3.5 week old always crying

[Cubi23]

Hi,
My 3 and a half week old always seems to be unsettled. He cries nearly constantly when awake and has been like this for around 2 weeks. He is formula fed and due to suspected reflux (my opinion) I changed his formula to an anti reflux one. Whilst this has helped with reduced spit up of milk, he is still very unsettled during and after feeds. He gets hiccups, arches his back and is difficult to wind. He generally seems uncomfortable/in pain a lot occurs time. He takes between 2.5 and 3.5 oz roughly every 2- 3 hours but sometimes acts hungry sooner than this, but will often only take 1oz if I feed him sooner. I've tried to hold off for longer so he takes more but he just screams so I'm not sure if this is due to genuine hunger or its a comfort thing. He has plenty of wet nappies but recently is only doing a poo every other day or every 2 days. He seems constipated as he strains and goes red in the face often. He is passing wind from that end but isn't doing a poo often. However when he does go, it is a normal consistency and not hard, so not sure if he is actually constipated?
I've tried infacol but it doesn't work, I've given cool boiled water between feeds, rubbed his tummy, ivrn warm baths, bicycle legs etc but nothing seems to settle him. He won't sleep unless he's held and if I put him down he wakes almost instantly, so I've ended up co sleeping which soothes him slightly and I manage to atleast get a little sleep. It's is not what I wanted to do but I have a toddler who needs sleep and is being disturbed by baby crying all night with me trying to lay him in his moses basket.
I know I'm only a few weeks in but I'm struggling with seeing my baby clearly distressed and I don't know what to do. My GP and HV said its probably colic and he will grow ouf of it, but surely this isn't right and he's clearly unhappy. I'm not sure if this is colic, reflux, milk intolerance or if he's just a fussy baby. Mum instinct tells me something isn't right though! I know babies cry, but this is excessive and he always seems uncomfortable. Has anyone experienced similar and did anything help? X

@MigGirl thank you 😊

Op most first infant formula's are very similar as they have to be made to specific guidelines.

There are ovously some special one's but the big brands will all be very similar to each other. Although I have hurd that before ,that some babies do better on the premade stuff. The main ingredients should be the same, but maybe it's just better mixed as it's premade. They have also been sterilised already, where as the powder hasn't.

@MigGirl my first cried every night for about 2 hours without fail for weeks, it then suddenly stopped. Looking back I think that was a bit of colic as there was no other obvious cause and is was predictable as started around the same time each evening. I thought that was stressful at the time, but my newborn is so far much worse as he just cries when he's not asleep! I know it will get easier, and time flies by but as this is probably my last baby I just feel a bit sad that he seems so unhappy.

Have they ruled out jaundice?

@momtoboys yep my LO is only not crying when he's eating or asleep. He will rarely be put down either so he sleeps on my chest most of the time. Whilst I love the cuddles it's hard to get stuff done. My first was the same, he wasn't as unsettled but loved being held and hated being put down. He did eventually get better and now is not interested in cuddles, so I'm trying to make the most of it whilst I can 🤣

I'd bet my house that it's CMPA.

Everything you describe was my baby. I kept getting fobbed off until I sat in the doctors surgery crying because I was so worried and frustrated that nobody was listening to me and the Dr agreed to prescribe Aptamil Pepti 1 which has hydrolysed dairy in it (easier to break down), she has been thriving on it since 4 weeks old. She's almost 5 months and she was a different, happier baby about 2 weeks after starting new milk.

I gave her gavisvon, omeprazole, anti reflux milk etc and none of it worked. Gavisvon and omeprazole made her so constipated and her bum sore.

Don't be fobbed off OP, good luck ♥️

@PrimaryHeadteacher yes he hasn't got jaundice

Also, they were dismissive about CMPA as DD didn't have a rash. She had dark green stools with mucus in when she wasn't constipated and I took photos of this to take with me to drs. She gained weight too. She would cry and scream and arch her back during the last oz of the bottle and then for a good half hour after and cry because I imagine she had tummy ache.

Have you thought of an osteopath?

His stools have recently changed to a more greeny colour since being on the new anti reflux formula. He is the same, he drinks it but will arch his back whilst being fed and will get hiccups straight after. I often find it difficult to burp him too. Although he does pass a lot of wind from the other end! He will spit up some milk but this seems less since being on the new formula. If things don't improve I'll definitely be going back to GP. At first I was leaning more towards it being reflux but I'm now starting to think it could be CMPA from others experience on here

I haven't but will look into it for sure

@Cubi23 i now either premake bottles and warm them or at night I get a flask of boiling water and store some cooked boiled water in bottles in the fridge and basically copy what the prep machine does. Pour in the hot, swirl the milk to mix (I never shake) then top up with cooled boiled water. You can also buy something like a Nuby rapid cool, I use that sometimes and it will cool formula from kettle hot in seconds so you don’t have to wait for it to cool.

I made two bottles up as a test and the difference was vast. The prep machine bottle was silky, and frothy like a milkshake and the one I made up was perfectly flat. I’d compare it to feeding a Diet Coke with bubbles vs flat coke. It may be worth a shot just as a process of elimination to see if it helps before changing up formulas…your LO is still newborn and if anything like mine was his coordination and ability to pass wind wasn’t quite synced up if that makes sense. When he was tiny I did deploy the frida windi whistles a few times when he was really struggling but be prepared with extra wet wipes and towels if you use those!!

