OK so I've got a 'sicky' baby - please, when does it stop?

[PoppyField]

Hi,

My DS is four and a half months, healthy and happy.What does get me down is the fact that he squirts up his milk. He's getting loads and putting on weight fine, just always some of his feed comes back - on him, on me, on the floor...everywhere...and not just after a feed - sometimes it's hours afterwards.

This happens with both breast and bottle milk and after thorough burping, infacol etc. Does anyone know when this phase might be over?

Thanks

Poppy

[Jojay]

My DS2 was like this - it was pretty much over by 6 months, but now he dribbles everywhere instead, so he still wears a bib at all times

I knew it was getting better when I managed to wear the same cardi two days running cos it didn't have a sicky patch on the shoulder

[posieparkerinChina]

My ds1, dd1 and ds3 are all 'sicky' babies. In fact ds1 who is seven is still a little sick if he laughs hard. So ds1, the most sick without having acid, just reflux, stopped vomiting all the time when we cut out dairy for a couple of years....rich stuff like cheese and yoghurts were the worst offenders.

Some babies seem to be sick, dodgy reflux I guess. It does help when they sit up and move.

[ahhhmen]

My ds was very sicky as in he was sick after every milk feed whether breast or bottle, this lasted until he was about 10 months. Although at 6 months he was given gaviscon in powdered sachets which went in his milk, this helped loads and although he was still sick the volume of the sick was alot less, so maybe you could speak to your doctor about this possibility.

[childcarecharlie]

somewhere around 12 months for me. take lots of muslins and disinfectant wipes around with you, there is nothing worse than baby puke all over a cafe table, but knowing you have the equipment to cope helps immensely!

dd puked constantly for almost the first year. After every bottle of milk (projectile) and anything remotely dairy (still did this even when she had grown out of her dairy intolerance)

I have to admit to overreacting and demanding dd saw a paediatrician which she did at around 11 months, she was tiny but waliing well. she walked into the appointment and the paed almost laughed me out asking me to look at her and see how well she was doing. i still at the pfb-ness of it!! She did stop throwing up soon after, and now at 22 mnths i can't even remember her last puke

[Rosieeo]

DD was like this and she stopped very soon after staring on solids. I'm sure by the time she was about 8 months she'd stopped puking.

Wearing, isn't it? [sympathy]

[nbee84]

I had one of those! Carried muslins round everywhere with me and got through at least a dozen a day. It stopped around 11 months when she started walking and was upright most of the time. We got the carpets cleaned once we were sure it was over!

[nappyaddict]

I would go to the GP and see if he thinks he might have reflux.

[posieparkerinChina]

Acid reflux is usually accompanied with a very miserable disposition, arched back etc. The GP put my 'reflux' only baby on soya formula, which is not good for testes until they're older.

[nappyaddict]

If the reflux is not excessive or the silent sort where they don't actually vomit then often they won't experience any/much pain and discomfort.

[roisin]

ds1's puking eased off when he started on solids - ie gradual decline from 6-12 months.

I think some babies do just puke a lot. It's horrific at the time. We used to have to take a change of clothes for us every time we went out somewhere! As well as a couple for the baby.

But if the baby is healthy, happy and making all the milestones medical types generally won't take much interest.

Fortunately one sicky baby doesn't mean another. ds2 never puked once before the age of 7 months.

[posieparkerinChina]

I had 'reflux' x 1 and 'acid reflux' x 2. I looked a state for about two years, in total.

[LittleOtik]

Mine nearly 7 months and still sicky but MUCH better than in the early days. Or perhaps I'm just used to it. DD1 has never been sick (age 3)

[Babymakes4]

This happened with our second, having never seen any sick with our first! She was really unhappy too, lots of crying and seeme dto be in pain a fair amount of the time. We took her to the GP and got Infant Gaviscon. Was life changing for all of us! Turns out she is a very placid and happy baby (now 7 months) and very rarely cries, so was obviously in a lot of pain from the outset. She was gaining weight fine etc etc but we just found she was much more settled on the Gaviscon. It basically stopped when she went onto solids at 5 1/2 months, and we stopped the Gaviscon then. However, she does still do the occasional spectacular vomit (usually just when you are ready to leave the house!) but this has only happened 3 times. Makes me think some of them are just a little bit sicky by nature?

