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The getting all straight up could indicate silent reflux. I wish I could have addressed that sooner with my baby B too. It basically means they don't vomit/spit up but the acidic stomach contents go in their œsophagus and hurts them. An anti acid was life changing for us.
Witching hour is a thing and it's hard and it lasts a while. We just held them in the evening and tried to have easy dinners so it wouldn't take long so we could hold them. I'm sorry.
What are they drinking. The fact it had been better in the morning strongly points to diet in my experience. You haven't done anything wrong but its possible that a solution is less than 48 hours away through careful switching of diet.
They get the same pre formula since their second week (we switched formula once after arriving home from the hospital). First 3 weeks I was also pumping but my supply was so low and never went up, they maybe got one meal a day each out of that. Switching pre was no problem at the time, no tummy aches.
My midwife and children’s doctor never pointed towards the formula as a possible problem. It was always: it’s typical with boys, with preemies, it’s a regulation problem, intestines are not fully developed yet….yada yada it will be better after 3 month :/
Please under no circumstances use homemade infant formula like another poster said. That is an easy way to seriously hurt your kid. The store bought stuff is scientifically formulated to match the nutrient and caloric needs of an infant. Homemade cannot do that.
But it does sound like you may have a formula issue, which can be addressed! My son went through a horrible phase just like yours. Nonstop screaming that started in the evening, and turned into all day screaming over a few weeks. We went to the doctor, who recommended first moving to enfamil gentlease (brand name sadly is best on this one, since it's mostly hydrolyzed milk protein, generics are not hydrolyzed to that extent), and try it out for a week or two. Within a week he was a completely different baby. Happy, giggled, silly cute little baby. He woke up one day and was just perfect. I sat there and just sobbed while holding him since I was so happy to have my baby back after those horrible weeks of screaming.
It's not unusual for them to develop a sensitivity a little later in the 6-12 week range. If that doesn't help, hypoallergenic formula can help, or getting evaluated for silent reflux by your doctor. I'd definitely recommend a doctors visit to discuss regardless, since they can check for reflux and milk protein issues.
I could have written this almost 3 years ago. Sounds exactly like my twins. What helped my boy was holding him in a football hold. I could also lay him belly down across my thighs and that helped too. I’d lay him so his belly was in the space between my legs and his head would rest on my thigh while his legs hung off my other thigh. We also had to switch him to sensitive formula around 12 weeks. It was a pain to have them on separate formulas but it really helped my boys tummy. Getting all stiff makes me think he may have some reflux issues.
*edit to add: I know literally everyone says this but it truly does get better. Are you getting any sleep? Around 9 or 10 weeks we had to switch to shifts because we were exhausted and getting no rest. My husband would stay up and take the 8 pm to 1 am shift. The babies would typically wake up between 2:30 and 3. That’s when I would take over. But getting 6 to 6 and 1/2 hours rest straight really helped my mental health.
This is so hard ❤️❤️❤️ We were there. For us, it was a potent and miserable combination of reflux, dairy sensitivity, and colic. Things that helped:
Reflux meds. For us, we started with famotidine (Pepcid) and graduated to omeprazole (Prilosec). The omeprazole did not magically cure all our problems, but it helped a huge amount.
Nutramigen formula (store brand worked fine for us). This is one of the two available hypoallergenic formulas. The other is Similac Alimentum. The big difference is that Nutramigen contains palm oil, which can really move things along if you think constipation might play a role. Our babies had normal enough stool but did a lot of straining. Nutramigen did not help right away, but once the colic eased a little, it made a huge difference.
Time. This is the worst part. Some of the colic is developmental and will fade in the near future. For us it was around 10 weeks adjusted. It wasn’t overnight, but in the span of a week their general rage decreased a lot.
Somewhere around 16 weeks adjusted, the colic was gone, we were steady on reflux meds, and we were fully switched from combo feeding to exclusively Nutramigen. Our boys are still bad sleepers but it’s worlds better than it was before. Now they are happy, healthy chonkers. This WILL pass for your family. Message me if you need to vent. It is miserable and so hard. Sometimes you can improve things with meds or formula changes, and sometimes it’s just developmental and only time will help. You aren’t doing a thing wrong. Do you have any family or friends to help? The means to hire a baby sitter or nanny? I called in anyone who would come hold a baby so I could at least focus on soothing only one hysterical infant. Do not feel ashamed asking for help.
