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What is wrong with my baby? Please help.

44 replies

Summerbabygirl · 15/10/2018 11:44

Hi,

I have posted before about colic/ reflux but my baby is nearly 15 weeks old now and I just don’t know what is wrong with her.

She screams in pain all the time. She won’t go in the pram/sling/ car seat so I am basically a hostage in my own home. She is inconsolable for hours.

I have tried infacol, gripe water, gaviscon, ranitidine, cranial osteopathy. Given up dairy/ caffeine. Been to the doctor several times and have another appointment today but they will probably fob us off again.

Nothing helps. I’ve stopped going out with my NCT group because no one else has these problems. I’m heartbroken for her. I have failed. I get a few smiles each day which are beautiful and some days I feel she is improving but then it starts again and we are back to square one.

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strawberrisc · 16/10/2018 06:57

My DD is now 14 but oh I remember this well! If I could go back I would have tried cranial osteopathy. I’m now thinking the problems weren’t in her gut but were pains in her head from a forceps very quick birth.

seven201 · 16/10/2018 07:02

Sounds like my dd who had silent reflux and cmpa (still has that). She would only stop screaming if facing outwards in a carrier. And that would only work for short times.

Omperazole with ranitidine too along with me being completely milk free is what worked. Also a good quality probiotic.

IceBearRocks · 16/10/2018 07:04

Pyoric Stenosis is soehung which should be considered too. DS is 9 and still refluxes.
Mam dmmies are excellent and while the dummy is in rock her and gently tap the end o the dummy as you rock.
This should work!
I feel your pain!!

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barnet · 16/10/2018 07:15

My dd was similar, and it turned out she couldnt digest the lactose in breastmilk. It created gas in her tummy. We started her on a lactose free formula (after 4 months of screaming, poor thing) and she got much better.

EndeavourVoyage · 16/10/2018 07:15

If you are BF I would take s look at your diet, make sure there is no spicy food and cut down on foods that will cause reflux Tomstoes/onions/citrus fruit/garlic. This was the problem I had with my son. Mind you that was 25 years ago but sure it is still the same. Persevere with that dummy too, try a different shape, a small teet etc..

Kilpitlees · 16/10/2018 07:31

If it is reflux you may want to request omeprazole from your GP. This is usually more effective than ranitidine. Also use the Gaviscon Infant sachets.
If it is colic I would echo other posters to see if referral to a nurse specialist or paediatrician is possible.
My first child was a very colicky baby and I had to constantly walk the streets with him in his pram to get him to settle. I realise that you have tried this but a wee bit of hope that I can give you is that his colic suddenly disappeared at 4-5 months. Flowers

lifechangesforever · 16/10/2018 07:56

DD had horrific colic up to being about a month old (she's 13 weeks now) I switched to SMA Comfort milk and MAM bottles and the difference in her in just a couple of days was amazing.

If you are going to go down the formula route, then I'd definitely go for a comfort option as they're easier to digest. I have now been able to switch her back to regular first milk too.

lifechangesforever · 16/10/2018 07:58

DD also refuses any dummy that are not the MAM ones too, I assume because they're a similar teat as her bottles

Summerbabygirl · 16/10/2018 08:26

GP won’t give anything else for reflux as he thinks it’s colic. When I saw the health visitor she was very much like ‘that sounds like reflux!) so many conflicting opinions.

I think I would feel a bit heartbroken to stop breastfeeding, I never thought I would feel like that at all and I don’t understand why it bothers me so much. It may be that I need to try formula but the thought of it upsets me - like she won’t need me anymore. I know that’s silly. It also makes me sad that it’s my milk that is probably making her unhappy Sad.

There is a good breastfeeding support group around here so I’ll try to go along but I am finding it increasingly hard to even get out of the house atm. I may pop to Tescos later and get some different dummies to try. Thanks all.

OP posts:
BiscuitsAndGravy · 16/10/2018 08:37

Try the hairdryer. Obviously it's not ideal but it's literally the only thing that would calm him down. I actually bought one that blows cool air just so I wouldn't melt whilst calming him down.

Also my son miraculously stopped crying constantly at around 17 weeks, so she could be a lot better in the next few weeks. Good luck OP, I know how stressful it is to have a tiny baby that seems miserable. 

DearTeddyRobinson · 16/10/2018 11:48

Honestly I would see a paediatrician. Can you afford a private appointment? They will give her a full check and may suggest something you haven't thought of.

Summerbabygirl · 16/10/2018 21:47

DearTeddy that’s a good point I will look into private. I’m just so worried the GP is missing something, still not had a call back. Had another terrible crying episode this evening, she’s clearly in a lot of pain. I managed to feed her lying on my side in bed which calmed her down enough to fall asleep.

I guess being a Mum is constantly worrying all the time Sad

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Brandnewstart · 16/10/2018 21:59

I’m another one suggesting some dairy/lactose intolerance. My eldest was similar to your daughter but not quite as hard. I breastfed him but the colic, projectile vomiting etc was awful.
I really wish I had cut out dairy as he is definitely intolerant and spends hours on the toilet after having milk (sorry TMI). He only has it in milkshakes and wouldn’t tolerate any other dairy.
Personally I would also try alternative therapies like baby reflexology and cranial sacral therapy - I think it has to be worth a shot!
I really hope things improve for you. I would spend my days wheeling him round town just so I wasn’t in the house and my MH definitely suffered.

