Help! 14 week old screaming at every feed and it's really getting me down.

[screaminghabdabs]

Hello all. I'm new here and I'm hoping that someone may be able to help me as we're in a desperate state. DD2 is 14 weeks old and has screamed from birth when being fed. BF exclusively for first 6 weeks and then on advice of HV gave up BF as she wasn't gaining weight and was refusing the breast and screaming...However, still fights bottles (Avent and Aptamil) and screams and screams. GP and HV have said it's colic although she doesn't draw legs up and brings wind up OK. (Plus DD1 had bad colic and this is much more severe) Tried infacol, gripe water, colief, Dr Brown bottles, homeopathy and osteopathy without any improvement. Also cow and gate FF. I'm at my wits end as it can take an hour to get 3oz down her and she screams the whole time although is clearly hungry. It's got so bad that I've been diagnosed with PND and given prozac Gp keeps fobbing me off by saying she's a difficult baby although I've pleaded for a referral to a paediatrician as my instinct tells me it's something else. In a good week she's only gaining 1 or 2 oz a week in weight and has dropped from 98th centile to the 8th. On bad weeks she doesn't gain at all. When she's not screaming she's alert and smiley but hates being put down and needs to be held the whole time. She has short naps during the day and sometimes wakes up screaming from those.
Please help as I hate seeing her in so much pain and I'm finding it extremely difficult to cope with the constant crying.

sounds like either milk intolerance or possibly a hernia. Certainly I'd ask the gp to prescribe a lactose free formula like pepti junior or nutramigen or neocate. Needing to be upright sounds like reflux. It's very common in small babies and often goes with milk intolerance. You need to ask for a referral but try other things while you wait.

If you can get a granny to go with you to the gp and tell him this isn't normal your gp may take more notice. Also if you can borrow a video that would show them how bad it can get.

If your gp is still not good when the shops open again you could try getting some lactase from larger branches of holland & barrett. If its a problem with milk that may help. Probiotics might help too but ones suitable for babies can be hard to get - a health food store might have some.

You have my sympathy. When I finally got to a consultant with my screaming baby they couldn't stand the noise for 10 minutes! Luckily my baby had missed their nap that day so they got a short taste of what it was like. I think my gp had quite a rude note from the consultant because they apologised next time they saw me.

how is she doing, screaminghabdabs?

My DD was like this (she was completely breastfed) we thought (and were told it was colic). And I took her to a chiropractor and that helped alot! However, it turns out she is 'slightly' lactose intolerant but I only found this out at around 14 months when I started introducing cows milk feeds into her diet (as I said was bf'd before that). The reason I say she is slightly intolerant is that she can stomach some dairy foods - cheese/yoghurt but not actual cows milk.

GP still a bit iffy about it all but I did eventually manage to get them to prescribe lactose free milk. You can buy it (I got one tin myself and then got the GP to prescribe the rest when I saw the difference in my DD). It was SMA LF (Lactose Free) - was about £5 per tin which is v expensive but is worth trying - I saw an improvement in DD almost instantly! Also her weight went from the 50th to the 93rd centile in 4 weeks!!! Her weight has now stabilised again but it makes you wonder whether she was not thriving initially.

I had a v hard time with my GP (and other GPs at the surgery - they write you off as a neurotic mother or depressed like you say) but I echo what someone else said - it's exhausting battling with them but you know your DD best!

Hope you get sorted soon - my GP outright refused to refer my DD to a paed (eventhough we have private med!) so I had to research and sort the problem myself - not ideal when you sometimes wonder if you can be 'harming' them in some other way - but what else can you do??? My DD is now 20 months and she is much, much better - no thanks to my bloddy GP though!

Sorry just echo was Tatt says - I now use lactase drops in normal cows milk and it is fantastic stuff. Silly me asked the GP if it was OK to use first and they said "never heard of it but try it if you like"!!! . I think it may only be suitable from 3+ months though and probably is best used in cows milk (clearly your DD is too young for that) as the 'treated' milk has to be left 24 hrs before used.

However, Colief is apparently the same stuff but suitable for newborns - have you tried it? Meant to be fantastic - I never could use it as I breastfed and it really needs to be added to bottles - it's not cheap (Around £10) but if it works you may be able to get GP to prescribe.

Sorry to throw all these options at you but anything is worth trying.... good luck!

Hi,

Haven't posted before but have been following this thread as my 8 week old DS was suffering exactly the same problem except he was a frequent feeder and was gaining weight. I suspected reflux (know a little about it as best friend has had 4 babies, all with severe reflux) so went to GP when he was 5 weeks to be fobbed off twice with "it's just wind" before striking lucky and getting a gp at the practice with an interest in reflux,

DS is also now on Gaviscon and it is helping a litle. He has also been referred to the paed at the hosp.

