Which formula is less constipating?

[peaches27]

My granddaughter is mostly b/f but has a top up with cow and gate first milk. She also has this when her mum is away for the day/evening. She is almost 4m.
She has become constipated and distressed with it, tummy ache, drawing up legs etc. and has gone from every nappy being dirty to just one slightly soiled one these last 2 days. She refuses boiled water, diluted apple or orange juice.

Is there a formula which is less constipating?

don't know but bumping for you

i breastfed and gradually changed to formula . i used farleys with dd2 and dd3 and they both were fine with the change . #hth

aptamil is less constipating as it different proportions of casein and whey, so isn't so blocking up. otherwise I've heard that babies that don't like cow and gate (makes a few babies sick) are OK on cow and gate organic.

I'd try aptamil first milk as a start if I were you. good luck!

They do say that the cartons (pre-mixed) are less constipating than the powder, that might be worth a try. I assume no solids have been introduced yet?

Not used solids yet ... thinking about it but want to get this sorted first. The cartons are not really a long term option, as her mummy receives milk tokens due to low income, so you can only use them for powdered.

I have thought about buying some cartons of different brands to see if there is a difference. Its all very well health care professionals not being allowed to recommend any particular milk but when you need information it doesnt really help does it? Does anyone know of a site (UK) that gives info on different brands and what they are good for?

I was a bit paranoid about changing formula types too often, so I wouldn't go crazy trying your dgd on too many different types in quick succession - but definitely no harm in trying one of the suggestions here. My hv recommended raisin water, i.e. water boiled with raisins, raisins then scooped out.

The other thing you could do is water her formula down a bit to increase her water intake but I would be very wary of doing this with a mostly bf baby. Has she been having more formula than bf of late?

A little more, I would say.

I have read about this Omneo Comfort, but I get the impression that we wouldnt be able to get it with the free milk vouchers. It is certainly not listed on the reverse of the vouchers.

Thats interesting about the raisin water. Another one to try!

I'd say Aptamil too - ds has delicate tummy and this works fine.

Any more ideas before I launch in with the great formula test???

Ds had bad constipation when he was younger was advised to change milk from SMA to Farleys which seemed to make a bit of difference

Same problem with Ds. He was on mainly BF with one bottle of SMA a day then became constipated following solids being introduced. Student HV said although not supposed to say it milks with prebiotics are less constipating, SMA doesn't have them but some others including cow and gate do so we changed but didn't make much difference with DS. Sorry can't tell you any more.

I'd try aptamil, but I'd also add an extra ounce of boiled water to the mix - reason being that formula is a bit heavy for bf babies. Sounds odd, but it's a good way of getting extra water in. Hopefully this will be more gentle on her digestion.

i have had the same problem with both my dds (5months and 2 years).
Aptamil was definitely the best formula
Watering it down a bit does seem to help (7 scoops in 8oz water), though this is against the recommendations as the baby may not get enough nutrients if you fill them up with water. My answer to this would be do this when they wake up for a night feed as they shouldn't be up having milk anyway!
The other thing that works is a small amount of brown sugar dissolved in warm water - not great i know, but it definitely did the trick every time.
Also try taking the nappy off and bicycling the legs (do you know what i mean?), and a bit of vaseline on their anus can often trigger it into action!!
there's also a tummy massage you can do... a c-shape starting at the tummy button and moving down, but the direction is critical and i can't remember it... (sorry)