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Original poster

Has anyone ever used Colief for colic?

35 replies

Felix90 · 18/02/2014 18:24

My dd is 8 weeks old and has all the classic signs of colic. The past few days she has cried constantly for a few hours in the evening and in the morning, and it just seems to be getting worse. Today she has screamed the house down from 8am until around 2pm Sad My DP's Aunty is a pharmacist and recommended trying Colief as she's had good feedback from others who have used it. I've done some research online and it has good reviews.

My DP has been to the pharmacy today to buy some, and the pharmacist behind the counter refused to sell it to him. It's an item which you can buy off the shelf, not even behind the counter, so I don't understand why! The guy behind the counter said it's for babies with a lactose intolerence, but surely if I baby is lactose intolerant, they wouldn't be on cows milk formula anyway so Colief wouldn't work (it works by breaking down the lactose enzymes in the milk or something along those lines). I find what he said very odd..

Has anyone else ever had a problem buying it? I could even order it online from Boots or amazon if I really wanted to. The pharmacy man said to see the GP and they will prescribe it, but I've read that not a lot of GP's will as it's expensive. I don't mind paying for it!

Has anyone else used it and would you recommend it? If so, I'll just buy some online from Boots.

OP posts:
pudseypie · 18/02/2014 18:30

Yes I used it until my ds was around 21 weeks, in fact we did get it prescription from the gp in the end and it is for colic. Sounds like your dp got a pharmacist who didn't really know enough. I would go to another pharmacy and get it.

Original poster
Felix90 · 18/02/2014 18:35

Thanks pudsey, I wasn't sure if it was just me! He tried to get him to buy infacol or the dentinox stuff but we have tried both and they aren't working for us. I don't understand why they wouldn't sell something that you can buy off the shelf Sad

I'm going to see if I can get to the GP tomorrow and see if they will prescribe it. If not, I guess I'll have to try somewhere else!

OP posts:
mellojello · 18/02/2014 18:41

I bought mine in Boots.

My Dr wouldn't prescribe it. Buy 2 bottles!

dannydyerismydad · 18/02/2014 18:41

Not sure what the pharmacist was saying to your DH about colief being for lactose intolerance, but lactose is milk sugar present in ALL milk - breast milk, formula, cows milk etc. lactose intolerance in babies is incredibly rare indeed whilst colic is incredibly common.

Original poster
Felix90 · 18/02/2014 18:44

Danny it didn't make sense to me. Surely if a baby is lactose intolerant (which I know is rare in this country) then they would be on lactose-free milk anyway, so they wouldn't need Colief as it wouldn't work with lactose free milk? I just want to get my facts straight as I'll have to use the same pharmacy tomorrow and I really hope I get the same bloke so I can argue my case Grin

OP posts:
Winterwardrobetime · 18/02/2014 18:50

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
Felix90 · 18/02/2014 18:54

DP just spoken to his Aunty who said they can refuse to sell you something if they aren't happy with the answers to the questions they asked you. Very strange indeed...

I'm glad it's worked for others though. I wasn't sure about buying some as it's quite expensive for the bottle but it's worth a try!

OP posts:
dannydyerismydad · 18/02/2014 18:55

I stand corrected. One of the anti-colic remedies works on the basis that baby may be struggling to digest lactose (although not lactose intolerant). www.breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk/pdfs/Colic.pdf

mellojello · 18/02/2014 18:58

Please ask the twat him why they selling it?

if its only for babies that are lactose intolerant, the parent would get it free on prescription - they would not spend £12 on it.

So therefore, its for sale to anybody.

I hope i make sense.

DownstairsMixUp · 18/02/2014 19:01

Just go to boots to buy it or ebay as its cheaper, i bought it for ds when he was a baby and it was a miracle!

tinyturtletim · 18/02/2014 21:22

I brought off of ebay as it was much cheaper. It workef great for dd1 with dr browns bottles

Have you ruled out silent reflux?

Original poster
Felix90 · 18/02/2014 21:28

I've never looked up silent reflux before but have just googled now and it is possible. She does spit up quite often, although it doesn't happen as much now I'm used to how much formula she's taking and when. She also cries during feeding, but she cries a lot when she's not feeding too. It's hard to work out exactly what's wrong with her.

