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Original poster

Terrible colic

52 replies

Roseybee10 · 31/03/2015 07:26

My poor baby has colic and it's awful. She's 7.5 weeks now and is starving but screams at every feed, can't bring wind up and gets so distressed that the only way to calm her is to put her to sleep.
She's not gaining weight well and has dropped to 7th centile due to not being able to take more than 2-3oz a feed. I don't think its reflux as shes never sick and doesn't have bad nappies either.
My first daughter was the same but she was bigger so when she dropped centiles there wasn't the same concern. I'm getting stick from my Hv because she isn't gaining weight well but I don't know what else to do. I know she's going to want to weigh her when I take her for her jags this week and I know she won't have gained much.

I tried infacol with dd1 which caused her to projectile vomit so don't want to try that this time. Dentinox and gripe water help a little but not much. Anti colic bottles don't help at all. I try feeding her sitting up and burping after every Oz.
I don't know what else to do :-(

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Jenmk1 · 31/03/2015 08:58

Instead of giving you stick your HV should be giving you advice! Can you speak to a different HV?

Original poster
Roseybee10 · 31/03/2015 10:54

She's offered suggestions to calm her down but not really anything to help her take milk. She's not being horrible or anything but she's putting pressure on to get weighed constantly which I don't think is terribly productive as she's not going to gain weight well until she can take more milk.

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Gileswithachainsaw · 31/03/2015 10:59

Are there any other concerning factors.

colic isn't really a diagnosis. It just means unexplained crying. parents wall away thinking they know why their baby is so miserable but it's meaningless.

Dd was just like this, would hardly feed, cried and grunted her way through what she did eat and would then spend her time grunting and straining.

There were other things that gave it away but she had CMPI. Once on the right milk she was a different baby.

Dd had -dry skin
-gunky eyes
-blocked nose
-wouldn't lie on her back
-bloating

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Original poster
Roseybee10 · 31/03/2015 11:07

What is CMPI sorry? She seems to suffer very badly with wind and pain in her tummy. She also had gunky eyes but has had since the minute she was born so couldnt really link that to milk. She is quite snuffly although that has cleared up a bit. She also has a diagnosed immature larynx which causes her to gulp and make strange noises when feeding.

She's exactly the same as dd1 at this age and it all stopped around 9-10 weeks so I've just been trying to ride it out and know it'll stop soon but it breaks my heart seeing her so sore. X

OP posts:
Gileswithachainsaw · 31/03/2015 11:09

cows milk protein intolerance.

can you give her a small amount of boiled water (not alot) just to see of she has the same issues with water.

Original poster
Roseybee10 · 31/03/2015 11:25

She's taken some water from a syringe but won't take it from the bottle when she's like that.
The Dr didn't even mention it being a possibility when she saw us. She doesn't have bad nappies or puke or anything which is why I didn't think it would be an intolerance but I don't know enough about it to rule it out. X

OP posts:
Gileswithachainsaw · 31/03/2015 11:34

Did she experience the same pain on feeding with the water?

dd was dismissed several times but I just knew. cmpi is just more expensive to treat as prescription milk is lime 30 pound a tub so I'm. Sure that's why many people come. put with gaviscon or "colic" and never question it given that eventually alot of the time they grow out of it so they just assume colic is over or meds are working.

A warm.bath and cycling the legs should help with. The wind. also ask your he about a baby massage course.

is her tummy bloated? Dds was massive. She weight 5 and a half pounds. no but as there wasn't any fat on her at all yet she had a massive tummy.

Gileswithachainsaw · 31/03/2015 11:34

Dd was never sick. but by god the nappies.......

Almostapril · 31/03/2015 12:37

Colic tends to be evenings and not all day. I would go see Gp

Original poster
Roseybee10 · 31/03/2015 12:54

It was mostly in the evenings until this week when it's been all day long.
I'm booked on a baby massage course but couldn't get s place til end of April. Her tummy is quite bloated in evenings.
Her nappies are fairly normal and regular.
She's 8lbs 10 at 7 weeks so not worryingly small.

OP posts:
HeyMicky · 31/03/2015 12:58

Have you considered silent reflux? You wouldn't get the vomiting with that - the milk rises to the throat but then is swallowed again - but it's quite likely with an immature larynx. Often resolves by about 12 weeks which fits with your DD1 improving after the same symptoms.

Almostapril · 31/03/2015 13:06

I thought silent reflux too. Two friends had babies with it

Original poster
Roseybee10 · 31/03/2015 13:08

Thanks. I'd ruled out reflux because she isn't sick (dd1 was really sick) but hadn't heard of silent reflux x

OP posts:
Almostapril · 31/03/2015 13:09

It results in very unhappy babies that scream after every feed. Hellish

Original poster
Roseybee10 · 31/03/2015 13:13

Sounds familiar. Seems to be associated mostly with wind though.

