Tummy problems?

[TLBftm]

Hi,

This is my first post so I hope I’m doing it in he right place, I just don’t know what else to do other than to ask the advice of others who may be going through similar.

My LO is 4 weeks old and everything was great until last Thursday. He started on some vitamin drops from the HV then that evening just would not settle. He was going red/purple, screaming, clenching, stiffening up, grunting.... this was after a feed and change. He finally settled a couple of hours later. The day after I rang the HV and said I thought the vitamins had upset his tummy. She advised me to stop using them but did say ‘it could be his milk’ (he is formula fed after unsuccessful bf) I thought it surely couldn’t be his milk as this issue would have cropped up before now? Anyway we stopped the drops but had the same problem Fri Sat and Sun evening. I thought it must be colic and started him on infacol Sunday evening. Things seemed much better and we haven’t had that much of a nightmare in evenings since using it. However.... since using infacol, he gets upset after each feed now :( about 20 mins after feeding he will spend the next hour or so squirming, grunting, going red and stiffening his legs. If you feel his tummy you can feel it going mental inside. We try everything to help him. Winding in between feeds, warm bath, warm compress on his tummy, drinks of water, bike legs, baby massage... we have tried it all and nothing really stands out to be working. Every so often he will do a massive trump and then calm down for 5/10 mins, then the bubbling in his tummy starts again and so do the strops! This goes on for at least an hour and then eventually he falls asleep. How can I help him? Am I doing something wrong? Could it be his milk? I’m just at a loss on what to do and having no luck getting hold of my HV. I’m really struggling with him and not having my family and friends close is hard when my SO is at work all day. I find myself sat in tears with LO sometimes, then I feel like a bad mum. Can someone, anyone, help? :( thank you!

Note: he doesn’t really spit up or be sick at all and he does burp when being winded but when the trouble starts, it all seems to be bottom end related

Have you tried any other colic drops? Infacol worked for my first baby but not my second. I used dentinox drops second time round which seemed to help.
Or, I know it's expensive (but if you're at your wits end), Colief is meant to be really good as it breaks down the lactose in the milk I think

What milk are you using?

Using Aptamil first profuture... I decided this eve to stop the infacol and use gripe water as I had heard it’s better than infacol but we had SUCH a showdown, like the worst all week. So now I’m wondering weather to go back to the infacol. Haven’t tried the other 2 but think I will! Can’t take this much longer and feel like such a bad mum cos I can’t help him :(

My baby hated infacol. He had it once and he screamed and cried for 4 hours with grunting and farting.

Detinox drops worked best for him. He stopped needing them at 12-13 weeks so hang in there.

Have you tried HiPP Organic? I’ve used it from birth and he’s never suffered from colic or reflux, just abit if gas. Could just be my baby though.

I also burped him every 1-2oz.

Thanks, no I have tried that, I’ll have a read of it today and consider it. I find infacol has worked in the sense of evenings are calmer, no excessive crying etc but after each feed LO is still getting fidgety and crying a bit, going stiff and red. I switched to gripe water and feel that works better for after the feed calmness but then the evening showdown returned! Argh. Does anyone know if I can use infacol before his milk then gripe water after it?

Try Aptamil Comfort milk. It can take a week or two to help but it worked for my LO. Also, look up baby tummy massage and the tiger in the tree hold. All helped with mine.

Never heard of tiger in the tree ha I will have a look now. Hoping to get hold of the HV finally today so I will speak to her about changing his milk. How I wish they came with an instruction book 😩😂

I know exactly how you feel, but believe me - in a few weeks or so you'll feel somewhat of an expert, well, sometimes! Other times something new will happen (like teething) and you'll feel like you have no idea what to do all over again!!

What bottles are you using as well @TLBftm as you can get anti-colic ones which will also help. I changed from Tommee Tippee bottles to Mam anti-colic and that definitely helped. Basically I do infacol, and then feed the Comfort milk in the anti colic bottles and use gripe water afterwards if we can't get his wind up and it seems to hurt him. It made a massive difference than he was before, but because I changed it all within a week I'm not sure if it was the combination of what we were doing, or just one specific thing!

Aw that’s really helpful... I’ve been using tommee tippee closer to nature bottles, but I went to get the tommee tippee anti colic bottles this morning. So do you give infacol and gripe water then? I feel both help him in different ways but haven’t dared use both together?? Gripe water is a nightmare to get down him also. Just got off the phone to the HV also, I think I was under the illusion she would tell me exactly what to do and what was wrong haha but she just seemed to um and ah as much as me. She suggested comfort milk so I think I’m going to have my other half pick some up today. I’ve tried to avoid trying more than one thing at once as like you say you don’t know which is working then, but I’m just gonna go all in I think and try it all together now. The HV mentioned needing different teats if using comfort milk, do you know what tests I need to get? Thanks again! :)

It's fine to use gripe water after the bottle, even if you use infacol before, but I'd only do it if your little one needs it. My LO was only 5lb when born so I was feeding him from a tiny plastic cup in the hospital (that they gave me), and that's what I give him the gripe water with. It's a little cup (like what you use for medicine), but it's got a little lip on it to help pour in their mouth. There's no way I could use a spoon to get it in, even now.

Regarding the Comfort milk, you need at least medium flow teats with it as it's a lot thicker than normal formula, it's more like a milkshake consistency.

Be aware that it can take 2-3 weeks before it takes full effect, though you may notice a slight change in a day or two (I certainly did).

Good luck @TLBftm !! I hope the change of milk helps.