Need some advice regarding 4 week old FF

[HopelesslyHopeful87]

DD is 4 weeks on Thursday. Since she was about a week old we've struggled with wind, tummy pain, irregular pooing and painful screaming crying.

We have tried infacol, dentinox. Discussed with HV who advised this isn't constipation as even though she wasn't going every day, the stools she was passing were the right consistency. She recommended trying comfort milk. We're using aptamil. So then we moved to aptamil comfort. This seemed to make the wind worse, constant flatulence that smelled like rotten egg and didn't really help with regular poos. She was also crying a lot more with obviously painful cries. HV advised to stop the comfort milk. So back to aptamil first milk. She said if no improvement to try different brand.

We haven't made any further changes yet even though things aren't any better as I don't want to upset her system any more than it is.

She seems to scream in pain with every fart, seems constantly uncomfortable and still isn't passing regular stools. Her pain seems to come on about an hour after a feed. She feeds fine and takes about 4oz. We're all exhausted, especially her as she never seems to get a spell of long sleep unless she has a poo. Once she has pood she's like a different child for a few hours.

Any advice would be gratefully received as I can't bear to see her in pain any more. Do I try another brand of milk? Do I try colief? That seems a faff to administer as we feed on demand with perfect prep machine. Sometimes she goes two hours, sometimes three, sometimes four so timing the drops to 30 mins before feed is not practical.

Ornis this just colic and itll all pass on its own?

We had something similar with our ten week old a few weeks ago when I tried aptimil due to all the he good reviews. We found that it didn't dissolve very well(probably wasn't helped by the way I poured the whole 6 scoops in at once to save time) and our boy would cry in pain and fart like nobodies business. He also stopped pooping as well (every other day instead of daily) and that seemed to upset him despite it was an alright consistency. I put him back on cow and gate and he is now fine again. I believe the only difference is aptimil have slightly more probiotics so maybe my boy has a sensitive stomach who knows. But I would switch if I were you.
Just incase you consider it we found sma to mix the best and he had the least gas but it bunged him up the most.
Cow and gate blocks a Tommy tippee size 1 teat (we now use mam anti colic bottles size 2 teats) but he seems in the least discomfort.
And aptimil bungs him up causes wind and mixing it is most difficult.

Go to the GP. Could be some sort of intolerance.

We had this and ended up with nutramigen, which sorted it all out.

Their Facebook page is really useful. Have a look and see if the symptoms sound similar.

We used infacol / coilef etc and it made no difference.

Thanks for replies.

I did wonder about intolerances but she's gaining weight so well and has no diarrhoea and all the symptom checkers say if it was an intolerance she'd have slow weight gain and the runs. Her poo is a good cosistency when she does go, it's just slow at coming.

When you changed to cow and gate from aptamil mrkaykay, how long did it take to notice a difference?

Within the day.

Thanks I'll try the cow and gate. If no improvement then I think I'll see the gp.

I will update in a day or so 😊

Hipp organic is renowned for being gentle on tummies of windy/constipated babies.
If you google it you will find thousands of comments re this.
Putting my LO onto hipp organic was without doubt the best decision. No painful wind, arching back, screaming etc. Soft poos and a generally happy baby.
Tried cow and gate before this and had the exact opposite.

Hipp organic was going to be our next try. Though tesco didn't sell it.

Thanks hadn't thought of that one. I've seen it on the shelves but not considered it.

It's definitely worth a try. I heard friends raving about it, but didn't want to keep chopping and changing formula, but so glad I did.
Waitrose sell it, Sainsbury's and bigger Boots. I think Morrisons delivered it with our online shop too actually. There was always at least 2 supermarkets locally where I could source it luckily! Although you can buy online.

My DD was happy on aptimil. But when we tried her with the aptimil futur amazing more expensive one, she wasn't so keen.

Loved the taste etc, but it didn't agree with her at all, so we kept with the standard aptimil in the taller tub.

Effects were even worse when we tried her on the ready made bottles. It's over a year ago now so can't remember exactly what was going on, but we stuck with the standard.
Hope your DD settles soon.

Changed to cow and gate. 24 hours in. Not much change except lots of poo in the night. First was thick and clay like so obviously constipated. Then another of a normal baby consistency and then another that was loose. No poo today although I can tell she needs to go as she is straining and still crying a lot.

I'll see how things are in another 24 hours and update.

Has it made any difference to the wind?.

Still got lots of wind but not screaming when she does it so that's an improvement I suppose.

Poo was almost solid today and she's been straining to get it out for a whole day so going gp to discuss. Can't bear to see her in discomfort anymore.

Oh dear really does sound like a allergy or something then I hope the gp can help you.

Saw a nurse as seeing a gp at my practice is like hens teeth.

Prescribed colief and lactulose. They don't think it's an allergy/intolerance just a normal part of an immature digestive situation. She's gained 1kg since birth (she's 4 weeks exactly tomorrow) so is healthy and thriving.

Hopefully should see an improvement in a day or so. Still on cow and gate stage 1 and will stick to that for now.