Straining, groaning, kicking, distressed 9wk old baby & first time mum

[pebPEB1]

Hi. This is my first post and it's done with the hope of a few ideas/some advice please. Sorry it's a bit wordy!
My DD is 9 weeks tomorrow. Since 2-3 weeks old she has spent a lot of time in apparent distress and discomfort with abdominal pain. It doesn't happen as a pattern with pooing but there is similar behaviour leading up to a poo but then obvious relief once she's gone-is that normal? It's a normal colour/consistency, approx 3 dirty nappies/day but very explosive, always.
Other times it can be soon after a feed, or unrelated, this morning she was struggling at 5 for over an hour but didn't accept a feed. It's really upsetting to watch her helplessly. She hardly cries but I think she's very tolerant and in the verge of crying often.
I've been dairy and soya free for 3 weeks, ebf, it may have improved slightly. I co sleep now which I didn't used to which helps massively at night, I was spending an hour or so after each feed settling her due to the groaning/straining.
She had a 50% tongue tie snipped today. Ive had to work on her latch and keep a close eye on it each time.
I suspected reflux but gaviscon from the doc constipated her even at 1/3rd of packet dose so I stopped but Im not 100% sure if she has reflux or not, I've never seen it before so no experience.
Any ideas? It's horrible for her and I can't believe its 'normal'. Thank you for reading.

In between these episodes she's very calm & content. She's small but gaining weight steadily. Thank you.

If she's had a tongue tie snipped today then that may help a lot. My daughter is 10 weeks tomorrow and had her tie cut at 5 weeks, since which her reflux and constant vomiting improved drastically. They can take in excessive amounts of air due to poor latch and this can lead to discomfort. Did she make a clicking noise a lot before?

If it doesn't improve in the next couple weeks then I'd return to your doctor and ask for something else; lots of people don't get on with gaviscon and find it causes constipation.

Thank you for your reply. She didn't click at all until about a month ago, but it has increased ever since. There's been some clicks since the TT snip but I guess it may take a day or so for her to adjust to a bit more freedom for her tongue. Feeding on Right always worse than left.
Are explosive poos normal?

I think explosive poos are relatively normal, and wouldn't be a symptom of anything else if the poo itself is normal EBF colour/consistency.

The rest of what you describe actually sounds really quite normal. Little babies do spend a fair bit of time wriggling and writhing, apparently related to digestion. It gets better as they get older. If she's not actually crying then really it's fine. It seems strange to us as adults, but babies are still getting to know their own bodies, and can react in this way to normal digestion.

I agree the TT snip may help a lot, as she will take in less air, though may take a few days while she adjusts her technique. that's what we found when dd had her TT snipped at 16 weeks anyway - prior to snip she had awful wind and a few episodes of silent reflux, by 7-10 days after the snip it was much better. hope it is the same for you.

Thank you for those responses. Having a particularly bad day today, she is so miserable with it. Can you always hear when air is being taken in when feeding or is it always associated with clicks?

Sounds like wind to me. They do grow out of it as their digestion improves.

The tongue tie snip should really improve things. Same with you keeping out dairy and soy. Have you tried infacol or gripe water when she's in pain?

Air is taken in when they lose the suction, hence the 'clicking' or smacking noise like my lazy dd is doing now
Does she posset or chuck up a lot? Sorry to hear she's unsettled :( it's horrible to see them uncomfortable.

Two of mine had TT and one had reflux and this all sounds pretty normal for some sort of digestive issue - hopefully its just that she had excessive wind due to taking in more air because of a less than ideal latch. This should really improve now the TT has been snipped. Are you able to get someone to help you optimize the latch? Lactation nurse, breast-feeding clinic or the like? I always found it useful to get someone to check and reassure me that it was correct - often a minor adjustment made a big difference.

She could have reflux if it still continues once she's adjusted her latch - silent reflu is pretty hard to spot as there is no excessive regurgitation. My son who had silent reflux (and lactose intolerance) used to pull away at he breast a lot and go stiff as a board and arch his back at a feed. If she's not doing that I reckon her digestive system could just still be settling down.

Hopefully things should improve now. Explosive poos are normal for bf babies I am afraid! And they go on for awhile! Hence why you have so many cute clothes and changes of outfits :)

Thanks for some more replies.
She doesn't bring any milk back up with burps but will at other times bring up either milk or curdled milk. Not projectile and not always within a short time of feeding. A few have said to me that reflux babies are always really sicky/messy which she isn't but I still think she could have it to a lesser degree or silent.
I'll persevere with dairy & soya free, there's little else I can do pro-actively! I might retry infacol, she really hated it when I first tried it but I'll have another go I think.
I've had some good support from a breastfeeding supporter at a group I've been to. It would probably be worth asking her to have another look at our latch next week by which time her tongue should have settled.
It just feels really frustrating to have to learn by trial and error a lot of the time, and as she rarely cries I don't want to assume it's all ok, my instinct is that something isn't quite right but I have zero previous experience!

Hi peb

Take a look at my response this afternoon on this thread as it might help you:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/breast_and_bottle_feeding/2118930-4-week-old-arching-off-breast-screaming-reflux-allergy-something-else

If it is wind rather than reflux I found that lots of tummy time between feeds helps to get any trapped wind out.