Breast and Formula - is this making him sick?

[Sus]

Hi, I wonder if someone could help please.  My DS is just 4 weeks old and I have been breastfeeding him exclusively until a couple of days ago.  I remember Tracey said you could combine breast milk and formula and baby would still get all the benefits of the breast milk.  I decided to introduce one bottle of formula a day so that dad could take over a feed. (Also, I am hating every second of breastfeeding this time around, so I thought it might make it easier for me)

Anyway, the first night I think went ok, but the last 2 nights he has been screaming blue murder from around 7pm till 10pm then it results in a vomit which is very smelly.  He is currently taking infacol as he was having trouble getting his wind up, but I'm wondering if you think the formula could be upsetting him.  Have I introduced it too early?  Do you think it would upset his system?  The formula I am using is Aptamil.

I'm not going to give him any formula today and just breastmilk and see how he goes tonight, I don't think I could stand another night of him screaming and so obviously uncomfortable.  Oh and I bought some gripe water today, do you think that would help along with the infacol ?

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Sus
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[~ Vik ~]

Hi Sus!
I don't think that you've introduced formula too early, as plenty of mom's formula feed from birth with no problems. I don't know the brand your using (I think every country has different brand names) but I'm guessing it's a milk based formula? It sounds like your lo could have a milk protein intolerance.
We supplemented my ds with formula at the very beginning (I was having problems bfing and he was losing weight) and he had horrible night's. No vomit, but up every hour crying We didn't discover his problem with milk until we started solids and he got hives after a milk-based baby cereal. It was like an Ah-ha moment!
You could try a soy formula instead. My ds is fine with soy, but I have read that something like 40% of mpi babies are also intolerant to soy. You could also try a hypoallergenic formula. They are still milk based, but are so broken down that most mpi babies are fine with them.
That's just my experience, I would definitely love to hear what other mom's think too!
Good luck, and hth
Vikki

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

Hi Sus,

I did BF and formula with both of my kids from about 6 weeks on, so DH could do the bedtime feed. With our oldest I went straight to soy as she couldn't tolerate dairy in my milk. With Spencer we did give milk based formula a go for a week but she had problems similar to your lo, so we switched to soy and what a difference! I'd definately try soy or a hypoallergenic formula next.  She still was a bit gassy for awhile, but we used infacol and made sure to get some good burps out before putting her to bed.

HTH
Heidi

[Sus]

Thanks Girls, I bought today the easy digest version of the formula, it's Mulupa Aptamil, it's supposed to be the closest you can get to breastmilk, but who knows.  I'll try him on that later on and see if that makes a difference.

I also started him on a dummy today as he was wanting to feed all the time and I think I have been over feeding him.  He is so much more settled.  I don't particularly like dummies and my daughter never wanted one, but I think he's a sucky baby and he's certainly enjoying it.  Of course I'm worried that he's actually hungry but hopefully if I keep an eye on the times he's being fed he should be ok ? 

It's all such a worry isn't it?  If I don't have any joy I will look into the Soy based formula, I have to say I haven't heard of it but I'll certainly investigate.

Thanks for your help

Sus
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