First time mum and sick baby - help!

[eachpeach80]

Hi everyone, my 18 week old son is not well and I just don't know what is wrong...

He has had diarrhoea for nearly a week. Further, he has had spells of crying hysterically around feeding time and refusing to feed when he must be hungry. The refusal to feed was at its worst yesterday when he had barely anything between 6am and 6pm but I woke him for feeds last night (he normally sleeps through) and managed to get him feeding a bit today. He is EBF. I think he must be in pain because I gave him some calpol and that helped the feeding but 4 hours later he was crying again. I should say that he is not a baby who cries much normally at all.

I took him to the GP yesterday and his ears and throat etc are all ok. He wasn't dehydrated. I have given the GP a stool sample to check there is nothing sinister but he thought it highly unlikely. He does not have a temperature.

Could it be the diarrhoea which is making him refuse to eat? Or even the painful nappy rash he now has as a consequence? When should the diarrhoea clear up?
I guess I am just a bit worried that I am missing something. Any pearls of wisdom would be very welcome. Thanks

hmm he might be teething

that can cause bad nappies and nappy rash, and would explain why calpol helped

Have you eaten anything different that could affect milk? I know when I ate too much fruit (especially berries) or drank a lot of orange juice DD2 would get terrible wind / diarrhoea.

Also DD1 was dairy intolerant and cutting down my dairy intake helped her a lot.

thanks - I guess it could well be teething thisisyesterday. he is not wanting to bite on things any more than usual but maybe it's too sore for him to do so.

bunkups33 i haven't changed anything in my diet. i do eat a fair bit of fruit but no more now than usual. i have been trying to cut down on dairy but don't eat much of it anyway - a bit of yoghurt and a latte everyday! I was taking a lecithin supplement until a few days ago ( because of recurrent plugged ducts/mastitis) which could be the culprit?

Is it real diarrhoea. By this I mean a dozen or so watery stools a day? If so its probably viral gastro enteritis and he will have nasty crampy tummy pain. You may notice it going hard and maybe cramping when hes crying. Diarrhoea usually lasts around a week but much worse to start then easing off, pain too.If this so give fluids and pain relief. I would be surprised if its dietary as this is usually transient. If its just the odd loose nappy and a crying baby it could be teeth. Do the gums look red/sore? Teething granules, calpol, calgel?

Poor little chap. If the Dr has ruled out anything serious, teething looks likely. He's not too young. Don't be shy about giving him some pain relief for it - have a look/feel at his gums.

My first guess was teething, at 18 weeks he would perhaps be too young to coordinate grabbing onto something to bite down, except perhaps you! (I have been there!) In my experience you can get teething symptoms weeks before the teeth actually appear, I have always thought that maybe the teeth were just shifting around in the gum, but I have no idea if that is true. I hope he has a better day tomorrow.

Thanks for all your help. He seems to have picked up a bit today - not so much diarrhoea and although he is fighting me, he is feeding! I really hope it isn't his teeth as I can't bear the thought of this every time he has teething pain.