12 week old still feeding every 2 hours day and night.

[user1490854461]

My 12 week old has terrible reflux so I guess this is probably why but he only takes about 2.5/3 ounces of his bottle and he'll feed every 1.5/ 2 hours, 3 sometimes if I'm lucky. I've tried drawing out the time in between in hopes he'll take more and then have a longer gap in between but he still can't take more tha 2 ounces and will just scream the house down in hunger.
I always make up a 4 ounce bottle and a lot of the time he seems to want more than 2 ounces but can't take it because of being in pain with what I think is reflux.
I am absolutely exhausted because for 12 weeks ive been feeding throughout the night and there is no sleeping when he sleeps because the reflux means he doesnt sleep well.
saw a paediatrician about his reflux and all he said was "don't go with the baby, he doesn't know what he's doing, you need to set him a routine and feed him only 6 times a day one of those times being at night"

How am I meant to do this??

I don't have any words of wisdom but hoping things improve for you. What's he like between feeds, settled? Are you giving him any meds for the reflux?

Very unsettled between feeds. Mostly crying / screaming due to discomfort. Yes he's having ranitidine for the reflux.

Have you considered a cows milk protein allergy? (CMPA)? Only because a lot of the symptoms of colic and reflux are the same. Try googling it and see what you think?

Consider the teat is too hard to suck from? Change to a vari flow or get the next size up - worth a try

I have considered CMPA and have tried to get him a CMP free milk prescribed but have been told by both HV and GP that as it is so expensive (£60 a tin apparently) that they don't really want to prescribe it and would rather carry on with ranitidine. Makes me furious but I don't know how else to go about getting the formula.

There is a CMPA Facebook group that has lots of mums on there that are helpful. You can buy it yourself if you have the money, just ask in a pharmacy and they will have it or order it in. If you tried it and it makes a difference I'd think it would be difficult for the GP not to prescribe it. Also maybe keep a diary of symptoms to show the doc, including awake times, feeds, crying, sick etc.

The Facebook group is called CMPA support and there's a few different ones, e.g. Support for weaning, support for breastfeeding. The breastfeeding one is quite active and the women on there know a lot about feeding in general inc formula so don't be put off by the name, they'll help with the name of the formula you could try. Lots of babies that can't have cows milk can't have soya either, so just be aware of that. And also sometimes when people switch milks it works for a couple of weeks then they need a different one that's even more specialised.

Keep going back to the GP though, if you've given the other meds a good try then I don't see why they can't prescribe some formula to try just to see if it makes a difference, within a couple of days you'd see an improvement if it is that.

I thoroughly recommend Dr Brown bottles, they are amazing.
Also, ranitidine is crap. Utter crap. Only works for some people.
After two hours when your baby is ready for milk try and drag it out for a bit longer. Bath or rocking them. They will the possibly drink more meaning they will go longer the next time.

Have you changed his milk to anti reflux milk? My little girl had awful reflux and once we changed her milk she was like a different baby! You need to use a bigger teat as the milk is thick. There are remedies to try and different milks to try please don't suffer you'll end up demented! Good luck

Suffer any longer I meant*

Reflux doesn't necessarily mean it's an allergy by the way, it could just be reflux!

Sorry for the numerous posts, just wanted to add I use the Aptamil anti-reflux, it's £12.99 a tub. Cow and Gate do an anti reflux one too. You really don't need to buy the £60 milk when it might not even be an allergy.

You have my sympathy, my 8 week old is exactly like this and it's horrendous. I cried a LOT at the health visitor last week because I just wasn't coping, I'd kept a not of his feeds and he had 16 tiny feeds of a couple of ounces over 24 hours!

We've currently got him on gaviscon and aptamil comfort milk which is thicker and it's helped a bit. She also said to really really try to make him last as long as possible between feeds so he's properly hungry, we've managed to get him to about 2.5 hours by fobbing him off with a dummy and lots of walking and rocking. Other things to try are keeping him properly upright for 20 minutes after a feed - I tend to wind him for 5 mins then into the sling as movement seems to help him too.

Finally, cry for help! Everyone kept telling me I was doing so well when I was knackered and crying all the time, I just hid it well. I have now shamelessly begged for help from everyone I know and the relief of someone else just being there to be an extra pair of arms is just amazing. I hope you get some sleep soon

@daisygirlmac the comfort milk is for colic not reflux? Or did you mean you're using the reflux milk? Just wanted to ask as we used the comfort milk when we thought DD had colic and as she had reflux not colic it didn't help one bit. Swapping to the reflux milk helped her overnight. Apologies if you are using the reflux milk, just wanted to offer some advice

He's a mega lazy feeder so he's on the comfort milk because apparently it's thicker but not as thick as the reflux milk HV thought it might be a good start and we could always move on, it's meant to help with constipation as well which he is also struggling with - never bloody ends does it?!

Another vote for infant gaviscon. I had a baby with silent reflux and IG gave him immediate relief. Also prescribed omeprazole which may or may not have helped. Also kept him upright for 30 mins after every feed and he went from 60-90 mins between every feed to 3-4 hours almost overnight. My understanding is that lots of babies have reflux/silent reflux due to underdeveloped sphincters but not many people (and therefor babies) are dairy intolerant.

