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Infant feeding

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

6 month old still screaming

3 replies

Sawadee1234 · 22/02/2015 20:27

Just need a bit of advice,

My DD2 is 6 months old in 4 days, she has suffered greatly with wind since birth and spent much the first 5 months of her life crying. She was EBF up until 3.5months and now has one bottle of 3/4 oz in night but the rest of the time BF. I put her windy ness down to my overactive let down, and colic etc etc, and spent much of those first months bouncing sshhing patting, calming, holding, soothing and using gripe water and anything to help her calm down.

As she's got older she definately doesn't cry for as long or as much at all and she manges to burp a lot after a feed more easy but she can still have episodes of total meltdowns. Today for example, just before my dinner she out of nowhere started screaming the place down. It's such a full on cry, I managed to calm her down, and again this process is quicker and easier than when she was young, and 2 minutes later a little burp came up.. This happens a lot. She seems to really suffer from it, and she's in pain. I always put this down to colic, that she,d grow out of it, by 5 months, then I let it go till 6 months.

She's now 6 months and from what I understand colic should have 'gone'. I have noticed she has a high arched mouth, the doc says it is high but still within normal parameters and she.ll grow into it so not sure if that's the problem.. But I don't understand why it still affects her so much, and why she is still so gassy. She's sitting up and rolling and other than that is a happy sweet baby. She just cries a lot still and I.m feeling a bit exasperated after 6 months of it! I have just started weaning her. Anyone else with similar story? Does it get better? I,m starting to worry there is something really wrong with her! Sorry for long post!

OP posts:
mawbroon · 22/02/2015 23:04

High arched mouth? As in high narrow palate?

If so, there's a good chance it has been caused by a tongue tie (prob posterior) which can also cause some of the other problems you have been having.

She may have been checked for tongue tie before, but beware that posterior ones can look entirely normal unless you know what you are looking for and there are unfortunately many HCPs who don't know what they are looking for.

DS1 had posterior tie and a high arched palate. He had a list of problems as long as my arm (he basically had trouble with eating, sleeping and breathing) and I was unaware that this was the root cause until he was 6yo!

Sawadee1234 · 23/02/2015 11:39

Yes mawbroon , the roof of her mouth is high and narrow... That's interesting you say that. I have had her checked for tongue tie and been told that's she's not but doc didmt really have a good look! I thought I.d have sore nipples with it though? I,ve had her latch checked and it's fine, but I don't understand why she would swallow so much air still.. She used to click a lot feeding but that's better now..

Interesting what u say about eating and breathing, she always has her mouth open, dribbles a lot and seems to be a mouth breather and snores a lot, ..!,
What treatment did your boy have or can they have and who do I go to to get it looked properly??

OP posts:
mawbroon · 23/02/2015 21:10

All these things you mention are also classic tongue tie/high palate symptoms but of course I cannot diagnose for you!!

Although some tied babies rip the mother's nipples to shreds, not all do. I was lucky enough that ds1 didn't really hurt me after the first few days, but he was not feeding well at all. It is possible for the latch to look ok on the outside, but what is happening inside the mouth is all important too.

The swallowing air can happen with the incorrect tongue motion and the clicking may have stopped because she has learned to compensate.

Have a look on my profile, there are pictures of ds1 on there from a couple of years back.

He had posterior tongue tie, a hefty lip tie and a very high narrow palate.

The high palate was encroaching on the space for the nostrils and the eustacean tubes causing mouth breathing and congested ears with noise and slight hearing loss. Mouth breathing can cause problems with tonsils and it also alters the growth of the bottom jaw. By age 7yo, Ds1's orthodontic problems were evident. His bottom jaw was already bigger than the top (should be the other way round) and there was clearly not enough room for his adult teeth.

We had his tie revised twice. The first time was done here under GA (I didn't know any better at the time). The revision was not done completely, but it was enough to completely stop the reflux like symptoms he was having. It wasn't actual reflux, but he was not chewing his food properly (it was difficult for him, as was swallowing) and was also swallowing down a lot of air. It would come back up and bring stomach contents with it. He had an endoscopy to make sure there was nothing more sinister going on, and it only showed irritation from the acid.

A few months after the first revision, I realised it was not done properly and also that the orthodontic issue had to be addressed as well. Just before his 7th birthday, he had another revision, this time with laser and local anaesthetic and he began 2 years of braces and headgear to widen his palate and open up his nostrils. We travelled a 400 mile round trip to have him revised the second time by a dentist this time.

The change in him was incredible. The snoring and mouth breathing stopped within weeks, as did the bouts of apnoea he was having. Our orthodontist also did osteopathy and regularly manipulated inside his mouth to help with the palate expansion as well as straightening out the curve in his neck which was having a knock on effect on his hips, knees and ankles.

Had we known all this when he was younger, all this could have been dealt with sooner and we may have avoided all the problems that he had. He also had allergies and intolerances. Tied kids usually have poor gut health and it appears that this may be part of the problem which causes ties. (No solid "proof" as yet)

What to do? Well, you need to go straight to somebody who knows what they are doing for assessment. That is unlikely to be your HV or GP. Google Bobby Ghaheri and Dr Kotlow for information that you can trust. Join one of the Facebook tongue tie support groups and inform yourself as well as you can about the issues you may be dealing with.

Given that she also has a high palate, you may need to find an osteopath who knows their stuff about tongue ties. Again, you may need to search for someone. Ties can cause tension in the head/jaw/neck which may need addressed after a revision and work may be needed on her palate to help flatten it out. This is normally done in utero by the tongue, but if the tongue is not moving fully then this cannot be achieved.

A distorted palate can also narrow the post nasal appertures (the holes at the back that open into the airway) and this narrowing can be the cause of snoring and more seriously sleep apnoea.

I hope you are not overwhelmed with all this information. I just want you to know that there are people out there who can help, but you have to seek them out!

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