A bit of colic support needed. Should i just accept it or keep trying to improve things??

[helsybells]

Having a bit of a nightmare with a windy/refluxy/colicky baby and could just do with a bit of advice and support. Sadly BF failed for us so she has been on part formula part EBF from first week and is now nearly 5 weeks old and now on 1 EBF feed per day.

HV seems to think I should just accept the fact she's colicky/windy and wait it out but I just can't help but feel there's more I could be doing for her. :( It's so distressing not being able to help her when she's clearly in pain.

I have her on infant Gaviscon prescribed by GP which has helped her reflux but she then was left with chronic wind/tummy pains. So today I tried her on a new ready made formula (HIPP Organic) as regular ready made Aptimil has been giving her terrible wind and tummy ache plus she only poos once every 1-2 days.

Results of the HIPP organic have been mixed so far. Feed 1 she cried for a few minutes straight after. Feed 2 she was sick lots and cried. Feed 3 cried quite a lot seemed quite distressed immediately after her feed and cried on and off for about 30 mins. Now has hiccups. Wind does not seem as bad but it seems like the actual feed is more painful due to immediate crying after feeding.

With Aptimil we get chronic crying usually an hour after her feed which doesn't seem so severe on the HIPP.

I am now in a complete quandry. If the HIPP suits her wouldn't I see an immediate improvement. Is it better the devil I know (i.e. Aptimil)? Everyone seems to say there is very little difference between formulas so should I just stick with the Aptimil and be done with it?? HV thinks we should be trying one of the comfort formulas. But we tried Aptamil comfort a couple of weeks ago and she screamed for 3 hours solid immediately afterwards so I switched right back to regular ready made. Has anyone else had this result from it?

I'm now unsure if I should stick with HIPP or back to Aptimil.... Has anyone else seen a positive improvement from a change in formula and if so what worked???

Sorry for the long post and thanks for reading!

P.s. have tried raising the cot, infacol etc etc without much luck plus infacol and gaviscon together did not work well for her.

Can you tell us a bit more about the breastfeeding? Am wondering about tongue tie and the breastfeeding story gives more clues.

article here

Thanks for reply Mabroon. I just struggled massively with BF and found it painful and uncomfortable. Tried to find help via support groups and local NCT b/f counsellor etc who were great but it didn't really make a difference. I was pretty depressed about it all and felt very guilty like I was letting her down but I just couldn't cope with it so MW/HV family/friends etc said it might be best for me as much as anything else to just switch to formula and EBF combined. I'm actually pretty sure the reason we couldn't make it work wasn't due to latch as such but the fact that my nipples are really oddly shaped and really large (had to get flanges 2 sizes up from standard for my pump!) and just too big for her as she was a small baby. Though I am thinking about having another go now she's grown a bit but just mustering up the nerve and time and place between screaming fits etc. I had considered tongue tie and did some research of my own in to it. But she literally has NOTHING there under her tongue so I don't think it possibly can be. Plus she's really good at trying to latch in herself.

Hope that helps for background??

Quite possible to be tied and have no visible frenulum. Sometimes the frenulum is partially or completely buried in the floor of the mouth and (there's no sound)

more helpful stuff here

My DS2 was crying a lot and like you we tried infacol, gaviscon, cranial osteopathy (worked wonders with DS1), all failed to have an impact.
We then tried Comfort milk (Cow and Gate) and it worked very well.
How long did you stick to the formulas you have tried?
Cranial osteopathy could do dome good too, it might be worth a try.
I feel for you, it's horrendous.

Thanks so much for replies

We have been trying the Hipp for nearly 48 hours now and so far no horrid colic screaming fits or terrible pain BUT she is tending to be sick at every feed even though I'm giving gaviscon too. They aren't huge sicks but I think it's better than the awful pain and screaming from before... Also no wind but similarly no poo for some time now... Hmmm