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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Original poster

Aptamil hungry milk and reflux

11 replies

kbjb · 10/05/2012 06:38

Hi

My DS is 16 wks and had reflux which means he has infant gaviscon in his Aptamil formula at every feed. Basically the gaviscon thickens his milk so he can digest it. He feeds every three hours but I'm finding most of the time struggling to make him last three hours. Winding is a nightmare because he is reluctant to have the bottle taken out of his mouth mid feed but we manage to wind hol despite him crying. He loves his Aptamil and never leaves a drop but I'm considering changing to Aptamil hungry milk.

He sleeps around 11 hrs at night and wakes up starving which is understandable but seems to wake earlier and earlier now and it's too early to start weaning.

Would anyone recommend it?

OP posts:
Finallygotaroundtoit · 10/05/2012 06:42

If he's draining the bottles just give him more milk - more calories in milk than food

Original poster
kbjb · 10/05/2012 06:54

Giving him more milk means he brings up more as the gaviscon becomes more diluted. This is manageable though

Just wondered if hungry milk would help more...

OP posts:
Happenstance · 10/05/2012 07:27

hungry milk may not help with the sleeping i'm afraid a lot of babies have a sleep regression at 4 months and do start waking earlier my DD used to sleep till 8 from about 8 weeks,by 6 months she was up at 5 every morning, now at 2.7 got her sleeping till about 6.15.

you may find he wakes earlier anyway.

Laurale31 · 10/05/2012 08:19

I put my dd on the aptimal hungry milk when she was a baby and she stopped projectile vomiting instantly but never slept any better or went longer between feeds, still took the same amount also, give it a go, it won't do any harm, hv have me a row for putting her on it, but I changed back and she started vomiting again, so it was better for us, x

Original poster
kbjb · 10/05/2012 11:33

Interesting. Was your baby vomiting because of reflux?

OP posts:
omama · 10/05/2012 15:03

we put our ds on aptamil hungry milk for similar reasons, he also had reflux & we used infant gaviscon.

a couple of things to bear in mind tho is at 16w/4mths there is a huge growth spurt so this may be why he's struggling to last the 3hrs between feeds. Also some LO's with reflux find that sucking will soothe the pain in their throats so they can often guzzle far more milk than you would think they'd need, just to ease the pain. Many doctors will disregard a baby who is feeding well as one who is suffering from reflux, expecting it to be only babes who refuse to eat, but it can be at both ends of the spectrum! My DS was one of the guzzlers too.

how much milk is your ds taking at each feed? we used to use 2 sachets in each bottle once they got bigger than 7oz.

tbh if I have another I wouldn't actually use hungry milk again. it is casein based rather than whey based, & more difficult to digest. combine it with 2 sachets of gaviscon = one constipated wee man. It never really made him go any longer between feeds either. The other issue we ended up with was one of cows milk protein intolerance/allergy. Once on the hungry milk his reflux didnt really improve, it actually seemed to worsen & then when we intro solids it got even worse & we discovered he had an intolerance to cows milk at 7 months old. I feel that the casein based formula may well have triggered his MPI b/c his symptoms were nowhere near as bad until we started that hungry milk.

Keziahhopes · 10/05/2012 22:21

I was recommended SMA staydown or Enfamil (have to order latter from chemist) for my reflux baby as he vomitted up Aptamil too much even with gaviscon.

Original poster
kbjb · 11/05/2012 06:54

omama he has 180 ml every 3hrs with one fab gaviscon sachet. It's really hard trying to make sure he doesn't have too much gaviscon as well. We trialled more milk with two sachets in and he was terribly constipated.

From what you've said I think hungry milk isn't a good idea. Thanks for the advice Smile

OP posts:
wishiwasonholiday · 11/05/2012 06:57

Ds2 had reflux and he was on SMa stay down its fab.

thezoobmeister · 11/05/2012 11:50

Would you consider feeding him smaller amounts of milk more often? Too much milk in one go is quite a common cause of reflux, as I understand it. This might be easier especially if you're struggling to get him to last 3 hours ... his tiny tum might be happier with little and often?

Hungry milk isn't recommended for babies under 6 months because of the health issues mentioned by omama.

Original poster
kbjb · 12/05/2012 13:10

Yes if he's hungry I do give him it earlier rather than make him wait

OP posts:
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