To not know what to try next!

[TinyClanger27]

I have just taken my gorgeous DS for his 8 week check (although he is 11 weeks tomorrow...) and am now feeling at my wit's end!

He was a lovely easy baby for the first three weeks but ever since has cried and screamed every waking minute. He rarely sleeps during the day as he is frantically writhing and kicking. He then generally crashes out at night but it means that I never see him happy for more than five minute stretches, feel like I can't take him anywhere or do anything - and I have no bloody idea about the milestones that they asked about as he just cries!

He is EBF but I am hating it, as it is the only thing that stops the crying but he fights and is clearly in pain when he feeds (683 times a day...) . The doctors have said it is 'just' reflux, which it probably is, but today I have just been told to double his Ranitidine (to 30ml a day!) and if it persists they will refer him to be checked.

I feel so down, exhausted and frankly cheated of his tiny baby days that I don't know what to do next - or what 'persists' means after 8 weeks of constant screaming! If any of you wonderful Mums have any suggestions or words of wisdom I will be so, so grateful.

He rarely vomits so it seems to all be lower down and the doctor agreed he was suffering from bad stomach cramps when he observed him. So far we have tried (drum roll) Infacol, Gaviscon, Ranitidine, Colief, Gripe Water, cutting our dairy and trips to a chiropractor, all without much success. I also have a two year old DD and a DH working shifts in the emergency services so life is pretty challenging right now!

Thanks in advance, x

Don't have a baby but wanted to bump your thread saw it at the bottom.

Sorry to hear you’re having such a tough time, that does sound very difficult indeed and your poor DS must be really uncomfortable. I’m sure that others with more direct experience will be along soon but I just wondered if you are also giving him Calpol or Calprofen, as perhaps pain relief might help him settle even though it doesn’t go to the cause of the issue? Maybe you’ve already discussed this with the docs.

My money would be on allergy to cow’s milk protein, a colleague’s baby had this and symptoms were much as you described. I know you said you tried cutting out dairy but i think that there are quite complicated rules for how you do that and things like soya can also be to blame, and even tiny bits of hidden diary can be enough to trigger.

Hope you find some peace and some answers soon.

I'm sorry you're going through the mill. If I'm honest I didn't overly enjoy this period either. I'm sure there's other Mums who could say it's not all cloth diapers, baby wraps and classes.

What are DC's nappies like?

If the pain is lower down can you ask your HV or GP whether buscopan is given to babies. It sounds like DC could be reacting to something you eat, but then it's Russian Roulette trying to figure out what exactly.

With my PFB I lasted about 4 months EBF then moved onto Aptamil & the lovely HV advised they make C&G too. The transition was unnoticeable. It's entirely your decision, but maybe you could either:

A) Have baby in a wrap with access to your breast so they can use it for comfort as well as feeding. Although this may make you heavily engorged, so may not be ideal.

B) Consider a dummy if you're not already, plus ask HV if it's ok you drink fennel tea which hopefully passes into milk helping tummy issues. Try massaging tummy in a clockwise direction.

C) Mix in feeding of formula and see if there is any change in DC's behaviour, that would suggest a reaction to something you're eating.

I think we feel guilty when we were so excited to be pregnant and then you realise MS wasn't actually the most difficult part. Does your OH help at all? Do you have a good support network?

If it is more intestinal then adults take buscopan for IBS. But I don't know if it's ok for babies or not.

Don't worry about milestones, our DC achieve things all in their own time. The best advice I had, with my library of baby help books, is baby hasn't read them and they're all unique. Just because one is achieving one thing, doesn't mean another is behind because they're not.

Do you use a bouncy chair? I was thinking if you used your foot to rock it, it might alleviate any pain with the movement.

Hang in there, it does get better.

I need to add I'm not qualified I'm just a Mum so just thinking aloud. But I feel it's important that Mum's and Dad's are honest about how they feel or felt at different stages.

Just trying to think of alternative baby things, wondering if I'm dreaming that reflexology was a thing in DC's day...

I totally understand the desperation.

Do you eat a lot of onions and garlic?

