2 week old vomiting after feeds - wind/reflux/colic?

[littleduck]

In the last few days my two week old baby girl has started vomiting during/after feeds.

I have loads and loads of milk and I think the let down is quite strong. DD likes to divide her feeds up into a starter, main course and sometimes pudding - this evening she was quite sick with what looked like freshly drunk milk after her starter and then when I was winding her threw up a bit of older more clotted milk. She threw up some more older clotted milk after I had put her in her Moses basket, after which I picked her up, changed her muslin and she wanted to be fed a bit more which I did, she wasn't sick again (as far as I know but have not checked Moses basket)and has been sleeping peacefully for the last hour. She doesn't seem distressed when she vomits and it's not projectile. She doesn't do it every feed but has done on two or three today. She takes quite a while to feed (say 40 mins split between two breasts) and can be a very noisy feeder, especially at night when the milk flow seems very fast and she is almost gasping for air between sucks as if drinking loads very quickly.

We find it quite difficult to get her wind up and wonder if there may be some trapped wind which is making her sicker than would otherwise be the case. Certainly a couple of times we have put her down after unsuccessful attempts to get her wind up and she has cried as if in pain but stops when we pick her up. Feeding seems to comfort her when she is like this.

Midwife advised to tilt cot and put her down on her side which we are doing.

I just wonder if she may have reflux or colic as well as problems with trapped wind - however she doesn't arch her back, or scream continuously, or seem in pain when she vomits although she doesn't like to be put down when we haven't been able to burp her.

Just after some advice/thoughts, I don't like to hear her cry with the wind and although I know some vomiting is normal I am wondering if she may have a problem.

Hi littleduck,

Firstly, she still really young and you and her are still adjusting your supply to meet her demands. its great you have lots of milk - keep it up!! I think there may be people on here who can tell you how to slow down your milk flow to make it easier for her.

It may be trapped wind if she is sick when she burps and if it takes a while to wind her then it will be more clotted. My ds2 (now 8mths) had terrible trapped wind and would be fine if held upright but if you lay him down, he would scream until he was able to burp. Holding her upright for a while after feeds will help with sickiness and try holding her chin up when she burps to try to keep the milk down. She may be comfort sucking to relieve the pain of trapped wind as sucking releases endorphins but too much sucking will mean she taking in too much milk and therefore she will be more sicky, what colour are her poos generally?? DS1 was just the same. he would happily suck for hours, be sick everywhere and go back for more. Eventually i gave him a dummy when i knew he had had enough to eat and this worked for him.

You could try winding her about 5 mins into a feed and then every 10 mins after that to stop too much milk 'sitting' on top of the wind. If she is not easy to wind you could try infacol or dentinox colic drops. both have a chemical in them to make the burps bubbles bigger and therefore easier to bring up. The hv was right about cot as well.

She's too little to know if its reflux but she may have non-acidic reflux (you don't get the back-arching and screaming with vomiting as it doesn't hurt as much). this type of reflux is not usually a concern unless they are losing weight and being sick a lot - its just a nuisance. Atm, she isn't sick too much - my ds1 and ds2 were sick about 6 times between each feed and i would have to change them about 4 times a day and the house was coeverd with sick. They both grew out of it btw.

Good luck

Thanks for your thoughts LouLou - her poos are mustardy yellow with seedy bits in which I gather is how they should be at this stage. She was pooing about 5-6 times daily but now does bigger poos about 3 times daily. Loads of wet nappies.

She is sometimes sick in the middle of a feed when she has just come off the breast before we get her upright (that is when she chucks up the new-looking milk) but will bear in mind keeping her chin up for sickness when she burps.

Have just fed her and she hadn't been sick between feeds and wasn't sick during last feed. Managed to get some wind up, hurrah!

Poos are absolutely normal - its dark green you have to watch out for.

Well done on the winding front too!! You never thought you would be so obsessed about someone else's bowels/stomach and flatulence did you!!

Hi this probably wont help much but sounds very simlar to my now 8 week old. He has been the much the same. Difficult to bring up wind and is sometimes sick although not at the same time as burping. seems for him to be either a burp, sick or horrendous farts and then he is happy. His poo is fine gaining weight well and generally happy so not too concerned. I do find the opposite with laying down tho. he is more comfortable laid down and laying on back for a couple of minutes helps bring wind up when i pick him up again.

DS1 now 3 never had wind in the form of burps but was sick loads and loads following every feed. this was until he was 6months.

HTH. Try not to worry to much.

Sounds like she is dealing with oversupply/ Overactive letdown. It's not unusual at this stage and often settles down by itself (though sometimes you need to give it a helping hand).
Oversupply often gets mixed up with colic symptoms. It's very often mistaken for reflux. I think it's very unlikely you are dealing with colic or reflux if you suspect you have a lot of milk and a fast flow. Oversupply is much more likely.
You are describing nice yellow poos and in a severe case of oversupply poos tend to be greener as the baby is getting an overdose of foremilk which contains lots of lactose and can stimulate the poo to be faster and greener. And with mega oversupply weight gain can ironically be a problem as the baby may not reach the fattier milk.

Oversupply and overactive letdown often go together and a baby gets windier as a result as they are struggling with the faster flow and taking in more air.

Kellymom has some nice tips on positioning and dealing with oversupply. I wouldn't go down the block nursing route at this stage but you may find you fall into a pattern of single-sided feeding (block nursing is described in the link below). How are you making the switch between breasts? I would burp her after breast number 1 (as she does have some windy issues) and return to number 1 before moving onto number2.
kellymom stuff is here:
www.kellymom.com/bf/supply/fast-letdown.html

I had what you describe with both my babies. My second seemed very refluxy and in the end I did do some block nursing and it sorted itself out immediately. With my first he carried on spitting up for many months but weight gain was fine and he didn't mind spitting up, it was just verrrry messy.

I had that with my baby and took him to A&E at 10 days old (beginner Mum and the midwife advised it) and he was prescribed infant Gaviscon as he 'had reflux'..... but I didn't give it to him and all the sicking settled down v quickly - maybe a couple of weeks later. I used to keep him upright for 30 mins after all feeds. He is now 12 weeks and rarely possets. I also had masses and masses of milk (got mastitis straight away etc).

It settled down and he stopped puking! But I was v v v concerned and anxious about it all.