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My 4mth old is predominantly bf with 1 or 2 formula bottles a day. He's got reflux and if very spewy. He'll be on the boob then with no indication beforehand will spew even when he's still on the boob! Why does this happen? He doesn't do this when he's having a bottle. I've been told to give him children's mylanta 1ml before and after a feed and he has lactose free formula.
It's really hard to say, and probably would be a good idea to talk to someone with medical & lactation knowledge like an LC.
Do you have a family history of allergies at all? I wonder with the reflux, spewing, etc if there might be some other underlying problem.
Were you advised to use lactose-free formula for some reason? Is it also still dairy-based? Lactose is a naturally occurring sugar in mammalian milk (including human milk) so your baby is still getting it through breastmilk. There's an interesting article here about lactose intolerance in babies - it's something that is poorly understood, even by medical professionals.
I'm sorry I don't really have an answer to your question. Sometimes spewing is a problem - I'm guessing if you're medicating your baby then it's a problem - and sometimes it just more laundry. I think talking with an LC and or dietician might be really helpful for you (Joy Anderson is a great LC/dietician who specialises in this area and does phone/skype consults).
This happened to a friend. Baby was misdiagnosed with reflux when it was actually an oversupply of milk and a fast let-down, so baby was spewing from being overfill, nothing to do with reflux at all. She fixed the oversupply and the reflux resolved. Could that be a possibility in your situation?
If your baby presented with symptoms of lactose intolerance (and this was why you're on that formula) then this scenario is actually very likely. Would need more info on baby to be sure, however.:
A fast let down or oversupply would be my first thought too as a bottle is slower so it's probably staying down. Two of mine were lactose intolerant they couldn't tolerate breast feeding and my ds especially was failing to thrive with extremely low weight gains and lost more often than gaining any he was going to end up in hospital before we swapped to lactose free formula. We did this with a nutritionist/chiro and a pead. It's very uncommon to be lactose intolerant as it's been pointed out it's in breast milk. We think with ds it was because he was born with a low grade fever and infection that his tummy couldn't cope it also caused reflux you could smell the acid on his breath and dummy. He has outgrown it all now that he is older. Work on the oversupply theory first especially if your ds is gaining weight.
Thanks for your replies. I was advised my the baby nurse at the chemist to do he mylanta & lactose free formula which has really changed him. After a bottle he is settled and not spewy. Maybe I should see a LC as I am at the point I am considering giving up bf as the bottle seems to sit better on his tummy.
He was showing other signs of reflux apart from spewing - arching his back, always screaming etc.
Thanks for your advice.
I reckon see an LC, definitely. Give Joy a call - she is really great.
I second contacting Joy (thanks MadB). She's really helped me with DS2 - he's on meds for silent reflux. She suggested a dairy and soy free diet for me and now we have a new baby! Don't give up BFing just because of this - there's lots more to try first. Hugs x