When should you worry about newborn vomiting?

[Jane7]

My little one is one and a half weeks old and I'm getting anxious about his tendency to throw up what seems like most of a feed, usually once every two or three feeds. It's not just possetting as quite a lot comes out, up to an hour after the feed, and it smells of horrible stomach acid and is curdled, and partly digested. I'm trying so hard to do everything carefully, feeding, burping, keeping upright and then he still throws it all up. Which is so upsetting. Seems to be worst with morning feed - does anyone know if this means anything? At what stage should you go to a doctor, or is it normal for very young babies to vomit quite a bit? He's making lots of nice yellow poo nappies and otherwise seems to be doing well.

[mrsmortenharket]

hi jane ((((((((((((())))))))))))
dd had this problem when she was about the same age. it coudl be a reflux problem, will google reflux and silent reflux for you hang ony mo sweetheart xxx

[Jane7]

thanks mrs morten, i would be most grateful...

[ceebee74]

It could be due to a number of things - reflux being the most common one.

There are other causes but I don't want to worry you unnecessarily (DS was exactly the same and had a condition called pyloric stenosis - but it is rare) - just keep an eye on it and if it gets worse/more regular/projectile or if your baby starts to lose weight, then go and see the GP - otherwise, maybe mention it to your HV first?

[mrsmortenharket]

hi again xx
right, this linkhere may help you, it may not. what i did for dd, which you may or may not want to (and that's fine). i took her to docs and had to see about 3 before one would admit and agree with me that it wasn't normal.

i googled reflux and watched an old sky prog called "the baby whisperer" (i don't know if these progs are still showing as the bw herself is no longer with us), and armed with that info i went to docs (this was the 3rd time). i also reminded the dics how they felt when they were continually being sick and how their throats felt when they were bringing up acid. then said now how do you think a baby feels? bearing in mind that i saw dd swallowing it so that she wasn't sick everywhere, so it burned her throat on the way back down as well. it was ony then i got a referral to the children's hospital for her.

you may need to gird your loins and fight for a referral but hopefully you won't. if you feel yourself flagging, like i did, maybe it may help to keep in mind that you are an advocate for your child who can't yet speak? good luck sweetheart and hth xxx

[GillianLovesMarmite]

If you are breastfeeding it may be you have a strong let down (lots and lots of milk) which is too much for the lo to handle. We had this problem and thought ds had reflux, however, some information from the LLL helped and expressing enough to take the pressure off before each feed solved the problem virtually overnight.

[Jane7]

gillian - what's the LLL and how did you learn to express before a feed?
I suspect this might be the problem (would rather this than reflux) because he's such a gobbler...

[GillianLovesMarmite]

The LLL is the La Leche League and it is a breastfeeding organisation. They have a helpline that you can call to speak to a local leader who would be able to give you more advice.

[GillianLovesMarmite]

Basically, with us, the only thing that ds had in common with the reflux symptoms was the vomiting as he would bring up what felt like virtually all of each feed. The dr suggested reflux and prescribed infant gaviscon, but to us this just didn't feel right as even when he was sick he was still calm and happy. I phoned the LLL helpline and they put me in touch with my local group and they were able to give me the information. Some days I could express up to 10oz in addition to all the feeds. It did solve the problem though very quickly.

[GillianLovesMarmite]

Expressing is easy and there are several options - you can hand express (LLL have a good, free information sheet about the marmet technique - it may be available online), or you can buy (or rent in some areas) a handpump or electric pump. I bought a handpump and then rented an electric pump as I now express every day to have a supply in the freezer for nights out etc!