Four month old starting formula

starface

Hey.

Can anyone help. My four month old has reflux. She’s on mortilum twice a day and Iosec once a day. She was EBF until today. In the last few weeks she was very cranky on the boob. Showing signs of reflux when feeding and then only taking small feeds. I noticed that this did not happen at all with expressed bottles so yesterday I gave her only expressed bottles and we had a fantastic day. I decided today to try her on a bottle of formula because pumping and feeding all day was really tough and I don’t want to resent my baby - I love her. I’m just so tired.


My overall aim is to combi feed. Expressed bottles and formula. However after half the formula bottle today she started to show signs of reflux again. After the pain left her she immediately went for a two hour nap. She was up around half an hour and she starting showing signs she was hungry so I decided to make another small formula bottle to see. The same happened again. She drank 70ml and then went crazy. She’s gone back asleep now again (80 minutes after waking up). She doesn’t usually need sleep until later in the evening. Can formula make a baby sleepy? Why is the formula from a bottle upsetting her tummy but expressed milk doesn’t? Is the flow of formula milk quicker? I just feel wore out. I loved feeding her myself but watching her give out after every daytime feed was sad and draining.

fits

Could it be wind due to her latch? Would it be worth getting a lactation consultant to look? As far as I know formula fed babies are more likely to have reflux. One of mine was terribly colicky and spitty but it did improve around the four month mark. In his case I’m pretty sure now it was windiness. ( I’m still bf him at 13 months now)

Millem

Our babies are the same age!
Do you wind every 5 minutes? On my right side I have very fast flow which causes problems have you tried feeding in different positions?

If you want to express and formula feed I would Defo get a double pump if possible. I exclusively pumped on my first boy for 5 weeks...swore I would never do it again !! I rented a hospital grade one last time which was around €100 per month but you can buy really good closed system pumps for the same or a little less online. My mother gives out to me because my baby feeds every 3 hours at best during the night and could be every 2/3 hours during the day!! If I was ff he would get less feeds apparently :rolleyes:

annoyedgal

Breast milk is easier to digest than formula so thats why it's less likely to upset baby's tummy and also why breastfed babies tend to feed more often. Formula fills baby up which keeps them asleep longer.
If you wanted to keep up the breastfeeding would be worth checking with a lactation consultant to see if different positions would help with the reflux.
Fussiness could be a growth spurt or developmental leap either. Seem to remember something around the 4 month mark!

waterfaerie

If expressed milk from a bottle is not causing a problem but feeding from the breast is, it sounds like her latch may be the issue. There are many things that can cause a poor latch and almost all are resolvable but you need to get the correct help.

I'd recommend seeing a lactation consultant, preferably an IBCLC. They really are excellent at what they do and will be by far the best people to help you and your little girl.

jlm29

What were the signs of reflux that your baby was showing? As already mentioned, if expressed milk from a bottle doesn’t seem to bother her, then it might be a latch issue. An ibclc would be great if you can locate one in your area. You could also phone a Cuidu counsellor or someone from la leche league, but the lactation consultant would be best to assess baby’s latch.
If you want to combi feed or indeed to formula feed, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, but if you’d rather breastfeed, it would be great to get as much help as you can before you make the switch