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pennypower
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Topic: Novalac, Constipation and Sippy Cups Posted: 08 August 2010 at 9:09pm |
Hi Ladies,
I have a few questions and was wondering if anyone had any advice...
Our wee girl has just turned three months old. She recently went two weeks without putting on any weight and we had to make the decision to bottle feed her.
We started her off on S26 Gold which made her very very windy. (In saying that she has been a very windy baby since she was born). We called our Plunket Nurse who suggested we try the normal S26 as it has less fish oils etc and should be more easily digestable. This also coincided with us starting her on the Dr Browns bottles. The bottles are fantastic and the wind virtually ceased but she became very constipated over the following five days. We ended up taking her to the local A&E because she was in so much pain and the Doctor on duty advised us to try Novalac IT for Constipation. By the next morning it had started to take effect and things improved dramatically over the next few days. Today is day six on the Novalac IT but now things seem to be going backwards. Although her poo has improved in colour and smell, it is still coming out like thick clay and she is still really straining to get it out. She is managing to go once a day so I wouldn't say she is constipated in the true sense of the word but she is obviously sluggish and having trouble going. Diluted prune juice works well but she also see's an osteopath who said only to do it once every three or so days because otherwise her bowel won't learn what to do on it's own.
Has anyone else ever used Novalac IT? If so, how long did you use it for? Did it work for you or did you need to do anything else in conjunction with it to keep your bubs regular and things flowing easily? What happened when you stopped using it? What did you follow on to?
Further to that, we don't want to keep her on the IT range for ever and we were wondering if anyone has ever tried Novalac Stage 1 or Stage 2? I've done a search but can't seem to find anyone who has used it as a normal daily formula. I'd love to hear what people think of it.
And thirdly, although she is only just 3 months old, Plunket want me to introduce a sippy cup of water to her through out the day. All the sippy cups I have seen are for 6+ months and was wondering what other people had done for babies this age. We experimented with a 6+ month cup but is came out way too fast for her.
Thanks so much in advance to everyone :)
Penny and Maddy xxx
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Mucky_Tiger
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Joined: 26 January 2010
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Posted: 08 August 2010 at 10:29pm |
can you just give her the water from in a bottle?
but maybe a bottle with a different shaped teat on it
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nathansmummy
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Posted: 08 August 2010 at 10:58pm |
3mths seems very young. I didn't give a sippy cup to DS till he was taking solids well. I'm not sure why they want you to do that? If they want you to increase fluids to avoid constipation, I would give it in a bottle IMO. Leave the sippy cup till a bit older.
In terms of constipation - another trick is to give either a tsp of black strap molasses or brown sugar in a bit of water in a bottle - it's very similar to lactulose and helps them to move their bowels. Obviously not regularly and if she's getting constipated.
They often get constipated when you suddenly make a change in their diet, eg. breastfeeding to bottle feeding or changing formulas. But once their system gets used to it, it settles down.
I can't give any advice on formula because I breastfeed but I hope the other stuff helps!
Edited by nathansmummy
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Lightning McQueen
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Posted: 09 August 2010 at 10:44am |
Hi Pennypower
We have used Novalac Stage One for T since he was 5 days' old, initially as a top up and then exclusively from 3 months (he's now 5 months).
I've found it great, he likes it and has steadily put on weight. We've never had any issues with constipation on it either. I always put an extra 10mls of water in before making up the bottle (so if I'm making a 90ml bottle, I'll put 100 mls in). I also put a scoop of probiotic powder in his morning bottle every day. I use BabyBiotic from Bioceuticals. It's practitioner only, so you can"t buy it at the chemist, but I just rang the distributor and they gave me the name of a natropath nearby who sold it.
Hope that helps!
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pennypower
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Posted: 09 August 2010 at 11:45am |
Hi TobysMum,
Thank you so much for your reply. That is exactly the advice I needed to hear. Thank You!
Thats great that you like the Novalac Stage 1 formula. There just doesn't seem to be much info on it out there.
We are having trouble trying to get our little girl to take extra water through out the day. She tries the teat first and if it's water she won't take it or will spit it out and give us a filthy look. She is SO on to us! I have often wondered what the harm would be in giving an extra 10mls or so of water in their bottles but have always been told not to. So thats great to hear that you do it without any problems. I don't know why by Plunket want me to start introducing a sippy cup now but they said they want her well established drinking water from one by the time she is 4 months old. Strange I know. I have found that Tommee Tippee make a Discovera First Sips cup for 4 months so will look in to them.
I was actually going to pop out today to get some probiotic powder too. We were going to try Inner Health for Kids as I have read some great things about it. I also took Inner Health Plus while breast feeding and it certainly kept things nice and regular for me :)
Thanks so much again. Your advice is exactly what I was wanting to hear :)
Penny :)
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