Advice on mixed breast and bottle feeding with baby who's colic is exercebated by me eating dairy

[CharlieandBones]

Basically my son is 10 weeks old and has always had big problems with breast feeding, it's got to the point now where he's not been able to stimulate my milk production enough and so I have very little milk. While I do as much expressing as possible to hopefully get the flow up I'm going to supplement his food with formula, my only concern is that he has colic which greatly improved when I stopped eating dairy. Does this mean I should give him the soy formula? Or can I give him other stuff? I am aware that the soy isn't as brilliant for baby as normal cows milk formula, but would giving him the normal stuff upset his digestive system more? I am also a little concerned as he has a very slow digestive system and has been recently only been opening his bowels every 4 days. So much to consider any advice would be so welcome!!

Anyone.

I don't know too much about colic and intolerances, sorry. But I do know that 4 days between pooing is not at all unusual for a breastfed baby. It isn't a sign of slow digestion or anything like that. I think the longest my ds went was 7 days! As long as you get plenty of wet nappies, and when he does go it is soft, then it is not a symptom of anything.

I would definitely speak to your HV or GP about which formula to use, as I'm also unsure about whether the soy formula would be ok.

Charlie, this is difficult to get a handle on. Have you thought about speaking to a bf helpline about it? The underlying issue seems to be that your milk supply is concerning you. A bfc on the helpline will discuss the evidence for your lack of milk, the frequency of expressing, and the links between his colic symptoms and dairy. Your Hv should be able to help you select a formula if you use one.

Four days between poos is on the normal spectrum for a bf baby.

I'm assuming he is being fed with your expressed milk?

Hope you get it sorted.

there are some concerns about soya based formula particularly for boys. The more pertinent issue is that 50% of cows milk intolerant babies also react to soya. There are special hydrolysed or amino acid based formulas available on prescription. BF babies who react to the small traces of dairy from maternal diet usually need the amino acid versions ( nutramigen aa or neocate)
Visit to GP and potentially referral to paeds dietician required. This is likely to be an issue once you start solids and dairy restricted children need dietician supervision.

Agree with the others that the 4 day pointer all is normal. My DDs record is 15 days....

Pointer all = poo interval.

If you suspect dairy intolerance see the GP and discuss. Im not always convinced bf counsellors have enough expertise on this issue. Do talk to BF counsellor though to discuss supply as he might actually be OK (is he gaining weight?)

Formula will not help if there is an intolerance and I would steer clear of soya as can cause the same problems.

The other thing I recall is that your milk supply settles down at around this point so you might think you don't have enough milk but you do.

Iggly, you are right about bfcs not being th people to deal with allergy and intolerances. But they can steer the OP into finding the right help.

It's not a question of expertise, though that is part of it. It's an issue to do with boundaries and not being able to deal with medical stuff.

Yes - my own experiences however are that I've been told by BF counsellors, with the best intentions, that the feeding problems were "my" fault (I.e. poor positioning and latch etc) but were not. So I wanted to flag that.