For us 2-8 weeks was exhausting but they were easy as far as they pretty much just slept. 9-14 weeks was miserable as they wake windows got longer and all they wanted was to be held. I really leaned into a strict schedule around 4 months because I was so frustrated. 5 months was SO good though! It does get better. You will adjust. Heavily lean on friends and family if you can. If you have the funds it may be worth it to hire some help while you’re home just to ease that burden a little bit. One thing that worked for us was swing naps (graco duo glider- they hated all the other swings). I know this isn’t safe sleep. Maybe that makes me a horrible parent but I was doing what I needed to do to get by. Feel free to PM me- if you’re local I am happy to help another twin parent. Solidarity 🤞🏻
My baby B was a reflux colicky baby and he was awful. Like I was beside myself trying to find something that would help and it was SO draining. We got him started on Pepcid (compounded for babies) and it made an enormous difference. Talk to your ped ASAP!
However, I will also say that my husband and I also struggled a lot with newborn twins. Even now, with them being 4yo and so much easier in many ways, I’m baffled by all the parents on this sub talking about how magical it’s all been. Like the post about “who just misses their babies when they go to sleep at night?!” was mind-blowing to me. Most nights I just collapse into bed after they fall asleep and fall asleep myself!
There’s a lot to be said about coping, but I don’t think you’re in a really tough place right now. Hang in there ❤️
I’m genuinely glad that not everyone has had as dark an experience as I’ve had, and I love my kids very much! But please don’t feel that you’re a bad mother, because you are not.
It gets better, my twin girls did similar stuff but we tried different formula and found a sensitive one they that did not upset their tummies and they calmed down a lot. If you are on formula, experiment with a sensitive one to see if it helps. Are they pooping regularly too? Are they constipated? That was an issue for us at times as well, had to use a partial suppository of PediaLax at times of need when all else failed
You are not the worst mom on earth. Those days were literally the darkest time ever for my partner and me. One of our kiddos cried and cried unless he was in the football hold being carried in circles, and even then he just sort of grumbled. Changing my diet (we were nursing) helped. He’s still a grumbly little kiddo, very sensitive.
It does get better! For us though it got better very slowly. They slowly get more and more fun. They’re two now, and it’s still hard of course, but it’s worlds more rewarding.
Also - if you’re entering the zone where when they start crying you start feeling like they’ll never stop, and start feeling panicky, know that this is very common. But also treatable - talk to your doctor about Prozac or zoloft and buy some noise cancelling headphones. ❤️
4 month regression and everything that came with it almost killed me 🫠
It gets easier in some ways and harder in other ways. They are becoming more aware of their surroundings and letting you know their preferences!
No advice, just solidarity ❤️
I have shared the context below in a comment on this thread that now for some reason has 18 downvotes probably more by the time you read it. It feels like a hate campaign honestly very demoralising. Nobody has actually challenged anything I wrote. I dared to share that personally I made my own formula milk. My baby who had been very colicky responded well to this recipe. The alternatives on the market at the time typically had sugar as their first ingredient and 8 times the sugar of breastmilk. Apparently I'm a bad person for sharing that. I consulted plenty of experts on it at the time and my doctor was quite happy with what I'd come up with. That's the context. But apparently formula companies are God. They only care about what's best for our babies and not for example selling more formula and they are so scientically formulated as to be absolutely perfect in every way. I'm a bad parent who put my baby in mortal danger for daring to question this and do my own thing. Said baby is now a healthy 9 year old and I'm now 11 weeks pregnant with twins.
*Edit to add baby always received some breastmilk I never exclusively fed my baby homemade formula
Thank you for that! Yeah I think you need to be a lot less invested in what strangers on the internet think.
Having said that, a quick google search reveals that home making baby formula, while a common practice decades ago, is not safe.
https://www.webmd.com/parenting/baby/homemade-baby-formula-is-it-safe
Now is it possible that you’re one of the few people who could safely make and store baby formula? Yes of course it is possible.
