Pooping problems 8 week old gone from breast to aptamil... Help please?!??

[Paranoid1stTimer]

My LO is really struggling and straining with what appears to be trapped wind after weaning from breastmilk to aptamil.

I know that breast is best but it just didnt work out for us and I am sad about it (and guilty feeling) but now he is fully on the aptamil, he is really straining, legs in the air, pulled into his chest and thrashing about at night with a lot of wind. He has only around 3 dirty nappies a day where breastmilk had him constanly pooping(in one end and out the other)

Does this settle? Its heartbreaking as there doesnt seem to be anything I can do to relieve him. He just squeals and grunts until he breaks wind or poops which isnt very often... Poor wee thing...

Help please please please

Have you tried another kind of formula, maybe Aptamil Easy Digest. It comes in a similar looking box but with yellow on it.

Also you could try some gentle baby massage maybe to help with the wind? Maybe gently rubbing his tummy in a clockwise position, or gently pulling his legs into his body and out again. That sometimes helps.

Incidentally 3 dirty nappies a day doesn't sound that unusual- in fact, my DD had only one a day on Aptamil.

Don't feel guilty about the ff if it didn't work out for you- many of us have been there.

Hiya, it DOES settle! you need to allow 2 weeks when changing formula/feeds for the baby's digestive system to get used to it. maybe try some gripe water with feeds which will help. maybe also in this heat he might need a little drink (even if he only takes a few sips at a time) of cooled boiled water between feeds as it would be easy for him to become dehydrated thus promoting hard stools/constipation. also i believe in some cultures they the digestive system is maturing the most rapidly at around the 40 day old mark. his bowels are probably regulating themselves and i expect he may be becoming more regular/routine-like with his feeding? hth xx

Thanks - HV just seems to say everything is fine even when I dont get to finish my sentences. She probably has enough of para 1st time mums questioning every little thing their babies do. She didnt give me a hard time about giving up breast feeding - she just asked why I gave up for statistical purposes. I guess I will be another one of those chastised for introducing formula supplements which lead to me stopping altogether but to be honest I was really starting to hate it.

He is becoming more routine with his feeds - especially on formula.

Hiya, P1T, I have been looking out for you. forget all that stuff about being judged for ff-ing please. You are not failing your baby or giving him second best. they have to ask it's part of NHS pro-bf policy. If you are stressing over bf-ing baby will pick up on it. i felt like that after giving up when ds1 was 4 days old. but honestly he is now a happy healthy (somewhat tantrum-prone!) 2yo. dd is also bottle-fed. she was on aptimil until gp put her on sma staydown for reflux but it's still formula. i am around several times a day. just take it one feed at a time and see the 2 weeks through at least. you don't really want to upset him by changing to another formula brand/type just yet. wait until he's eating mud in the garden then you realise they're not quite as fragile as you first thought! hope you're ok. some hv's can make you feel judged and unsure. but you know your own baby better than anyone else and you need to do whatever is right for the two of you first and foremost. don't worry what anyone else (including me!) thinks. you feel exactly the same when your toddler is throwing a strop in public and you have to man-handle them back into the car/buggy/out of the shop xx

Hi there
I could have written this post, my lo was exactly the same. I had to go to hospital to have an operation at 2 months and chose Aptimil as my babies formula. I found that it really upset his tummy and wasn't going to the toilet for days at a time (13 days at it's worst) I think that I would try a different formula, but don't worry everything will settle down eventully, but I know that is so hard watching them straining

My SIL had a similar problems when she changed her LO from SMA Gold to C+G Easy Digest. She found that by introducing a bottle of cooled boiled water, she pooed more easily. HTH

Hi P1T, just as a thought, is this the first time your wee one has been bottle fed? I would give him time to get used to the formula but also it could be that he is taking down some air making him windy.

Does he bring up any burps after feeding? With bottle feeding they can gulp down either formula or expressed breast milk as it is a bit easier to suck and get the milk rather than working at breastfeeding.

Hang in there, if he doesn't settle after a couple of weeks try a different formula. It won't kill him but it may break your heart for a bit! (oh and I am the mother of 2 sons who both had severe reflux so I watched them in agony and sicking up for over a year each, they are both thriving, boisterous boys)