6 week old baby

[notakardashian]

Ds is 6 weeks old and I need some advice. Breastfeeding didn't work out so we have switched to formula.

Was offering on demand but he can take 5oz every 1-2 hrs then bring some up. One day he polished off 48oz (very little came back up). Today I've been offering 6oz every 3 hours, he takes 5oz but the hour before feeding he screams ( he is the loudest child I have ever heard ).

He doesn't nap other than in the pram or in the car so I do either in between every feed. He is constantly over tired. He sleeps at night 8-7 waking twice for food and a nappy.

He doesn't seem to like being held anymore either. Can't use a sling as infected section incision. He's also huge at nearly 14lb. Height and weight all match up so not fat.

He is just not a contented baby at all. In fact, he's downright miserable most of the time and very loud about it. He gets hysterical very quickly and has damaged his vocal cords by screaming.

Can anyone advise how to make him happy please. I'm struggling.

Did anyone else's baby do the arm thrashing/ eye rolling? He also has a tremor in one leg, we put these down to a developing nervous system but could there be a link too?

An occasional tremor I should say, not anything we viewed as abnormal.

Hoping the best for your wee boy if your changing formula tomorrow - your doing an amazing job, no one knows these things til they have to so don't beat yourself up x

Btw, reading back I wasn't trying to starve him giving him 5oz bottles every 3 hours. Was making 6oz so there was a bit to go at if he wanted it, also trying to limit the amount of foam going in. Trying to make him wait the 3 hours so he might settle into a routine of feeding properly, sleeping, then being properly hungry for his next feed and not messing about with it for an hour.

The leg kicking etc is the startle reflex babies have when they're born. They don't quite realise they have arms or legs 😂😂 an they're not used to having open space considering they spent so long cooking inside us 🥰

Quick update.

Ds dropped a night feed last night. Slept 7 hrs then 5 hrs. Then dh kept him in bed with him until 12 just chilling and dozing l, I took them tea and bottles when necessary and got on with housework.
Ds then napped for 2 hours this afternoon in the pram whilst on a walk.
He's been fed on demand, roughly 5/6oz every 2.5hrs.
He's been calm all day, cried more normally for wet nappies or when he woke up for food.

Not sure what happened really, after being convinced last night about cmpa I wonder now if it's been him transitioning from bf to formula and a growth spurt? Will still be looking into it but leaving it until his 8 week check to see if he continues to settle down. Over the next few days.

Thank you so much for all of the advice. Dh is settling him for the night now so I'm going to read back through and make sure I take in all of the tips.

No, the duration and intensity of his crying episodes can't be explained away by a growth spurt. Transition from BF to formula could be a trigger for CMPA (obviously breastmilk only has small amounts of cow's milk protein).

I'm glad he seems to be doing better atm but please don't wait until the 8 week check, please book an urgent GP appointment anyway.

If he doesn't have CMPA, it won't do him any harm to try a hypoallergenic formula for (say) 2 weeks, then if no change you can go back to regular formula.

If he does have CMPA, the longer you give him regular formula the more harm it will do.

Really, ok, I've been looking to just buy some hypoallergenic formula anyway. Is there a preferred brand or do I just wait for a prescription?
If he had allergies would it not be consistent or would it ebb and flow then?

Btw, his 8 weeks check is on Friday, just before he turns 8 weeks as appointments are like hens teeth.

DD3 has CMPA and before it was prescribed I was told I could buy aptimil pepti 1 over the counter in a pharmacy - £15 for half a tin. It's hydrolysed which means the cows milk protein has been broken down and is the most mild one you can get. You'd need to phone the pharmacy in advance though - some will do same day.

It could be cmpa and it certainly sounds like it but the calming down sounds exactly like my dd1 who doesn't have any allergies. She screamed like that and guzzled milk in just the same way. Aside from having lots of wind it was where she'd got into a sort of catch 22 situation of not having enough sleep and so then struggled to sleep. She replaced sleep with milk too. Once we managed to get some sleep into her her feeding settled down and then she started sleeping more. This sounds similar to what you've described.

I would book the GP apt and pretend the recent settling hasn't happened...it could be a one off after all. Get the formula either to try on prescription or by ordering it yourself and if it flares up again you can try it and see how he gets on.

Most GPs and dieticians prescribe Nutrimagen, the one you need (for up to 6 months) is Nutrimagen 1. So you could ask for it at a chemist, I think you could buy it without a prescription.

With CMPA symptoms can fluctuate, especially because the proteins can take a while to work their way through the system (up to 3 weeks).

Good grief, half a tin would only last a few days! Well, I suppose the little bugger is worth it it's been so nice to have a good day with him. Just been up and they are both passed out cold. Have had to switch on the video monitor to make sure they're ok together

Have a look at lactose overload - sounds a lot like our little one. You can over feed them - we did this - they get comfort off the food but the extra milk - and lactose makes things worse. Our little one was exactly like you describe. We shifted to comfort milk - which is lower in lactose - many babies struggle with it until they're 12 weeks - and it completely changed the game for us. Let us know how you get on.

Thank you, will research.

He's taken around 37oz today, for his weight that is a much more healthy amount.