OP posts:
tinyturtletim · 18/02/2014 21:30

Does she back arch?

If her cries are mainly around feeding it probably is reflux

addictedtolatte · 18/02/2014 21:35

My ds screamed from 4 till 9 every evening. I turned to colief and doctor brown bottles and I had a different happy baby within 6 days.

Original poster
Felix90 · 18/02/2014 21:41

She did used to back arch quite a lot but not as much recently. I don't remember her doing it at all over the past week and she's been worse with the crying etc over the past couple of days.

At first a couple of weeks ago I was convinced it was a milk allergy as she was crying from what seemed like tummy pains and she was struggling to poo even though when she did her poos were soft, and she had a spotty rash over her face. Also she's had a stuffy/snotty nose since I put her on formula which is another symptom of an allergy. We swapped to 'comfort' formula which is apparently better for constipation and colic and has less lactose in it, and she's now filling her nappy a lot easier (which may just be a coincidence) but now we are having this problem Sad

It's hard as I can relate her symptoms to so many different things so I'm not 100% on what's wrong. I'm going to take her to the doctors tomorrow to see if they can help.

OP posts:
Original poster
Felix90 · 18/02/2014 21:41

Sorry was going to say the spots have got worse but I think it's just baby acne which I read is quite common

OP posts:
laura2323 · 18/02/2014 22:00

I got it on prescription from GP it's helps a lot with the wind just watch out for what i can only describe as rocket farts! (Sorry!) my dd refuses to burp (due to reflux and no meds whole other story) and her farts are really powerful! But without coleif she doesn't do this so the wind backs up. At least she's gettin rid of it one way or the other!

Original poster
Felix90 · 18/02/2014 22:13

Laura is not burping a symptom of reflux? Dd doesn't burp much and gets really bad trapped wind. This morning when she cried from 7am until 1pm, she did a few huge trumps then seemed to settle a bit (until the crying started again a couple of hours later Confused)

OP posts:
tinyturtletim · 18/02/2014 22:37

Spots are probably the milk spots my dd was covered really badly in them..

My dd 2 was in hospital for quite a long time and had severe issues with lots of things,

the best advice I can give is to try one thing at a time so

-new milk.. do not change again for at least a month as this can cause really bad tummy ache for the baby

  • if you go onto colief only use colief, no infacol or any other medication as you won't know what is working / making it worse.

if the colief doesn't work and she is still spotty and rash covered then the dr may give you some neocate or nutrimigan milk for cmpi, although most babies who have an intolerance grow out of it within a few months, if she was proper allergic you would really know about it

If the dr says about reflux and offers you gaviscon make sure they know she is on comfort milk as it will make it so thick she probably won't be able to drink it. If they insist gaviscon you can use the colief at the same time (been there!!)

However, gaviscon causes alot of poo issues, constipation so a small dose of lactoluse / suppository to keep things moving. Being backed up will make things much much worse.

tinyturtletim · 18/02/2014 22:37

Massive essay there sorry

Original poster
Felix90 · 18/02/2014 22:54

Thank you for the advice! I'm not too worried about the spots as I think they are normal. With a milk allergy, is it something which could run in the family? My mum said my sister and my niece were both allergic to cows milk but did grow out of it eventually. I'm not going to change formula again as I think the one she's on now works quite well for her compared to others I've tried previously. It seems a lot thinner than other formulas and more like breast milk consistency. I hope I can get an appointment tomorrow!

OP posts:
mellojello · 19/02/2014 07:04

I think I would try a different Boots store, the sooner I got DD on the Coleif the better she was,

The GP fobbed me 3 times, saying it will get better, so That was nearly 2 weeks of DD crying with colic, I wish Id known about Coleif before trying Infacol,

tinyturtletim · 19/02/2014 07:16

I am not sure about it running in the family, I would definitely get colief and give it a go, the making up of it is a bit confusing as it contradicts the formula making instructions.

Get a bottle then off ebay as you can get 2 bottles for the price of one on there

Original poster
Felix90 · 19/02/2014 12:34

Been to see the GP this morning and he thinks its reflux. He's prescribed infant gaviscon so going to give that a try and see how we get on. Thanks for the advice everyone Smile

OP posts:
tinyturtletim · 19/02/2014 14:03

Did u get lactoluse with it?