Oh another one, prop his cot up a bit on some books or get a wedge

Thanks for all the advice everyone.
I didn't mention in the original post as I didn't want to make it too long winded but we have been suffering with the reflux since he was 2 weeks old so have tried quite a few of the reflux remedies such as propping up the cot, keeping him upright for 30 mins to an hour after feeding, thoroughly winding him, we've used infant gaviscon, got Dr Brown's bottles, got a baby swing to soothe him, used ranitidine and are currently on Aptamil Pepti formula as this was suggested by the HV about 5 weeks ago. The pepti seemed to help a little bit but then not so much but I was told by the paediatrician to keep my LO on it and not switch his milk again as he'd had quite a few changes.
I think I will try the dragging out the time inbetween feeds for as long as possible to see if that helps him into a longer routine but sometimes it's just not possible because he's so hungry he absolutely screams the place down.
Thanks for the info on the FB page, I will definitely have a look at that, just hearing from other people who's children have reflux or CMPA problems helps me just to know I'm not alone haha.

Oh and daisygirlmac you're so right about the crying for help! I have finally started to myself as I just couldn't cope with the lack of sleep and constant screaming any more and yes, just having someone else there to sit with you through it or just hold the baby while you make a cup of tea is such a relief! My HV too always came round and commented on how well she thought I was coping when I was just hiding the fact that I was crying every day and wanting to lock myself in the bathroom! I suppose if it is just reflux alone and is just a waiting game for his muscle to mature and be able to keep his stomach contents down then I will just have to wait it out but I just wanted to be able to rule out CMPA just so I would know that I'd exhausted every option as it is so difficult!

Wow it sounds like you've tried a lot of different ways to help your little one, he's lucky to have such a good mummy whose doing everything she can to make him more comfortable. It's really hard when you have a baby who is so unsettled, for whatever reason that turns out to be, and the sleep deprivation makes it so hard to know what to do for the best as well.

Do make sure you get other people to help you when you can to give yourself a break, and if you need extra support definitely go back to health visitors or the GP. See if you can see the same person each time as they will remember you and see how things are going.

Hopefully when you start weaning things will get better too, as they can keep things down a bit better then. It will get easier

Ah bless you sorry for giving obvious advice! Things I have had success with for stretching out feeds:
Sling and lots of dancing around
Playing peek a boo and tickling his face with a muslin
Dummy
Walking and bouncing
Bouncy chair
Looking at things in the garden

I sort of found it helped if I broke it down into 15 minute chunks as an hour can seem insurmountable. 15 mins is survivable and realistically every 15 minute chunk you can get is a small victory. It also helps if I start playing or whatever before he starts getting really properly screamy hungry as he can be distracted whereas if he starts screaming it's game over

Hi user,
My LO was similar, at two week of age he was in hospital on oxygen and had vomited forcefully several times, not to mention the nonstop spit up! He was diagnosed as having a cold and sent home.
A few days later he couldn't lie down, I had to hold him for three nights until the doctor seen him and said he had reflux. Again we tried everything, nothing helped. (Do NOT use aptimik anti reflux milk! It's to thick my baby could hardly get any on the quickest flow teat)

Finally at my wits end I bought him soy milk, at this point he was hardly eating and screaming 8 to 6 hours a day.
The soy milk helped him loads, he was a very happy baby once he got use to it, hardly sick anymore too but it does make them rather constipated.

The doctors still refuse to give him hypoallergenic formula but he's happy. If you think he has an allergy or is lactose I'd say give it a try, if it works push for the hypo formula. At this age he shouldn't be on soy but we're still trying for the hypo formula.
Change doctors if you must.

Don't let your LO get as bad as mine did, your his mother and you know best.

I forgot to ask but does he draw his legs up to his tummy? Or curl himself almost into a ball?

My LO did this and it was because his stomach was hurting from the formula.

Hi Kitty, yes he does that with his legs every time I feed him.
I'd forgotten to mention that when he was about 5 weeks I also went out and bought the soy milk (sma brand) and had him on that for about a week and his symptoms did improve but when I told my HV that he was on that formula she put the fear of god into me that I shouldn't be giving him that because it can cause infertility in boys or something along those lines and that's why he ended up being prescribed aptamil pepti.
The fact that he got a bit better in that week he was on soy milk is what led me to believe it might have been a CMPA but all that the doctors and HVs just keep going down the route of reflux that he'll grow out of.
It's such a stressful time!

The soy thing she told you isn't true, there was a study done on mice or rats I think but they fed them nothing but soy. It's not the same in humans. That's what my child's allergy consultant told me when I asked him.
The fact that his symptoms improved in that week makes me wonder, I recon you need to push the GP to let you try a specialist formula.

Honestly some health visitors are useless. Mine told me off for stopping bf my LO and demanded I carried on. I ignored her, silly woman was useless and her 'advice' was awful.

If he improved then it's defiantly not reflux. My health visitor and doctor was the same but my poor little boy was so upset. I changed him to sma soy in secret, I then went back to the doctors and told them he's on soy and happy, they said to keep him on it.

What did the doctors say about your sons reaction to soy formula? Surely it would have convinced them it isn't reflux. Is there a different doctors you can change too?
How often/much does he cry? Anything more than three hours is excessive.

You can also buy hypoallergenic formulas online but they are rather pricey.