FOLLOW-ON MILK AND CONSTIPATION

[newmum953]

My baby is now six months old. She was on Aptamil first milk at about 5 and a half months (I breastfed until that time) but I found it made her really windy - to the point she was waking up many times during the night and trying to force out her wind and she was very uncomfortable. At 6 months I changed to Cow & Gate Follow-on milk but now she is having difficulty with her bowels and is straining until she is red in the face. She passes a very small poo once a day which is thick and pastey (TMI I know!) Lactulose has been surprisingly uneffective and had to resort to doing the suppository today. My doctor is not a fan of changing formulas and has suggested a few mls of orange juice (squeezed by me at home). I have heard about Aptamil Comfort - think this is for babies with more sensitive bowels - and am thinking of switching her to that. My baby is a reflux baby and is on renitidine. I have also noticed an increase in her vommiting - I am wondering whether this is to do with the formula, or wondering if i's anything to do with solids. Anyone had any similar experiences with follow-on milk? Would appreciate your views.

I was unable to breast feed, so my son started on aptamil first milk, then went on to hungry baby formula before going onto follow on milk. The truth is that you dont need to change to follow on milk, they are fine to stay on hungry milk. I found that the first time my son was put on follow on milk he ended up constipated, and then i tried again after he was a year old and is now fine. A word of warning though, i was told in hospital not to change from one make of formula to another. You might want to go back to your original formula and stay with that maker if it suited your baby. Sometimes follow on milk will cause constipation. And teh change of formulas can cause vomiting and constipation too i think. x

Thanks so much - that's a great help.

Follow on milk is really best avoided if possible. The only reason to choose it over infant formula (if BM isn't an option) is the price. Here's the problems with it and the reason your LO way be suffering:

www.analyticalarmadillo.co.uk/2010/08/breastfeeding-q-ask-armadillo.html

It IS ok to switch between milks to find one that suits. Easiest then to stick with that one. Formula is NOT needed after a year no matter what the adverts say (you may as well just give vitamin drops if you're worried about vits, or bear in mind that breakfast cereals are fortified with vits and iron). It does NOT offer the "internal protection" that the adverts try to tell us it does. If you actually listen to the wording of the ad you'll see what I mean - it's all smoke and mirrors. .

It's possible that the wind problem is a cow's milk intolerance and she's reacting to the fact that formula is made from cow's milk. Is offering her BM again an option? If you only stopped 2 weeks ago you should be able to BF again. Or, if not, you could try different formulas to see if any suit better. Ideally avoid the soya ones but that may be the only option if the wind problem is CMP intolerance. Always worth a discussion with your GP before moving away from conventional formula though.

Follow-on milk has added iron.

Added iron is very hard to digest, and tends to cause constipation - as many pregnant ladies find.

If you put her back on a first milk, that may well be safer. If you are concerned about iron, you can try to encourage her to eat iron-rich foods, assuming you are now weaning. (Dried apricots are good.)