ml each ? you may be able to use only two drops of Colief® per feed.

*It is worth remembering that most of the lactose is concentrated in the ?fore milk? at the commencement of every feed.

Changing your diet when bf does not make any difference to a baby with LI - 'cos the lactose in your milk is unrelated to lactose in your diet....lactose is in all milk, it's the sugar inherent in it.

Thanks everyone, TikTok, thats interesting.

What about when out and about - do you carry some expressed milk around for feeding or just not bother at these times? And night time? Last night I took milk which had been treated with Colief then refridgerated up to bed with me in a cool bag, with a flask of hot water to warm it up. What a palaver! Still got no sleep anyway

Sometimes I forgot didn't bother taking any with me, but I tried to take one of those little storage pots with some expressed milk. You are right, it was a faff!

At night I initially expressed some milk just before I went to bed, then kept it next to the bed (at room temperature). It is safe for up to 6 hours, IIRC - from what you say, there doesn't sound like there's much chance that it wouldn't be used by then. I then added the drops when needed - no need for warming up.

Later, when I got a bit more comfortable with expressing, I would hand express a small amount when DS woke up. It came as a surprise to me how easy hand expressing was, once I got the hang of it. I only needed a small amount, so it took no time. Then I added the drops and fed.

Hope you get a bit of rest soon :)