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notquitegrownup2 · 31/03/2015 13:15

Yy to checking out silent reflux and cows milk intolerance.

Having said that, my eldest had all day screaming with colic. Not every day - some days it was just evenings. Cranial Osteopathy helped him enormously. He had just 2 treatments and was a different child. During the first one, he fell asleep on the couch during the treatment, and just looked so peaceful. Osteopath said he had been in a lot of pain from a venteuse delivery, which had thrown his jaw out of alignment, and so affected feeding.

DS2 also had colic but mainly evenings, and cranial osteopathy did nothing for him. Colief worked wonders however. It's expensive, but you can get it on prescription if you have tried other things and if it works for you.

HTH Best of luck - colic is horrid.

kittyvet · 31/03/2015 13:18

Baby massage, cycling and tiger in tree all helped us. I understand there are some good baby massage videos in you tube. Our teacher told us to use waterwheel, sun and moon and I love you.
My LO was exactly the same, I found she like being on my shoulder upright. We did use infacol as it helped the burping but only 0.5ml every 3hrs.

Original poster
Roseybee10 · 31/03/2015 13:26

Thanks so much. I hadn't considered cranial osteopathy as she had a very relaxed and stress free water home birth and was out in three pushes. Dd1 had a back to back labour and a long pushing stage so could see that having affected her more.
Tempted to try Colief if things don't get better soon. It did help dd1.

OP posts:
Almostapril · 31/03/2015 15:05

Cranial woked amazingly for both mine. DC1 was forceps and bad colic. DC 2 was a very very fast birth which is not great either

Rosie2011 · 01/04/2015 20:42

I had the worst time too with reflux and colic. nothing seemed to help, i did start sma lactose free milk on prescription, not sure if it was coincidence but within a week he was better. however now at 10 months he eats petit filous so not sure it was lactose intolerance. as long as your baby is having some fluid boiled water. its so stressful i really feel for you. i had a very quick birth too, i didnt find cranial ost very useful though, but many people do. gripe water in syringe i remember working a little, made him fart. x

Original poster
Roseybee10 · 01/04/2015 21:02

We had a great day yday where she took all her milk and seemed to have no pain. She was taking 5-6oz in a bottle for the first time.
Today has been awful again. She's barely able to take a mouthful without screaming. She's managed about 10oz overall today.

Going to need to ask for support tomorrow when j go to get her injections. My poor girl. She's snuggled up in my arms now with a blanket and music in her ear trying to calm her.

OP posts:
JiltedJohnsJulie · 01/04/2015 22:15

Really, really feel for you as my dd was a screamer. There is some great advice on here already but think you need a referral. Your dd should be having roughly 2.5 floz per lb of weight, so she needs 20floz a day. If she's only taking half of this she needs a Paed to find out the reasons why.

Have a read of this on CMPA. I have it and apparently screamed for England.

My DS however had tongue tie. Unfortunately the symptoms for both can be similar.

Agree with getting colief, Dentinox in her bottles,trying baby massage, the tiger in the tree hold and maybe trying her in a sling in an upright position but all of these are things to ease her pain. Really you need to insist on a referral to find out why she's in pain in the first place.

As for tomorrow, could you try her with some calpol about half an hour before her jabs?

And good luck Thanks

Original poster
Roseybee10 · 01/04/2015 22:35

I agree that it's the cause we need to identify rather than just dealing withy he symptoms, although that's also important.
I do remember it all clearing up for dd1 when she hit 10 weeks so think I'm just praying the same thing happens this time.
Some of it does seem to be indicative of a delayed cows milk allergy. She also does have a tongue tie although not a severe one so they won't cut it.
She generally has between 16-18oz of milk a day which I know isn't enougj but she just can't take any more than she does when it gets bad. I don't understand why she was completely fine the whole day yday though.
Will see if I can get Colief on minor ailments tomorrow and if not I'll just go buy it. Will dose her up on Calpol in anticipation of jags. Did that with dd1 and it defo helped.
The tiger in tree helps, so does a bath and walking around, music, cycling her legs and wrapping her up in a blanket really tightly and holding her close with her dummy.
I need to alternate all these things though as one only lasts a short time. The only solution seems to be to get her to take a short sleep and then she seems able to take more milk and is sometimes then ok.

It's absolutely wind related though. She was absolutely screaming for an hour and unable to take any milk. She eventually brought up what seemed like a tiny burp and then guzzled 3oz of milk no probs. X

OP posts:
Gileswithachainsaw · 01/04/2015 22:38

Have you tried a comfort formula?

won't help.of it's CMPI/A but it's lower in lactose and a bit gentler on the stomach. Worth a shot

JiltedJohnsJulie · 01/04/2015 22:50

If she's got tongue tie, how do they know it's not affecting her? Have a read of the tongue tie link in my previous post. If she is ticking the boxes you may want to push for it to be divided or contact a txt specialist yourself.

My CMPI is delayed and my stomach gets very swollen too.