Changing formula

[SlowTango]

Hi all just looking for some advice as I’m a first time mum and I’m not sure what is normal.

Our DD is 8 weeks old and has been suffering with constipation for about 4 weeks. She doesn’t poo for around 3/4 days and then when she does, it is understandably explosive. To cut a long story short, after several conversations with the doctor we have agreed to keep her on lactulose for the foreseeable future. The doctors and HV that I’ve spoken with aren’t concerned about it and advise that it will all sort itself out once she is weaning as we’ll be able to get veggies into her. They have said to find the lactulose dose that works and stick with that.

I asked one doctor about changing formula and he said that if she is otherwise fine then he would recommend staying on the same one as changing might cause other issues.

She is generally very content. The constipation doesn’t seem to bother her unless it gets to 4 days which is when she becomes uncomfortable. She has been vomiting a bit this weekend, sometimes hours after feeding, but again it doesn’t seem to bother her. She had her immunisations on Thursday so I’m not sure whether the vomiting could be as a result of that?

Wind wise - she moans while you are winding her but usually will burp reasonably quickly (not always!)

So my question is, between the sickness and constipation should I be looking to change formula? I have looked online and the most favoured appear to be Aptamil and the Aldi own brand. We currently use Cow and Gate.

As I’ve mentioned, she is a very happy baby so I’m not sure whether this is all normal and I’m looking for problems or if I should be doing more to try and help her.

Thanks in advance!

Most formulas are pretty much the same (C&G and Aptimil are the same company) but there's no harm in trying a different one if you want.

Our midwife told us that there is a European directive stating all formula must contain EXACTLY the same ingredients. I’ve not researched this independently but interesting to know.

No harm in changing.
I dint know if they still are (my youngest is 7), but C&G and Aptamil are identical / a girl I work with who had previously worked for Milupa told me this. I then spent hours scrutinising the websites, ingredients and nutritional info for both, and decided she must be right.

Thanks for the information, that is interesting. I guess a change might not make much difference in that case but might give it a try once we finish this box.

Has anyone experience the vomiting after immunisations? Just wondering if it’s related.

My DS has constipation. We switched to comfort milk (Aptamil) - after a few days of slightly weird poos it settled down and we never went back. Once or twice when we were flying we took bottles of ready to feed regular Aptamil and he always got bunged up afterwards.

Our paediatrician suggested the switch and said it was to do with the iron levels in formula. I’ve never looked into it.

*had

I changed from aptimil to Hipp organic as I found lumps in his poo, having had a child already I knew this wasn't right, turned out to be bubbles of un melted milk powder. I found Aptimil fine with my first child (combinfed both my children) but they'd changed it - Hipp was fabulous and had no problems
I didn't realise it wasn't the best route, I mentioned it in passing to HV who just asked why then said she'd suggest not changing again

They are not identical but there are certain ingredients that they must all contain. Formula companies can then add extra ingredients to try and differentiate theirs from the others. Whether these extra ingredients are required is debatable.

There is no harm in trying a different one to see if it suits better