Please help! 7wk old in discomfort, any advice?

[Nicole2781]

Hello,
My 7wk old DS is in discomfort. He is on lactulose he has 2.5mls morning and night. It is helping his bowel movements but some are still a bit firm. He is bottle fed and on cow and gate comfort formula. At the moment he poos in the night the last poo was quite firm and a very small amount. I'm really unsure what I can do to help him...should I up his lactulose dose? Maybe change his formula? If so what formula should I try?
I'm getting really upset by it he's so hard to settle I know he's so tired but he cries so much and I just don't know what to do. Any advice or suggestions are very welcome :)

Oo dear have you spoken to your MW or HV?
My DS was 3 weeks old when he started having bad colic
I called them straight away & they were helpful.
I used cooled down boiled water to help with his unsettled stomach (still do now). Also infacol, but he ended up on baby gaviscon in the end.
But every baby is different, so it may be worth calling them.
Hope they can help.

Thanks for replying
I rang the doctor yesterday and he advised me to ring my health visitor instead as he didn't want to risk it over the phone so the health visitor told me to up his lactulose to 3mls which I have now done. Last night he did 3 really hard poos he was in so much pain I gave him a warm bath and massaged his tummy. He is usually on 60z feeds but the last couple of days has only had 3-4oz as he won't take any more I've tried giving him cooled boiled water with a bit of apple juice in but he won't take it he just spits most of it out I just don't know what I can do he won't let me feed him as he just wants to be up on my shoulder patting his back and that does seem to settle him but then he cries out in pain again. The hv said she will give it a couple of days and then ring back to see how he is and give me a time to go to baby massage class thing but I feel like I'm alone in this I'm feeling like I'm not doing enough for him and they don't seem to be that bothered we did get him down last night at about 1am and he slept ok I don't know if its colic aswell? this motherhood business is so difficult! Any other suggestions on what I could do? Please please help

You sound like you are doing a great job at trying what you can. The HV didn't like my mums suggestion..but it works everytime..a tiny pinch of brown sugar in cooled boiled water. My DS slept better swaddled as well as that's meant to be good for their tummies.

If you aren't happy..you know your baby better than anyone..so you keep on to the HV or doctor til they do something for you & your LO. Sorry I can't be of grey help.

thank you wifey6 I think I will try the brown sugar then I'm open to trying anything really I just cant bear to see him so upset
Even if the brown sugar does work...then I'm wondering if the constipation will clear up on its own or will I have to keep on giving the brown sugar because when I gave lactulose at First it worked and he had mushy poop but then it would go back to hard pebbles. I'm worried its his formula causing his problems even though its supposed to help with constipation and colic but I'm also worried about changing it if it is. Arrrgh I wish I had a magic wand!! It's driving me crazy!

I can completely sympathise.
My DS struggled til he was 4 months & luckily I had a good doctor who kept reassuring, trying & listening to me. They even did DS's poo sample to check for infection etc..so may be worth asking.
It's awful when you can see them in pain & struggling.
But you sound like a very caring mummy who is doing her very best.

Ditch the cow & gate immediately. My ds became a different baby from the first bottle of Aptimil. A HV told me "aptimil is the best but we are not allowed to recommend formulas" that was all the validation I needed. I loved it after I stopped bf. I also used the hungry baby later on and just gave one bottle of the normal stuff every day and that kept him regular.

Hi, i have a ds of 6 weeks and he has suffered with colic. sounds to me like you are doing a fabulous job and although it is.overwhelming I hope u.are managing to remain positive. All the suggestions above are exactly what I would have said. Personally we benefited most from baby massage, it really helped sooth and calm both me and baby. Good luck with everything and remember, nothing you do is wrong you are a mommy and u will know what is best for ur son :-)

Cow and gate and aptimil are the same company and same milk, just different brand/price!

I switched from c&g to Hipp and it seems to have made DS slightly less constipated. He prob goes once every 2-3 days which still seems infrequent but HV assured is normal. Have you tried tummy massage and cycling the legs?

Thanks everyone for the comments! Really has helped having advice and support knowing I'm not alone.

He's doing well and hopefully will continue to do so... On thurs night he had a lovely mushy poo I was so happy even if it was like 2am! Then he didn't poo again till last night but he did the biggest messiest poo going and I think he's had a really good clear out and has been absolutely amazing the change in him is just fantastic! Still keeping him on the lactulose for now and then hopefully gradually lower the dose thanks guys!

C&G Comfort has thickeners in it which help it stay down but then also thicken the poo, which tends to result in constipation.

DD had very bad reflux and we tried everything, including Comfort, which just made her very constipated - in the end normal C&G Infant with Gaviscon and serious amounts of winding cleared most of the reflux and colic, and with normal C&G there was no constipation. (Four to five poos a day!)

I would recommend looking for alternatives to the Comfort as it is known to cause constipation and we found that the benefits didn't outweigh the costs.