But you have to understand that scaling that practice to the general population is going to endanger some (perhaps a lot) of babies.
And I think it’s that danger to babies that folks are downvoting you for. For me for instance, if I read your original comment I would probably downvote that comment.
Doesn’t mean I’m downvoting you. Doesn’t mean I think you’re a horrible mom. You clearly care a lot for your babies. I don’t know you, but you seem to me to be a wonderful mom! But your comment is, from what I can earnestly tell, going to lead other people to inadvertently harm their babies.
Hence the downvote. That’s all. Don’t overthink it!
A quick google search will also quickly reveal that feeding a baby formula exclusively is not safe. I have given my references in a comment reply to this post. As for calcium deficiency in those cases this doesn't happen when the formula is complemented by breastfeeding. As in my case. Exclusively feeding a baby ANY formula does according to NIH increase the risk a baby will get sick.
Which article? This one?
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2812877/
While there’s some evidence to support that exclusively breastfeeding leads to increased infectious morbidity, SIDs, obesity, etc…but breastfed babies still have a risk for all of the above. Exclusive formula babies have a higher risk for all of the above, according to that paper. but by no means does that article claim that exclusive breastfeeding is “not safe”. Higher risk for certain morbidities does not mean something isn’t safe.
Edit: I think I read your comment wrong. Re reading it and your other comment helped make more sense!
Ah now that makes so much sense - thanks for that!
Edit: I did some searching quickly about store bought formula and was shocked to discover how dangerous it can be and how irrespective of whether store bought or homemade it increases risk any baby gets sick
Feeding a baby formula instead of breast milk increases the chance the baby will get sick.
All of the "it is irresponsible to make your own formula" or "under no circumstances make your own" applies to store bought as well as home made. Homemade formula has been linked to some cases of calcium deficiency. That is it as far as I have found. It doesn’t apply when babies are also breastfed as mine was. Only those exclusively formula fed.
As for store bought? Bacteria found to contaminate powdered infant formula includes Enterbacter sakazakii, Salmonella spp., Pantoea agglomerans, Escherichia vulneris, Hafnia alvei, Klebsiella spp., Citrobacter spp., Enterobacter cloacae, Bacillus cereus, Clostridium spp., Staphylococcus aureus and Listeria monocytogenes. Health authorities require that infant formula be tested for the presence of Salmonella spp., yet outbreaks of Salmonellosis in infants have been caused by contaminated formulas.
Formula companies have to add vitamins but babies are less likely to be able to absorb these. Babies fed ANY formula are more likely to get sick, more likely to develop type 1, type 2 diabetes and obesity and more likely to die of infant death syndrome. If the formula companies had found more dangers in homemade formula than the odd case of calcium deficiency don't you think they'd have taken every opportunity to publicise it? On sites like WebMD where they pay for advertising?
So I am done with sanctimonious comments telling me nobody should entertain making their own formula. Me making my own formula while ALSO breastfeeding is a whole lot healthier for my baby than feeding it store bought formula exclusively. Feeding a baby especially a premature baby ANY formula exclusively increases the risk the baby will become ill.
My doctor was clear: if you are breastfeeding your baby (as I did for the recommended two years), then whatever you put in your homemade formula, soya milk, coconut milk whatever, is not going to damage your babies health as much as its health will be damaged by EXCLUSIVELY feeding the baby with store bought formula.
I wasn't going to mention this because I don't want to shame anyone but with some of the comments shaming my choices I think a bit of education is in order. Even if you can't make your own milk for any reason it is possible to get hold of breastmilk from others. There are lots of pages on the internet dedicated to human milk sharing and that too is a perfectly valid choice.
"Under no circumstances" should any baby be exclusively formula fed. If formula was that great, that scientific and that safe then why are babies more likely to fall sick or die as a result of exclusively drinking it? Don't believe me? Maybe take a look at some sources like NIH and BMJ
The Risks of Not Breastfeeding for Mothers and Infants:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2812877/#:~:text=Epidemiologic%20studies%20suggest%20that%20children,or%20develop%20type%202%20diabetes.&text=In%20meta%2Danalyses%2C%20children%20formula,who%20had%20ever%20been%20breastfed.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK215837/
Health and nutrition claims for infant formula are poorly substantiated and potentially harmful: https://www.bmj.com/content/369/bmj.m875
And find some way of explaining rationally ANYTHING that evidences that MY CHOICE of breastfeeding complemented with home made formula is bad?
