Possible cause for vomiting after formula?

[FestiveAtForty]

Hi
My dd is bf and is 18 wks old, and has had formula four times but it makes her sick.

I'd like her to be able to take formula as she's going to nursery for 3 full days a week in January and I'll be weaning then, and don't want to have to rely on expressing enough EBM if she's not fully onto solids yet.

First time she had formula she was about 8 weeks and had about 4oz of SMA Gold and she was fine.

However the next two times I fed it to her (not sure of exact age, prob about 10-14 weeks) she was okay for a couple of hours, then was very sick for about two hours after that - vomiting up to a dozen times and going very pale and tired (not crying, just floppy).

Yesterday I tried again, trying to rule out possible causes:

• fed just 1oz formula to rule out vomiting due to being too full
• tried a different formula (Aptimil) straight from a new tetrapak to rule out food poisoning and incorrect mixing
• made sure bottles were sterilised
• used same bottles as I use for EBM (she has never had a problem taking EBM from bottles)

and exactly the same thing happened - 2 hours after the feed she vomited about every 5-10 mins for 2 hours.

Since 4 wks old she has practically never vomited, she doesn't even posset. I know sickiness is common in babies, but it seems strange to have such a definite reaction to formula - could it be an allergy to cow's milk? Also grateful for any tips for weaning not using formula - thanks

i'm not going to say i know what it is in your case, but with dd1 she vomited the few times she had formula and she did turn out to be dairy allergic. So it's a possibility anyway.

It does sound like it's something in the formula. But it doesn't sound like a classic allergic reaction.

How long will your work days be in January? How old will she be? How often does she feed at the moment?

I would avoid cow's milk for a while when you do start giving solids (And I'd be inclined to delay giving solids, tbh, given she's alsready showing an allergic-ish reaction.). There are soya-based formulas out there, but you may need a prescription to get them.

you can buy whysoy formula without prescription but i think you should definitely run it by a doctor first anyway.

I went through this with dd1. turned out not to be an allergy to cows milk, but simply the formula.

Everything but Cow & Gate made her throw up copiously. SMA was the worst. Learnt later that quite a few other parents had found that. Shame health visitor didn't! Not saying to rule out allergies, but do try C&G and other formulas. May be as simple as that.

How about not bothering with formula for a while? Be very cautious about soya formula - lots of worries about that stuff (put risks of soya formula into Google and see what you find). Your baby will be 6 mths when she is in the nursery and she will only be there 3 days - you can bf her when you are with her and she can have water in a cup by then, plus whatever EBM you can express, and whatever solids she is on.

Sounds as if her tum is not ready for formula yet - maybe when she is a bit older things will be less sensitive. But I don't see the point of persisting with it at the moment - if nothing else, because of the extra laundry you have to do! And how comfortable is it for a baby to vomit for 2 hours?? Though she probably doesn';t feel it like this, and just opens her mouth for it to come out!

Thanks everyone

Tiktok ? Thanks for your advice. I?d be happy not to bother with formula if we can manage weaning on EBM and solids, especially as she has always been fine being breastfed. I just need to work out a system of feeding her when she gets to nursery I think. It?s also just a bit worrying that there?s nothing to fall back on at the moment if I couldn?t feed her for any reason, but I suppose that?s only for a couple more months until she?s weaned.

NotQuiteCockney ? she?ll be 25 weeks (about 5 and a half months) when she starts nursery. We?ll be apart for about 9 hours a day, 3 days a week (though the last hour will be spent at home after her dad picks her up). She should be going about 3-4 hours between main feeds then so I guess she?d need about 3 EBM feeds totalling about 15-20oz to keep her going during the day. That?s quite a lot to express though I could start building up some frozen stocks now. I express and freeze about 2oz a day at the moment but find it quite difficult as can only reliably get a let down if she is feeding on the other breast. I think it would be difficult to express at work when I?d be stressed and distracted by work things. Hopefully the EBM can start to be supplemented by solids quite quickly though during January when she reaches 26 weeks. Will do some reading up on allergies too.

DadOnMumsnet ? thanks, yes will make an appointment with the doctor to see what happens re allergy testing

Brummie ? that?s interesting re Cow and Gate, would be much easier if it wasn?t a dairy allergy.

Thanks again all

My second son has started to vomit randomly following bottles.

He's okay during the day when he has a bottle before he naps and is generally okay on his last bottle before bedtime.

However if he has a bottle in the night or first thing in the morning, he has developed a tendancy to finish the bottle happily, cough once and then vomit, bringing the whole bottle straight back up.

Any thoughts / ideas would be most appreciated!

Thanks a million

Notamum - how old is your DS? Does he only vomit straight after his bottle - not hours later?

He's 10 months old and was breast fed until 7 months and then switched to a bottle.

When it happens, it's always straight after the bottle and it's generally 5-10 seconds after putting him back down into his cot.

As to frequency, this started a couple of weeks back and happens every few nights. There is usually no accompanying symptoms such as high temperature, etc.

Thanks.

Hi Notamum
Don't know if it's at all relevant but when my DD when was very young (less than 4 wks) she quite often vomited after her morning bf when I lay her on her back. I think it was because the morning feed was bigger than other feeds (because more milk had built up overnight) and the sheer volume of it plus the speed at which she drank it would make her more likely to be sick, especially when she was on her back. (And usually over all of our bedding ).

Is there a variation in the volume / speed your DS drinks at that time (maybe because he's hungrier?), or have you used a faster flowing teat recently on his bottle?

I think you may have hit it on the head.

Don't think the volume is an issue (in this case) but the speed of delivery!!

As this happens with his middle of the night or morning bottle, he tends to be a little more anxious to get it down him!!

We've started to enforce a couple of "pauses" for a few seconds during the feed to give him a chance to relax a little and not guzzle!

Touch wood - hasn't happened in a couple of days.

Thanks a million for the thought on speed as it looks like it's solved it for us.

That's great notamum, got my fingers crossed for you that the pauses continue to do the trick!