5 wo colic

[beckieperk]

Hi there, My 5 week old baby is suffering from colic. He is pretty bad between the hours of 6pm and 10 pm. He is now bottle fed, mam bottle (newborn teet), aptamil comfort. He has anywhere between 100 and 150 ml about every 3 hours and I seem unable to get him to take more to last longer bertween feeds. I'm guessing this has something to do with his tummy problems?? He has noticibly bad wind and is constantly trumping (like his dad!! LOL) which is causing him some discomfort! I have been giving him infacol before most feeds - I was wondering if anyone knew of anything else I can do to ease the symptoms?
Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

[RitaMorgan]

3 hours between feeds is surely normal for a tiny baby? His stomach is small, he can't take large amounts of milk - I really wouldn't push him to drink more than he is comfortable with.

The fussy evenings are quite normal too - have a look at Harvey Karp's five S's, some good techniques for soothing babies.

[tiktok]

I agree - why the push to get him to go longer between feeds? Going with what he seems to want without trying to extend the gap or have more at any one time might well help his discomfort, too.....deff worth a try :)

[LaCiccolina]

Babies mke an awful lot of noise! My dd farts, burps and all sorts. Quite surprising at first. It does get better over time. From reading these columns since December your baby sounds fine feeding wise and distance between feeds. Completely normal. He will stretch it when ready. I found infacol best personally. It's just his new tummy settling down. He's tiny, it takes a little time but should pass in a few weeks. Take it one feed at a time, good luck.

[beckieperk]

Thank you everyone....think I'm being a little paranoid and impatient!! I'll get the hang of this new mummy lark....one day!! Ha.
Just wondering how I'm to tell if my baby has colicky acid reflux? Or is it the same thing??

[beckieperk]

That was supposed to say how do o tell if ds has colic or acid reflux? Is it best to go to docs?

[memphis83]

My doctors advised against the comfort milk as its for constipation too and a baby isnt classed as constipated til day four without a poo (my doctors words not mine) so thats probably a reason why so many trumps? they put my DS on gaviscon to put in the milk with normal aptimel and it worked a lot better. The gaviscon thickens the milk so you would need the next size teat, but the comfort milk thickens too so maybe he is full of wind taking in too much air trying to suck it through the teat?
My DS had colic and when he was in pain he would draw up him knees to his belly as he cried, He had reflux for a week or so and when he was sick you could smell the acid in the sick, hope he sorts out soon horrible for you both.

[RitaMorgan]

There is a page here about telling reflux from colic. Hope that's helpful!

[beckieperk]

Thank you. I've seen other threads on here which suggest that acid reflux can be a sign of cows milk intolerance. Or an intolerance of some sort?! Would you suggest i change to a different formula before trying gaviscon?
Confused.com
Ta.

[buttonmoon78]

No - don't put him on (for eg) a soy formula without medical supervision. Try the gaviscon first and see how he gets on. You could also try colief drops but be warned - they are expensive. If they work then its worth it obviously but they didn't for my ds.

I'm totally with you though - my 8wk old has reflux and it sucks.

[carrotsandpeasifyouplease]

i feel for you, mine is now 15 weeks and stopped this awful crying at around 9 weeks - I imagine some of this was the timing but Colief seemed to have an immediate effect, it breaks down the lactose in the milk although ridiculously expensive it is worth trying one bottle. Also changed to Dr Browns although I didn't see much of a difference. I also used infacol, was just desperate but it was the colief that I think worked.

Sling was good for baby but I was living in 34 degree heat with no a/c so I hated it.

I have also since read that cooled boiled water helps which I didnt try and actually contravenes guidelines that you should only give milk at this age, but to be honest I would have tried if it meant it eased her pain.

The amount and frequency of milk is definitely normal though.

Also if he's trumping lots (my DH thinks I made that word up) then I used to bicycle my baby's legs for five minutes to get even more wind out, or you could google baby massage, as if they are trumping at least they are getting rid of wind.

Finally, a bath - instantly soothed mine like there was never anything wrong however as soon as out of the bath, screaming.

[beckieperk]

Thanks you again. carrotsandpeasifyouplease my boy sounds exactly the same and loves the bath - but screams soon after. Think most of the symptoms are gone now - however, the last to go is the awful bottom wind which has him howling for quite some time before he passes wind. It wakes him up he is so uncomfortable - I am assuming that now I am using gaviscon to reduce the acid reflux (which works a treat!!) and still putting coleif in his formula this is about as much as I can do for now? Has anyone on here used gripe water also to try and make him comfortable? Is it even safe to use all 3 at once?
Got an app with HV on monday - so if all esle fails I'll just cry/whinge and moan to her then - god bless her!!! Ha.x

[beckieperk]

Back again. My ds is now 7 weeks old and still colicky/refluxy!! He is now on aptamil first, with gaviscon and dentinox, using a dr browns bottle. Had his 6 week check up yesterday and he has been referred to a paediatric dr at the hospital. driving myself crazy trying everything to help....just struggling now. He wakes about every hour in the night now and is really unsettled! He doesn't seem much worse except for this.....the dr said it could take up to 6 weeks to get an app at the hosp. Does anyone on here live near derby/notts and know a good paed dr...would be willingto go private to get it sorted before it escalates!
Please reply!