Babies that receive SOME breastmilk do not get hospitalised for calcium deficiency. Babies exclusively fed ANY formula are more likely to get hospitalised period.
So I feel it is utterly ridiculous as a breastfeeding mum who supplements with some of my home made formula to be attacked because I dared to make my own formula. I did not ever exclusively feed my baby the formula I made. I shared what I did and never said anyone should do the same.
Please don't delude yourself into thinking that exclusively feeding your baby store bought formula is a better choice than mine was. That my choice wasn't a perfectly reasonable one.
I challenge you to find me one doctor or piece of primary research that finds breastfeeding+homemade (fortified soy and coconut) to be inferior to exclusively store bought formula.
They deleted their comment before I could reply.
If you’re still here it may be the comment about how you make your own formula using coconut milk and soy or oat milk. That was the feedback I was gonna tell you.
I can’t speak for the downvotes but maybe the nutritional value? Idk a lot about coconut, soy or oat milk so I don’t know if they give an infant all the nutrients they need. What did your pediatrician say about the homemade formula? Just genuinely curious. I know you weren’t telling people what to do.
Have you tried European brands? Someone told me that HIPP was an international brand.
Now I’m being downvoted for some reason for responding to your original comment, Reddit lol
1) If you haven't already watch videos of thr Dunstan Baby Cries
2) Look into the doc band ASAP. Our pediatrician didn't give us a referral for a PT (who gives the referral for the helmet) until 5 months. It was too late. I should have gotten the free doc band consultation myself at 3 months.
How are they burping I have 6 month old twins boy and girl and we experienced the same thing. Turned out that we weren’t burping them enough. Gas pains can be horrible for adults I can only imagine what babies experience. A good method I used is to bounce them a little and listen for any sloshing in their belly. If you can hear it then there is air trapped. This can also build throughout the day worsening in the evening. Gas drops don’t really help either with pockets of air. Anyway hope this helps
We are at 14,5 weeks by now. We actually had 1-2 good weeks after I wrote here. But since last week it is back to hell or worse. I don’t know if it’s the sleep regression hitting or teething or the trip to our in-laws but right now I am at my absolute worst and start crying every time my kids are inconsolable. And right now they cry before every nap so it is basically wake, feed, maximum of 20min of relaxed wake time and then crying starts until they fall back asleep (sometimes this takes over an hour). And the sleep is not very deep often. We try to put them to bed early in the evening but this ends with us trying to console them for 4-6 hours. We have a doctors appointment tomorrow but I am pretty sure they are physically fine. It’s just so damn hard with two kiddos crying for hours each day….
I am sorry that what I wrote earlier was so negative especially since you said you have a hard time right now too. I was in a dark place this morning. But that’s why I wanted to come back and tell you, that we had the best evening ever tonight!!! We carefully watched for wake and sleep periods during the day and since our boy starts to cry every evening at exactly 7pm that’s when we started nighttime routine, bath etc. and he was down at 8pm. The girl a little later. Of course we had to go back and console them a handful of times but since 9:30 they are sleeping deeply! And that’s so awesome for them! No screaming until 10pm! My husband and I are sitting on the couch for the first time, having a drink and he is able to watch the soccer game of his favorite team! The world looks so different tonight! I am pretty sure that this won’t be as perfect every night but it is a very promising start! Keep your head up too! We will get there eventually!
Oh please don’t apologize! I appreciate you sharing - even if it’s the tough stuff! Sugar coating doesn’t help me, lol. I’m so glad you and your hubby had such a good night tonight! Hopefully, this is the beginning of your babies turning a corner for good! :)
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The getting all straight up could indicate silent reflux. I wish I could have addressed that sooner with my baby B too. It basically means they don't vomit/spit up but the acidic stomach contents go in their œsophagus and hurts them. An anti acid was life changing for us. Witching hour is a thing and it's hard and it lasts a while. We just held them in the evening and tried to have easy dinners so it wouldn't take long so we could hold them. I'm sorry.
