Small baby constantly crying - any solutions?

[Upsetbabypleasehelp]

Hi,

From around 2 months old, my baby has suddenly become very unsettled. She's now 4 months old and I'd really appreciate any advice anybody might have. It's stopping me from being able to ever leave the house throughout the week as her crying is so full on.

• I express milk and bottle feed her (exclusively breast milk)
• She gets through ~25 oz a day, so a normal amount of milk for a baby
• She is however 0.4th percentile for weight, meaning she is extremely small for her age
• She usually poos throughout the day constantly (every wet nappy change contains some poo), however the GP has prescribed Gaviscon which has changed the consistency of her stools and she poos less often. Whilst her temperament has improved slightly, the Gaviscon hasn't done a lot
• She screams pretty much all day, and once she's been set off she's hard to settle - even after a nap she will wake up on 'full pelt' (i.e. you know when babies have had injections and scream at the top of their lungs, we're talking that level of upset). No position/wrap/feeding, will stop her from being upset, only tiredness stops her
• She sleeps through at night with no issues, waking once for a feed
• When she cries she arches her back a lot, I wonder whether she's in pain with silent reflux (however one doctor has told me they don't believe in it)

The GPs haven't been very helpful so far, I've been three times and they just tell me to up the Gaviscon to the maximum amount.

Has anybody had this before with their baby and managed to find the cause?

Thanks in advance

Google high needs babies.

Also go back to the GP about silent reflux.
My DD was like a new baby once on Ranitidine. Took me 8 GP trips to get there though 🥲

Wow, they don’t believe in silent reflux??? Think you need to change your GP.

our boy was the same in that he would scream all day (he had colic too) especially around feeds and would wake up from naps upset (I think this was due to reflux coming up and waking him and hurting).

I had lots of tearful calls to the HV and GP and got nowhere for ages, tried gaviscon but it made him constipated.

the best thing was omeprazole, takes about a month to work but a god send, it reduces the acid in their stomach so what comes up doesn’t hurt anymore. Please please push for omeprazole , don’t let them fob you off with gaviscon any longer. I only discovered it because one HV mentioned it when I called, she said it pretty much always works when it’s reflux.

once we started weaning at 5 months we came off omeprazole at 7 months and he is such a happy baby now, so he’s grown out of it. Weaning really helps with reflux.

our boy also slept well at night and still does, he used to wake once for a feed but since 4 months has slept through. Often babies with reflux don’t sleep well at night but it’s not always the case, we found that if we held him upright for 30 mins after his bedtime bottle and then put him down it helped. We think he was exhausted from all the crying and that’s why he slept so well at night! But it actually helped him create good sleep habits, he’s 8 months now and still sleeps through every night.

good luck and don’t let them fob you off! I asked my GP for omeprazole and he was happy to prescribe it, but he didn’t offer it, I had to ask. I don’t know if it’s expensive so they try to avoid giving it unless you ask? Xx

Thank you both very much for your responses - baby has now been prescribed omeprazole and fingers crossed it works

Have they considered cow's milk protein allergy? Worth a think of omeprazole doesn't help.

Look up purple crying. It doesn't necessarily mean anything is wrong some babies just cry ALOT more than others.

Has she been 0.4th centile since birth? Have you ever tried formula? Did she still cry then? Maybe you do not have enough of the hind milk to keep her satisfied. My son was like this just needed something a bit more calorific. I gave him 1 feed of formula a day, that kept his weight steady and breastfed the rest of the time.

This was us. It was the Gaviscon.

We started down the PPI route (omeprozole) but the pharmacist refused to dispense as it was the dispersable tablets and as the active ingredient is the little grains at the bottom and our boy so young - it was impossible to dose correctly.

After a big argument over getting the liquid suspension another practice doctor rang and told us he’s not a fan of the PPI type medicines. That it disrupts gut flora and so reflux is a self fulfilling prophecy and the medication then is required more and more.

We decide to trial a period of no meds at all and use probiotics. Labinic is trialled in nhs neonatal units so decided to use that.

Pleased to report for us it was the right decision. Screaming reduced straight away when stopping the Gaviscon. After 4 weeks he doesn’t have back arching anymore. Reflex very mild when lying flat now. Very happy in himself. Still throws up a fair bit but now a happy spitter.

Goodluck with it. You will get to the bottom of it all eventually I promise.

Thank you for your additional responses, it's much appreciated

Sounds like cows milk protein allergy, especially with the weight loss. I'm really surprised that hasn't already been suggested. If you can I'd go dairy free in your own diet for 6 weeks and see if baby gets better. There's a cmpa main group on Facebook and a breastfeeding one. My DDs symptoms were constipation then diarrhea (with mucus and blood), projectile vomiting that then ended up in silent reflux. Constant screaming, weight loss, eczema.

Also try rockabye reflux on Instagram she is a health professional who has some great advice for reflux.

This was our baby. I lost my mind at points, it is so so hard. I felt so lonely and couldn’t stop comparing to other parents and babies who just seemed so much more chill. It’s such a tough time. Ours is now 7mo and she’s definitely still hard work, but she has pockets of the day where she’s not crying which is a massive improvement!

GP/HV was next to useless - essentially blamed colic and “babies cry”. I also found the purple crying stuff really invalidating, because I just knew my baby cried more than others and it felt far too much like the “babies cry” rhetoric.

things that have helped have been cutting out dairy, getting good naps in the day, and making sure I swap out with my partner when he gets home from work. I’m also going back to work in a couple of weeks, which has felt like a light at the end of the tunnel! Also tried probiotics, didn’t seem to help us but have heard great things.

hang in there, I’m sorry your baby needs lots from you. It really is so hard, and ultimately taking a load of pressure off myself in other ways was the main help for me.

A quick update for any future parents going through this, the Omeprazole is working wonders a week in and she's now a lot happier!

Great update @Upsetbabypleasehelp

So pleased for you!! Omeprazole is a game changer!!