Very unsettled EBF baby, please advise!

[Feedingnightmare]

Hi all.

DD2 is 5 weeks old and EBF. DD1 was CMPI and I noticed similar symptoms early on with DD2 so have been dairy free for a few weeks now. She seemed fairly settled at first but the last week or so she has been extremely uncomfortable during and after feeds (basically all the time!).

She's extremely windy and struggles to poo- when she does finally poo it can be a tiny little "shart" as my DH likes to call it. She usually has a screaming episode after most feeds and is straining most of the time that she's awake poor thing. She's gaining weight fine and lots of wet and dirty nappies, but I can tell that something in my milk isn't agreeing with her. She had an appointment with a CO earlier this week who said she might have temporary lactose intolerance due to being on antibiotics when she was born- so I've started her on Colief drops and probiotics.

I'm not terribly worried as I know (particularly from my horrendous and anxiety filled experience with DD1) that most children's guts become more mature and resilient after the 4th trimester. However if there is something I can do to make her more comfortable and my own life easier, I would like to know!

If anyone's experienced similar, please advise.

I had something similar with my now 4 month old, tried excluding a lot of things but didn't really get to the bottom of it, he just got better by himself the last few weeks.
However I did find that wheat would make him snotty and worsen his baby achne. Caffeine would make him unsettled. Large amounts of nuts made him very gassy and uncomfortable. Too much corn seemed to upset him. Food fried in oil would cause a lot of reflux.

Me drinking camomile or fennel tea in the evening seemed to settle him a little bit.

But, thinking back, the midwife at my breastfeeding antenatal class said you can pretty much eat anything you normally would when breastfeeding 😆

Could be oversupply of milk if she's only getting the foremilk, colief should help with that though. Also that would settle when your milk supply levels out around 6 weeks.

Oversupply and lactose overload maybe? Mine peaked at 6wo and sounded just like yours. Spacing out feeds to 3- 4 hours (soother or cuddles in between) worked very fast. Try it for a day or two.

Thanks for your replies! I suffered from a low supply with DD1 so this time I've been pumping between feeds (so technically created a bit of an over supply...?)- would that cause the lactose overload?

@villainousbroodmare @Scramble1805 I'm glad both your babies grew out of it!

DD2 comfort feeds a lot and then brings milk back up...and then repeats the cycle. I guess that doesn't really help the situation! I've tried giving her a pacifier but she doesn't want to know. I guess it's just a waiting game until her gut is stronger?

Also...I think the Colief is helping ever so slightly - she is still windy but definitely pooing better. No more sharts, just normal BF poos! Small wins :)

Ah well if you've been pumping already then you may well have an oversupply. It's better to wait until milk supply has leveled off to babys needs.

I didn't have this, but my understanding is women who have low supply with their first often have the complete opposite with their second, their bodies over compensate. So this might have been likely anyway even if you didn't pump.

Keep up the colief and maybe ease off very gradually from the pumping.

Update- DD had a decent day yesterday but still screaming her head off at night- I've just accepted it as witching hour. Anyway as she seemed a little better, she slept a longer stretch and I woke up badly engorged and leaking...all a bit of a mess. As a result I think DD got looooads of foremilk and is really unsettled again today. The cycle begins again!
I'm going to try and gradually reduce pumping- as you said @Scramble1805 , that might settle things a bit...I hope!

Op has anyone checked the baby for a tongue tie? X

@SameScriptDifferentCast A few people have but not an IBCLC. They basically all said she looks fine and that if she does have a TT, it's very mild and she should adapt as she gets bigger. My eldest DD had a very obvious one where my nipples would come out flat and blanched and very painful. This time around I have zero pain or discomfort so I haven't really persisted with getting an IBCLC to check.

I would just in case. At least it will have been ruled out if it isn't x