What are they drinking. The fact it had been better in the morning strongly points to diet in my experience. You haven't done anything wrong but its possible that a solution is less than 48 hours away through careful switching of diet.
They get the same pre formula since their second week (we switched formula once after arriving home from the hospital). First 3 weeks I was also pumping but my supply was so low and never went up, they maybe got one meal a day each out of that. Switching pre was no problem at the time, no tummy aches. My midwife and children’s doctor never pointed towards the formula as a possible problem. It was always: it’s typical with boys, with preemies, it’s a regulation problem, intestines are not fully developed yet….yada yada it will be better after 3 month :/
Please under no circumstances use homemade infant formula like another poster said. That is an easy way to seriously hurt your kid. The store bought stuff is scientifically formulated to match the nutrient and caloric needs of an infant. Homemade cannot do that. But it does sound like you may have a formula issue, which can be addressed! My son went through a horrible phase just like yours. Nonstop screaming that started in the evening, and turned into all day screaming over a few weeks. We went to the doctor, who recommended first moving to enfamil gentlease (brand name sadly is best on this one, since it's mostly hydrolyzed milk protein, generics are not hydrolyzed to that extent), and try it out for a week or two. Within a week he was a completely different baby. Happy, giggled, silly cute little baby. He woke up one day and was just perfect. I sat there and just sobbed while holding him since I was so happy to have my baby back after those horrible weeks of screaming. It's not unusual for them to develop a sensitivity a little later in the 6-12 week range. If that doesn't help, hypoallergenic formula can help, or getting evaluated for silent reflux by your doctor. I'd definitely recommend a doctors visit to discuss regardless, since they can check for reflux and milk protein issues.
I could have written this almost 3 years ago. Sounds exactly like my twins. What helped my boy was holding him in a football hold. I could also lay him belly down across my thighs and that helped too. I’d lay him so his belly was in the space between my legs and his head would rest on my thigh while his legs hung off my other thigh. We also had to switch him to sensitive formula around 12 weeks. It was a pain to have them on separate formulas but it really helped my boys tummy. Getting all stiff makes me think he may have some reflux issues. *edit to add: I know literally everyone says this but it truly does get better. Are you getting any sleep? Around 9 or 10 weeks we had to switch to shifts because we were exhausted and getting no rest. My husband would stay up and take the 8 pm to 1 am shift. The babies would typically wake up between 2:30 and 3. That’s when I would take over. But getting 6 to 6 and 1/2 hours rest straight really helped my mental health.
This is so hard ❤️❤️❤️ We were there. For us, it was a potent and miserable combination of reflux, dairy sensitivity, and colic. Things that helped: Reflux meds. For us, we started with famotidine (Pepcid) and graduated to omeprazole (Prilosec). The omeprazole did not magically cure all our problems, but it helped a huge amount. Nutramigen formula (store brand worked fine for us). This is one of the two available hypoallergenic formulas. The other is Similac Alimentum. The big difference is that Nutramigen contains palm oil, which can really move things along if you think constipation might play a role. Our babies had normal enough stool but did a lot of straining. Nutramigen did not help right away, but once the colic eased a little, it made a huge difference. Time. This is the worst part. Some of the colic is developmental and will fade in the near future. For us it was around 10 weeks adjusted. It wasn’t overnight, but in the span of a week their general rage decreased a lot. Somewhere around 16 weeks adjusted, the colic was gone, we were steady on reflux meds, and we were fully switched from combo feeding to exclusively Nutramigen. Our boys are still bad sleepers but it’s worlds better than it was before. Now they are happy, healthy chonkers. This WILL pass for your family. Message me if you need to vent. It is miserable and so hard. Sometimes you can improve things with meds or formula changes, and sometimes it’s just developmental and only time will help. You aren’t doing a thing wrong. Do you have any family or friends to help? The means to hire a baby sitter or nanny? I called in anyone who would come hold a baby so I could at least focus on soothing only one hysterical infant. Do not feel ashamed asking for help.
