colic/intolerance/reflux or windy baby? Which one is it? How do I tell? What do I do?

[Millsie1]

My 11 week old is a very unhappy 11 week old and I am feeling totally totally out of my depth. I have been feeling out of my depth since I brought the little lady back from the hospital. My major problem is that I have no prior experience with babies and so have no idea how much crying is too much crying and what behaviour is pain and what is just being a baby. I feel utterly devastated and useless.

She is often miserable when not feeding - and always has whinged a lot - but seems to feed OK (doesn't pull off the breast or cry during feed). However, for a week or so now, once she has finished feeding her back arches and the screaming starts and continues for about an hour - an hour and a half.

She does spit up a bit and the doctor thought she had reflux as she would bring up curdled milk (I have since learnt that this is not necessarily a sign of reflux) and she was on antacids for a while, but I don't think she is distressed by the spitting up - if anything it seems to relieve the pain so she is not on antacids anymore. However, she is happier upright - does this mean reflux or is this just because when she's upright she's in my arms?

What is diarrhoea in a breastfed baby? Her poos are watery - but aren't all breastfed poos quite watery? They used to be more peanutbutter like - please excuse this message!!!!! - but have recently changed consistency and have turned a greenish tinge. I think there is also a little irritation as there is a small red ring around her anus. Does this mean that there's an intolerance or is this just normal for a colicky baby?

The little lady seems to be thriving despite this
I have been to the paediatrician LOTS but am not getting the reassurance I so desperately need. I feel totally and completely awful and am home alone and falling into depression. Why can't I make her happy? Is she ill? WHAT can I do to help?

You are describing my daughters exactly. DD1 I persevered with BF for 5mths then formula fed. She had chronic constipation, runny nose and dry skin until she was 2yrs. I then switched her to soya and all these went away.
(sometimes children get constipated when they have cow's milk allergy- it is unusual)

DD2- same as you described. Started off fine but by 13 weeks she was driving me mad. I gave up dairy as I was BF and within a week she was a different child. After 2 weeks she was happy and content and feeding well. She is now 7 months and is on a prescription formula. She s VERY happy and thriving. I BF her for 6 mths.

Greenish stools are an indication of intolerance/allergy. If you give up dairy for 2-4 weeks you will either notice a difference or not. If you do- stick with it, if not, at least you tried and it won't harm her in any way.

Also my eldest is my 3.7yo ds who I BF for 6mths and he had no problems whatsoever so I do know the difference!

Congratulations, sorry to hear you're suffering. Don't despair, I'm sure its nothing you're doing wrong.

Sounds like colic to me (your dd would be about the right age?) if it appears to be related to feeding and she is really screaming. Have you tried colic drops or gripe water? (my dcs seemed to prefer gripe water). All of mine preferred to be upright usually in a babysling so I could walk round with them, that seemed to soothe them a little.

Is she doing plenty of poos ie no sign of constipation? (would be unusual I think if she is exclusively breastfed). Trying to remember what an 11 week old's poo looks like - pretty sure mine were usually mustardy, a bit oily looking - but definitely remember some had a greenish tinge too.

How much is she sleeping? Still putting on weight? If she is sleeping and putting on weight its unlikely she's ill.

If its colic, it WILL pass though its very hard to get through at the time. I had two colicky babies and one not - I didn't do anything different for any of them, some babies just suffer more than others. Good luck, hopefully you may get some more useful advice than mine.

It sounds to me very like my experience with my dd as a baby.

The arched back is a classic reflux symptom (which can be 'silent', so no spit up does not necessarily mean no reflux). It's called Sandifer's syndrome.

I'll tell you my experience and you can see how you feel it matches your dc. My dd was unhappy from the word go. She arched her back after feeds and drew her knees up to her chest. She had chronic 'colic' - the crying and the bloating was incessant, and worse during the night. She was unhappy lying down, and preferred to be upright against my chest. The only thing that soothed her at times was jiggling her directly up and down. Her nappies were mucusy and sometimes smelled of vinegar. She always had a red ring around her anus. The week she came home the mw saw her poo when she tried to weigh her and said it was very watery and a bit greenish. This was all put down to poor feeding of her part initially.

We finally got treatment via Peptac antacid after her 6wk appointment, which was changed to Ranitidine at 4mths after black streaks appeared in her nappies (apparently old blood from her irritated oesophagus).

Reflux is strongly linked to dairy (and soy) intolerance so I went dairy-free at about 2-3 months. It helped a bit, but it took until 5 months for us to discover that gluten was also a big irritant for her. All has been fine since!

It's such a horrible time for you and I really feel for you. Depression is never very far away. You and your dd need to find a solution that works for you. Go back on the antacids, try dairy-free and see how it goes. It can take up to 3 weeks to see a difference with the dairy-free diet as the proteins persist in your milk for that long. Let us know how you get on.

No more dairy for me then. Happy to live on rice and water if that would help her. Does this milk intolerance carry through to their childhood/adulthood? Is it my fault? I did have a LOT of milk during pregnancy (I craved it and used to drink at least 2 glasses a day) -I hate to think that I've given her some awful allergy because of my diet.

She is gaining weight fine - was 6kgs (sorry - live in Switzerland and they only do metric here) at last weigh-in which I guess is OK? She's quite chunky.

I am still confused about whether it's colic or reflux - she definitely seems to calm after a good belch (colic symptom?) but definitely dislikes being on her back. She sleeps ok because she sleeps mainly on my chest on her tummy. I haven't slept in 11 weeks, but she's fine!

Thank you for your posts.

oh and she has really scaly dry skin on her arms - is this all part of the same thing?

IT IS DEFINITELY NOT YOUR FAULT!

Colic will pass, usually be 6mths.

If it is dairy allergy, it is common in babies and is often outgrown. Sometimes by 6mths, sometimes after early childhood. You will just have to see how it goes.

I agree with you- it's totally impossible to tell what the problem is. My dd was always putting up bigish quantities between feeds. I gave up dairy and the situation improved- that's all I needed.

I s'pose you could go dairy free, then after maybe 3 weeks if there are still any issues or you suspect colic/reflux you could try medication again. See if she gets better or worse. If it's better you could wait another few weeks and reintroduce dairy- then you'll know for sure.

I was at my wit's end with dd2- it got worse and worse (presumable as it built up in her system). She was very windy and always seemed to be in pain/discomfort. She would pull away while feeding or start crying immediately afterwards- pull her legs up to her tummy and scream/writhe. burping helps but only for a short time!

I really hope you get to the bottom of it!

Milk issue is interesting - I can't tolerate it at all, dairy food gives me horrendous stomach cramps and bowel problems.

Ds1 was allergic to cows milk as a baby, and yes he did have eczema too, changed to soya when I finished breastfeeding, but he outgrew it and now at age 6 is fine with ordinary milk. I guess the answer is to just keep trying things and seeing what works?

The dry skin could be a sign of dairy allergy. You'll soon know if it clears up!
My dd1 had rough skin on her chest and back and also got small patches of scoriocis- we didn't even think about it being linked to dairy until we switched to soya and it cleared up.

She's 2.5 and we substitute all milk for soya milk. However she has other dairy products now- cheese, chocolate etc and she seems to be able to tolerate it. I'm hoping we will be able to wean her back onto cow's milk soon.

DD2 can't have dairy or soya. However, now she is 7 mths and has had the odd dairy product in food. So far she has been fie with this so fingers crossed!