Colic, reflux, sleep and formula

[Northernbeachbum]

DS who is 4 weeks started off on the ready made cow and gate, then we had one tub of the powder. All without real issue, incredibly mild reflux but i think that was us not winding him enough as new parents. Hes now on the aldi powder and has been getting increasingly bad reflux and did have horrific colic until we started using infacol. Its still there but nowhere near as bad.

We want to try cow and gate again but someone recommended SMA as being better. If we go back to cow and gate can we switch again?

Also i want to be sure it is colic. Over night he is fab, eats, cuddle to sleep then goes back down. Feed around 9am and 7pm he will eat, get cross, eat more, get more cross, be a bit sick, clearly be tired but unable to sleep. This can go on for hours but since the infacol its been 2 hours not 4ish.

Any advice much appreciated, i hate seeing him so worked up

Hi OP!

Its not great to keep mixing up formula because I think it upsets their little tummies but your LO sounds a bit like the way mine was, we always suspected mild reflux and infacol helped for a bit but then started to make him worse, my GP was useless and suggested calpol (!?) so we decided to try him on SMA Anti reflux milk. Its thicker than normal formula and easier to digest (digestion can be so difficult for them when they're small) the thickness helps it to stay down in the tummy essentially.

It might be worth a try, of course so might speaking to your HV or doctor about it as well.

Thanks @owltrousers. Its a bit of a nightmare really as im guessing one of the formulas will be best for him but how can we find out without trying them, its bloody confusing. Good to hear a SMA success story though thank you!!!

The colic is the main thing id like to help him with, his reflux is pretty mild. Ive fed him upright this morning and that seemed to help him loads

No problem @Nothernbeachbum I agree, its a bloody minefield. People say 'oh they're all the same!' but not to a sensitive baby.

Some general things I found helped with 'colic' feeding upright, really being careful no air got into the teat, MAM bottles (Dr Browns were rubbish for us) the thicker formula, walking around with baby after a feed to get any air up/down, gripe water if wind was really bad.

I think tiredness also plays a big part. This article is interesting - www.babysense.com/advice-and-tips/baby/a-colicky-baby-could-sensory-overload-be-the-cause/

Weve got the mam bottles already so ill keep feeding upright. That sensory article is interesting, it could be that for him but weirdly things that get him to sleep normally (at night and in the middle of the day) dont seem to work for 2 feeds a day, one in the morning and one in the evening

We went from ready made Cow and Gate to Aptamil as someone said Aptamil is closer to breast milk... gave DD a poorly tummy. Instead we put her on cow and gate comfort for babies with colic and constipation which is much thicker and seemed to work well. We keep a stock of the ready made normal stuff for when we go out and she doesn’t seem to mind switching between.

Good to know, thank you @be18mum

I ended up going down the colief route at around 4 weeks old (after trying infacol) and we did notice a vast improvement after a couple of weeks. Also switched from aptamil to hipp organic and she seemed to settle to that a lot easier.

Agree with others about the Mam bottles and keeping baby upright for a while afterwards

Just trying to wean her off colief now she is 3 months. It’s expensive but worked for us. Boots sometimes have an offer on the 15ml version.

We've had really bad colic since 2 weeks old he's now 8 weeks! It would be all day every day! We have tried everything, and it would work for a week then back again. we have just found mam bottles, hipp organic 1st and dentinox put in the milk does it for us, sitting upright. He was very sickly but doesn't bring hipp up and hes much more settled on it. Also in the evenings which is when he was getting particularly bad I bath him then swaddle his lower half. He's been much more settled though I think it's just trial and error to see what works for you.

Also we found comfort milk made it worse as it made him constipated even though it's meant to help constipation, and he had a lot more wind which made his tummy hurt more.

Interesting to hear about your comfort milk experience! We've given him a day today on ready made cow and gate as i heard its a bit smoother and its been like having a new child, soo much happier!!