I dont think anyone really enjoys the first few months so you are not missing out but i have great sympathy for you as it must be distressing to see him in such pain. I'd say just keep on reading around, trying things and pushing the professionals to take notice and come up with some ideas.

Does he stop crying when you hold him?

I remember this phase! We once went 13 hours without any form of nap.

Dummy solved it for us. She was just overtired and wanted to sleep.

My sister has had a similar issue with her baby, going through all the usual channels, ranitidine as a final measure. She then has cut all cows milk protein from her diet and it has changed the baby from one who screams all day to one who is contented. If you are EBF this could be something you could try? It is supposed to take a few weeks to have an effect but dsis noticed a difference in days and now is 2 weeks in the baby is so so much happier.

for you op, it is so tough. My Ds had reflux and it was truly miserable at times. Good luck

Thank you everyone - it's so great to know we're not the only ones like this! My DD was one of those rare contended babies so this is all new to me!

We have tried a dummy but he wasn't keen (probably because he was crying too much!). Unfortunately he doesn't stop crying when held, which is what really upsets me as I can't make it any better for him.

I BF my DD until she was one (although in truth I never particularly enjoyed it!) so would ideally like to do the same but hate the idea that BF is making him worse due to something random in my diet. Maybe a food diary is the next step?

When did you go dairy free?

Ranitidine didn’t work for ds2
Infant gaviscon didn’t work either.
Together they were magic (and thank god to the gp who suggested using them both).

Hi not got any advice but l am a pharmacist, can l just check what dose of ranitidine your DS has been prescribed as 30ml of the normal ranitidine liquid which is 75mg in 5mls is a lot for a baby.

Could it actually be the ranitidine? What are the side effects, maybe the doses is too high for him.

Dd (10) was prescribed mezzopram for reflux and was on half a tablet a day which wasn’t doing anything for the heartburn. We got the go ahead to up it to 1 full tablet a day and within 2 days she was writhing in pain. No-one, including the gp even though of mezzopram being the culprit (we were still giving her it) but one of the side effects was stomach cramps! Took 2 days to get out of her system and then the pain was gone.

Take him to a reputable baby chiropractor. I could have written your post before I went. It is absolutely worth every penny.

it was beans, peas and pulses that I had to cut out....ds1 was ebf and even beans on toast for my lunch would give a good couple of days of wriggly, screaming, constantly comfort feeding baby.

It was the single only useful piece of info I ever got from one of the HVs.

We had a reflux baby all you can do is survive. How is he in one of those motorised swing seats. Have you tried dairy free formula? Don’t get hung up on the BF. Something a bit thicker was the only thing that helped us.

I’ve had 3 friends with babies like this;
1/ Turned out to be a dairy and lactose allergy, quite serious but symptoms didn’t really become obvious until he was about 18mths.
2/ It just suddenly stopped. Although my friend was very stressed out by breastfeeding and used to get in a bit of a flap if we were out. It stopped when she changed onto a bottle so I think perhaps baby picked up on her unease?
3/ Was taken to someone who did cranial massage and the difference was amazing. Something to do with how the skull sits after going through birth.

Have you tried a cherry teat dummy? Mine would only take that kind of teat. We tried about 10 types in all. Tommee tippee do a cheapy cherry teat soother. They find it easier to keep in their mouths.

Thank you. We're off to the chiropractor today for another appointment so hopefully it will help.

His dose is now 30ml of 5mg/5ml suspension per day. Only told to up it yesterday but I would really prefer not to have to give it to him as it seems to just make him do giant minty burps!

I had to cut out grapes and oranges when bf. I also had a constant feeder who didn't agree with naps but thought crying was much more fun. Things got better when she started crawling and would nap in her cot. A dummy was also a godsend with both mine. My second who also had reflux didn't take to the dummy at first but did eventually take the Tommy tippee cherry. High maintenance babies are so hard especially when everyone else seems to have happy content ones. Good luck.

When our baby was having reflux trouble (not bad enough to be on ranitidine though I was all through pregnancy!) we wore her in a front pack a lot. It especially seemed to make it easier for her to sleep as she was all cuddled up but upright which keep the acid down.