Infant Colic

[tsonika]

Hi there my son is 7 weeks old and has bad colic which seems ro be getting worse.
last 2 days he has been squeezing his whole body in pain and doesnt want to eat his formula (using caw and gate colic and constipation) but will still have brestfeeds (although I dont have enough and he is left hungry).
tried infacol when he first started having colic, but he ended up constipated.
Did gripe water for last 8 days but doesnt seem to help.
considering colief drops now but it seems to difficult to prepare ans then waiting 30mins etc.

Has anyone had similar issues? please help and advise.

What do you mean that 'you don't have enough' BM?
How much formula/ how much BM each day?

What are nappies like?

How is weight gain?

Hi, I always offer breast first but have to top up- 4 or 5 bottles a day 120ml.
Usually he uses breasts to calm himself before going to bed. at night, i try to do only breast feeding.

the midwives told me I dont have enough breastmilk as he was constantly hungry even after feeding so I had to start with formula.

He has many wet nappies a day but poo is problematic- every 2-3days, usually a massive one. 2 weeks ago he was badly constipated and after 6 days paeditrician gave him suppositary hence the reason why we changed the formula to colic & repeat (easier to digest apparently).

it was on this site that I read that infacol side effect is constipation and i was glad we stopped it. but not sure if gripe water works.
Thinking of trying Colic Calm or Copied

Right why do you feel you have to top up? It's normal for babies to feed a lot early on, this is called cluster feeding and is trying to establish your supply. The more formula you give, the more you're essentially telling your breasts to not make so much milk.

It's also quite normal for babies to not poo every day. THis isn't actually constipation unless the poo is hard, and small like rabbit droppings when it does arrive. My DS went about 10 days at that age. Then when he did go, it was apparently endless. I was giving infacol too but that did help with his wind.

I don’t have the answer to colic / wind issues but did want to reassur you that by 12 weeks old many babies stop or reduce their suffering - in part it’s because their systems are still so small they can’t cope with even a small amount of wind. Both mine were miles better by 3m old.

With bottles I found moving to Dr Browns reduced the wind they took in during a feed - we had been using Tommee Tippee and went back to them later once wind issues were over.

Re Formula I understand what you’re saying and I have been giving top ups to DS2 - I know about the formula gap and the issues it can give with supply, but I also know what it’s like to feed a baby and have them screaming for more so I understand why you’ve been giving them especially if the midwives have put you on that path. That said, is it 120mls in total or 4/5 bottles of 120mls? A baby will usually take between 800-900mls a day of milk (very rough average) so if yours is on 480mls+ of formula a day then it’s a big proportion and I’d suggest the wind issues may be because of the bottle, the way they feed, or the formula itself.

Mine is 8 weeksand whilst the colic isn’t as bad as yours he does similar things. About 2 nights a week the colic hits and he cries uncontrollably for a couple of hours.

Mine is fed 2/3 bottles of breast milk a day and colic /constipation milk. He also only poos every 2-3 days and when he does it is explosive (which is normal apparently).The things we find help are:

• infacol - you need to keep it up or it doesn’t work I find.i give it every second feed

• bathing- if he is colicy wevbath him and it calms him

• massage- I notice mine is worse if he hasn’t pood so I massage his belly dailyto release gas and help stimulate his bowels.loads if videos on YouTube that show you what to do

• burp burp burp I try to burp him 3 times per feed and if he doesn’t go wait ten mins and try again. I also keep him upright after food as I think he gets a bit of reflux too

• routine. I don’t know why but he is better if he has had a calm and predictable day. Colic flares up with visitors/over stimulation or ifhe gets upset.

-stay calm- I really couldn’t handle his crying episodes at first and git very stressed. Now I just try to accept that he will cry until the pain goes and eventually sleep (colic always hits before bed).try to zone out and it makes it easier for you to cope.

Not easy op and you have my sympathy. Hopefully they will grow out of it.