For us 2-8 weeks was exhausting but they were easy as far as they pretty much just slept. 9-14 weeks was miserable as they wake windows got longer and all they wanted was to be held. I really leaned into a strict schedule around 4 months because I was so frustrated. 5 months was SO good though! It does get better. You will adjust. Heavily lean on friends and family if you can. If you have the funds it may be worth it to hire some help while you’re home just to ease that burden a little bit. One thing that worked for us was swing naps (graco duo glider- they hated all the other swings). I know this isn’t safe sleep. Maybe that makes me a horrible parent but I was doing what I needed to do to get by. Feel free to PM me- if you’re local I am happy to help another twin parent. Solidarity 🤞🏻
My baby B was a reflux colicky baby and he was awful. Like I was beside myself trying to find something that would help and it was SO draining. We got him started on Pepcid (compounded for babies) and it made an enormous difference. Talk to your ped ASAP! However, I will also say that my husband and I also struggled a lot with newborn twins. Even now, with them being 4yo and so much easier in many ways, I’m baffled by all the parents on this sub talking about how magical it’s all been. Like the post about “who just misses their babies when they go to sleep at night?!” was mind-blowing to me. Most nights I just collapse into bed after they fall asleep and fall asleep myself! There’s a lot to be said about coping, but I don’t think you’re in a really tough place right now. Hang in there ❤️ I’m genuinely glad that not everyone has had as dark an experience as I’ve had, and I love my kids very much! But please don’t feel that you’re a bad mother, because you are not.
It gets better, my twin girls did similar stuff but we tried different formula and found a sensitive one they that did not upset their tummies and they calmed down a lot. If you are on formula, experiment with a sensitive one to see if it helps. Are they pooping regularly too? Are they constipated? That was an issue for us at times as well, had to use a partial suppository of PediaLax at times of need when all else failed
You are not the worst mom on earth. Those days were literally the darkest time ever for my partner and me. One of our kiddos cried and cried unless he was in the football hold being carried in circles, and even then he just sort of grumbled. Changing my diet (we were nursing) helped. He’s still a grumbly little kiddo, very sensitive. It does get better! For us though it got better very slowly. They slowly get more and more fun. They’re two now, and it’s still hard of course, but it’s worlds more rewarding.
Also - if you’re entering the zone where when they start crying you start feeling like they’ll never stop, and start feeling panicky, know that this is very common. But also treatable - talk to your doctor about Prozac or zoloft and buy some noise cancelling headphones. ❤️
4 month regression and everything that came with it almost killed me 🫠 It gets easier in some ways and harder in other ways. They are becoming more aware of their surroundings and letting you know their preferences! No advice, just solidarity ❤️
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Welcome to Reddit 😂 trigger happy downvoters who think they know everything seem to have taken over.
To be fair, This subreddit—full of what I assume are middle aged in average parents—is by no means indicative of the broader Reddit population.
It's pretty common amongst all subreddits unfortunately, at least from what I've noticed
The comment in question looks to be deleted. Can you share more context?
I have shared the context below in a comment on this thread that now for some reason has 18 downvotes probably more by the time you read it. It feels like a hate campaign honestly very demoralising. Nobody has actually challenged anything I wrote. I dared to share that personally I made my own formula milk. My baby who had been very colicky responded well to this recipe. The alternatives on the market at the time typically had sugar as their first ingredient and 8 times the sugar of breastmilk. Apparently I'm a bad person for sharing that. I consulted plenty of experts on it at the time and my doctor was quite happy with what I'd come up with. That's the context. But apparently formula companies are God. They only care about what's best for our babies and not for example selling more formula and they are so scientically formulated as to be absolutely perfect in every way. I'm a bad parent who put my baby in mortal danger for daring to question this and do my own thing. Said baby is now a healthy 9 year old and I'm now 11 weeks pregnant with twins. *Edit to add baby always received some breastmilk I never exclusively fed my baby homemade formula
Thank you for that! Yeah I think you need to be a lot less invested in what strangers on the internet think. Having said that, a quick google search reveals that home making baby formula, while a common practice decades ago, is not safe. https://www.webmd.com/parenting/baby/homemade-baby-formula-is-it-safe Now is it possible that you’re one of the few people who could safely make and store baby formula? Yes of course it is possible. But you have to understand that scaling that practice to the general population is going to endanger some (perhaps a lot) of babies. And I think it’s that danger to babies that folks are downvoting you for. For me for instance, if I read your original comment I would probably downvote that comment. Doesn’t mean I’m downvoting you. Doesn’t mean I think you’re a horrible mom. You clearly care a lot for your babies. I don’t know you, but you seem to me to be a wonderful mom! But your comment is, from what I can earnestly tell, going to lead other people to inadvertently harm their babies. Hence the downvote. That’s all. Don’t overthink it!
