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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Vomiting bile after formula

8 replies

BigBadBoom · 18/07/2018 10:00

Does anyone have any experience of this? My almost six month old son has been EBF but starting from a month ago had a few bottles of expressed milk topped up with formula while I was out with no problems - about three or four times and no more than 2oz or so each time.

The last four times he has had a mixed feed it has been a different story (major vomiting) and I've finally figured out it is definitely the formula that's the problem all of a sudden. I had thought there was a problem with my fridge and my breast milk was off (even going as far as to buy a new fridge) but last night he had just formula on its own for the first time and was really, really ill, bringing up bile until his stomach was emptied out. It was awful.

The thing is that I can't find any info anywhere where people have experienced the same issues after using formula, people talk about minor digestive issues or a rash, but not puking bile, so I'm unsure if it is likely to be a dairy or lactose intolerance. I've tried two different brands of formula so far but they've both been dairy based.

I'm on holiday at the moment so will go to my gp when I get back but was interested to hear any relevant stories in the meantime! I'm quite happy breastfeeding, but I am going to back to work in a couple of months so will need to sort something out.

He's back to his normal self this morning and happily feeding away on me as normal btw Smile

OP posts:
poppyseeds12 · 18/07/2018 10:48

Hi Op,
Which brand of formula have you been using? I know there has been issues with apitmal recently due to changing their formula. My girl suddenly developed diarrhoea on apitmal and we've changed to HiPP Organic and no problems at all. I would recommend Hipp just from personal experience, but your little one just might not suit formula? X

falconrising · 18/07/2018 10:48

I saw the same with both my babies, they were breastfed exclusively , and when I tried with formula, they both vomited massively, including lots of mucus and bile. I felt terrible. I tried a couple of times with each kid, and then gave up. By 6-8 months they fed less on breast milk as we're weaning. By 12 months they had cows milk in. sippy cup, and by 14 months they both self weaned (refused breast milk and happily took a cup). I presumed they couldn't tolerate formula as it is heavier and more dense than breast milk, so resigned myself to the fact that I'd be their feeding machine !

falconrising · 18/07/2018 10:50

They could take expressed milk, like your baby, so I expressed extra to keep up my supply, and froze it. Could you express at a time when your baby is not due a feed, to build up a supply for whilst you're not there?

eeanne · 18/07/2018 10:55

Why can't you just give expressed milk? As he starts solids his consumption of milk will plateau.

Formula is harder to digest than BM and it obviously makes him sick. Not sure why you need to persist especially at 6 months which is a big turning point towards eating solids.

buggedby · 18/07/2018 12:17

DS has delayed allergies to dairy and soy and his main symptoms are vomiting with soy, diarrhoea with dairy. He would do huge vomits with soy.

I would stop the formula and talk to the GP when you get back.

BigBadBoom · 18/07/2018 16:22

Thanks everyone, some helpful stuff :-)

I've heard about the issues with Aptamil but I've been using pre mixed bottles so I don't think that's it - I believe the problem was with the powder. I've also tried Cow & Gate with the same results. A friend had also recommended Hipp Organic so I may give that a go if the gp doesn't think it's a dairy issue.

Eeaane I didn’t know for sure it was the formula until last night, as there were too many variables. Now I know I won’t be persisting with formula until I know what the problem is. I still need to figure out something though.

Falconrising thanks, it’s useful to know someone else has had the same issue! Unfortunately because it’s not long until I go back to work I need to start doing something to wean him off the breast a bit now, he has only just started on solids so I don’t want to introduce too many of those too soon. Although I express milk when I can he still feeds a lot each day so it’s difficult to find the time to get on the pump. I really don’t want to be trying to do that when I get back to work.

Delayed allergies I hadn’t heard of...I will look into it and speak to my hv and gp...

OP posts:
BigBadBoom · 18/07/2018 16:22

I don't know how to tag people Confused

OP posts:
eeanne · 19/07/2018 00:35

@BigBadBoom it’s much different expressing at work when you’ve missed feeds. Your breasts will be full compared to when you’re fitting it in around direct feeding. With my first I got maybe 50 ml each time until I went to work and it shot up to 200-250ml

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