MrsRonBurgundy · 16/10/2018 22:14

OP that sounds really hard for you, you're doing great Thanks
My little one is 5 months now but he was similar for a few weeks and my GP said it was reflux. We tried baby gaviscon which didn't work. Then moved onto ranitidine which made his screaming worse! He's now on omeprazole and within 3 or 4 days was like a different baby. His reflux has completely gone, he now feeds easily (previously would scream through every feed and fight every drop and was dropping down the weight centiles). He's now gaining weight nicely.
Could you try asking your GP about omeprazole if you think it could be reflux? My GP called and did a telephone review with the paediatric consultant who gave the ok for her to prescribe (would have had to have a referral if it hadn't have worked). I think it helped that I went in there and asked about the drug though, I'd done some reading. Something to consider maybe. Hope you get some relief soon

endofmytetherstether · 17/10/2018 08:36

Thanks for your support on my thread, sounds like we have a very similar baby Sad no advice as you know but sending you lots of love. PM me if you want to complain or anything xxxxxx

mintyfresh00 · 17/10/2018 08:51

See another GP- a trial of ranitidine is 100% warranted here if you ask me.
I'm sorry you are having such a difficult time of it. I wrote a similar post nearly a year ago with my dd. It does get better, I promise, but I remember having a few months of wondering if I'd made a terrible mistake.
Thanks for you.

MeadowHay · 17/10/2018 09:36

Hi Summer, I feel you, my baby is 4 months and much the same. It's slightly better now because she is more interactive each week, so it is a bit easier to distract her a bit and you get more positive feedback out of her e.g. more smiles and sometimes the odd laugh too. But still hard.

You say it is colic/ reflux, colic is basically just a term for unexplained crying, but why do you think it is reflux out of interest? If they are showing lots of symptoms of reflux other than the crying I'd go back to GP and be really firm about them prescribing something for reflux for baby. Our DD has 'colic' in the sense that she has unexplained crying but it's no worse in the evenings, Infacol helps a tiny bit but not much, Gripe Water seemed to make it even worse, and I'm confident she doesn't have reflux as she doesn't have any of the symptoms really other than the crying and intermittently being really fussy drinking her bottles. My DD has been checked by GP 3 times and found nothing wrong, and checked for tongue tie at the hospital clinic, and nothing was found. Nobody can find anything wrong with her, yet still she cries for hours every day, often full on red-in-the-face-tears-in-her-ears-screaming-the-place-down. It is HARD.

You say she won't go in the pram, car seat, or sling, do you mean that you have tried all these things and she won't settle at all or that you can't put her in them as she cries? Because DD always cries when we first put her in the pram but after walking for a bit - this can be up to 10/15 minutes if she's really in a state - she will take her dummy, calm down, and go off to sleep. She also sometimes cries when she first goes in the carseat but after driving for a few mins she calms down and goes to sleep, same story with the Baby Bjorn, eventually whilst walking she will calm and go to sleep though she does cry initially. I'm wondering if you have tried this with your DC? Apologies if you have.

I would try different brands of dummy too as someone suggested. DD's dummy is a lifesaver although it doesn't magically solve the problem unfortunately she still cries A LOT.

I had huge problems breastfeeding so by 12 weeks DD was exclusively formula-fed however if you don't have problems I would personally advise to continue the feeding. If you need a break now and then, an occasional bottle of formula could help you but I doubt it will do anything extra for DD. There is no reason to think you have low supply, your DC is putting on weight well and having wet and dirty nappies, therefore they are getting what they need from you, so I don't see how formula could help. A lot of my family put pressure on me to stop BF as if moving to formula would suddenly help DD - it didn't. It made no differnce at all and it is arguably more difficult sometimes in the sense that BFing her would always be a way to stop the crying but bottle feeding is not the same in terms of that comfort and doesn't always work and also you can overfeed so I can't just give her formula every time she cries, and she won't drink if full anyway whereas she would always BF even if only for a few minutes.

Sometimes the hairdryer helps DD. Also might sound silly but she has enjoyed watching children's TV from being about 8 weeks old she would sometimes sit and watch CBeebies or on Youtube she loved the baby sensory videos, worth a try if you haven't already? Have you tried baths also or taking her swimming, some babies find water calming? DD goes swimming once a week now to Water Babies and we were worried initially that she'd scream through it but she doesn't, she sometimes has little bits of whingy crying but not much and generally seems happy and distracted in the water, she also likes being in her Schnuggle bath. Also sometimes the hair dryer noise helps to calm her.

Sorry for the long post, just I know how utterly draining it is and how you feel trapped in the house because you dare not take them anywhere in case they just cry and cry! But you are not alone, there are many of us with babies like this.

Summerbabygirl · 17/10/2018 10:18

Thanks so much meadow for your post!

I have tried ranitidine and Gaviscon for reflux. It was basically just trial and error to see what works. The doctors wanted to try it to see if it helps. It doesn’t seem to.

I have actually had some luck today and yesterday with the wrap sling with baby facing outwards. She hates the ergo as I think she is too small to face out so this works a bit better. Still can’t sit down though. We have tried and tried with pram/ car seat but she just will not settle. We took her to see family the other week and basically screamed for a whole hour + in the car.

I put her in front of Peppa pig this morning, felt guilty but it entertained her for half an hour. She now seems to be going through sleep regression so on top of the all day screaming she now won’t sleep or nap.

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Olderbyaminute · 18/10/2018 22:12

My kid had reflux and screamed bloody murder for eight months-was on two Rx medications for reflux and soy based formula (went through all the ultra expensive formulas) and he was like a Mexican jumping bean in his car seat every place I drove with him he screamed at the highest decibels! He would nap during day and night but he had to be held looking out over our shoulders. Anyhow literally one day he woke up a happy baby-don’t know why but thank god he did! Hang in there! Good luck you’re doing great

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