I've spent hours and hours here trying to find answers for my newborn who was struggling so I thought I'd share my story so it can help others.
I have now a 7 weeks old daughter who has been struggling with reflux and colicky behaviour since she was about 1 week old. She was EBF for 2.5 weeks and after that we switched to EFF.
Here were her symptoms:
- Arching her back and crying after each feed
- Vomiting (sometimes projectile) and spitting up after each feed and between each feed
- Screaming for hours every day and overall being a very unhappy baby. She would either be sleeping, eating or crying, never just awake and happy.
- Impossible to put her on her back (she would be happy to be put on her side)
- Grunting a lot during her sleep, she would wake up every 10/20 min crying or looking really uncomfortable
- Developed really bad acne on her face and all down her neck that became really swollen and red after 4 weeks.
We tried EVERYTHING:
- keeping her upright for 30 min after each feed, changing position for feeding etc.
- Gaviscon (did nothing)
- Infacol and dentinox (did nothing)
- Anti reflux formula (gave her really bad diarrhoea + projectile vomiting)
- Nutramigen to rule out a lactose intolerance (made her symptoms worst)
After several trip to the hospital, she was put on Omeprazole and we were told that she was just a newborn with reflux...
The Omeprazole helped a lot, but it did take a good 10-14 days to see any improvements! It didn't stop the vomiting but there was less crying.
Although she was still a very unhappy baby and the Omeprazole gave her constipation (we gave her Lactulose which helped). Her spots were getting worst and worst so we finally decided to put her on Neocate for a potential milk allergy.
All the doctors were telling us it's not that because she didn't have blood or mucus in her stools and didn't have a rash.
After 3 days on Neocate she was already a completely different baby! She is now smiling a lot, she no longer screams in pain for hours and is much much more settled. Even if she does cry, she can be comforted which was not the case before. Her spots have gone down as well.
It's been 8 days now and she keeps getting better. There is way less vomiting, even though it still happens.
Ideally we want to wean her off Omeprazole but I think it'll take another few weeks to get there.
If your baby is a very unhappy/unsettle baby, listen to your guts. If it's not just reflux, then it might be a milk allergy and it's worth giving a Neocate a go!