Is this Reflux or Fast Let down or just plain old Colic ?

[sollydolly]

I've read up lots of threads on here but I still can't decide what's going on with my 3 week old breastfed DD.

For the last week or so she has been having episodes where she throws up huge amounts, and screams for a couple of hours, she wants to feed again once she's been sick, but fusses and comes off screaming even harder. This usually happens late evening, but can happen at any time of day. It seems to be that she has a day or two where she'll have a couple of rounds of this, and then a day where she is settled fine. It doesn't happen at every feed, and can come on when she hasn't fed recently at all. Her night feeds in particular are quite short and calm.

I'm wondering about fast let down because she does seem to cough and splutter when feeding sometimes. Also I'm really leaky this time (I bfed DS a couple of years ago and never leaked at all, so I'm v surprised by this) I keep waking up in the night soaking and now I'm increasingly getting wet patches in the day too.

However, HV suggested it might be reflux, and I know that evening crying is generally colic, although DS never had any of this so I'm a bit lost to know what it is and what to do..

Any help or suggestions would be v welcome.

...meant to say that DD was a big baby when born, at over 9 lbs, and is putting on weight at a great rate and last week, at 2.5 weeks old was 11 oz over birthweight...

... and this morning she's having a crying / vomiting episode... I wish I knew what to do to help her.

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Hi Sollydolly, sorry to hear about your DD. I don't really have any answers but will bump for you!!

Me again!! Could it possibly be something you're eating that she is reacting to? Also i've heard that baby slings can help reduce colic by keeping baby upright - maybe worth a try?! Good luck tho i know its horrible when you can't seem to help them settle. Hopefully things will improve and i'm sure there will be lots more advice for you on here soon.

Also I read somewhere advice telling mums with overflowing milk to express off a little before feeding... maybe that would help??

It sounds like it might be oversupply/fast letdown. Have you tried block feeding? There is a lot on info about oversupply/fast letdown on kellymom.com
However, it does have the hallmarks of reflux as well! Am hoping that tiktok or someone more knowledgable than me will come along to help you!

Thank you for your responses... I have been doing the expressing before feeding thing which didn't seem to do much, although I am managing to collect some useful EBM.

I have also been trying block feeding which is helping a bit I think. She's still having the vomiting and screaming episodes but perhaps not so severely as it was.

Ellie, I've also been having some success with the sling, having her upright against me seems to settle her better than anything. Only problem is that when I try and put her down she immediately wakes up and starts screaming again.

You could try letting some of the milk in the initial let down go into a muslin, then get your LO to latch back on again. Also you could try offering just one breast per feed (if you are offering two - my DS1 was a big baby (over 10lb) and was on 2 breasts per feed more or less from the beginning.

Congratulations on feeding her so well though - to have gained 11oz in the first 3 weeks, exclusively bf-ing is amazing. Both of mine were still under their birthweight at that stage, so she is doing well despite the spitting up.

Would also second www.kellymom.com as an excellent resource. I do hope this problem is resolved soon. Let us know how you get on.

Thank you... I've been onto Kellymom now and trying out some of the things suggested. Luckily the advice for fast let down is pretty similar to the advice for reflux so which ever it is the steps to take are the same.

We've had a good night, and though she's unsettled this morning, it's not as bad as it has been. The block feeding and slinging both appear to be helping.

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Hopefully the suggestions above have already sorted out a fast letdown issue. Just in case you're still struggling...

My DS was very similar to this so we spent countless hours walking up and down stairs with him as it was the only thing he'd stop crying for (or at least he'd cry less). Eventually a light pinged on in my addled brain and I eliminated all cow's milk in my diet. Massively much better. No vomiting, no wheezing. Can't say he's easy to put down, even now (11m) as he definitely had reflux too but it made a huge difference to us.

Worth a try if things still haven't improved in a week or so? You do have to be quite finicky about it - avoiding whey powder and stuff in anything processed. But you can test every now and then to see if they can tolerate it yet - I've been eating dairy again for the last month or so and there are a few blotches on DS's skin and he streams green snot first thing in the morning but other than that he's fine.