Reflux/constant crying PLEASE HELP :(

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be aware LONG post but please read! I'm
Trying to include as much info as I can and background info so I'm not drip feeding

Hi everyone
I'm currently typing this as I try and survive yet another sleepless night. I am a walking zombie and I desperately need help/advice off those of you who have been here before.

My son is 10 weeks old. Born at 37 weeks by c-section because I had pre eclampsia and he was breech. Completely formula fed, no breast feeding at all as I couldn't. As of right now we are on cow & gate first infant milk. He is on omeprazole for reflux and we use gripe water too. We use MAM anti colic bottles.

So soon as he was straight onto the bottle on C&G. From the very beginning he literally threw up loads after every bottle. He also cried/screamed when lay flat on his back in his next to me crib or Moses basket and would also be sick or being up clear liquid (which I have been told by HV is acid?) (but doesn't cry in pram - he loves his pram - but is still sometimes sick or bringing up liquid). He will mostly only settle in our arms.
HV very confused as she said this sounds like reflux and heartburn (when he lies down) HOWEVER he is still putting on weight so no concerns there. Apparently reflux babies lose weight?

HV recommends C&G reflux milk. Sickness stops almost completely but the screaming when lying down continues to get worse.

So as advised off HV I go to GP and ask for infant gaviscon - try this, made him really constipated which was absolutely awful to watch him scream in agony and not poo for 3 days so we came off it as I would rather him be sick than constipated. So the reflux milk is thick but the gaviscon makes it even thicker.

Back to GP we go. We are given omeprezole which worked wonders and he finally started to (sometimes) settle on his back in next to me crib and Moses basket. It was still a work of art getting him in there without him realising he'd been put down but we were getting somewhere.

Eventually he gets constipated again and it was awful. Back to GP who said maybe it's too much being on omeprazole AND reflux milk as it's so thick. So she suggested we go back on the normal milk and continue work omeprazole.

That brings me to now. My son has now gone back to being sick after every single bottle and is once again crying when lay on his back. However it's not screaming it's more like that low level whining. DP thinks he now just wants to be in our arms at all times. During the day I'll put him in the Moses basket so I can go for a wee, before my backside is even on the downstairs toilet he is crying. The second I pick him up he settles. He also screams when having his nappy changed or getting dressed.

When his next to me crib at night I have put it on a slant as advised by GP to help with reflux. This has got steeper as the weeks
Have gone on - if I incline the thing any more he will be bloody stood up. We are always
Woken around 2am by him crying and he makes gargling sounds also like his throat is full of fluid - HV said this is acid but I'm worried something worse. GP listened to chest/Lungs and all fine.

Please help me - is it me? Am I doing something wrong? Is it the brand of milk? Why does he cry every evening from tea time onwards? Why is it a work of art getting him
To sleep? Why does he only want to sleep on me? He is a grumpy baby - he only smiles at me once a day and I feel like the worst mum in the world. Surely he should be thriving more and not spending his little life constipated or being sick or crying 😢

He is absolutely gorgeous and I love him to pieces. I know he loves me because he stares into my Eyes when he's feeding and squeezes my finger 😢 I write this as I'm
Sat on the sofa with him asleep in my arms so he can sleep and so dp can sleep as he has to be up at 5am for work. It's the same rigmarole every single night. Couple of
Hours sleep then I'm up and won't get any
More sleep now. I'm so dangerously tired 😴

dp thinks it’s made him a bit constipated- any insights anyone? We are just trying cycling legs and tummy massages i learnt at baby massage

Hi OP.
How is your little boy? Has the change in milk helped?

Hard to say at the moment. I have noticed his skin seems much clearer and smoother and he isn't really making griping noises anymore. However he is still being sick a lot and he is constipated too...and his farts omg they absolutely stink

I don't know how long the new milk will take to work or if it's not agreeing with him :(

Hi OP, after reading your posts it definitely sounds like it could be CMPA. My little boy is nearly 11 weeks old and I’m pretty sure he has an allergy to milk.
I had hoped to breastfeed but after a seriously rocky start (was also given antibiotics during birth) it wasn’t possible and ended up formula feeding in the second week. Pretty much from then he had awful dry skin, a rash that I was told was infant acne but would flare up after feeding, vomited A LOT, back and forth between diarrhoea and constipation and would cry ALL the time. At first we were given gaviscon (only 10 days old!) as the GP said reflux and allergy is over diagnosed , then we were given omeprazole, then an increased dose of gaviscon and it has been a fight up until now.
after several trips to A&E I finally had a Dr listen to me and he said sounds like allergy and actually reflux is linked to allergy as it’s the bodies way of trying to get the milk out. The first milk you really want to try is Nutramigen 1. I won’t lie, it smells vile and the Dr said some babies take a while to get used to it and might not drink it at first. It’s also really thin and best used with a thickener at first. We currently use the gaviscon for that but will be trying carobel soon. He said it will be tough but it’s the best thing for him (and us as I was unbelievably sleep deprived). Anyway within 2 days we saw an immediate improvement. His skin was amazing! A lot less sickness, no more pooing during every feed and the smiles we got were more than we’d ever had.
we have now had to be moved onto a fully synthetic amino acid formula as his symptoms are returning and the infant feeding specialist said this can happen but I have high hopes.
Is your baby difficult to burp? Also do you notice after a specific length of time he seems in discomfort? Like clockwork, my little boy would start crying and squirming in pain 2 hours after feeding and you could hear his tummy gurgling.
unfortunately there isn’t a test for this sort of delayed reaction allergy. The test is to try the milk and see if it helps. Then after 4-6 weeks you have to reintroduce dairy and that’s then the confirmation.

Oh also to say, the Dr did tell us it takes a good 3 weeks to properly clear the system of dairy so you may have to try the milk you’re already on for a bit longer to see any improvement.
It’s really hard going I know. Last week I ended up counting it would be between 30-40 feeds before our appointment with the infant feeding team and I wasn’t sure I could watch him go through that every time. It was hard. Just keep taking one day or even feed at a time and I keep telling myself it will get better.
have you got much support? The paediatrician at the hospital told me to tell as much family as possible the Dr said they needed to help, Doctors orders, 😂 because it’s so tough.
also our little boy’s farts STINK haha. We were told it’s the milk so could be the same with yours and not to worry. He also now strains a lot when he has to poo.
I’m not too worried about that yet as we need to try this different formula first but I know one mum who’s baby needed the amino acid formula combined with a little carobel to thicken and movicol to sort the constipation but she said it was like having a different baby once they’d nailed the right combination of formula etc.