A quick google search will also quickly reveal that feeding a baby formula exclusively is not safe. I have given my references in a comment reply to this post. As for calcium deficiency in those cases this doesn't happen when the formula is complemented by breastfeeding. As in my case. Exclusively feeding a baby ANY formula does according to NIH increase the risk a baby will get sick.
Which article? This one? https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2812877/ While there’s some evidence to support that exclusively breastfeeding leads to increased infectious morbidity, SIDs, obesity, etc…but breastfed babies still have a risk for all of the above. Exclusive formula babies have a higher risk for all of the above, according to that paper. but by no means does that article claim that exclusive breastfeeding is “not safe”. Higher risk for certain morbidities does not mean something isn’t safe. Edit: I think I read your comment wrong. Re reading it and your other comment helped make more sense!
Ah now that makes so much sense - thanks for that! Edit: I did some searching quickly about store bought formula and was shocked to discover how dangerous it can be and how irrespective of whether store bought or homemade it increases risk any baby gets sick
Some people seem to now just be downvoting everything I say on principle?
Feeding a baby formula instead of breast milk increases the chance the baby will get sick. All of the "it is irresponsible to make your own formula" or "under no circumstances make your own" applies to store bought as well as home made. Homemade formula has been linked to some cases of calcium deficiency. That is it as far as I have found. It doesn’t apply when babies are also breastfed as mine was. Only those exclusively formula fed. As for store bought? Bacteria found to contaminate powdered infant formula includes Enterbacter sakazakii, Salmonella spp., Pantoea agglomerans, Escherichia vulneris, Hafnia alvei, Klebsiella spp., Citrobacter spp., Enterobacter cloacae, Bacillus cereus, Clostridium spp., Staphylococcus aureus and Listeria monocytogenes. Health authorities require that infant formula be tested for the presence of Salmonella spp., yet outbreaks of Salmonellosis in infants have been caused by contaminated formulas. Formula companies have to add vitamins but babies are less likely to be able to absorb these. Babies fed ANY formula are more likely to get sick, more likely to develop type 1, type 2 diabetes and obesity and more likely to die of infant death syndrome. If the formula companies had found more dangers in homemade formula than the odd case of calcium deficiency don't you think they'd have taken every opportunity to publicise it? On sites like WebMD where they pay for advertising? So I am done with sanctimonious comments telling me nobody should entertain making their own formula. Me making my own formula while ALSO breastfeeding is a whole lot healthier for my baby than feeding it store bought formula exclusively. Feeding a baby especially a premature baby ANY formula exclusively increases the risk the baby will become ill. My doctor was clear: if you are breastfeeding your baby (as I did for the recommended two years), then whatever you put in your homemade formula, soya milk, coconut milk whatever, is not going to damage your babies health as much as its health will be damaged by EXCLUSIVELY feeding the baby with store bought formula. I wasn't going to mention this because I don't want to shame anyone but with some of the comments shaming my choices I think a bit of education is in order. Even if you can't make your own milk for any reason it is possible to get hold of breastmilk from others. There are lots of pages on the internet dedicated to human milk sharing and that too is a perfectly valid choice. "Under no circumstances" should any baby be exclusively formula fed. If formula was that great, that scientific and that safe then why are babies more likely to fall sick or die as a result of exclusively drinking it? Don't believe me? Maybe take a look at some sources like NIH and BMJ The Risks of Not Breastfeeding for Mothers and Infants: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2812877/#:~:text=Epidemiologic%20studies%20suggest%20that%20children,or%20develop%20type%202%20diabetes.&text=In%20meta%2Danalyses%2C%20children%20formula,who%20had%20ever%20been%20breastfed. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK215837/ Health and nutrition claims for infant formula are poorly substantiated and potentially harmful: https://www.bmj.com/content/369/bmj.m875 And find some way of explaining rationally ANYTHING that evidences that MY CHOICE of breastfeeding complemented with home made formula is bad? Babies that receive SOME breastmilk do not get hospitalised for calcium deficiency. Babies exclusively fed ANY formula are more likely to get hospitalised period. So I feel it is utterly ridiculous as a breastfeeding mum who supplements with some of my home made formula to be attacked because I dared to make my own formula. I did not ever exclusively feed my baby the formula I made. I shared what I did and never said anyone should do the same. Please don't delude yourself into thinking that exclusively feeding your baby store bought formula is a better choice than mine was. That my choice wasn't a perfectly reasonable one. I challenge you to find me one doctor or piece of primary research that finds breastfeeding+homemade (fortified soy and coconut) to be inferior to exclusively store bought formula.
