Please help me with my 17 day old baby's digestive discomfort......reflux...or a simple (??) case of colic. Long sorry :0(

[LackaDAISYcal]

DS2 is 17 day old and breastfed.

since the middle of last week he has been getting more and more pronounced stomach symtoms.

He is very difficult to wind, he groans in pain and cries after he does manage to burp, he starts with the groaning and writhing in the early evening and continues on and off until 6am when he eventually manages to get off to a comfortable sleep.

He also has a habit of gagging when he is feeding and then the milk comes back up out of his nose and he sounds like he is choking. He doesn't posset a great deal, just a tiny mouthful if at all.

his latch isn't great either and if I do get him latched properly, he pulls back until he is comfortable and then he is on and off for about five minutes before settling into the feed. I think he is taking in extra air doing this.

We have tried infacol; no luck, and then dentinox last night.....which gave him a really settled evening, but it all started up at midnight and he was awake all night and was in lots of discomfort. DH and I managed two hours broken sleep each last night. Not sure how much more we can take really.

Anyway, It seems like he is going to be a colicky baby, but the gagging and choking and the discomfort after burping is worrying me. Does this sound like reflux?

tia

bump

anyone?

We had a very similar prob with DD. Sounds like a classic case of gastric reflux. Does he seem wrose when lying down? Two thing: first, you must go to GP (or A &E as I had to ) and demand some medication. It took me three moths, but I got DD on Domperidone and Ranitidine and the difference was amazing (Infacol/ Gaviscon didnt touch it). Second - tilt the cot or moses basket with some books or blocks of wood so his head is raised, should help ease symptoms a little. You could also try cranial osteopathy, although didnt really work for us.

You have my sympathy

Does your milk flow out particularly fast? If it is coming up through his nose, it certainly sounds like it could be quite forceful. Do you feel you have an over abundant supply?

Are you eating a lot of dairy? Is there a history of dairy intolerance in your family at all? The colic my 4 week old was experiencing disappeared within 2 days of me stopping eating dairy.

DD was like this - I'm pretty sure it was just reflux, which she still is bothered by a bit at 10 months. Nothing medicinal seemed to really help her either..never tried Gaviscon though... I did find that keeping her upright for a half hour or so after feeds helped, as did tummy massage to help the wind move down and out...

Have you mentioned this to GP/HV yet?

Personally, I wouldn't jump to medication for reflux. Symptoms can be eased in other ways. My ds3 (the one I mentioned with colic) has reflux (diagnosed by the cranial osteopath). Cutting out the dairy took away the colic symptoms. It did not stop the constant spitting up, but he was not longer in pain with it.

If his latch is not good, and you have a forceful letdown, addressing these things first may alleviate the problems.

Thanks for your responses

I'll try the raised cot; certainly he slept better in the hospital with his cot raised.

let down doesn't seem particularly fierce. his chokiness/nose spluttering is generally towards the end of a feed which made me think it was reflux. Supply not over abundant; infact I have only had engorgement on one day when he wasn;t feeding very well due to bad thrush. He tends to feed, have a half hour break and then I put him back on the same side. (I had oversupply issues with DD and was trying to pre-empt it this time and it seems to be working)

I have been eating a lot of dairy (had a bit of a cheese fest going on now I can eat smelly brie again) and I live on bowls of rice crispies as snacks. I'll try giving up dairy and see what happens.

No history of dairy intolerance in our family, but I have a gluten intolerance, although I was eating gluten through my pregnancy as I had no symptoms. I've had some gluten since he was born and I know it has a hereditary connection. I'll get back to gluten free as well and see what happens.

I've started drinking fennel tea as well in the hope that that helps.

We have seen a cranial osteopath twice already as well as he was a forceps delivery and had a bit of neck stiffness. tbh, it seemed to make a difference on the day we saw the CO, but he was back to his colicky ways the next day again.

It is really awful listening to him grunting and groaning as there is nothing that we can do to alleviate it , other then lie him over our knee and pat his back......that gets a bit wearing after a while and I'm sure it is causing RSI!!

I know how bad it can be...I got tired of people syaing it was just colic or just reflux.I had a miserable three months of this, where DD never fed for more than 5 mins or slept for more than an hour and a half at a time. The spluttering sounds familiar..its just the baby having a dilemma between wanting to feed but being in pain
Need to emphasis as well that there is a difference between 'medicinal' in this context (ie proper prescription stuff) and the usual colic remedies, which are non-specific and won't help if it is severe.
Hope this gets sorted for you

thanks mathsmummy.

We had a better night last night so the dentinox seemed to be having a bit of an effect.

He is so fantastic in the day, feeds then a wee burp and spit up and then sleeps again.

We have got some colief drops today as they were recommended by a friend. We shall see

Hi,

My daughter is 3.5 months old now and has been suffering with terrible 'colic' from birth, i was told they grow out of it by 3 months but my daughter still suffering, it is getting better but she still gets a lot of discomfort, whilst, after and a few hours after each feed. She suffers with her wind a lot. no matter how much i try and wind her, she still suffers really bad. She twists her body and shouts out in discomfort, she passes wind down below all the time, as loud as an adult!! Bless her!! she seems to struggle to poo and when she does it is very smelly, like wheat almost and it's pasty. i have tried, infacol, colif, gripe water, massage, special teats, winding etc etc... Just started to try easy digest formula milk which i hope will help. Anyone can relate to this when baby this old? any tips? any suggestions? i feel like doc and health visitor don't take me seriously. It is hard to see her in discomfort and the last 3 months have been a big drain!! appreciate any advice, thanks