Formula - to change or not to change

Feeding a baby via formula seems quite complicated, or is it just me?!?

Firstly you have to pick a brand - apparently Cow & Gate and Aptamil are made in the same factory so there isn't much/any difference.

We chose Aptamil, mainly because a friend of mine had some tubs she hadn't opened which she gave to us, saved us some pennies.

Baby M has had issues with reflux and with his bowels, every time I talk to the health visitor she tells me not to worry but as a neurotic first time mum I can't help but worry.  I want my baby boy to be ok.  The health visitor keeps telling me that baby bowels need to become rounded as they are flat and this can take time, this is why babies struggle to poo.  She states that Baby M is pooing within the guidelines and his belly isn't hard therefore not to worry.  She states that his bowels will be fine by 3 months old.  Baby M also has reflux, not bad reflux but he does spit up and he appears to get a bad taste in his mouth.  After talking to our health visitor about this again she stated we could try the reflux milk if we wanted but that usually they don't recommend you change milk.

We went and bought a tub of reflux Aptamil (not cheap I may add!!).  The milk was MUCH thicker than the first milk, Baby M had to use more effort to drink it plus at the end you had loads of foam.  Good news Baby M didn't spit up.  After 3 feeds though he started to cry quite shrilly, going onto forums (again love the internet) people had put that their babies had become constipated on reflux milk.  Neurotic mum kicked in and I began to worry about whether we had made the right decision.

Mr M and I had a long discussion.  Yes Baby M spit up and seemed to get a bad taste in his mouth but were we replacing a small problem with a big problem?? He wasn't projectile vomiting and whilst he didn't like the taste of spit up/reflux he wasn't distressed and was still eating regularly.  Babies have reflux due to their oesophagus not being fully developed, this generally sorts itself by 12 months.  Do we need to be feeding our baby a thick feed just to make our lives a little easier?!?

We decided to go back on the first milk but make sure we feed him more upright and wind him often. Since returning to the first milk we have only had one episode of bad spit up, other than there there hasn't been that much.  When we gave Baby M the reflux milk he developed really bad wind, he was pumping loads but that seems to have stopped.  We are still waiting for a poo but I'm not so neurotic about that at the moment.  He seems happy and content which is all that matters

Do you change the formula or are you replacing one issue with another?! In our situation we decided it was better the devil you know.