'Best' bottle to reduce colic/wind?!

[PreggoEggo]

DS1 is 2 weeks old, and on aptimal. We have found him very unsettled since day 5, when we switched him to formula completely. We are using Avent anti-colic bottles, but during or shortly after a feed he screams in agony, brings his knees up, arches his back, straightens his legs and is just generally a very unhappy baby. He is so difficult to wind, have tried infacol for about a week now, have tried dentinox colic drops too and none seem to help bring up wind.

Im pretty sure he is OK on the milk as his poos are fine (yellowy and soft), my two DDs were intolerant to milk and their poos were dark green and they cried all the time, whereas he is just during feeding so I think it is trapped wind.

Can anyone suggest/recommend anything? I have just made a few extra holes in the teat to see if maybe his sucking so hard is causing more wind. Have also spoken to the HV who has suggested colief drops so am going to get some of those shortly. We used tommee tippee with my DDs but Im not sure if there is a difference in all these bottles which all claim to be anti-colic??

Really feel for you as my ds was like this for some time and we tried everything! He was so full of little airbubbles at one point that if you pressed his tummy you could hear them all crackling like mini bubblewrap - awful!

Some babies are like this anyway, any bottle or breastfed, so don't feel bad he is having the problem.

Coleif works by the enzyme it contains which breaks down the lactulose into more simple sugars aiding digestion, but really only helps / makes a difference if baby lacks those enzymes themselves (as some do)

You could try giving him a small part of his feed then winding him, then a bit more, then winding him etc rather than the whole feed all at once so he isn't getting a big build up, that will be less painful for him.

I am guessing if you already have dc that you know the massage techniques which helps move the wind along/expel it i.e the right way to stroke his tummy and move his legs etc. If not there are several you can try to help him with.

I'm not sure a faster flow on his milk (with your extra holes) is going to help as he is very young to be able to control the flow and gulping a faster trickle may have reverse effect - but you will know yourself if it has helped.

We more or less had to wait for it to pass, it did help holding him against my shoulder and bending legs so we 'bobbed' down quite firmly the up-and-down motion seemed to help, either by distraction or moving wind I don't know. Needs stamina to keep up for long tho! What seemed to hepl was when he started trying to move/roll round as his stronger tummy muscles seemed to stop the wind making him so uncomfortable - small comfort to you at this stage though.

Good luck.

Thanks snowbeetle, I dont think the colief drops will be much help either as I think it is a wind problem and not a digestion one. He does suck really hard on the teat, making it go in on itself hence me thinking an extra hole might help (plus had read it somewhere online to try it). I will try your 'bobbing' method!! Have tried tummy massage, leg cycling etc. Its awful seeing them so uncomfortable. :(

It is - I have much sympathy for you. I have second on way and am hoping it doesn't suffer as badly as first - feel so helpless don't you. :(

all the best

MAM are very good for this, the ones where the bottom and top come off they are pain to put together though. I think I tried every bottle going for dd2.

My step-sister used the MAM anti-colic ones as well when her baby was having problems. We use them too - handy as they can be sterilised in the microwave, but, as damnit says, they can be a bit of a faff to put together and take apart.

We found the MAM ones great too.

As ticklem says, you can sterilise them individually in the microwave. You just take them apart and out water in the bottom. They are therefore brilliant for taking on holiday as you don't need to lug a steriliser separately