Newborn always unhappy

[mum1st1]

Hi
I'm a FTM to a little boy who is 9 weeks old & starting to struggle a little
Since he's been born He's been in & out of hospital for different reasons (chest infection/ eye infection & meningitis and many more) he's catching everything 😞
He's home now and feeling well however the antibiotics he was on for 11 days seem to have messed up his gut. He's never happy. NEVER he's not even smiled once since birth.
When he's awake he cries and cries until he falls asleep, I feel so sorry for him and nothing that we do seems to help
We have changed his milk etc but no improvement. The gps are so unhelpful and keep saying to carry on as we are as things will improve?!
God knows how many weeks this will last. Shouldn't he be referred to a specialist to find out if he's intolerant to dairy or anything else? Has anyone gone private with their baby and has any recommendations? Tia x

Forgot to mention that he produces 10-15 dirty nappies a day & they are all sticky and full of mucus. Surely that's not normal

Sounds like it could be CMPA. You need to push with the gp for specialist milk to try that.

My first DD was the same and I reckon a lot of others are too. She seemed to get a lot happier from about 4 months and by 6 months I started to enjoy motherhood and our bond was strong like glue ever since. Hang on in there.

She did have a dairy allergy as well, she grew out of it by around 2 years old.

Agree with Snow, ask your GP for prescription formula or if you are BF try cutting out dairy and see if there's any improvement. I should add, DD was on prescription milk for her dairy allergy and it didn't really make her any happier, just stopped the other symptoms.

I'd say CMPA and or reflux. You don't need to go private just push push push with HV and GP. If weight isn't being put on enough or dropping that's also a sign.

Probiotics are vital after antibiotics

Hang in there. My DD cried so much in her early weeks. I found it so tough. My DS is like it currently and this time I’m finding it easier as I know it isn’t my fault and it will pass.

I’d agree with the others saying CMPA - my daughter had it, and my 8 week old likely does too. I’ve just given up dairy again (I’m breastfeeding) and my 8 week old has improved a lot - reflux diminishing, eczema has cleared up and he is able to be awake without crying at times!

@Wnikat

Probiotics are vital after antibiotics

Can he have them at 9 weeks? I didn't know babies can take probiotics 👍 will definitely look into it.

Thanks everyone for your replies xxx
will try and push with my gp... although he treats me like a panicky first time mum which I might be but my baby has been through a lot in the last 9 weeks

NEVER he's not even smiled once since birth

Just so you know babies don't smile from birth. They first smile between 6-12 weeks.

Regardless he sounds like he's in a hell of a lot of discomfort so you need to push as the PPs have suggested to find out the cause.

We went private, the GP never helped and frankly, he didn’t know much about allergies either. Once we got a diagnose we finally got a referral to the NHS paediatric allergician and that was when finally someone listened to us.

If you can afford to go private do, in these times when even in person appointment with the GP are as rare as hen teeth, you may as well spend a bit of money to get your baby and all if you from this misery as soon as possible.

Thank you.
Had a quick google for private clinics just in case gp will not take me seriously again. Do you have any recommendations of who you went to? Was it a paediatric clinic or ? Thank you x

@GrandmasCat

We went private, the GP never helped and frankly, he didn’t know much about allergies either. Once we got a diagnose we finally got a referral to the NHS paediatric allergician and that was when finally someone listened to us.

If you can afford to go private do, in these times when even in person appointment with the GP are as rare as hen teeth, you may as well spend a bit of money to get your baby and all if you from this misery as soon as possible.

Thank you. Had a quick google for private clinics just in case gp will not take me seriously again. Do you have any recommendations of who you went to? Was it a paediatric clinic or ? Thank you x

Mine was diagnosed more than 10 years ago so I assume everyone I knew is possible now retired! You only need an appointment with a private GP (Nuffield?), they can refer you to the NHS paediatric allergician if they see it fit.

The private GP may be no better than your current GP, in fact they can be your current GP doing private work on the side but either way, it is more likely that they will have the time to listen to you as they know you are paying but mostly, they are not under that much pressure to get the appointment done in less than 10 minutes.

To me, alarm bells would be ringing for cows milk protein allergy and I'd want that ruled out. You could push the gp to prescribe a tin of hypoallergenic formula to see if it helps - if it does push for a paediatric allergy referral. If it is an allergy you are going to have to push to get anyone to take you seriously unfortunately.