[mariamerryweather]

DD was like this - cheerful but utterly pukey. We had bibs and muslins on constant rotation - or we'd have been changing her all the time. Definitely improved once she started on solids, so from 6 months on. Sympathies - and good luck.

[Allegrogirl]

We had a pukey baby who was also a screamer so it was tough going for the first few months. Once on the solids the screaming stopped and the puking eased off. We still went out laden down with muslins and changes of clothes until past one but it had eased off a lot by then. I couldn't tell you when it stopped but it occurred to me one day that she hadn't puked in a while, probably around the 15 months stage. It is annoying having the pukey baby but the best thing you can do is be prepared and ready to pounce with the wet wipes.

[herbgarden]

My DD just like this - happy and content a "happy chucker" as others have said on this site !!...it's her only vice (my second and a whole lot easier than my first).
She's just being weaned now at 6 months and I can honestly say I've seen a marked difference in the amount. Like you we'd often have chuck up hours later. I never bothered to wind her - it would come up anyway and I never tested her for reflux as she was in all other senses just fine.

[posieparkerinChina]

Allegro, You probably had a baby in pain with acid reflux.

[Allegrogirl]

Posie I couldn't get any HCP to believe how bad it was until she was nearly 4 months old. They kept trying to diagnose PND when I was just tired and worried. The first baby is a very steep learning curve!!

[TurtleAnn]

DS (3-months) is the same, sick around 1-2 hours after every meal. It was terrifying at first to hear him being sick in bed at night. He won't lie on his back at all during the day, and only likes being held if it is upright on my leg, not cuddled at an angle. He doesn't seem to be in pain from this though.

Initially we swaddled him and put him on his side so the sick could drain easily, now I have propped his bed up to help him sleep (gravity is keeping some of the milk down), I think it helps a little bit. My Mum said I was the same for the first year.

[posieparkerinChina]

I was the same with my DD, I went to the drs every other week saying it is not normal, she screeches all the time, she's so unhappy and uncomfortable and sicky, but I was just told that some babies are like that......
It's only because a consultant happened to see dc4 that she noticed he had acid reflux.

[staylucky]

DD until she was 12 months. She was Bottle fed a d would make the strangest gulping noises all during her feeds, like the wheezy noises a baby makes when taking in air or when they need burping. She would vomit back half whatever I fed her immediately then probably another quarter after an hour or so. Wasted a great deal of money on infacol, switching formula, gps prescribed gaviscon to thicken feeds. In all honesty nothing really improved until she was walking or upright by herself for most of the day and mainly on solids.

My mum tells me I was the same as a babba. I used to gaze wistfully at other baby girls who wore lovely little dresses. Mine was usually in babygros that could be changed quickly and yeah i too smelled of sick constantly.

Glamorous stuff. I do think now that had I spent less time worrying and trying to stop it and just accepted that this was tbe way she was going to be then it would have been far less stressful.

She was as a toddler fine apart
from when she was teething or poorly when she would usually be sick as a first symptom.

Hang in there x x

[nondomesticgoddess]

DS puked constantly for 11 months. He always wore a bib and is now completely attached to muslins as I had to take them wherever we went!
At 6 months he was sitting and on solids, neither of which made it better so the doctor prescribed infant gaviscon which made a massive difference (not perfect but better, still had to wear a bib all the time).
It finally stopped when he got chicken pox - can't see how the two are linked!
It was very, very tedious - he and I often had to change several times a day and how the carpet survived, I have no idea!
You have my sympathy!

[swanriver]

10 months
and she was sick all over her christening robes
but happy!

[CatIsSleepy]

dd1 was v. pukey, dd2 (same age as yours) is also a puker damnit!
dd1 didn't stop completely til 9 or 10 months. it was particularly revolting after she was weaned (weetabix puke is the worst )

[PoppyField]

Great to hear that I am at least a member of a large gang of vomit-strewn mothers. I think an acceptance - if not Zen-like - is probably the only way to deal with it.
Thanks everyone
Poppy