dyschezia?

[scubalu]

Hi, HV has said my 7 week old has infant dyschezia. Been going on since week 2, straining to poo so hard they're very upset by it. Can deal with it in the day time but night is awful. straining starts around 1pm and there is finally a poo at 7-10am meaning no sleep due to grunting/straining. often waking themselves up makes it then a grumpy morning and if I don't get them down for a nap successfully its a hellish day of no sleeping sue to being over tired.
Leg cycling, tummy massage etc dont help at all. But when we hold her and she sleeps in arms she does stop straining? she doesnt poo though. I'm not sure why but the lack of sleep now is killing us 5 weeks later.
HV said they'd grow out of it but web suggests it only lasts a few days or weeks. Poos normal when they come for a breastfed baby. sometimes 4 a day

Are you sure it's dyschezia and not silent reflux? The fact that she is pooing 4 times per day and that she doesn't 'strain' when you're holding her would make her suspect reflux. Babies don't always vomit loads with it (hence 'silent'). My babies were like this until I started treatment. They had ranitidine and gaviscon, but the gaviscon caused constipation, so I switched to Carobel, which worked brilliantly.

She does have reflux so we hold her up right after feeds but its got a lot better the last week or so. I dont think its that as the straining results in lots of farts and eventually poos. its just much worse at night. I wonder if shes too tired to push like she does in the day.
She does strain in the day when we hold her but stops at night which makes me think shes just so tired?

Hi, how long did this last for? My baby is almost 6 weeks old and it’s been going on for 3 weeks!! Wanting to know if there’s a light at the end of the tunnel!

Hi @scubalu

I'd also love to know how long it lasted for. My little guy has had it since week three and is 11weeks old now. Still grunting away at night 😵‍💫

hello, gosh I am sorry to read that it's really difficult isn't it. It went on to week 12 with us. It now feels like a very distant memory.

We took it in turns to sleep on the sofa in shifts but I couldn't take it any longer and bought an angelcare system so when the straining started I moved her to her own bedroom. Yes I know early but the sensor mat gave me a lot of peace of mind. She then slept a bit so did we. I wonder that it actually helped her in many ways because at month 4 she would go down awake in her cot and self soothe to sleep in her own room.

It DOES get better.