My DD is 6.5 months old and for 5 weeks now has been struggling with waking at night with pain. I know this isn’t behavioural because she doesn’t wake for milk and will still scream and cry when being held. She has been constipated since birth and has been started on movicol as of 3 days ago every other day increased to every day if needed. She had the movicol three days ago and had a lot of bowel movement. I had to change her bath three times and then she continued to open her bowels on the towel I placed her on. There was a lot and it wasn’t hard as hers always is. This was a good sign I thought maybe her appetite would pick back up. As well as the seeming to be in pain she is also refusing a lot of her feeds often she will only take her bottle lying flat which is not the way I want to feed her. Leaving her longer between feeds works but even then she will only take 4oz and usually 5oz before bed. She is having between 10-28oz a day but getting every oz into her is a struggle. She’s pursing her lips turning away and screaming a lot of the time. I put this down to being full from constipation teething starting solids etc but it’s all so different. Up until 5 weeks ago she was sleeping consistently 7-7 without waking. Now the time varies between 3-5am which starts with her pulling her legs up and crying I. Her sleep which escalated to her being awake and screaming for 40mins-2 hours before falling back to sleep. She will fall asleep and then the leg pulling and pain cry starts again until she’s back to sleep. After getting back to sleep usually through paracetamol she is settled in sleep for a few hours waking around 7:30. She self settles for all naps and at bedtime and often I peek at the monitor and she’s staring into space but gets herself back off more often than not. She doesn’t take much bottle if I offer but sometimes she will take 4-5oz. She has a pedi appointment In March but this is 8 weeks away and I can’t bare seeing her in pain or so grumpy. Two nights ago on the advice of doctor I tried soy formula and she slept through 7-7:30 and she was happy all day until her stomach because hard yesterday evening when I gave her movicol. She passed a soft bowel movement within 5 mins of having the movicol. Obviously there’s a lot going on at 6 months but doing from a happy little soul to struggling to get any fluids or food into her and her nights being disrupted is causing me to become obsessive over what I can do to help. My partners response is “she’s fine”. She had blood in her bowel movement which meant she was prescribed soy to try until the pedi appointment but after one night of no pain and sleeping through were back to it. She has consistent naps & is offered food and fluids throughout the day but usually will refuse and I have to persist and keep trying. She won’t drink water or juice and I’ve been trying to get her to for ages. She used to drink water when she was 5 months for constipation as advised but anything by her mouth that’s not her hands, anything she grabs etc she doesn’t want by her mouth. She will happily chew on her spoon but only takes small amount of foods. I’ve been persistent with sippy cups and this isn’t the issue. The issue is she seems to be in pain that’s waking her and has started affecting her day. Today she’s had 5oz reluctantly of her formula and refused any solids. She’s currently down for a nap before I try her with lunch. I know the milk intake decreases and this is fine but she refuses every bottle no matter how long between feedings. We’ve tried different teats, bottles, cup, teething powder, teething rings but I don’t think it’s her teeth that’s the problem although she is teething there isn’t much progress there. She has never been a drink 8oz in one sitting kinda baby and snack drinks throughout the day. Leaving her 4-5 hours in between doesn’t change the amount she takes.
Has anyone had any experience of this? My doctor said she doesn’t believe in silent reflux as she had all the symptoms and was reluctantly put on gaviscon which isn’t helping the constipation but isn’t causing it either as she has been constipated since 2-3 weeks old. I’m at a loss of what to do
Today she’s had 18oz milk 2oz sweet potato and a rice cracker.
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Infant feeding
Really really really struggling
11 replies
CursesAndMagic · 26/01/2020 18:32
OP posts:
JiltedJohnsJulie ·
27/01/2020 08:02
It must be awful to see her in such pain.
If she was fine before solids but not now, could you go a couple of days without solids to see if she settles all down? It's absolutely fine to do this 
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