Newborn being sick - FTM worries

[Mumwithrum]

Hi all,
My baby girl was born 10 days ago, and had a stay in hospital for infection on antibiotics after being sick green bile. I had a prolonged membrane rupture and they put it down to sepsis. We came home on Thursday and she seemed alright in herself. She was being sick after feed but the midwives said it was probably just because she's feeding too fast, to slow down her feeds, burp regularly and keep her upright and it worked... Until today.

She's being sick after every feed again. The midwife who came yesterday said you can't overfeed a breastfed baby, but I don't see how you can't? She's taking about 60ml of milk at a time (breastmilk from bottle) and still seems hungry, still cueing but then throws it up about 30 minutes to an hour later and it's not just a mouthful either, it's pretty projectile!

We were told to feed every 3 hours, which we do. She's slept a lot today and doesn't wake up for feeds usually - during the night I have to wake her to eat.

Do I just have a sicky, reflux baby or should I keep calling someone and asking for help? How can you not overfeed a baby? Any advice on what to do to help this or what to do next? I'm a pretty panicky FTM and seeing her rushed into NICU has not helped at all!

It could be reflux however my son was like this. It was literally the entire feed that would come back up. I can remember him projectile vomiting in a perfect arch as he lay in his Moses basket. My gut feeling was that it wasn’t right but I was fobbed off so many times. One out of hours doctor told me I was effectively poisoning him by not breastfeeding and this was causing the vomiting. He was my first baby and he was less than 2 weeks old- I was devastated. But I kept pushing and we were kept in hospital overnight for observation. This resulted in a scan which showed he had a ‘pyloric stenosis’ where the tube into the stomach grows too thick and food is pushed out. He had a small op at 4 weeks old and is now a strapping 15 year old!! It’s more common in first born boys apparently but the point of my long post is that I’d definitely keep going back to doctors/ health visitor if you feel it’s not normal. My son started to lose weight which led to him being observed and scanned. You know your baby best.

You know your baby - trust your instincts. I got fobbed off (doctor actually said “you’re a FTM aren’t you….”) when my newborn was vomiting at every feed - but they are too little to cope when not getting enough milk. She ended up as an emergency admission because she was so dehydrated. I was shocked by how quickly she went downhill.

If you think something isn’t right then you should call.

I think the “you can’t overfeed a breast baby” thing refers to babies feeding from the breast, not breast milk from a bottle. I think it’s to do with it being more effort for them to get milk from the breast, but that may be me talking nonsense.

*A breastfed baby, not a breast baby

Just to offer some reassurance, my son was like this. Huge amounts of milk being vomited after every feed. Never seemed to distress him but I was worried about whether he was getting enough (plus, so much washing!). It never affected his weight gain, which was on track for his centile, and we were assured by a consultant paediatrician who our HV pushed me to see (she was shocked by the amount he was vomiting, despite me being v relaxed about it by that point) that this was common - babies have very immature digestive systems. And he explained that the amount they sick up is rarely representative of the amount they take in.

That being said, if you're concerned, make sure you're getting her weighed regularly, and you know her, so trust your instincts as others have said.

Oh and buy a LOT of muslins.

Im a FTM with a 5.5month old who is refluxy AND who had a two week stay in NICU / SCBU with sepsis after my waters broke before my contractions started. So firstly, big hugs to you because i know how scary it is and how much it clouds your view of things afterwards. Hope you are looking after yourself to process that as well

Our reflux was diagnosed at about 3 weeks. She was being very sick after every week, arching her back, really unsettled. When she wasn't sick we could see it coming up into her mouth and then going back down. It was a bit of a nightmare. My DD was tiny at birth and with the reflux she dropped to below the 0.4th centile. I spoke to the HV, she agreed it needed addressing so I rang the GP, we got an appt in a couple of days and they prescribed baby gaviscon. I know it doesn't work for a lot of people but for us it has saved our bacon and vastly cut down on the sick.

I was also able to self-refer to the local infant feeding team. Do you have their details? They did weekly weigh ins for me until i could see her weight was stable and reflux under control. They could also refer us to paeds if needed on a more direct route than the GP so they were handy to be seeing.

Other tips which helped - holding her upright for 15-20mins after feeds, when a bit bigger we used a bouncer chair on its most upright setting, lots of mid feed burps, paced feeding (we combi feed so 30mins on the breast followed by formula top ups from the bottle). I see you've done these, but we found as DD got stronger and was taking more milk, we had to switch up our techniques to keep up with the reflux, and once on the gaviscon, periodically increase the meds as well to keep up with the extra milk.

After every week? What? No i meant after every feed