Colic, reflux or just normal newborn behaviour?

[Gangle]

DS2 is nearly 4 weeks old. In the last 10 days or so he has started crying and thrashing about a lot during the day and night. There isn't much of a pattern but he tends to be unsettled in the early evening, fall asleep from 10.30/11pm until 12/1 or 2 if we're really lucky then be awake on and off most of the rest of the night, sleeping for 30 mins/1 hour max then waking to feed then going back to sleep for another 30 minutes. During the day I have in the sling a lot where he is completely content and will just sleep. If not in the sling he repeats a similar pattern as at night although may settle for a slightly longer sleep in either the morning or afternoon, if I'm lucky. He has massive problems settling by himself when not being held. Every time I put him down he wakes up or wakes up shortly after. Until recently he was burping/farting A LOT and thrashing about so we assumed he had wind/colic and did everything we could to relieve it by trying to get the wind up/rocking him/me drinking fennel tea etc. Finally spoke to a maternity nurse yesterday with a view to booking her for a night next week as seriously exhausted and she said that she thought he had reflux rather than wind/colic and suggested raising the mattress in his moses basket and putting him on a regime of 4 hourly feeds. Fine about raising one end of his mattress but I've always fed on demand so not happy to only feed every 4 hours when he wants to feed every 2. It also seems too soon to put him into any kind of routine as she is suggesting as he eats/sleeps when he wants, not much I can do about it! Does anyone have any idea what, if anything, is wrong with him and how we should treat it? I know the first few weeks are awful but I just need to be able to out this baby down for a few hours each day in order to eat/shower/look after my toddler and a few hours at night so that I can sleep! Surprised the mat nurse thinks it is reflux as he is not always sick after feeds - possets a bit but not projectile - and seems fairly comfortable during feeds. He also seems to be gaining weight well although I know that's not necessarily an indicator.

Hi. What you describe seems like totally normal newborn behaviour.
Of course your new baby is happier being held close to you.
Are you breastfeeding? If so I found that I could lie down and feed my dd at night with her beside me in bed and I could get rest while she fed when she wanted.
I think your ds is too young to even think about a feeding schedule and you are doing exactly the right thing for him - meeting his needs!
Would it be possible for somemone to take your ds for a walk after a feed so you could get some rest?
The first few weeks are so tiring so try and remember you are doing brilliantly and before you know it he will have moved onto a different stage.

Hiya,

I really feel for you. Your son sounds just like my DS1 who did actually have reflux. I also switched to regular 3 hourly feeds rather than on demand and that was the biggest mistake as my supply diminished so much that by 9 weeks I had to completely switch to ff. We tried colief and infacol, which seemed to help for a few days but then it was back to square 1. Then he was put on Gaviscon by our GP for reflux and that seemed to help. I didn't think it was reflux because he had only vomited once or twice above normal posset.

He was on it for a few weeks and by 17 weeks he was sleeping from 11pm to 6:30am! We stopped the Gaviscon and all was fine until we started solids (he projectile vomited a lot but doctors kept saying it was virus after virus). His sleep shot to pieces from 6 months to 15 months, when we finally put him back on Gaviscon and he was back to sleeping through within 2 weeks.

Sorry, a bit long, but need to highlight that you can get silent reflux, where babies don't vomit. So I suggest you take your son to the GP and check. The main symptoms are not liking to sleep on the back (ie waking up straight away, coughing in the night, disturbed sleep, slight bad breath when waking up, crying/not settling after feeds and vomiting). We had DS1 cot raised with a couple of yellow pages as well.

Hope you get some rest, it's hard enough without also having a toddler to deal with.

My 10 week old dd was exactly the same!

We discovered that she was cold hence she wouldnt sleep for long. We swaddled her at night with another blanket over her and tucked under the mattress and in the day we put an extra blanket on her. It worked a treat. Maybe another option for you try.

Sounds like DS he had silent reflux.

DS was also gaining weight butscreaming all day but stranegly not all night but he was in an Amby nest which kept him upright. As soon as he was put on Gaviscon then he was a happier baby but then started vomiting as was milk protein intolerant. So go forth to GP/HV with both ideas.

poor you - it's like you are describing my DD, now 2, in her early days. It is so hard when they sleep so little. Personally, I am not convinced sleeping only for 30 minutes is normal - it wasn't in my daughter's case, she had reflux, despite not vomiting much (it was the silent variety).

Could be reflux, but doctors largely unsympathetic to this idea, heaven only knows why. You could ask for trial of gaviscon, which you can give mixed with BM on a spoon just after feeding.

The 4-hour feed routine suggestion seems a bit wierd - littlet and often is the more usual prescription for reflux babies.

I would call a specialist feeding consultant, like a lactation consultant (Lactation Consultants GB have a website with contact details on). They can visit your house for a small cost and can advise.

The general idea of getting a night nurse/ mat nurse to do an overnight for you sounds brilliant. Go for it. You need to catch up on some sleep, you poor thing.

One last thought - as well as reflux our baby was a flailer. Swaddling really helped. Have you tried this?