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Infant feeding

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

Unhappy baby after offering formula, coincidence?

3 replies

morelovetogive · 27/05/2010 17:22

In tha last 2 weeks i have offered dd a bit of formula. She's 5mo and it's only really so that i can leave her for a little while on occasion with dh or grandparents and be happy that she won't be screaming for a feed before i return. She has been EBF till now but has taken a little EBM from a bottle before. She took about an ounce the first time i offered it but seemed unsure, then got more and more distressed each time i offered it after that finally refusing to try a drop. She has also been very fretful between feeds despite me bfing her whn she has refused formula and today i haven't offered andy formula at all and she has still been much more unsettled than usual, she seems very angry. Is this coincidence or related to the formula. Nappies seem normal. I was offering aptimil but have got a couple of cartons of sma to try instead incase it's the taste she doesn't like. I'm feeling like an evil mummy for giving it to her if its upsetting her this much!

OP posts:
pollymere · 28/05/2010 15:00

I had loads of trouble with formula!

I was breastfeeding with aptimil top ups in hospital and then went over to just breast.

They wanted to put her on top ups again so gave me SMA...which was making my dd throw up!
She ended up in hospital failing to thrive but I put her on the aptimil again and she was fine.

I do think formulas vary and you might need to find one she likes. You need to leave a week without formula before changing it apparently...and your HV will probably tell you that they are all the same.

It might be worth pumping a feed and freezing it (or storing it in the fridge). You can sometimes borrow electric pumps from the NCT short and long term which make it easier than hand pumping. I used an eletric one in hospital and could feed my baby on one breast and pump the other one. (If you are doing a "two breast" feed then you can also pump between feeds or I used to pump first thing in the morning and get a lot of milk out!

One other thing to try is cup feeding. It may be that the problem isn't the formula but the bottle. I never used a bottle with my DD. Her milk was cup or spoon fed. At 5 months she might still lap it like a cat but she will start to drink it if you tip the cup soon...it also meant we could miss out the anyway up cup phase and go straight to normal ones.

I think you will need to talk to your HV before offering SMA though...sorry!

Good luck!

hellymelly · 28/05/2010 15:10

Why not express and keep that for times when you might want to leave her with someone? Also very soon she will be eating finger foods etc and so if you leave her for a couple of hours she will be happy with something to eat and a drink of water.Mine have never had a bottle of anything and I didn't express either,the situtaion just never arose.If I went to meet a friend for lunch or something and left dd with dh,then it was after about 7m,when they could be consoled with something to snack on,and you are almost at that age now,so why bother with formula?

morelovetogive · 29/05/2010 09:16

Thanks for the advice. I tried a cup and she took it better but was still unhappy so i think i will leave it and do as hellymelly suggests. TBH i hadn't really realised that i can leave her with food instead soon! Thanks

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