DS 2.5 WEEKS old. What's going on??? PLEASE HELP!

[christmastreebow]

As title says, DS is 2 and half weeks old. For first week or so he slept and ate and that was it but now whenever he's awake he looks in pain. He was abig baby 9lbs 11 oz and is gaining weight but seems hungry a lot of the time.

I m expressing Breast milk and he struggles to eat more than 2 ounces at a time, then he pulls off the bottle and looks in pain, often cries out VERY loud and goes red punching, pulling up legs etc. Thought it could be wind issues but he does burp. Basically whenever he's awake he seems to not want to be awake. He will look around, then 2 seconds later cry and seem uncomfy, then stop and be ok for a minute, then start crying again.

I can't work him out at all. I think for his size and age he should be eating bigger amounts but he can't he either pulls off crying and spitting it out or else he falls asleep hlf way through the feed. Then he wakes up starving again.He is never awake and content. I am exhausted, he wakes ever hour sometimes through the night and grunts a lot and seems uncomfy all the time. What's going on??

i would guess thrush.

ask the hv to check him out. if he has thrush then you need to treat yourself as well, as it can be passed from nipple to mouth and vice versa.

I wondered about some version of reflux, but too little info.

Can you distract him in other ways, just walk around with him on your shoulder? Play silly games, bouncy chair (lifesaver for many). Take him to a toddler group & see if he gets engrossed watching others play?

I would try to get him to go longer between snacks & see if he's happier when he has more milk in one go.

could also be reflux/ good old traditional colic. there are lots of things to try, from old fashioned gripe water, through to whatever they prescribe these days - used to be infacol?

there are also more specific reflux meds if infant gaviscon etc doesn't help.

it all sounds quite normal and nothing to be alarmed about, but obv both you and he will be happier if you identify and treat the cause.

hv or gp?

Are you able to put him to the breast?

Is he pooing?

apols, just realised you were expressing, not bf. probably still worth treating yourself if it is thrush though.

has he got a cold and a bunged up nose? sometimes the whole breathing and feeding can be difficult if they are snuffly or bunged up as well, and get snackier as it'd hard to settle to feed.

Ahh now pooing is a bit of an issue, he seems to only poo everyother day but I didn't think that was much of a problem with BF babies. Not sure. He seems to grunt and strain a lot and does enormous trumps. He just seems so unhappy most of the time he's awake. Sometimes if I pop him in his moses basket he will let out a few cries and fall asleep so I don't know if he's just tired and grumpy or in pain. Walking around with him used to work with DD who wanted me to do this with her constantly as a baby but she was just generally high needs and wanted to be on the move but it does nothing for DS at all. I am so afraid he is just miserable! I really have no idea if he's in pain/ tired/ hungry or just a grumpy baby! I have no idea. Could it be reflux or some form of intolerance to my milk? He seems so in pain when he's eating yet always mouthing for nipple or bottle so I feed him which settles him for 2 seconds then he pulls off again crying. Arrrgh I am feeling so sad for him and I feel so uselss.

fwiw, ds1 was a big baby. he fed pretty much all day and night and was the most unhappy of mine. literally the only thing that made him settle was to dance with him in an upright position, facing out, with pressure across his abdomen. we did it for hours.

there are so many things it could be though. and often it's just a matter of going through them one by one to rule out a likely reason.

def check for thrush. it sounds v likely

I will make an appointment at GPs. Just hope they are more supportive this time. I took DD who was a grumpy baby but in a different way (wanted to be kept in motion all the time) and basically got told that some babies are just harder work than others. She's 5 now and lovely but it was a long long journey and a year of hell but I have often wondered if there was a medical reason for her behaviour. At least she slept well at night and went a few hours between feeds. DS seems even worse.

Can I just ask how will I icheck for thrush (dimbo, sorry!) is it on his tongue? What does it look like??

you might be able to see whiteish stuff on his tongue or in his mouth. i was never sure whether it was just milk deposits though.

from personal exerience, i found it was easier to tell from me if we both had it, as i would get pain when feeding as well...

