Inexperienced Bottle Feeder needing constipation/collic help

[Wills]

I'm just moving across from breast to bottle. dd3 is 4 weeks old and suddenly she's gone from pooing in every nappy (so normal in my past experience) to two days ago only one poo and now she hasn't poo'd in 36 hours. Loads of wee just no poo. AND naturally she's extremely windy with obviously tummy gripes (I'm not surprised) - legs in and out, bright red, obviously uncomfortable. She's a very violent burper since moving to bottles. I'm working really really hard at making sure she doesn't get wind when she drinks and we're using tommee tipee closer to nature cos she's still partially breast. By the way - I've had to stop cos of non stop breast feeding thrust which I've tried everything and am quite upset to have to be have to shift across. So to see her in worse pain is not making it easier. So advice would be incredibly helpful.

oh and the milk we're using is aptamil

No expert at all but what about making sure she feeds really slowly and wind her after every ounce drunk. Or giving her some cool boiled water between feeds or some cool fennel tea (apparently a German remedy for colic). Must be distressing for you so hope it gets better.

Have you tried a different formula? I think Hipp organic is quite "gentle" - not so many ingredients.

I can't offer any advice I'm afraid but, if it helps, I've just started giving my DD a bottle of formula in the evenings and her nappy story is exactly the same...so at least you're not alone! We've just had a dirty nappy today after waiting 3 days!! She seems healthy in every other way. I'd be interested to hear if anyone can let us know if there is anything that we can do to help the poos come. My baby is 4 months old.

But she's spending hours crying with pain so its really distressing me.

Right so it could be the milk? I suppose the problem is that I shouldn't swap around milk left right and centre. But I was under the impression that Aptamil was the closest to breast. Am happy to try something else though.

Right. My DD was exactly the same. Two things worked for us:

1. Change to aptamil easy digest; I think C&G comfort is similar. It seemed to relieve my dd's constipation (she was also on aptamil previously)

1. Use Dr. Brown's bottles. I don't know how, but they massively reduced the amount of air they take in. They are billed as 'anti-colic', and are brilliant IMO.

I am not sure which one of these was the agent of change, but I had a much happier baby almost overnight.

It may also help to burp regularly throughout the feed.

Good luck, I know how horrible it is!

Hi,

This is a really common problem. Often when you switch onto formula it is the powdered kind. If this is the case, try giving a couple of feeds using the ready made stuff.

Because the ready made stuff is heat treated (in a different way to the powder) it changes a component of the milk into something that helps it move along the bowel. It usually does the trick.

Do make absolutely sure that you are making up the feeds correctly too. You would be amazed how many people don't.

Failing that, the advice above is all pretty sound. Best Wishes.

Good point about making up feed correctly- as an aside, the easy digest formula is thicker, and needs to be made up with hot water.

You can do this by adding the full amount of powder to (for example) one quarter boiling water, and stir rather than shake it to dissolve (in order to lessen the amount of air in the bottle), topping up the remaining three quarters with cooled boiled water.

agree with tethers dr brown bottles are the in my opinion the best bottles available. the difference i seen in my ds after changing bottles was unbelievable. good luck

Wow thanks ladies, will go off and get/do

Brilliant - thank you!

its nice to have company BoogieWoo - let me know how you fair

I also second/ third dr brown bottles. I wish we never bothered with avent or tommee tippee. Good luck!

I have the same difficulties. I have found the following helpful (although not sure if infact just one thing on it's own would do the trick iyswim)

1. stir in powder

2. infacol

3. position the teat slightly tpwards the cheek rather than the throat (seems to slow the flow)

4. wind throughout the feed

5. keep upright for a while after feeding

My DS does seem more settled/less windy doing these things.

Good luck

That reminds me, if you use the easy digest/comfort formula, you will need a slightly faster flow teat, as the liquid is thicker than normal formula. I used level 2 of the Dr. Browns teats. You will know if the flow is too fast if the milk dribbles down their chin.

Oh I've just given DS his first feed with Dr Browns bottles. What a difference! No choking or gagging. Much more settled after feeding too. (Not necessarily any help with constipation though).

At the risk of sounding like the aptamil marketing board, the easy digest formula really helped with my DD's constipation, where the ready made formula did not.

Really glad the bottles made a difference

Our midwife showed us a fairly radical solution for baby constipation when dd1 was suffering badly 11 years go. We used a normal digital thermometer up the bum for checking temperature at the time (have since got the ear thing), which doesn't disturb babies a jot, but it does encourage pooing as a side-effect.