I just wanted to say thank you for this thread. I was going to post on the same day as this thread was started asking if I was being neurotic or if people thought it was reflux so I printed the thread and showed it to the GP today who sang the praises of mn.

I hope your DD gets better soon.

kamikayzed - you can get lf milk in supermarkets here (assume you now live in UK?). But it's semi skimmed (so no good for my little one yet) - it's called Lacto free.... You can find it in the chiller beside other milks (have seen it in Tesco and Waitrose). Yes thanks, knew about the cheese/yoghurt thing - they also believe the bio cultures in yoghurt 'do something' to the lactose too... Anyway I digress...

Hello again, apologies for not posting for a while with an update.

Alas, after the initial improvement with gaviscon, she began screaming again a few days ago and so I stopped it. Admittedly, I had been giving the gaviscon in every other feed as it was making her constipated for up to 2 days at a time which was causing her pain in itself and she was still refusing bottles with it in.

3 days ago I changed the formula to Hipp organic in case she just doesn't like the taste of aptamil/it doesn't agree with her and I'm willing to try anything at this point.... So far, she's taking more each feed although still screaming and pushing/pulling the bottle, particularly in the afternoons and evenings. BUT, she has now sprouted her 1st 2 teeth so I think that the teething must have been causing her pain when feeding which would coincide with when the screaming starting again a few days ago.

So, to recap, at the moment she's only on hipp organic milk without colief or gaviscon and I've put her on 3 hole teats instead of 2 in case she's been getting frustrated at the time it's taking her to feed. (Still up to an hour to clear 4 oz) If the screaming gets really bad once again, I'll put her back on gaviscon and ask the GP for a referral so she can try an alternative that won't constipate her.

She's had colief in her milk since she was 6 weeks old without much difference. I stopped the colief when started gaviscon. Cranial osteopathy from 1 week to 6 weeks didn't help at all, and the therapist commented that everything seemed aligned as it should be.

I feel terrible for saying it, but I'm beginning to wonder if I just have a really awkward baby as it seems that I've tried everything and nothing seems to improve for very long. She seems to be OK in the mornings and will now usually polish off most of 6 oz when she's hungry, but the rest of the time it's still a real struggle.
I'm keeping a note of what/when she feeds so I can take it to the GP and get a referral. Fingers crossed. Thanks once again for all your suggestions and support x

It's so reassuring to know that I'm not alone with this situation - thank god for you mumsnet lovelies; you're really keeping me going. I hope the others who have LO's experiencing similar problems manage to find some relief soon as well. x

Hi Screaminghabdabs, I also have a dd with very similar eating habits to yours! (she's now 22wks) we have gone down the silent reflux route, ranitidine and domperidone made a little difference but the problem is definatly still there. Lactose free milks have made her incredibly constipated to the point where we have had no choice but to go back to aptimil. We have also tried osteopathy with no success. Funnily enough I read about Dysphagia for the first time today and came on to mumsnet to see if I could find any more about it. I will be asking my paed for the test (a barium swallow test I think) as the symptoms sound very very familiar.....

btw, was also offered Prozac by GP.... I declined though. dd was lucky(!) enough to be already seeing a paed for other problems and kind of hi-jacked that appointment to get tests done for food intolorance (all showed nothing btw)so they diagnosed silent reflux without doing any tests!

Hi again Kayzed sorry to hear that your dd isn't doing so well at the moment. hope things improve soon.

Hi Screaminghabdabs, this is the first time I have posted on mumsnet, but seeing your story makes me want to cry with frustration for you. My ds is only 12wks old and we have a similar story, after repeated visits to GP from 2wks old with absoloutely no results - was just told that all babies cry & that they don't have any stomach acid - I absoloutely put my foot down and said I wouldn't leave the surgery till he gave me a referral. Heard nothing from the hospital for days so rung my GP every day until he gave me the phone number for the peads secretary. When I finally got through to her she said that they had scheduled a appt for march (this was end of Oct) as my GP's letter stated that it wasn't an urgent case! Nearly went bezerk and eventually managed to get appt for the following week. Now on Omeperazole, was using both Gaviscon and Carobel together before just to try and keep the acid down for him. Are facing a new set of probs now as omeperazole doesn't seem to agree with ds too well, but at least we are in the peads system & have been given a helpline number. You are so right to be concerned, a friend has just had to have her 8yr old son operated on cos his osophagus (sp?) was so badly scared by silent reflux - don't want to scare you, just to give you ammunition! Just read this through and realise how scary I sound, but was vindicated when we got to see the pead & she said that ds really needed help. Am really rooting for you! Found that putting him to sleep on left side, propped with small rolled up blankets so he couldn't roll onto his tummy really reduced the incidences of sudden screaming wake-up calls!

