Infacol query - how often?

[wishbird]

Hi all,

I am mixed feeding 5week old DS3 - and he is pretty colicky...have decided to give infacol a try, but instructions say to give before every feed. Problem is, DS3 has breast about every hour - 2 at most during the day with occasional ff top up (only using one boob - am slowly upping supply to cut out ff). Should I give infacol every hour then? Seems rather a lot? Or maybe every 3-4 hours or summat? Bit confused

Appreciate any info.

sorry - also should I give it all day? and night too?

can't help, but i've been wondering the same thing, so hopefully someone can help!

I used it every feed, however often it was! Hope it helps your baby

been in this situation. every feed preferably half an hour before. i know this wont be possible if feeding so regular. so try giving the infacol. and wait at least 5 mins. do it at night times also.but where you can try and give it the half hr.

for example if you give a bottle after bath. give the infacol before you put dc in bath.

it'll take a few days to kick in.

My DS cluster feeds so he would have had infacol every 20 mins or so. The way I approached it was to give it every 2 hours or so if he was feeding a lot. It's hard to explain but for me I assumed a feed was over when he had emptied one side - of course you can't do that right now and these things are different for different people and change over time too.

more helpfully... my HV told me you need to give the max dose (2 stopper fulls) day and night for 3 days minimum to get an accurate idea of whether it will work for him or not.

at 5 weeks i was advised only 1 dropper.

is baby a good weight, average or slight?

I was advised by M/w to give it 10-15 mins before every feed including night and it takes a few days to work, although I did notice a difference in the first day. According to my midwife she said it is mild and gentle on Lo's tummies so you can't give it too much as long as it is when they feed if that makes sense!!

yeah i got told similar. ds got a hold of dd bottle and had a drink as he liked the taste. i panicked and called doctor. they said not to worry.

whatever it's made of , it has an effect on the properties of the gas (air,bubbles)in the babies digestive system. will not be taken in by the babies/ds system at all. merely passes throw, sorting out the trapped wind as it goes.

I didnt like the before every feed advice as with dd i would forget or not want to use it as she wasnt windy so this time with ds i bought dentinox colic drops instead as you only use them after a feed if the baby has wind

A friend of mine takes her baby off mid feed, does the winding thing, and back on the breast. It seems to reduce the howling colic or trapped wind

Haven't tried it myself, but makes sense - i.e. the baby doesn't get wind suddenly at the end of a feed, but cumlatively.

But if Infacol works, then great!

I think I am doing the Infacol thing wrong then - I give it immediately just before baby feeds (formula). So you should give it 10 minutes before each feed? Is the effect better then?

Doesn't the label say 'immediately' before a feed? I would do this, unless HV or GP suggests otherwise.

Its just before the feed and you can give up to two droppers per feed. It builds up and this is why you have to give it a few days somethimes to see if it works for your baby. Mine likes it - friends doesn't. Hva found after using for a while if you forget it doesn;t really matter as it does build up.

my hv told me half an hour as it wan't working just giving right before feed. worked for me.

but every babies different i suppose you gotta try see what best

Have to be honest, with my first son (he was very colicky) I tried the infacol - every half hour, every feed, just basically whenever and it really DID NOT WORK! He was still very colicky - I found the only thing that calmed him was to allow him to suckle as often as he wanted - also he was only fed from one side, so it was difficult, but we got there and so will you, colic doesn't last forever - keep your baby close to you - skin to skin as often as possibe and upright or try the "Tiger in the Tree" position - holding your baby in your arms but with your baby facing the floor so that you can rub their tummy. Also try a bit of baby massage on their tummy to try and shift the wind out. I'm sure if you type in Baby Massage and Tiger in the tree hold into the search engine you will be able to find some diagrams.
Hope this helps and good luck.
xx

Thanks for all advice here (been hectic couple days so not been able to log in till now!) just worries me slightly giving so often - but will give it a go - or perhaps use the colic drops (is that the same as gripe water?) poor little DS - I can see the pain - he just curls up and yells...then pause for a bit before it comes back...really just want to take the pain away for him!

Also heard it doesn't work for all babies- but we will give a go. Elmo - he is a great weight - gaining avrge of a pond a week at mo...he's 11lb 15oz now (birth weight 7lb 15oz) but he's very long and tall - right up on the high centile thingy...prob doesn't help as he eats such an ammount!

thanks again - I'm lovin mumsnet! Only been on it for week or so - and hooked! So much info and interest!

It's a pound a week he's gaining tee hee - not a pond! Though could prob drink a pond full of boob!

Hi, I think the various colic remedies work in different ways on different things. Infacol works by helping the baby to bring up wind more effectively, whereas I think some of the others are more like antacids (gripe water) or give extra lactase to help digest the milk sugars (colief). It depends on what your baby is actually suffering as to whether they work or not so if Infacol doesn't work, try something else!
We used Infacol just before every feed from the big one DS would have before his midday nap on. I could never be faffed doing it for the night feeds. It worked for us within a day or so, but we did have to be consistent, once we started using it we'd definitely notice if we then missed it for a day. It does seem like you're giving a small baby a lot of medicine but it really is ok - we did just the one dropper full and that worked for us.
Good luck!