Is your LO bringing up their feeds at on regular thickness milk? If they can keep it down I would try and steer from anti reflux possibly. It sits in the tummy longer and is harder to digest so potentially whatever is disagreeing with your LO is sitting in his system longer and creating more wind.

my son is now on SMA lactose free. You can get it from some supermarkets and boots or online. It’s smaller tubs but still works out cheaper than aptamil regular milk. I don’t actually think my LO has a full lactose intolerance as it is quite rare but he’s definitely sensitive to it I think. I’m the same though. Large quantities of dairy and I get bloated. It is an easy try though and if it’s going to work you should see an improvement in 4& hours or so. As mine gets older and digestive system keeps maturing I’m going to hopefully slowly move back to regular formula all being well I hope it’s just temporary.

@MigGirl Babies who are very constipated may have explosive runny poo that is coming around a blockage!

@Thelazygardener I'm going to make his bottles today without using the prep machine and see if I notice a difference.
Spoke to HV today she is very dismissive that it's a CMPA as apparantly he would have more symptoms... she said it could be possible reflux but advised me to give the formula more time as I've only been on it a few days. I feel a little fobbed off if I'm honest as she seems very reluctant for me to contact the GP again. She said so many babies are over medicated unnecessarily and he is still so little that his digestive system is still maturing.
He doesn't spit up a huge amount, but he will spit up a little throughout the day even an hour or two post feed and is uncomfortable and fussy, hence why i think he may have reflux. The HV did mention gaviscon may help of I really don't see an improvement, but warned me that it causes constipation so I'd be creating another problem!
It's so hard knowing what to do!

@MigGirl I've wondered this, he seems to strain a lot even if it comes out runny. HV said its not constipation as its not hard...She is also dismissive of CMPA as he doesn't have enough symptoms, apparantly. She said it could be reflux and to contact GP if I see no improvement on the new formula, but mentioned that I haven't given it enough time and his digestive system is still maturing. She is just very dismissive if I'm honest I don't feel like she is taking my worries seriously. It's not nice seeing my baby so uncomfortable all the time. She also said if the GP gives gaviscon it would make him constipated and that would be creating another problem!

My baby was like this. Which bottles are you using? We switched from tommee tippee to MAM bottles which helped a lot, we also now put optibac in his bottles once a day which has helped with discomfort, colic and wind and went to see a chiropractor. It's so hard at the time but it does get easier.

DD1 was breastfed and got uncomfortable if I ate broccoli!

She used to find some comfort lying on her tummy across my knee while she sucked a clean finger- saved my boobs from getting sore. Also swore by Infacol before every feed.

Gentle baby massage won't do any harm either and may help. You could try gently massing his tummy in a circular movement.

https://dreamlandbabyco.com/blogs/news/baby-massage-for-sleep#:~:text=Head%20and%20Face%20%2D%20Cradle%20your,down%20to%20your%20baby's%20abdomen.

Also changing teats/bottles may be helpful. When we did go onto formula later I didn't even know there were different flows and so on at first.

@MrsBxxx currently using MAM bottle. I've not heard of optibacs before.
Did the chiropractor help much?

My LO has optibacs now too forgot to say! It’s just a probiotic. Think activia or Yakult for babies. I mix the drops with an oz of milk and give that before the main bottle. After weeks of horrid runny poos and poorly stomach I wanted to get some good bacteria in there.

In my experience the majority of health professionals are extremely keen to dismiss CMPA, and I can't for the life of me think why. Ignore your HV, go back to the GP and insist.

Both of mine have CMPA, but my first wasn't diagnosed til 8 weeks when he had blood in his poo. Before that he had "not enough symptoms" and "dairy doesn't pass through breastmilk" (he was EBF). All bollocks.

@Cubi23 yep, I think a chiropractor has helped both of mine. I was anxious taking him to the first appointment as he cried so much but after a few appointments with her, he's like a different baby. I did all 3 at once so wouldn't know which one helped the most but, if I miss a few days of optibac, I can tell that he is more uncomfortable and fidgety x

Ill definitely look into this! Thanks 🙂

@RainbowUtensils I don't get it either, my HV just seems dismissive of everything. She visited yesterday and whilst we were talking i was feeding my LO and she could clearly see how restless he was getting during the feed and then after. He also spat up a little and she still said that he 'just needs to get used to the new formula, but he may have a little reflux'.
I ended up ringing the GP when she left and have now been prescribed some infant gaviscon to try. thks is aparrantly the first line of treatment and if that doesn't work I will notify him.

@Graciebobcat I've given up on the infacol as it wasn't doing much, we tried it for a while with no luck unfortunately.
I'll definitely give the massage a go, I've been rubbing his tummy and doing bicycle movements with his legs which seems to sooth him but only for a short while.

@Cubi23 my twins was like this they are on nutriprem 2 which they got discharged from hospital on but seem to get constipated with just being on powder so the drs prescribed the ready made bottle and said to alternate them and it seemed to work as I tried everything u have said and I found that a warm
bottle helps them go toilet me even now.
I made their bottles half hour before they wake up so they are cool enough when they are ready for them my hv said u can make their bottles up with boiling water but don’t add powder till your ready for the bottle