3 week old baby squirming/grunting in sleep - colic?

[Pelly8]

Hello

My three week old baby is squirming and grunting a lot in his sleep for the past week or so and has also been throwing up after every 3rd or 4th feed. He also wheezes a little too when he breathes. I’ve told the midwife and health visitor and they said it was normal behaviour (temperature is fine and he is gaining weight) and that I might want to try infacol. I haven’t tried infacol yet as I’ve read that it’s not effective. I’m going to put a folded towel underneath the head end of the Moses basket to see if elevating the head works.

Does anyone have any advice?

My 10 week old has reflux. In the first 2 weeks we tried colic drops, infacol and gaviscon, none of which worked. He's now on ranitidine and has been much better. He still spits up a bit after feeds but nowhere near as much. I have put a cushion under his crib to tilt it slightly but he still squirms now and again and wakes up in the first 20 mins of putting him down. He then burps or spits up and I can rock him back to sleep.

Infacol can often be worse for some reason, I'm not sure why! Best thing would be to Google reflux symptoms and mention to your doctor (GP) each one and hopefully they'll give you some actual medicine to help. They often try and start with gaviscon but I found it a nightmare to administer because it's in powder form and you have to mix it with formula or water.

These things do get better! Try and keep your LO upright as much as possible - I've found a swinging chair great after feeds when I want a little break and he needs to stay upright.

Throwing up does not mean reflux, that would be regurgitation at every feed, squirming and grunting is most definitely not colic, Colic simply means abdominal pain of unknown cause and causes incessant crying. Infacol is neither use nor ornament.
Leave him lying flat. If you want you can hold him upright against you chest for a little while after feeds. Some vomiting is normal

My son has severe reflux, so bad we were getting to the point he may have needed a peg feeding tube fitting (failure to thrive) but even he didn’t vomit at every feed: it’s a common misconception I think. Babies with silent reflux don’t even really vomit. Vomit/spit-up is usually normal for babies, but it’s not always easy for Drs to assess what’s normal (until they see it, all over their office floor...)

Keeping baby upright after a feed for 20-30minutes can help, and also things like baby wearing are useful. We tilted the cot based on advice from our HV and specialist Paediatric Nurse: but we had a cot that had a tilt function built in. If you are going to tilt make sure it’s done safely.

CMPA can also cause problems with discomfort and vomit, but often other symptoms are present etc.

Have a look at the CMPA website and the Living With Reflux website and arm yourself with the symptoms and advice and start keeping a note of feed amounts/times and vomit episodes, poo details etc. It’s also useful information if things don’t improve and if you need further medical advice.

Thank you all! I have just bought a swinging chair online and try and keep him upright as much as possible. It’s hard because the only time he seems to fall asleep is after a feed lying on his side on my breastfeeding pillow and I can’t bear waking him.

I spoke to the HV again yesterday and she again advised trying infacol for 24hrs to see if it makes a difference so I am going to do that and make a record of the symptoms and see a GP.

Infacol short term is ok. Your child could have reflux. Mine had silent reflux so he did not vomit at all but would soothe himself by drinking more, and more and more. My oldest was diagnosed with colic although I suspect it was actually silent reflux. He had exactly the same symptoms, but had infacol every day. I think it masked the symptoms but did not treat the problem.

You can massage the side (under armpit) of your DD tummy as the intestines are on one side (my kids were preemie so not sure this applies to full term). You can also lay your DS on her back, lift legs up and press her knees on her tummy so she can pass any gas; or just hold under arms as it stretches out the body. Am sure you have tried everything already but thought I would mention anyway.

Cranial osteopaths can also work wonders with fussy babies!

Could be cmpa... the wheezing rings a bell although thst can also be normal for newborns.