Unwell baby? Any suggestions until can get to docs?

[Sherida]

5 week old baby, bottle fed seems to be having a tough time at the moment . Seems very unsettled and clingy. Usually sleeps like nothing else but only lightly at the moment, and cries if she realises she's not being held. Face is flushed but no temperature, and hates, hates pooing. She seems to be holding it in until she's bursting then has to scream and cry when forced to poop. Poop is yellow and pastey. Also seems to be bringing up food a lot not vomiting but just the usual spit up but more than normal. Is either milky or cottage cheesey. Appetite has gone through the roof, and even tho has taken 5oz and refuses any more, will cry and scream for another half oz 2 hours later. Poor thing also seems to have a stack of wind which I can't get her to bring up!

Will be making a docs appt but obviously its the bank hols. I hate seeing my little girl crying [distressed parent emote]! Please, any suggestions? I'd be grateful for any input, thanks so much.

sounds like a growth spurt to me, my dd did this and i seem to remember the hv telling me 5 weeks is a notorious age for them.

What bottles are you using? I found that my DCs had a lot less wind with Avent.

Also, are you giving her Infacol?

She might be going through a growth spurt and that is why her appetite has increased.

Go with the flow, carry her about with you as much as possible. DS was more settled when I carried him tummy downward with a hand warming his tummy.

You could also massage her tummy with some massage oil.

my dd is bf and her poo is yellow and pasty normally - sorry just noticed you are ffing, not sure if there's any difference, poo-wise. poor little thing, hope you manage to get to the bottom of it if she is off colour.

ooh really Ara? Wow, poor little girl! I'm such a first timer at this parent stuff, I worry over the least little thing.

Have you tried changing the brand of formula she's on?

It could be really bad wind. Is her stomach all hard and knotted? Or is she raising her legs?

Massage can help release wind, using the flat of your hand in a clockwise movement and then lifting her legs back.

A hot bath with you or dh can be very soothing, especially lying tummy to tummy.

Do you have any infacol or dentinox, both of which are excellent for relieving trapped wind? Tesco sell it. And also Ashton and Parsons powders are good for both teeth and stomach pain and you can use them in combo with other medication.

Kinder, Infacol doesn't really do much but she does like it! She's crashed out now after having such a rough day. I'm using Boots wideneck newborns as she's been better on those than Tommy Tippee but might give Avent a go.

LOL everytime I post I see I just missed someone elses. She was on Farleys formula, but threw up a LOT on that, changed to Aptimil which has improved her 100%.

Will try the massage also, thanks for that tip.

Dentinox you add to the milk and is more effective than infacol ime.

I second a growth spurt.

FF babies can often suffer from constipation, which is probably why she is agitated when she needs to poo - I doubt she is holding it in until she really has to go.

If she's not bringing up wind she probably doesn't have any, and if you are winding her for a long time when she may not need it, this can be distressing for her.

Hold her, comfort her and feed her when she wants, and it will probably pass in a couple of days.

Someone suggested offering water between feeds, is this a good idea?

It sounds very like collick to me - is she drawing her legs up to her body and a bit red in the face?

The feeding does temporarily help but it does seem to lead to even more discomfort afterwards. Best to try and wind as effectively as possible - my DD used to like lying face down across my legs with me rubbing her back.

It is tough, but it will get better

She does kick her legs around but its not up to her chest and screaming. I feel so bad!

Hello ladies (and gents!)

My name is Mike, I'm Sherida's husband and daddy to our DD. First post on here so pls be kind lol

We just gave her a nice warm bath which lead to her bringing up about 3 loads of cottage cheese icky.

Mummy cuddles seem to help but our DD is still an unhappy girl. She even had tears in her eyes just now which I hate as it makes me feel so bad lol.

We are trying to massage her tummy at the mo so will let you all know how we get on

which formula are you using? have you changed it? some babies don;t get on with some brands.

It's so tough with a newborn especially when it's your first. I wish i'd known about mumsnet when i had dd

We started using farleys to begin with but she would puke about 1/4 of it up after every single feed! We are now using aptimel extra hungry as the regular stuff just wasnt filling her up!!

It could be reflux. Does the sick sort of dribble out, or does it come out quite forcefully? Does she seem in pain after feeds? Does she prefer to be held upright?

Found this link on the massage if that helps www.netdoctor.co.uk/health_advice/facts/babyconstipation.htm

Also good position for dads with windy babies (due to strength and length of forearm) is lie baby over your forearm with head in your hands and fly her about, works wonders - my DH learned it from a French paed, never seen it mentioned in the UK though.

Does sound more like constipation though than wind.

Hi there,

I know how distressing it is when your DD is crying and you don't know what is wrong.

Another thing that helped DS was drinking Fennel tea with some milk sugar, is it called Lactose in English? Sorry, slight loss of native language here.

There was a tea that we used to give him too, from Hipp. Don't know if you get that there, I think it was Fennel tea. That seemed to help too.

Don't try too much at once, try to stay as calm as possible.

Sing to her, talk to her. Let her know that you are there.

And if you really feel worried about her then phone up your out of hours GP or health visitor. They wont mind.

Hope she is feeling better soon.

The sick dribbles out, and after feeds shes normally very relaxed and not uncomfortable :-)

I don't want to make you change the formula but ds struggled with the aptamil hungry baby one, he was fine on the normal aptamil. FYI the hungry baby stuff is a bit of a myth IMO as if you read the ingridients there's not much difference accept there's a higher percentage of certain things in one and a different percentage in the other. I'm sure that made no sense what-so-ever All i'm trying to say is it could be that she doesn't like that formula. How long has she had it for? my ds seemed hungry but was much better off with the normal aptamil. They feed little and often at first so she may not be hungry, would she take more ozs?

oh and if it is constipation then it may be the formula is too 'heavy' for her stomach. ds was quite uncomfortable and after a few days back on normal stuff was much happier and pooing like a trooper

Are you on to a second stage formula all ready?

Some babies find it difficult to cope with that. We were advised to use PRE formula (another thing you don't get in UK) as the normal stage one can be quite hard for babies to digest. I think it is normally used for premature babies and is easy to get here in Germany.

If you are using a 2nd stage formula at 5 weeks then it could be just too much for her tummy.

Our DCs coped well with Hipp stage 1 for ages. Even if it meant giving them more feeds or more milk per feed.

hungry baby formula is noted for ability to constipate I believe

Ok, prob not reflux then.

Dont' give her anything other than milk or water without medical advice - though you could ask you pharmacist if there's anything you can give her - infacol, colief etc.

Yellow pastey poo sounds ok, tbh. Could well be just a growth spurt but worth mentioning distress on pooing to dr or your HV is s/he isn't a nutter.