8 week old baby sick several times after every feed- help!

[donttrythisathome]

Hi

I have an 8 week old baby and she gets sick several times after every feed.

She fusses a lot in the evening with it and she is obviously in some kind of digestive pain. She has a lot of wind. She only seems to be comfortable over the shoulder or lying across our arms on her sides, or flat on her changing mat. She also feeds a lot.

The GPs and breastfeeding midwives all say it's normal but I really want to help her. She is healthy and putting on weight so they think there is nothing wrong.

I have her on the infacol which helps the wind and tried the Gavison which helped a bit but gave her constipation (I think...maybe..)

She won't really settle during the day unless I put her in the sling. Can't put her down and now she wakes up and fusses even when pushing her in the pram. She won't settle in the evening at all. She does sleep well at night though in her hammock (Amby). She waves her arms and legs around frantically and is very snuffly.

I have tried keeping her upright-ish during feeds and afterwards but she is still sick.

Any suggestions please. It's been really difficult.

It's a bad patch but it will get better, we've been through it too, it was so tough.

I found Infacol made things worse because it seemed to gather all the air up together and really hurt our dd so we gave up on it.

It was our ds that was getting sick a lot, it was reflux, it is very distressing especially as it seems to fly everywhere and you wind up loading the washing machine so much, his feeding cushion cover took a beating. I always wore pj's because I had to change so much. In time things got easier, there wasn't really any answer, just being careful with winding before and after feed. Things calmed down about week 12, somewhere we just forgot about it and remembered oh ds hasn't got sick in ages.

It will pass, long as there is enough dirty nappies she is getting enough, especially as you are breastfeeding also because that is quickly digested.

Hope things improve,

how sick is she? it IS normal for some babies to be a bit sick after every feed. tis also normal for them to fuss a lot and want to be held
i'd agree that if she is putting on weight, healthy etc then it's probably within the realms of normal

has she always been snuffly? does she have any other symptoms like eczema or anything? I only ask because my second baby was very miserable, quite sicky, snuffly and mucousy and had eczema and it was a dairy intolerance

also though, if it was reflux or a foos intolerance/allergy you;d expect her to be like it all the time... so the fact that she sleeps well at night is a good sign

Thanks sveryone.

thisisyesterday no she doesn't have eczema, but I suppose thinking about she she is fussy during the day too. She never really "sits quietly" on my lap but I can sit her leaning back against my knee then (won't tolerate this in the evening) or lie her flat for a little while to get some play time in.

Just to support thisisyesterday, fussing and being sick and feeding a lot is pretty normal for a 2 month old baby. My HV summed it up as a laundry problem, not a health problem. And our washing machine was on all the time!

It is really difficult I know, I remember how it was with my DD who sounds similar. Your strategy needs to be about getting support and help for yourself, as well as trying to help your DD. Does someone else help you with her, especially in the evening?

It will pass, honestly. A pose which helped us is this one:

tiger in the tree hold

plus a bit of swaying.

Hope that helps a bit.

It really is hard to judge whether this is something you need to worry about or not. My DD1 & DS were ridiculously sicky babies. Constantly being sick until they were fully weaned - by which I mean 10 months ish when solids far outweighed milk (even now DS who is 13 months is not to be trusted at bedtime after he has downed 8 oz of milk, he always wants to snuggle on my bed for a bit but no way I let him as I don't trust him not to posset up something revolting on my pillow!). It was infuriating and difficult to deal with, but DD1 and DS both had fantastic weight gain and nothing to worry about. Both of them were very unsettled early evenings for the first couple of months too but that soon settled down and then they fed well, slept well were happy but still endless sick.

The sick doesn't necessarily indicate that there is a problem (especially as she is putting on weight), but equally maybe there is a problem. So I don't really know what to say.

None of my 3 ever really 'sat quietly'. Either they were asleep (all quite good day time nappers as well as good night sleepers) or they weren't, in which case much holding, rocking and lots of time in the sling.

I would certainly consider dairy intolerance here, having let my dd suffer too long because everyone said that she'd just grow out of her misery, and that because she was gaining weight she must be fine.
You could test this theory by giving up dairy completely from your own diet (milk protein has been proven to pass into breast milk), but you will need to do it for at least 10-14 days in order to clear it from both of your systems, before you can start to assess any results.

also try gripe water- we found that much more effective at soothing than infacol.

We also tried colief and that worked a bit too but DD grew out of her similar stage by about 9weeks (went on from about 3 weeks to 9weeks), she is still quite sicky but not fractious with it at all- in fact she mostly grins through it now!

Defo tiger in tree is miracle hold. Also winding across on knee with your other leg kind of trapping their legs in can mean you can wind with one hand and eat tea with the other (since crying period always co-incided with dinner for us! see here

I hope you do not use a nipple cream with harmful cosmetic ingredients?

Thanks - some reassurance here. Have already cut down on cow cheese and chocolate (don't drink milk anyway). May try cutting it out altogether, but hard as I'm a vegetarian and have already cut out some windy foods which doesn't leave me with much.

