DS can't stomach formula

[tiredmumsclub88]

DS is 10 weeks (6 adjusted), we’ve had a challenging star with a stay in SCUBU because of hypoglycaemia.we were reccomended by friends and anti natal Midwife to give our BF DS one formula feed at night to help him sleep a bit more. We tried this about a month & half ago- he would throw it straight back up over everything
😫 I thought we’d try again last night, but he took 15 mls and three that straight back up too. Does anyone have any experience of this, or any tips? He’s currently going about and hour &1/2 / 2 hours at night between feeds and it’s exhausting!!!!

Hi OP, I haven't been in this situation myself but I was a breast milk donor. While I know a lot about donating milk, I'm less knowledgable about receiving donated milk, could you enquire about getting some for your baby?

Formula doesn't help babies sleep for longer at night, sorry. And feeding every 1.5/2 hours is completely normal. It's hard, it's tiring, and you will get through it. But there's no magic to stop it.

Yes sounds normal, it won't be for long.

I don't know if my kids would have been fine with formula, they never had any.

Sounds like he has a dairy intolerance, (I have had 2 kids with dairy intolerances) I would go and talk to your GP, and carry on BF, I would also get this moved to the Allergies and intolerances board for more advice

My son is 16 weeks and still has nights where he wants fed every 1.5-2 hours - thankfully they are getting rarer now! It will get easier but if you would really like to move to some ff feeds it’s worth looking into intolerances as pp’s have said.

IF it is simply to get more sleep it’s not worth it surely?

@bluesky3 many thanks for your advice 😊 how do I get this post moved? I wonder if it may be the fish oil in the formula as I’m allergic to fish....

1.5-2 hours at night is totally normal for a tiny baby and is also good for your milk supply.

I know it's exhausting, my 3rd baby v woke every 45 minutes until he was about 10 months old so I genuinely do sympathise!

But it does get better, I promise.
If he's reacting like that to formula I'd avoid it full stop

Sorry I have no idea how to move a thread, if it was me I would just start a new one there! Do all formulas have fish oils in? if not I would look for one that doesn't have it in and try him on that and see what happens which would rule the fish allergy in or out. I would imagine that it is more likely to be dairy and what you could do is cut dairy (and I would suggest soya as they are very similar in terms of allergys) out of your diet and see if that helps his sleep, you would need to do this for at least a couple of weeks to see the results.

Have you tried a different formula to see if he responds differently? Also how quickly is he drinking it? Babies have to work harder to breastfeed than bottle feed and we found that our DD was drinking the formula too quickly at first and getting a tummy ache after so I started giving her a little of the bottle then pausing to wind and then giving more and if she seemed to be going quickly I’d pause again for it to settle in her tummy

@user1493413286 my husband pointed this out earlier -he drinks from a bottle a lot faster than he does boob. Will tell DH to give him breaks in between. My mum also pointed out that DS can Smell my milk which may be why he was fussing the other night xx

@user1493413286 Thankyou for your post - DS took 100ml Formula last night no probs 😊

Glad to hear he managed some. Sorry if you’ve already done this but does he go longer between feeds in the day? My DD started going 3 hours in the day but only 2 hours at night at around that age so our neonatal nurse said to increase feeds in the day to see if she then went longer at night.
While what people say about the frequency of feeds being normal is true I found it such a relief when I could get a block of 2-3 hours sleep when someone else could give formula.
At around 8 weeks adjusted my DD dropped the 1am feed (previously having been going 11,1,3,5) and having a block of 4 hours consistently was a massive move forward for me so hopefully your DS will do similar soon

@user1493413286 apologies for late reply! He does during the day, altho has started to cluster feed at night- Tuesday he fed 10.30-3am 😵 I have him formula at 3.15& he slept for an hour and a half. Am worried about him as he hasn’t put in any weight this week at all. Worried that he isn’t getting what he needs from me which is really upsetting as it feels like I’m failing 😞 going to try feeding him ebm and formula tonight x