Reflux? Fast let down? Wind? Advice needed.

[monkeysmama]

My DD is 4 weeks old. I am breast feeding and am pleased to say it has gone well since day one. She re gained her birth weight after 10 days and has put 2.4lb on since she was born. The HV is happy with her.

However, I think she is in pain a reasonable amount of time . I have no idea of any of these things are related but I have read some info about reflux and wonder whether that is what is affecting my dd. I posted this message on a different section and someone suggested I may have a fast let down?

Any advice would be very gratefully received.

• I feed her on demand & she usually eats every 2-3 hours for 20 minutes
• she seems to eat quickly and gulps a lot
• sometimes she almost chokes on mouthfuls of milk
• she wants to suck all the time (fingers, dummy etc). A dummy helped but now she is sucking it very liudly and obssessively even when she has just fed and is whimpering constantly when she has the dummy in
• she has started over the past 2 or 3 days to have a little bit of sick - but like cream (i.e thicker than milk) come out after a feed - usually about 10-15 minutes later
• she has hiccups a lot
• sometimes she seems to choke for a second about 10 minutes after eating (or catch her breath)
• we tried Infacol and it may've helped but have been giving it to her less on advice of mw
• I drink one cup of proper coffee every day (sometimes two but I am trying!)
• I have had a few glasses of wine or beer on different days (1 now and then - not a few on one day) but this doesn't seem to affect her
• She often feeds laying down

Any suggestions much appreciated.

MM

Oh monkeysmama, sorry to see this, she's still very unsettled then?

You're missing all the experts, I'll bump in the morning for you

could you give a bit more detail about why you think she is in pain?

some of the things you are describing here are, imo, quite normal for a small baby eg sucking things all the time, having a small bit of sick after a feed, hiccuping a lot. that's just my opinion as a mum, not a bf counsellor or anything. speaking of which, have you tried phoning one of the breastfeeding support lines or going to a baby cafe? seeing someone in person is often the key
have you read much about oversupply of milk btw and did it sound familiar?

What happens after a 20 minute feed? I mean, - why do you feed for 20 mins specifically?

Don't suppose you're eating too much garlic? That really upset my 2nd DD. Def linked to the food I ate...or more to the point the garlic supplement I was advised to take. Also got to the point of over feeding as it was the only thing that settled but obviously mad eit worse in the long run so just had to have blind faith and feed at least 3 hours apart - also hard

Mine really choked too, probably about 2 dozen times in a twenty min feed but she just grew out of it thankfully. Scary I know but have faith. I was advised to feed her as upright as poss but not easy I know! Is she congested at all?

without meaning to sound stupid, do you think she has a lot of wind? Sounds very much like my DD when she was very young and basically I wasn't winding her for long enough (I didn't find infacol very good either).

Morning mm, how is she?

Thanks for all these responses.

In reply to some of the questions.

1. She doesn't feed for 20 minutes exactly - just around 20 minutes at most feeds.
2. The "sick" is becoming more frequent and substantial but she seems to be a bit happier.
3. When I say she sems in pain - she is kind of scrunched up with her legs up by her belly and when I put my hand on her stomach she calms down. Her cry when she seems to have belly ache is very different to her other cries.
4. It may be wind. I don't now how to tell the difference though I have read some of the postings here about refux.

I am going to see the HV again tomorrow but lats time I asked she wasn't that helpful.

Thanks again
MM

Haven't got time to post much as its bath time. But have you seen this page on kellymom?

DD1 had reflux and I was concerned about DD2 (9weeks) who sounds quite like your LO but I think she just struggles with the speed of my let down.

Try feeding upright for a while (either in a sling or propped up with pillows) and if things improve it lend itself more towards a reflux disgnosis

Thanks Elfsmummy. Will look at link now.

MM

Sounds very familiar - my DD had a lot of similar problems, gagging and spluttering her way through feeds and BF became a real headache for me, I didn't ever get very relaxed doing it, and DD was pretty unhappy for a while (really until she started weaning) because bad feeds leads to bad sleeps, unhappy baby (wind? colic?) and unfortunately PN depression for me. With DS (15 weeks) I swore I wouldn't suffer (or let babe suffer) as before. He started to get more painful (crying hard some nights after feeds etc) and was less happy than he had been... was told to try infant Gaviscon - horrid stuff, impossible to give to BF baby so gave up on that pretty quickly. Instead took DS to a cranial osteopath. I was a bit nervous of it, but CO was friend of family so well trusted, and she did nothing that looked to distress or cause baby pain at all, sort of cradled his head a bit, stretched his legs, pulled his ears (gently!) and I thought what a load of twaddle it all was... BUT he did calm down a LOT after seeing CO only once. She did notice he was gulping air as he chewed his dummy, and she ran a finger round his mouth and claimed she had that sorted. And henceforth he required dummy a lot less. I am generally a bit of a sceptic, and even now wonder if it was all just coincidence that he seemed to improve after seeing CO... but I would certainly take another new baby to see her if I had one, and I was so keen to actively try and 'do' something to improve situation rather than have it run on as before and end up with me cracking up! My time with DS is a lot, lot easier and happier than it was with DD (now nealry 3 and healthy happy girl). And no sign of evil PND for me - hooray!