Formula Thickeners.... Will it help??

Hi Everyone

Just wanting some options to help my DD with her vomiting. She is 11 weeks old and since birth we have had bouts if vomiting when she feeds and not just at the end of each feed but when she is burped we always have some amount of vomit come back up.

Some days she is good with only a small amount coming back up and other days we have the full on gut wrenching vomit with it coming out of her nose as well. She will generally have a small amounts of overflow come back up but the vomit that comes later always contains "chunky bits" of partially digested formula. We feed her in as upright position as possible and try to keep the upright position after feeding, however she will still have something come up 1-2 hours after feeding.

I'm considering adding thickener to her formula to see if this keeps everything down for her. She is already on Karicare De-Lact formula as advised by the pead, due to both myself and DH being lactose intolerant. I know that she is getting enough calories per day as she is putting on weight and she has no trouble sleeping at night either (10-12 hours per night), but some days she is very unsettled and the amount that she will take at each feed can vary from 120mls - 250mls (4 feeds a day) depending on how hungry she feels and how much came up the previous feed.

Also will the thickener affect her BM's, currently she has 1 per day but it is very green and runny. Do you think the thickener may also have a beneficial effect by making her BM's more formed?

I am anxious to find out what you all recommend.

I am only speaking from experience. My first 2 were happy chuckers and I tried the thickener with both and it only made them really unsettled and colicky. If bub is happy and putting on weight I wouldn't waste you money.

HTH

we started thickener for same reason 2 weeks ago and it has stopped the vomits but made him unsettled but last 2 days been adding infants friend as well he is so much better hth!!

Thanks

Rach: Is infants friend to help with wind pains??

I really think I need something to help DD as today she hasn't had huge vomits but she has been bringing up clear stomach acid which must be hurting her as she has been screaming like crazy and wants a small bottle to reduce the pain in her throat.

I'm off to the pharmacy when DH gets home in about 40 minutes to get something for her as when she is not in discomfort she is generally a happy baby and I don't like seeing her in so much pain.

yep and its natural a friend suggested MARINA INFANT MIXTUREto me as well

I have bought a can of thickener and also the infant's friend. Will start on both tomorrow as we have a wedding to go to on Sunday, so hopefully things will take effect over the next few days and DD won't end up spewing all over her special dress.

Thanks for the info Rach...

I'd love to hear how you go. I have a 4 week old and I suspect we might be on this path.

I hope the wedding goes well and her dress doesn't get spewed on!

goodluck

First feed of the day with Karicare Thickener (2 scoops per 200ml) and 10 drops of Infants Friend (thanks for the heads up Rach) and the first time ever we had no spews :dance: after burping or at the end of her feed.

Although she did have less of a feed, is this because the thickener is filling her up faster and therefore she doesn't need as much formula as before??

We even had a happy morning playtime without her being all covered up in spew rags so she could kick her legs and flap her arms around without being restricted.

I'll keep you updated to let you know how things go over the next few days.

I would imagine it would be more filling, Luke is only having 1/2 scoopin 180ml feeds seems enough for him :) did you go to next size teats, if not that could be another reason she isn't takign as much as it is a lot of work... also I worked out that 10 drops of IF is 0.9ml which is a little easier for night time feeds :lol:

She has 150ml's this morning, but her feeds normally vary during the day anyway. I am already using avent size 2 teats and we would always get heaps of spill from her mouth when she normally fed but no spill this morning.

I might reduce the amount of thickener for the next feed down to 1 scoop per 200ml's and see if that is enough as it seems she is now wanting another feed only 3 hours after the last.

Hi,

My baby suffered from reflux really bad. He constantly vomited even if it was 4 hours after his last feed. We didn't try the formula thickener but tried the anti-reflux formulas which are pretty thick. We tried 2 different types. The vomiting reduced a little bit but it made him really constipated. Poor thing already suffered from terrible colic for the first 4 months that i didn't want him to be in anymore pain. I decided that it was cruel to keep him on the AR formulas as it was only benefiting my husband and i but not him because at that stage (after 4 months) it no longer bothered him to vomit. So he went back onto regular formula.

He only drank small amounts (always half of of what the guide said on the tin) but usually every 2 hours. I'd hate to think how much more he would vomit up if he drank twice that.

He was a very chucky baby up until 7 months (i was regularly changing all our outfits a few times a day) and then it reduced greatly over 2 months and then by 9 months it was gone.

PS. We tried every single product out there for colic pain but the best one we found was Rhubarb & Soda mixture from the hospital, prescribed from our doctor. It worked wonders!

o.k 1 day down using the thickener and after trying 3 bottles with different amounts (2 scoops, 1 scoop & 1/2 scoop per 200ml) it seems the 1 scoop is fine for her as at 1/2 scoop we have some vomit.

Have gone and bought Pigeon Y shaped teats as it was taking her 1 1/2 hours to feed, she is normally a slow feeder but that was just ridiculous. Only problem is that she woke at 4am this morning for a feed, when she hasn't woken during the night for almost 4 weeks now and as such she is very unsettled today as she is out of her routine.

Positive thing is that she has had a BM today so hopefully no constipation. Will let you know how things go over the weekend.

Hi everyone

It looks like the thickener has done the trick, although I am going to increase back up to the 2 scoops per 200mls. When using the higher amount of thickener we don't seems to get any vomit and if we do it is very minor and using the Infants Friend has helped as well. I don't give it to DD at each feed anymore, generally only a couple of times a day.

I've noticed since we have added the thickener that DD's BM's have now gone back to a mustard yellow colour from the horrible green and also as her tummy is fuller she is much more content to go to sleep during the day as well.

We took her to the wedding yesterday and she was an absolute gem, no puke on her party dress and she ate when hungry, played with everyone and had a couple of sleeps early on (like during the ceremony...yay) and then crashed in her pram around 9.30pm and didn't wake when we put her in the car or into bed and didn't wake until 9am this morning.

fantastic

Great news. I'm glad the wedding went so well.