Transition from breastmilk to formula - vomiting :(

[gingertessa]

My DD is coming up to six months old and as I am returning to work at the beginning of April, I want to switch her from being exclusively breast fed to taking bottles of formula in the day and breastfeeding morning and night. She has had ready made SMA gold on occasion in the past with no trouble. I decided to start yesterday and DF gave her the ready made stuff at 10am (she took 5oz) and then SMA gold powder at about 1pm (she took about 3oz). An hour later she projectile vomited, which she has never done before, and I changed her clothes (and mine!) only for her to do it again, and again. At the end, when there was obviously very little left in her system, she turned red in the face and it was really scary. After that she was exhausted and slept for two hours. I felt awful, like it was my fault for giving her it :(

Now the question is, did she vomit due to the powder, the volume she consumed, or illness? She did have a fever three nights ago and was a little bit sick but nothing like what happened yesterday. I've decided to just give her breastmilk today, but then I do have to try her with formula again. We were thinking about giving her a small, say 3oz bottle, of the SMA milk made with powder tomorrow and ditching it if she vomits again, then maybe try a different formula, probably Aptamil. Unfortunately you have to buy a whole nearly £10 tub just to give it a try, as the ready made stuff is not comparable.

I'd be grateful to know if any of you have had similar issues, or can recommend a formula to me, thanks

Not really sure why she she would vomit so much. It could be the volume. A bf baby usually takes an ounce an hour, so 8 ounces 3 hours apart is a large quantity.

The advice s also to drop one feed every 2 weeks,. I think this is to reduce your risk of mastitis. I think its probably best to give one of the bfing helplines a call and talk about your return to work, the introduction of formula and vomiting. Do you have the helpline numbers?

Don't really understand why you have to buy a whole carton to try a formula, why isn't the ready made comparable?

Hi JiltedJohnsJulie thanks for the advice and yes I do have bf support I can contact. Unfortunately with only three weeks til I'm back at work I can't drop the feeds as gradually as you say, but I'm very aware of the risk of mastitis and will pump for comfort. Having tasted the ready made and the powder versions of SMA I could taste a difference (the ready made was creamier) and I have a friend whose baby will only accept the ready made formula & refused the powder version; but I'm all new to this formula business so I'm happy to hear from folks who have more experience with than me :)

If you do want to buy cartons, and its just for some feeds not all, try hipp organic. I believe that it comes in two, separate sealed packets so you won't run the risk of not using it all before you have to throw it away.