Advice needed!!!! 5 week old serious discomfort please help panicking mum!!

[Charl1091]

When baby was 3 weeks old he suffered with wind to which HV advised to take Infacol. This seemed to relieve symptoms a little.
As baby was 3 weeks early we were on a feeding plan to get his weight back up as he was not putting on weight.
As baby is BF, was first told to express to double feed to make sure he is getting the milk, we then decided to mix feed for one feed per day. He began putting on weight pretty much straight away.
Began baby on Aptamil 1 ready made bottle and rest of the day breast milk, baby was on this feeding plan for 3 days when he was all of a sudden didn’t go for a poo (was going Atleast 2/3 times a day when just breast milk.)

This continued and at day 3 of no pooing, saw HV who said could be adjusting to new feed and see how goes over the weekend. Get to DAY 6 of no pooing and constantly straining to do one (baby now in pain trying to push, going red, crying) so went to another HV clinic. Told to stop infacol and stop formula they weren’t concerned but , give the baby 24 hours to go to the toilet then see GP. So I rang my GP to get an appointment they told me to get straight to a and e the baby needed seeing immediately.

At a and e, baby given a suppository, he instantly pushed it back out (didn’t dissolve) but along with it came a massive poo. Doctor was happy he had been so didn’t give a suppository to try get anymore out. He said to go see gp if baby hadn’t gone again within 48 hours.

It has been 24 hours and baby is in so much pain constantly trying to push, screaming and crying can’t even feed without coming off and screaming. Still no poo and I’m so so worried. I have him back in the GP this afternoon but what can I do? He’s not sleeping, contestant screaming in pain, my heart is actually breaking him being like this. What could it be? Please help a panicking mum thank you

Sounds like more suppositories needed.
So sorry op this sounds really distressing.

If you an appt at the GP this afternoon, try lying him on his back and pedalling his legs. You can probably be a bit more enrrgetic/less gentle with this than you think. Gently massige his tummy under his belly button in a clockwise direction. My hv told me to put a drop of freshly squeezed OJ in water in a bottle which worked for us, but as you're already having medical attention you may not want to do this. Good luck.

You can buy paediatric suppositories over the counter at the pharmacy - might be worth a go at home?

As pp has said bicycle legs movement, tummy massage. Also try putting baby across your lap face down and rub lower back in a downward motion. Warm bath with tummy massage. Vaseline on either your pinky finger or an ear bud used to rub onto baby's back passage. Cool boiled water in a bottle with a single drop of cranberry or orange juice in it. My son was also very constipated as a newborn for about a month and these were all tips we were given and used by the GP and HV.

So he did poo 24 hours ago?

Try and get him to feed lots and take him back for another suppository/check. If he's now feeding well and you've stopped the formula odds are he will be fine again soon as breastmilk is a natural laxative and sucking helps them relax the muscles to go. Offer a dummy to see if it helps and bicycle legs/rub tummy. Run a warm bath and get in it with him skin to skin (baths can be very poo-provoking and the water and skin to skin will be a comfort).

Look at baby massage on YouTube. It was a lifesaver for us.

This sounds very similar to my son who was diagnosed with a cows milk protein allergy. Have you tried cutting out dairy, it can take around 2 weeks to leave your system however may worth a try.

The old fashioned remedy would be orange juice... Watered down a bit.

I would question CMPA: it can cause constipation (although commonly it’s the opposite problem!).

My son was prem too and his bowel was sluggish for the first few weeks: he had these awful periods where his stomach was rockhard and misshapen and he was in loads of pain and struggling to poo. Bicycle legs and tummy massage helped.

I’d still consider stopping dairy yourself completely though and seeing if you see any improvement.