Might ask for a referral to a paed though not sure I'll get one.

Thankdeka love that suggestion - at the mo we have dinner in shifts - sometimes ages after it's cooked!

Nelly reasurring to know not all babies sit quietly!!

Domestic yeah DH and myself are a good team so share all the drama!!

No jurgasala I don't.

Take goat milk, it's higher in calcium than cows and actually very mild in tast, I've been taking it for years, I think cows milk tastes pretty awful now.

chocolate will reduce your calcium absorption.

i had to cut out dairy with ds2, aso veggie so made me basically vegan

it's hard but you get used to it

have you seen a reduction in symptoms since cutting down?

goat's milk actually has a very similar protein to cow's milk and the majority of babies with CMP intolerance can't take goat's milk either

Thanks. I actually am on the goats and sheeps cheese which I like anyway. haven't seen a reduction tbh though her skin seems better. Have been on the chocolate though. Will cut back

Treat yourself to the odd piece of a good chocolate like Green and Blacks, that way you still get chocolate but it's good for your heart. I love goats and sheeps cheese, really good for you.

I do find though since switching to goats milk I never get hay fever ( in 7 yrs only once) anymore or bad stomachs so I still think it's easier on the system then cows milk.

Hi
sounds exactly like DD1 heres the things I tried

Always burp well - if necessary break feeds into 2 and burp half way through. helps with sick as I used to find any milk on top of the bubble used to come back when burping-used to saturate a muslin each feed.

Try to make sure dont get too much foremilk - I did this by keep offering same breast till 2 hrs time, and only giving one side per feed (boobs adjusted)

cut down on acidic fruits (eg tomato soup/pure orange juice) some people find tea/dairy products triggers. (arghh just read your vegetarian dont know how youll do that one)

Make sure feeds werent on top of each other - she used to ask for feeds at 3 hr intervals but if I fed her at 2 hr intervals it made colic worse at night - extended crying by hour sometimes.

DD1 HATED being put on her back she would scream she would tolerate playing on tummy for about 10 mins so ended up carrying her a lot too.

There wasn't a lot I could do but from memory it did get a LOT better from about 3 months. I did wonder if it may have been reflux with her.or may have been because she fell asleep on feeds and maybe didn't wind properly. Her nappies were always swimming. I woke the others even if they'd fallen asleep on feeds to burp them for couple mins then put back down

hope some of this helps

ps did the tigertre hold too, and on front on lap and over shoulder-warmth on tummy reckon is what helped soothe

Thanks a million henrietta. I was wondering if it was overfeeding and have been trying to limit to one boob but she nearly always demands the second one! Will try to persist with that one though. She does have very watery poos too! That's a good point re the milk on top of the bubble - she does always sick up when I burp here which I now see is a good thing.

Anytime
let me know how you get on. I remember counting 500 steps once because I just couldnt leave her on her own in pain so I just held her screaming face down over arm and patted back, she finally did a massive burp and promptly fell asleep.

by the way did your burp smell that bad sorry couldnt resist

i've really wondered whether to say anything as more than likely she/he is just a sicky colicky baby and it will settle with maturity and i really dont want to scaremonger . however if your concerned id follow your maternal instincts and ask insist on a referral to see paeditrician.i say this because dd1 was a very sicky baby also very windy but she gained weight well doctors hvs kept saying she was fine and i was just anover anxious new mum. until at 4 months when she started baby rice (17 years ago babies were weaned at this age) she was diagnosed with a rare but treatable bowel disorder one of the main symptoms had been her failure to pass meconium at birth .again your lo is more than likely fine so please please dont panic but do listen do your own instincts you know lo better than any dr or hv.

Thanks mumofeight. Your poor DD - lucky she was diagnosed eventually though! I have an apt with my GP tomorrow for her immunisations and think I'm going to insist on a referral then just to set my mind at ease. She did pass meconium but it could be something else.

It just dawned on me because I used to be vegetarian for almost 20 yrs that if you are eating lots of different types of beans and meals with onions, basically a vegetarian diet - that might be making things difficult.

I know when I bf I eat a really bland diet, peas, carrots, potatoes and meat/chicken/fish each day. No juices or anything which might cause wind, nothing from the cabbage family.

It's tricky, really hope things get better.

Thanks Zara will try that tea.

seashore I have noticed since I cut out/down on some gassy foods eat that she has a bit less wind. But yep it's tricky to get a balnced diet on one hand and not eat windy things on the other

On the plus side she seems a lot better since yesterday. Have been trying to limit her to one boob per feed (though not denying her food and switching sides if she really wanted). Poor little pet seems much happier.

But will it last....

That's really good that she's settling more, I always only feed on one side each time, I think it's best for baby to take all she wants so that she gets plenty of hind milk.

I forgot another thing I did with ds (hadn't thought of it 1st time with colicy dd) is I used to drink a cup of warm goat milk and have a ginger cookie, the ginger helped ds get the wind out and the milk helped me get back to sleep.

Good luck.