His tongue is very white but not sure if it's just milk! Mmmm so confusing all this baby stuff isn't it?! I forgot how hard I found it last time :-(

Can't help but feel there is something going on with him in his belly though. He grunts and strains a heck of a lot. Oh I just feel so overwhelmed with having 2 at the minute! Poor DD is being abandoned and this lovely baby brother I promised her screams at her so loudly she's frightened of holding him incase he cries. Not at all how I planned it to be this time round

It sounds like he could be constipated for some reason. Mine all pooed about 7 times a day at this stage!

get thee to the gp for some thrush stuff. don't forget it goes all the way through the digestive system... if that's what it is! if that's ruled out then you can try colic/ reflux stuff next.

i thought ds1 was hard work with dd1 around. then we had dd2.

this too shall pass. he'll be lovely and giggly in a few mos and it will all be a bad dream.

you're doing v well at being coherent. i think until 3mos i was always merely existing!

Have you tried carrying him round in a sling? Some babies find this v soothing.
I hope things improve for you soon.

It could also be reacting to something in the milk do u eat alot of dairy? This sounds like my dd constantly grunting appearing to be constipated and bloated. Turned out she was milk intolerant and as soon as she was put on a special formula she was fine hope he feels better soon

oh caffeine, ds1 used to scream blue murder if i ate thai... and i know two people who have had to cut out dairy until the baby was past a year when they reintroduced it. i think early dairy intolerance is quite common now, but also common to grow out of it by a year. hadn't thought of that.

It's likely the doctor will just say colic they always do but stick to ur guns and demand a trial of formula or cut out dairy and see what happens . I ff so can't comment how long it will take for the milk protein to be out ur system but with the formula the transformation was practically instant x a food diary might be of use record what u eat and how ur ds has been, it's horrible to see them so uncomfortable x

He sounds a bit like my DS2 and infant gaviscon was like a dose of magic for him. We'd got the point he was refusing to feed and he was still losing weight instead of putting it back on. Lots of pulling off and crying, lots of crying generally, lots of wind. I think it's well worth giving gaviscon a try if you can get your GP to prescribe it. I think you can actually buy it OTC as well. I got it because DD had been a bit like that and she needed gaviscon too (although she hadn't been as bad and didn't need as much).

Just wanted to say poor you, it will pass! I read your post and thought thrush too I'm on my phone and can't figure out links but google breastfeeding networks advice on thrush I have ( finally) got some fluconazOle from my gp today. Dd isn't too bothered by the thrush but ds who was the same size as your ds reacted in a very similar way, he used to writhe at the breast and then eventually pull off. I found expressing made the thrush hard to get rid of.

The other thing is if he was an assisted birth it might be worth checking that he hasn't got a sore head. Are you bf him at all? If so have you tried feeding him in the bath? For some reason worked well with ds.

I think the nappies are a red herring provided when he goes it's normal bf baby poo and he has plenty of wet nappies. He may have a food intolerance so may be worth cutting put dairy and wheat from your diet initially and seeing if this helps, hard work I know.

My daughter had a cows' milk protein intolerance and bad reflux and she behaved like that. We only got it diagnosed at 9 weeks as it was written off as colic. She would struggle to take more than 2 oz at his age. She ended up on 2 types of medication and Neocate until she was 18 months old. I would raise reflux with your GP. You can by Infant Gaviscon over the counter and maybe try cutting out dairy for a week or two to see if that helps?

Possible cows milk intolerance - some babies react to dairy in the mothers diet, others react if given formula/foods with milk.

You don't need a diagnosis as such - cut out dairy for a week and if this is the cause, you will see a bit improvement in a couple of days.

My cows milk intolerant DS4 is 14 months, and can now have SMALL amounts of dairy in food, but is happy with Goat milk (Tesco etc all sell it) as his main source of calcium now he's no longer BF.

My dd (13 weeks) was exactly the same. She screamed whilst awake, crying herself to sleep. She fed on me constantly, which I mistook for hunger, so introduced formula top ups which made it far worse. Having had no luck with reflux meds after initial doc diagnosis, and having lost confidence in our GP, we went private. Cows milk protein intolerance, to cut a long story short, wad diagnosed. The consultant advised me to stop bf and switch to nutramigen formula- prescription only hypoallergenic thus v expensive so docs generally won't offer until pressed- dd was like a different baby within a week.

It was only cos my friend told me about her ds with lactose intolerance (diff problem, same symptoms) that I dug my heels in. My GP had since said she will do some research on it as she admitted she didn't know much about it.

Good luck.

Cranial osteopathy worked wonders for us - it might be worth a go. The first session was the best £35 I've ever spent!