Mmmmm from about 6 months. 4-5 months was dreadful.
I didn't like giving them meds (I don't take pain relief for headaches!) but had to. Ds had a choking incidence where acid came up his nose and he couldn't breath. He also used to bring up acid - which flicked me in the eye once and was painful!
With dd I managed it myself as had done it before. Basically I:
- held her upright for 30 mins post feeding. I would use a bouncy chair otherwise
- wind her after each feed. Even if this took 20 mins there would always always be a burp in there (but she also had tongue tie and took down air).
- wind by rubbing and only patting gently
- no tight waistbands and nappies loosely fastened. Dd lived in sleepsuits and dungarees until 9 months or so
- didnt lie flat within 30 mins of a feed
- no pram only a sling. She would scream if she'd just been fed as it would pressure her tummy. Usually a dummy would help. I tried many many dummies until she settled on a nuk soother
- kept her in the sling almost all day for the first 3 months.
- got out of the house every day
- white noise and blackout blinds for her room so when she needed settling, I could take her in there
- take help when needed but ignore those who's advice was ill informed!
- cut out dairy and soya as these made dd and da text via my BM. God the reaction after I had soya was something to be seen :( I made sure I had supplements to compensate for the lost calcium and vit B as I got very run down with my first.
I also found a routine helped. Get up with DH, shower while he looks after baby, go out in the morning while baby napped in sling. Have lunch - occasionally i got lucky and ds/dd would nap if tightly swaddled in the Moses basket and I could eat lunch. Otherwise they'd stay in the sling while I ate.
Afternoon try and get out or do stuff around the house with baby in sling and get them to nap (at around 3 months they liked looking around so would have to walk by a busy road or block their view to get them to sleep). If I was at home, I'd nap with them on my chest.
Try and let your DH take baby in the sling after they've fed eg at the weekend. sometimes you feel like you're the only one who knows your baby but this is something he can do quite easily.
I also had some success With a loose routine. Basically before 3 months or so I made sure they could nap within 45 mins of being awake. With dd (which I didn't do with ds), I realised that she was ready for bed at around 6pm so made sure feeds from then were in the dark. She settled down into night/days much much more quickly than ds did. With him I made the mistake of thinking he wanted a nap in the evenings around 5/6pm, he'd wake after 45 mins then wouldn't settle again until hours and hours later. Once I clocked what he needed, it got a lot easier!
I propped up the head end of their cots with blocks under the legs as well.
Phew - long post - I hope that's enough for now!!! Am happy to pm you and do keep posting as there are many of us who've been through this.
I have two beautiful children now (4&2) and its all a memory. So you can get through it x