Formula - Desperate for Advice

[Leostratts]

I need advice!

My baby is almost 5 weeks old. He was breastfed for the first few days but has since been on Kendamil Organic.

I’ve just upped him to 5oz because he’s been taking 4oz every 2 hours mostly in the day, sometimes 3 hours and in the night 4/5 hours although these times always differ. Basically, he eats a lot!

He is so hard to get wind up, needs burping halfway through, after and another 2 or 3 times - it takes so long. He could burp 3/4 times, I put him down and he will still need burping or just spit up 20 mins or so later. He is unsettled after a feed though I wouldn’t say severely. He spits up quite a bit at the moment but not straight after his bottle, always a while after.

He isn’t colicky but he’s unsettled a lot if he’s awake. We’ve had him on infacol for a few days though I’m not sure it’s doing anything.

He has no issue with weight, hasn’t been weighed in a couple weeks but never lost any birth weight and gained every time he was weighed. Plenty of wet and dirty nappies (diarrhoea today but I think it’s from the ready made formula he had a few of yesterday so I’ll hold back on them now as maybe it’s too rich for him)

I just don’t know if it’s normal how he is or whether I should consider changing formula. I’m unsure whether he has reflux or not because he doesn’t show all the signs but with the spit up, he gets hiccups a lot, will gag and pull a face etc.

He’s my second child and my first had reflux and was on anti-reflux milk but he was premature and honestly, I feel like a new mum this time as still feel clueless and like I’m second guessing constantly.

Please can anyone help? I just don’t know what to do - I don’t know whether he will grow out of it or whether there’s something I could actually help with. I broke down in tears this morning as feeding, burping etc takes so long and I need to get my toddler ready for nursery and it makes this so hard. He also had the diarrhoea this morning which leaked everywhere and then was sick when I was changing him which went all in his hair, which meant I was late for nursery drop off and it’s just all getting a bit much.

Even now at 10.14 he is acting hungry even though he had 5oz only 2 hours ago.

Thank you

Update - though he was acting hungry he’s now sleeping. If he was acting hungry to soothe reflux (if he has it) then I would expect him never to finish bottles or sick it up after but he doesn’t do this. I want to get to 3 hourly feeding but also want to feed on demand but also scared he’s eating too much.. I’m losing the plot!

Make sure you’re paced feeding, winding (try tiger/cat in tree position) and then if he is hungry just feed him.

From 6 weeks try gripe water. Boots own used to come in a plastic bottle so it was safer to take out and about and could be kept for 6 hours from opening.

@Summerishereagain I’ve always pace fed, as I had to with my first anyway! I have gripe water in hand but thought that was more for bottom wind. I also have read how people reckon infacol and gripe water are just placebos so it’s hard to know what to try air not try! Thank you

Have you tried the anti-colic bottles? Also when DD was little we always had a mid-feed burping session. Also just accepted that it took an hour or so to get through a feed.

@stackhead Yep, use MAM and burp halfway through!

That sounds like a lot of milk for a 5 week old, far more than my 17wk old is taking, it sounds like they could be overfeeding to sooth reflux. Could be silent reflux if he's not bringing anything up.

@BabyB2022 he now has 5oz bottles with size 2 teats and is a lot better. He isn’t as windy either! We stopped infacol and again, seems better without it. He usually drink the 5oz or sometimes 4oz and yesterday was 3oz but I think it was the heat. He is never sick, only occasional spit up now but not a lot. If he was over feeding he would just throw it back up! My first born also drank a lot too, I think I just have hungry babies lol.

@BabyB2022 Also, I can tell when he is rooting to soothe reflux because he plays with the teat or pulls a face and then I offer a dummy instead! I have a HV appointment soon so will mention to them but I was always told they can’t overfeed and if they are draining bottles to up the amount and there should always be a bit left over!

Infacol takes time: for us, it's started to work after a week. Make sure you give him before every single feed (I kept the bottles all over the house).
Before changingg formula, try changing bottles. Seems to me he loves milk and drinks it too fast- my baby girl was the same. Try Dr. Brown bottles, it will make him drink slower.
Also, stop him after every oz to burp. Never allow him to drink too much in one go; I think burping once through is not enough.

@Tina8800 he was on infacol before every feed for over a week, then I read it can make reflux worse which I think it did! He does seem better without it, my first had it for longer so it’s strange! We do burp as often as we can but usually if we stop too much he just cries and takes more air in so it’s a vicious cycle! He is a guzzler, sometimes I’ll pull it out just to get him to slow down a bit! The last couple days without infacol and with a bigger teat he’s seemed to be better after a feed, we just still have to keep him upright for a while. He’s also just come out of a leap and I’ve read 5 week is a fussy phase so there could be a few factors involved. It’s so hard not knowing isn’t it!

I echo the recommendation for Dr Brown bottles which were a godsend for my DD. She had reflux and CMPA. She also drank a lot of milk like yours.

How is he laid down, is he fussy or crying?

You're doing a great job responding to your baby, you're honestlu doing everything you can and doing right by him xx

@Purple89 It’s just so costly to change and buy new bottles isn’t it! No idea why they’re so expensive! He’s always been fine laying down, never been an issue to put down in his next to me and in his pram for daytime naps. He went through a phase last week of protesting it a bit but the last couple days lying down is fine, as long as we’ve kept him upright for a bit after feeding and got burps out.

Thank you for saying that, I appreciate it a lot!