The symptoms of lactose overload are rapidly gaining weight, lots of wee and poo (though our little one would poo once a week!), fussy, unsettled, painful tummy etc

"Lactose overload Many healthy, thriving, babies develop gastric symptoms, such as; excessive gas and frequent,watery bowel movements* due to lactose overload, which is associated with large, frequent feeds.These symptoms cause tummy pains. A baby with tummy pain can appear to be hungry because he seeks to feed in an attempt to relieve this discomfort, (which it does but only temporarily). However, the extra feedings could further add to the vicious cycle of lactose overload and gastric symptoms.

"Unfortunately, all too often 'lactose overload' is mistakenly diagnosed as lactose intoleranceor food or milk allergy or intolerance(to dairy foods or other foods in the mother's diet). A breastfed baby may beeither weaned from the breast onto a lactose-free formula or the mother feels compelled to make dietary restrictions. Both of which are unnecessary and unhelpful in this situation. This problem of lactose overload can be resolved simply by making appropriate changes to feeding management.A mistaken diagnosis may result in a formula fed baby being switched tosoy or lactose free formula"

Worth a try maybe?!

I hope very much it's that and I've started to break the cycle by restricting him to 3hr feeds for a couple of days.
It was inadvertent but I could see the constant feeding wasn't helping!
Will continue to do my best, not discounting any advice.
Will update what the night and tomorrow bring. Will also try and reschedule gp appointment on Monday.

As a further note his face and neck spots are 50% better today. One eye looks slightly red and swollen though. Not sure if a cmpa symptom or coincidence.

My little girl was an unhappy baby who drank huge quantities of milk (my first born had serious feeding issues so I couldn’t believe my luck when number 2 wanted to feed all the time and finished bottle after bottle). She had terrible gastric probs though and a dr suggested reflux as an issue - the reasoning being that some silent reflux babies drink all the time to wash the acid down and while it gives them immediate relief it actually just makes things worse in the long run. If you want to try something quickly grab a box of comfort milk and give it a shot. You don’t need to get in on prescription. Just remember to use a number 2 teat because it is thicker. It takes about a week to notice any difference and up to 3 to really be able to judge whether it’s really worked, but for my most recent baby we didn’t hesitate at the first sign of problems and the difference is colossal. Brace yourself for the nappies though....

@MaderiaCycle thank you so much for the link and sharing your experience. So much of that resonates with me and I cannot thank you enough for taking your time to share. I will be discussing it all with the gp as soon as I can get an appointment.

Having read and researched I think the crux of our problem is overtiredness. When I was breastfeeding I think my maternal instinct hadn't fully kicked in and I was encouraging ds to latch on when in fact I should have been helping him to sleep. He then got used to falling asleep on the boob and then when that was taken away he got all mixed up and screamed for bottles when actually he needed sleep. That lead to over feeding and all the associated problems.
We then mistakenly tried things like gripe water which just stressed his digestive system even more.

@NameChange30 thank you for your lovely support and time. I think you might be on to something with the allergy too. At this point it's too early to tell. And I know far too little about it all. I'm going to relay all the symptoms to the gp and insist on the proper support.

Thank you to everyone else that posted too. The colic book will be read and all the other tips will be tried. Honestly Mumsnet has saved my sanity this weekend 

Ds has had another good day today. He woke three times in the night and I had a proper cry this morning but dh took over and we've actually had another good day with him. He's slept with dh a lot today and fed better. Still taking a lot but he's a big lad so that's to be expected. I think it's the sleeping that needs the attention as well, as highlighted in the article @MaderiaCycle attached.

@Samind @BertieBotts @mumslave @MaverickSnoopy @Redken24 @didireallysaythat @didireallysaythat and every one else thank you so much for your time, input and support. I'm determined to nail this and have a happy boy, whatever it takes. Your input and support has been invaluable to a family that have very little support irl

OP I hope you get some answers - you are doing a fabulous job and while it's no consolation at the moment these phases will pass.

Hope it helps! We stumbled across it by accident after googling LO symptoms. We tried gripe water and infacol too but a bit of routine and comfort milk really changed the game for us and LO is now a contented happy baby.

We had the same problems with our first ds now 4 I kept going back to the doctor and they kept saying everything was fine yada yada (you know when something's not right) anyway long story short we changed his formula from aptimil to cow and gate and within 2 days was like a different baby.
He has a slight milk intolerance so I don't know if different ingredients made a difference
Hang in there

In the interests of updating for anyone else with similar issues. Ds has continued to improve. I'm fairly sure it was lactose overload that was the problem. The gp agrees although was typically non committal. Suggested letting his digestive system continue to adjust being fully formula fed for another week and reassessing in a week.

He is sleeping at night for 7 hours then 5 hours and napping in the day for 2.5 hours at a time. He is an entirely different child. We have also stopped using anything like infacol or gripe water. He is much more relaxed and most of his symptoms have completely gone or are clearing. He has barely cried or coughed for a few days. When he does cry it is not hysterical or full of rage (still loud though).

We are continuing the cow and gate first milk on demand. He takes 6oz every 2-4 hours except at night where he is trending towards one night feed now.

If you suspect lactose overload I can recommend spacing the feeds out for a few days. I got through the "hunger" by forcing him to sleep between feeds. I used the car or the pram as motion luckily makes him pass out. I was also confident he was never actually hungry as he was being offered 6oz every 3 hours which is shed loads for a 6 week old!

Wonderful news! Thanks for updating us. I've learned something new as I'd never heard of lactose overload.