Had another thought Screaminghabdabs, (hope I'm not taking up too much space here!?) After much trial and error, we think that another facet of the problem might be that the prozac I take for my M.E is getting through my milk and further irritating ds's poor osophagus & nervous system. I'm on a very very low dose, only 5mls per day, but that seeme.d to be enough to cause him further probs. Could there be anything that you are having that is or was (I seem to remember that you have stopped bf for the moment)upsetting your lo, I know that prozac takes between 3 to 4 wks to get out of the system so changing to formula doesn't necessarily have instant results. Incedentally, we have had success with cow & gate Comfort milk with a variflow teat.

Hi may get lynnched but iam a (v. junior) pead. This sounds exactly like reflux, gaviscon alone rarely sorts it out completely. Your GP can perscribe ranitadine and/ or domperidone which normally works. Carobel will make her constipated and apatamil is probrably digested easier,the milk which will help best is omneocomfort by cow and gate. Good luck, you have n't got a difficult baby the love is in pain bless her

aarrgghh it all sounds so familiar

I had the same battles with dd (who is now 6) but was referred to a paed (eventually) as she had obvious milk, soya and egg allergies.

Gaviscon did nothing for us and neither did ranitidine - what happened in the end, was that she just outgrew it (around 1ish I reckon, but a noticeable improvement from around 6 months +). Being on nutramigen helped (because of the milk/soya allergy) and also being INCREDIBLY careful not to over feed.

Otherwise, all I can offer is sympathy. I thought I was going to go out of my mind. I had to give up work because nowhere would take her, her vomiting was too bad.

Re the omeprazole - I go on this every now and then and find it better to take it in the morning (not sure how many doses you have to give). If I take it at night, it disturbs my sleep. Don't know if it is the same in babies but thought it might be worth a try if it is causing problems.

Hello again. Thanks for the additional useful info.
I filmed DD2 being fed last week and took it into the baby clinic to prove it wasn't in my mind/normal behaviour. I also took along a copy of the reflux symptoms that Frosty provided with my ticks against the many relevant points. As the HV has witnessed the feeding behaviour from when DD2 was being BF at 6 weeks and was rejecting the breast/screaming then and she and the GP were the ones that advised I stopped BF as it was clearly my milk/technique that was upsetting her, (Grrrrr), I demanded that she put pressure on the GP to refer...I received a call later that day from the GP to organise a paed appt for the end of January. GP added that she now felt the time had come to get an expert involved as she now had concerns!!! Thanks a bunch! I don't feel that we can wait that long as DD2 is getting worse and so are investigating paying for the referral ourselves so we can be seen next week. I also told her that I'd stopped the prozac as my baby is the one who is ill and it's her symptoms that are causing me anxiety and need to be treated rather than sending me away with a prescription.
DD2 is only taking an average of 4 oz per feed and some days only 10 oz in total. She has also started possetting sometimes. I bought some cow and gate comfort this week but can't find avent medium variflow/single hole medium teats. Any ideas what to use? Would a fast flow teat be too much for a 4 month old? Do any other teats fit avent bottles? The gaviscon completely bunged her up even though I only used 1 sachet in a 7oz bottle.
Glad to hear things have improved for your little ones Kamikayzed and mummymellie and Foxinsock's posting also gives me hope. Thanks for all your concerns about my LO. x

screaming i don't know where you are based but there is often a rapid acsess cliniic that you can be seen in before the end ofthe month (usaally the next day or that week).. If she is only taking 10`oz a day and you are all miserable you should definately get help asap (by which I mean medication being a literal minded medic). It sounds like this has been going on for a longtime already.

screaming, glad the GP has referred you. End of Jan is actually not too bad in terms of waiting times but always worth calling the paed clinic and asking if you can take up a cancellation appointment.

Have you tried a non milk based formula? Both my children had reflux - one (dd) had a milk allergy and the other one (ds) didn't. Although dd's allergy was clear and it doesn't sound like yours has many symptoms of one, I wonder if it is worth trying a non-milk based formula just in case (for a few days say). I think you may be able to get one over the counter now? Might be worth asking the GP.

sorry, where I said not many symptoms of one - I meant not many obvious symptoms (like hives, swelling, breathing difficulties etc.) that you would easily notice. It may be that the stomach discomfort is a symptom of the allergy iyswim.

Good news! Thanks to Watford General A&E dept I now have a prescription for Ranitidine and Domperidone (sp?). I explained the situation and the triage nurse recognised reflux even before the doc had checked her. The 4 hour wait coincided with feeding time and so Daisy helpfully illustrated the problem to all and sundry. We'll be attending the Paed clinic at the end of January at the same hosp anyway so will at least know if the drugs have helped or we need to try something else by then. I'm so annoyed that I let my GP and HV plant seeds of doubt in my mind about recognising a problem with my baby. Never, never again.