Colic 5 day old, please help

[MissPepper8]

Really need help, 5 day old, breastfeeding until we started formula yesterday am, as baby refused to latch on to me for 7 hours and my boobs went hard :(.

He's OK all day, feeds quite well and then we get to 12am (exception is tonight and he's started it now) where he's pained screaming inbetween cluster feeding on me. Soon as I put him down on his back (or anytime) he's screaming so I'm having to lay him on his side and not sleep to watch him.

What can I do? I can't soley bf anymore, I'm on 3 hour sleep with DH. I'm so exhausted, between this and feeding. Tried infacol from pharmasist too.

Thank you

Hi

Buy colief from a pharmacy tomorrow. It goes into the milk to break down the lactose.
My sons tipped me over the edge for nearly a year after trying infacol, gripe water etc.
Also make sure when bottle feeding , when you have shaken up the milk to let it rest a bit , otherwise it’s like shaking any drink and drinking straight away even though it’s only milk. make sure the teat is full when feeding.
Dr brown bottles and colief were the answers for me.

@Gohackyourself I bought some off amazon as dh saw it in Asda. Im using aptamil bottles the mini ready ones as I didn't take them to hospital. Thought I'd try it on my nipple.

Is it my milk? I try burp him but he doesn't bring a lot up, where as formula I get instant burps (I pace it, few sips, burp, repeat).

I'm so upset from it, my DS didn't do this, I'm literally on 2 hours sleep :( it's breaking me.

My dd1 was colicky, so I remember feeling complete horror when someone told me she would grow out if it at about 12 weeks (!?!?!)

My top tips are:

• check for tongue tie. With hindsight I think this was the main cause for my daughter. Does your ds make 'click' sounds when feeding? If any signs at all even if they say it is 'mild' get it snipped asap
• buy a good sling. I used a Mai tie which is a soft fabric one which holds them upright (which babies with Colic like) and you can get on with your day or pace living room at 3am
• buy a battery powered swing rocker and set to full speed full white noise, this used to allow me to eat dinner

-get familiar with swaddling

• agree with dh a rota and emergency switch. Look at a clock when the crying starts. What feels like hours is sometimes 10min. In an epic crying phase we would switch every 20 min and/or when the other was losing their mind

It is brutal, but you can survive it, caffeine and cake are essential

Your boobs going hard was likely your milk coming in so don't worry about that.

Sounds like it could be reflux if baby doesn't like being on back. Relfux can be caused by many things but most commonly it seems to be due to baby being sensitive, intolerant or allergic to cow's milk protein. Maybe worth losing dairy from your diet to help. Although if you are formula feeding as well, you'd need to get a special formula from the docs.

It's really tough, you have my sympathy.

Also the refusing to latch can be that your milk is really starting to come in now and so has a fast let down which is too much for your ds to manage. Try feeding leaning right back on pillows so the milk has to go 'uphill' and will be a bit slower. Or let initial burst out with a pump or by hand until your boobs settle down. Frozen peas on boobs also good for relief from being engorged and slowing down milk. Good luck

@milkjetmum He's not tongue tied, he feeds quite nicely really. And he's not fussed on swaddling or his chair right now :( I just don't know what to do to help him. The other night he screamed so much think I just couldn't relax to feed as he upset me so much :(.

@Ribenaberriesgowoo82 I don't drink much milk tbh, just in my tea and I drink decaf. I can't think of anything Ive eaten.. Apart from the tea which is 2 cups at the most (my mum is making them for me). He was emergency section and had a bit of mucus but it's stopped. He's not being sick after me feeding him, we just get him going in a ball, screaming, kicking and he does this until DH rubs wind out of him (usually farts or burps).

My diet isn't that great right now, I'm barely eating just drinking loads of water and keeping it as healthy as I can.

Try a warm bath with a flannel on his belly. This might ease any discomfort on his tummy from the colic. Really helped my boy. He had colic from 2 weeks but it does pass, and for us it passed before 12 weeks.

Oh yes and white noise. Has to be louder than the sound of his cry (!)
Theres a some versions of white noise on YouTube that work if you dont have a machine.

Any dairy, even a small amount, totally upset both my daughter's stomachs. It's amazing how little. I didn't read the back of a pack of guacamole as I wasn't expecting dairy in it. BIG mistake. I only had about a teaspoon in my wrap but boy did I know about it.

Reflux can also be silent where the babies doesn't actually bring any milk up buy are in lots of pain from acid in there stomach etc.

Don't rule it out just yet.

Please look after yourself though.

Oh and soy can also be an issue as it is similar to dairy in its make up!!

DD had silent reflux, very similar symptoms. I suspected it was a milk allergy but as carobel (milk thickener added to formula) sorted her out the GP didn't deem any further investigations necessary.

I would second the white noise (there's a free app called Sound Sleeper which was our go to before we got a vtech white noise machine) and the carrier. Honesty the carrier was a life saver, it was the only thing that would calm her when we were in the eye of the storm. It's unfortunate that all the sling libraries will be closed at the minute but I have an ergobaby omni 360 which has earnt its corn ten times over.