18 week dd still has colic. I'm not convinced this is normal or even that its all colic!

[cupcake78]

DD was born on 75th centile she has dropped to below the 25th centile.

She has always had colic symptoms, wind, pains, screaming etc.

She is currently being weighed every 2 weeks, is developing well except she isn't putting on enough weight and continues to drop on the charts slowly. Her length is on the 50th centile.

We are still having problems with colic. She is formula fed. Over the last 5 days she is down to 4-5 bottles of only 4-6ozs. She is not interested in any more milk. She sleeps well for a baby, its not reflux but Im not convinced it can still be colic.

I feel bad going to a gp about this as it doesnt seem urgent enough.

Silent reflux?
CMPI?
Tongue tie?

She's not tongue tied and I don't think she has silent reflux but I'm
Beginning to wonder about an intolerance. How would I know?

Start with your GP and/or HV. Write down all your concerns. Use your phone to video any episodes.

Its bad colic. Gp has confirmed it this morning.

Colic means something they can't explain, so to have confirmed it's colic they must have ruled out everything else? Surely?

Can you buy the special milk over the counter or is it prescription only? Must be worth trying surely? Have you tried "comfort" type milks for reflux - I know you say it's not reflux but again to try SOMETHING.

I have considered the comfort milk but HV said it would make little or no difference. I've just opened a new tin as well !

I don't know what to do with her. I've started a thread on weaning topic as considering starting her early.

GP said her reducing feeds could be she's simply decided she doesn't like the taste of milk . I've never heard this before?

She's only 18 weeks old though, very little for weaning.

What centile was she on at 2 weeks old? That's more relevant than the birth centile.

This is ringing serious alarm bells for some kind of intolerance to me. I'd ask to see a different GP and see if they can refer you to either a paediatrician or dietician and/or prescribe a can of the special allergenic milk to try it out. If it doesn't make a difference you can go back to her usual milk.

You need to see a different GP. That one doesn't know much about babies! Plus your HV's advice on comfort formula is odd.

On what basis have you ruled out silent reflux? (I'm asking about that because it's the area I know about - it's not that I'm ruling out anything else!)

I'd love to get to the bottom of this! I've looked up symptoms of silent reflux and as I've put on the other thread, can't link on phone, she sleeps through, her symptoms get worse as the day goes on and her wind seems to have to pass through her which is what causes her pain. She gets more gassy as the day goes by. It's not specifically after feeds.

GP seemed lovely but did say he doesn't think its an intolerance as she's not being sick and doesn't have diarrhoea (sp?).

How do you know she's not tongue tied? Who checked?

I think she was checked in first few weeks? She has taken large bottles before.

Tongue tie sometimes doesn't affect bottle feeding, though. It tends to affect breastfeeding predominantly, it's only very severe cases which affect bottlefeeding. If you don't mind me asking, did you breastfeed at all and if so did you have problems with latch, pain, weight gain, fussiness on the breast?

Does she have a heart-shaped tongue if she pokes it out or is it pointy? You may be able to get her to poke her tongue out by doing it at her, she's in that copying age!

There's a thread on here that I started yonks ago full of people who were told by HCPs that there was no tongue tie, only to find later on that there was. IIRC, one had been told by about 7 different professionals that there was no tie.

Posterior tie can be hard to spot unless you know what you are looking for. What Berstie has written is only a very small part of diagnosing.

Her tongue is pointy. We did have problems with breastfeeding to the point that day 5 I was in so much pain my nipples where internally bruised and they were bleeding internally. She fed constantly for 10 hours a night. She was bottle fed from day 6.

Tonight is yet another night of screaming and fighting . I can only take so much of this now. Mentally its becoming horrendous. 18 weeks of this is hard hard work. Ive already got PND , this isn't helping. I've given her calpol and she's settled for now as long as she's on me. I can't give her calpol every night just to hope it shuts her up.

Where are you based?

North East

Sympathies, it sounds awful.

Fwiw, my dd is 20 weeks and has similar symptoms other than the weight loss. However, she is also worse at night- the stretches of sleep gradually get less and less until she's awake at least hourly with griping pain and trapped wind. My dh a has a milk intolerance so I cut all dairy out of my diet (I'm bfing) and it seems to have helped... Not massively but there is a definite improvement. I'm not saying this is definitely the cause as it could be coincidental but I am eliminating all dairy from my diet for now. I'm not sure how this affects weaning as she's not at that's age yet but cmpi might be worth considering

My dh has IBS and it flares up with butter, cream etc. Do you think this is relevant? How do I get cows milk free baby formula?

I don't use formula but I'm sure you can buy some, think GP is best bet.

My dh also has ibs, which is worsened with dairy

Colic is a lazy diagnosis which basically means baby crying in pain but we dont know why. Cmpi is hereditary so the fact dp is dairy intolerant is ringing alarm bells for me. The same gene responsible for some chemical sensitivities to food (mthfr) also causes midline defects such as tt. Cutting tts can help some babies but others, who have chemical food sensitivities dont improve if tts are cut and need dietary elimination of problem foods and/or meds for reflux. Reflux and cmpi babies vary dramatically in how they present and theres also a continuum of severity. Dd choked, went limp, avoided feeds, wasnt that sick. Ds comfort ate and puked semi professionally. Both were poor sleepers but friends los with the same condition whinged by day but slept at night. 'Colic' at 18 weeks sounds like a more long term problem. I'd push for hydrolysed formula and if that doesnt help a totally milk free formula such as neocate. Babies generally grow out of cmpi by 2-3 but it needs addressing now before it causes longterm bowel issues and even emotional/attachment concerns. If it is cmpi with the correct formula (or maternal diet if bfing) you'll be amazed at how you all get your lives back.

Special dietary formulas are available on prescription from yr gp or a paediatrician. But it can be a battle to get the truely hypoallergenic ones due to cost. Think neocate is £34 a tin. Dont be fobbed off with gaviscon and a comfort formula which is the gp/hv standard ask for a paed referral if they're being crap.

You can order specialised formula from the pharmacist to trial it. If it works, you would have evidence for the GP. I would push for a paeds referral.

It took me 6 visits to 6 different GPs over 8 days to get a referral for DD. 48 hours after we saw the consultant and she sorted out meds, DD slept for 12 hours overnight and napped during the day. The screaming stopped.

Ok I've bought comfort formula. She's been on it since last night. The only difference has been not as much wind to get up. Still lots going through her. Dd has had another 90 min screaming session, has calmed down for now ( just in time for ds to start) but don't think it'll be long before she starts again.

What do I do? She's had gripe water, calpol, teething powders and gel.

Go back to your GP or HV and ask for a ped referral, really your baby is dropping down the centiles and is not happy this is not normal, it could be cows milk intolerance or tongue tie or something else and yes bottle fed babies can have problems feeding with tongue tie. Does she take a long time to feed? does milk spill out the side of her mouth while feeding, these are signs of possible tongue tie.

But a pedatrition referral for a baby who's drop two centiles is fairly standard. Try filming her when she's screaming so you can take this with you to show your HV or GP. A diagnosis of colic is the doctors way of saying, your baby cried but we don't know why. The weight gain is more of a concern to be honest.