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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Getting to the root of the problem :(

6 replies

Maggie5 · 13/11/2010 08:08

Hello, I'm new here and well.. at the end of my terror lol my baby boy is 5 weeks old and has never stopped screaming since day 1!

He's just never settled and never gets a more than an hour of sound sleep and he only gets that if you put him down on his stomach. He needs a lot of comfort and cuddles, which is really hard because i have to other kids, my second youngest is now getting jealous with all the time I spend pacing the floor with him and to make matters worse, Im on my own as my husband is over in the States right now.

You can tell there is always something niggling at him with the way he squirms and wriggles. He has diarrhea which is frothy and sprays out with quite a force, his burps and pumps smell like rotten eggs and he is always wanting to feed or suck on a dummy (which i think gives him even more gas)his weight gain is great, up to a pound a week!! but its a vicious circle because he is over feeding, which comforts him at the time, but roll on 30 mins and he's worse than ever.

I stopped bf for 5-6 days and put him on a milk for colicky babies(was expressing and dumping to keep my supply going) but he was still upset. Then on the suggestion on the hv i tried SMA LF, he was only on that for a few days when she came to the door with prescribed tubs of dairy and lactose free formula, suggested by the dietitian she had spoken to.

He's only been on this new milk for 1 day, so fingers crossed it actually works- I so want my baby back. I have to go on a dairy free diet too, which im not looking forward to, but has to be done otherwise I wont be able to rule this out.

Its so hard trying to work out whats going on with him, if this milk doesn't work, then i just dont know what to do, keep pacing the floor pulling my hair out I suppose and on top of it all, I cant even drink! ohh the joys, if I dont laugh- i'll cry!

OP posts:
Maggie5 · 13/11/2010 08:15

Ohh, the reason Im posting is to see if his symptoms are similar to any other babies that are or have been sensitive to dairy or lactose. Any advice would be greatly appreciated xxx

OP posts:
thisisyesterday · 13/11/2010 08:22

so are you still breastfeeding at all or just formula feeding?

it does sound like it could be a problem with dairy. it' usually the cow's milk protein that babies have trouble with, and if you cut that out of your diet you should see an improvement

if he is now totally on formula then you would need a hypoallergenic one like neocate or nutramigen. these tend to taste pretty nasty tho!

personally i believe the best thing for a baby with allergies is breastmilk.
i had to cut out all dairy and egg for my second baby and while it was hard on me the difference it made to him was astounding!

you really need to see your GP tho. my little boy has intolerances to dairy/egg, which they can't test for. but they can test for allergies so it's definitely a good idea to get a referral to a paediatrician about your son

oh, and i found a decent sling really helped with the screaming and wanting to be held! we used a moby

Ineedsomesleep · 13/11/2010 09:00

Agree with tiy, you need a referral to a paediatrician and the best thing for him is bm.

Really feel for you though. I had a high needs baby but luckily it was DC1 so I could devote all my time to him.

Also agree with tiy on the sling. We used the Close with DC2 and it meant that she settled and I could do things with DC1.

Have you tried talking to a bfing counsellor too?

Maggie5 · 13/11/2010 17:56

Hiya and thanks for replying

Im back breastfeeding and topping up with formula for various reasons, lack of time being the main one. That's the one he's on, nutramigen, and I have to say, its only been a day and a half, but he's been much better today, hes acting like a normal baby- feeding, laying awake for a bit then going down for 4-5 hours! but im not getting my hopes built up lol but so far, so good!

Haven't even heard of a bf counselor, let alone talk to one lol my hv has been really good on that front tho.

Fingers crossed I wont need that sling lol

OP posts:
Ineedsomesleep · 13/11/2010 19:53

Hi Maggie5, glad he seems more settled.

If you are wanting to continue with the bfing it's probably a good idea to speak to a Bfing Counsellor as many HV's have not bf themselves and may not be giving out uptodate advice.

You can speak to a bfing counsellor on one of these lines NCT, La Leche League and ABM. It is probably worth asking your HV if there are any bfing support groups locally too.

Ineedsomesleep · 14/11/2010 11:39

Oh and don't forget ff might seem less time consuming now but in the long run bfing is much less time consuming.

I can remember going on holiday with a couple who were ff their DD and just couldn't believe how much time they spent, cleaning, sterlising and making up bottles. Meanwhile me and DH were sat down, watching the sunset and having a bottle of wine Grin

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