Newborn advice needed please

[Greatgoing]

My newborn baby is 5 weeks old. I have another DS of 15months. I am at my wit's end and need advice please!

My newborn is EBF and is suffering so much after every feed, crying for up to two hours.I am getting very distressed, worried and feel so sad that my breast milk seems to be 'hurting' him.

I have sought advice from the midwife, HV and GP and feel like I have been fobbed off with wind and colic explanations.

After careful and close observation I am convinced it is bowel related. My first DS pooed only once a week-it never bothered him or me, whereas this baby seems to be in agony trying to get a poo out as though he can't 'grip' on it.

When they do come, after massage etc, they are quite liquid, maybe a little mucousy but otherwise not green or with blood or anything alarming like that.

I am loathe to start cutting things out of my diet as like most 'modern' people we don't live on ham and boiled potatoes but eat a varied diet and really healthy diet including garlic etc.

If anyone as experience of the same thing I would be so grateful advice. Maybe just an immature bowel? I have noticed he has a particularly small fontanelle, and the hospital have checked his bowel for any kinks and is all fine.

I feel like I have a very unhappy boy on my hands and as a previously successful breastfeeder feel so sad and anxious that I can't give him any peace or 'nice' painless nourishment.

hmm well he sounds quite like my second child, who had dairy and egg intolerances. it might be worth keeping a food diary, and noting if he is worse after you've had particular things? that way you don't have to cut anythjing out at random (tho i think milk and egg are the main problem foods)

as an interim measure, dr harvey karp's book, the happiest baby on the block was great for us and had a lot of really useful techniques for settling colicky babies. they worked up to a point, but he really turned a corner when i stopped eating egg/milk

i am sure he very much values the comfort of breastfeedin though, even if he feels poorly afterwards

I had a DS that sounds just like yours - he was a grizzly, pained baby for at least the first 7 weeks of his life. He was EBF, pooed a million times a day and frequently seemed very troubled by his bowels. I didn't know what to do and took him to a cranial osteopath for help. She didn't find much 'wrong' with him but he did do some cracking poos when he was being treated by her and seemed to sleep happily and for a long time after a session with her. Other friends (particularly those who had difficult births) had far more success with the cranial osteopath and their baby really settled down after treatment.

For us, it was just a case of DS growing out of whatever was troubling him - I seem to remember it getting much better around week 8 or 9 and I didn't really do anything to achieve this. We used Infacol before each feed, just to do something but like you, I didn't want to change my diet because it was pretty healthy. Although they do say that grapes and onions can give some babies gip so you may just want to think about reducing your consumption of these.

I know it's distressing having such a pained baby - it was hard seeing all my friends with these calm, placid babies but as long as you are giving them the food/love/cuddles/attention they need, I don't see how this stage can harm them long term.

Try and stay sane for a few more weeks and hopefully things will improve.

I will get the book. After how many days of non dairy and egg did you see a difference? Thanks so much for your advice andit is good to know I am not alone. The medics just keep telling me a breastfed baby 'can't' have any digestive problems and I am getting really frustrated. Did you baby share the same poo issues? Thanks very much

yes we had a few symptoms actually
main one was the inconsolable crying, often for hours, where we just could not comfort him, he didn't want to nurse, he just cried and cried

he started getting patches of eczema behind his ears and back of his knees and on his cheeks

he had quite nasty nappies, very mucousy and starting to smell a bit bad after this had been going on a while too

um, am sure there were more things but can't think of them right now (he's almost 3 now!)

I first cut out egg and saw an improvement within a couple of days, noticed milk seemed to be affecting him also so cut that out too and within a week he was soooo much better. other people were even commenting on it too, my mum was like "what have you done with him, he's like a different baby"

so yeah, the effects of cutting it out were pretty rapid. we re-introduced them both a couple of times to "test" him, as it were, and each time he was very distressed within a few hours of having a feed.

I would also however second lovelymama's recommendation of cranial osteopathy, this can make a HUGE difference, esp if your baby has had a bit of a difficult birth

Thanks very much indeed for your replies. I have ordered the book, will cut out dairy then if things don't improve try the c/o.

I don't feel like I even know him yet as I am just constantly trying to calm is back arching distress. Urgh I can't wait to see the happy/peaceful baby he should be.

If anyone else has any similar experiences please do offer any further advice

TIA

aww i know how you feel. i wish we'd figured it out earlier. i can remember crying to dp a while ago because i really feel like i missed out on enjoying ds2 being a newborn because it was just so awful and he was so unhappy

that's just reminded me though that another thing that helped a lot was a good sling. we had a moby and he stayed in it a lot of the day and it seemed to help calm him down

Hi there,

I am by no means an expert and very new to bf, however I second the cranial osteopath. DC2 was very unsettled, couldn't/wouldn't sleep and after one session has found feeding and sleeping easier. She also really massaged the bowel area as she noticed how tight it all was - and since then there have been no problems.

Another thing to watch is silent reflux. My DC1 suffered terribly but it took me until he was about 10 weeks to get it diagnosed. He would arch his back and scream alot (think back to your pregnancy heartburn days...that is what it feels like for them!). Many doctors will fob you off with colic/high maintenence baby when in fact it is easily treatable.

I hope things start to improve.

My DS sounds a bit like yours. He would draw his knees up and roll around in pain, it was horrible to watch. We tried all sorts of remedies to sort out the 'colic'. Finally tried 'biogaia probiotic drops', kind of like Yakult but for babies. It's completely natural and balances out the bacteria in the digestive system. He was better after a couple of days of this.