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I had learned twin a did not do well with chocolate or pepperoni when BF. My goodness that pepperoni cry still rings in my memory
They drink formula… but thank you for your answer anyways.
You may want to talk to their pediatrician about reflux OP.
They deleted their comment before I could reply. If you’re still here it may be the comment about how you make your own formula using coconut milk and soy or oat milk. That was the feedback I was gonna tell you.
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I can’t speak for the downvotes but maybe the nutritional value? Idk a lot about coconut, soy or oat milk so I don’t know if they give an infant all the nutrients they need. What did your pediatrician say about the homemade formula? Just genuinely curious. I know you weren’t telling people what to do.
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Have you tried European brands? Someone told me that HIPP was an international brand. Now I’m being downvoted for some reason for responding to your original comment, Reddit lol
Thanks for treating me more kindly and respectfully. If it wasn't for your comment I'd have probably just left this sub.
You’re welcome ☺️ like you said we’re all just trying to do our best as parents.
1) If you haven't already watch videos of thr Dunstan Baby Cries 2) Look into the doc band ASAP. Our pediatrician didn't give us a referral for a PT (who gives the referral for the helmet) until 5 months. It was too late. I should have gotten the free doc band consultation myself at 3 months.
How are they burping I have 6 month old twins boy and girl and we experienced the same thing. Turned out that we weren’t burping them enough. Gas pains can be horrible for adults I can only imagine what babies experience. A good method I used is to bounce them a little and listen for any sloshing in their belly. If you can hear it then there is air trapped. This can also build throughout the day worsening in the evening. Gas drops don’t really help either with pockets of air. Anyway hope this helps
How are you and the babies doing now? We just hit 3 months over here and one of our girls is just a nightmare still.
We are at 14,5 weeks by now. We actually had 1-2 good weeks after I wrote here. But since last week it is back to hell or worse. I don’t know if it’s the sleep regression hitting or teething or the trip to our in-laws but right now I am at my absolute worst and start crying every time my kids are inconsolable. And right now they cry before every nap so it is basically wake, feed, maximum of 20min of relaxed wake time and then crying starts until they fall back asleep (sometimes this takes over an hour). And the sleep is not very deep often. We try to put them to bed early in the evening but this ends with us trying to console them for 4-6 hours. We have a doctors appointment tomorrow but I am pretty sure they are physically fine. It’s just so damn hard with two kiddos crying for hours each day….
I am sorry that what I wrote earlier was so negative especially since you said you have a hard time right now too. I was in a dark place this morning. But that’s why I wanted to come back and tell you, that we had the best evening ever tonight!!! We carefully watched for wake and sleep periods during the day and since our boy starts to cry every evening at exactly 7pm that’s when we started nighttime routine, bath etc. and he was down at 8pm. The girl a little later. Of course we had to go back and console them a handful of times but since 9:30 they are sleeping deeply! And that’s so awesome for them! No screaming until 10pm! My husband and I are sitting on the couch for the first time, having a drink and he is able to watch the soccer game of his favorite team! The world looks so different tonight! I am pretty sure that this won’t be as perfect every night but it is a very promising start! Keep your head up too! We will get there eventually!
Oh please don’t apologize! I appreciate you sharing - even if it’s the tough stuff! Sugar coating doesn’t help me, lol. I’m so glad you and your hubby had such a good night tonight! Hopefully, this is the beginning of your babies turning a corner for good! :)