Struggling.

[ImiO]

I am FTM to a 10 wk baby and I’m really struggling. Baby has really bad reflux, on gaviscon and is constantly screaming and crying. She is EBF and I’m really struggling to cope. Husband is at work all day and helpful during evenings and nights. Baby will only sleep on me for naps. She will sleep in cot at night but wakes up to be sick often. I’ve raised the cot, sat her upright for hours and hours and burped until my arms feel like they might fall off. I don’t have anyone who can come round to help me with anything. I just find myself crying when baby is crying. I hate that I can’t make things better for her.

I feel exactly the same. My daughter has been diagnosed with CMPA & reflux and is on Omeprazole. She is better than she was, but she’s also a high needs baby I think. Screams and fights sleep, refuses bottles etc. Just advocate and don’t let Drs fob you off, otherwise no one will help! I’m on Anti depressants, they have helped but now & again it’s just so overwhelming and I zone out & just scream/cry because it’s TOO much!

Not that I know, but you’re not alone & it’s not all this butterflies & rainbows like you see on SM! Open up, if you have people around you lean on those that will listen, or bring you some food, have the babe for a nap whilst you do something for you. It refreshes you otherwise you end up losing it. Good luck with everything 🩷

Just wanted to offer a glimmer of hope OP that my son had omeprazole and it worked wonders. He came off it when his reflux seemed to resolve itself around the time of starting solids. Hang in there

Omeprazole was like magic for DD2 – different baby within days. She also hated gaviscon (and carobel) with a passion, but took omeprazole pretty easily. That it was only one syringe a day no doubt helped! No trouble with side effects, and I know lots of others who had no trouble with it. It treats the pain more than the sickness, but the sickness is a lot easier to deal without baby screaming in pain. I would agree with checking things like CMPA, in case she needs a dairy-free diet.

You say you have people wanting to visit – are any of them likely to be helpful? Being isolated probably won't be helping you, and even if it's a one-off, having someone to listen to you vent or take baby for a wee walk might help. For me, I think both the tiny break and knowing that someone cared enough to do it helped.

Is your HV any good? Perhaps try them for possible PND – ours locally seem quite clued up on both it and reflux.

My daughter was in my arms for pretty much the entire day. She only napped and slept on me and was only calm in my arms and often not that calm. At her peak she cried for 16-20h a day. She had reflux treated with high dose omperazole (it did nothing until the top dose) as much gaviscon as I could get in her and then we added domperidone. She is three and still on this medication combination but less gaviscon since she started eating solid food. She also has 20 food allergies and she reacted to me eating most of these whilst I was breastfeeding

I had severe treatment resistant depression with psychosis and whilst my preexisting condition put me at high risk it was acknowledged by the psychologist I worked with that the 4 months of my daughter screaming was a contributing factor

Hello everyone! I did ask my GP about CMPA, she looked at my baby’s skin (which she thought was fine) and said since she is growing well she was going to rule it out. Although I am quite suspicious that it could be the issue here. Would Omeprazole help at all if it CMPA? I read that I shouldn’t cut out dairy until my doctor gives the green light so feel nervous. I’m not usually this cautious about stuff but i am if it may affect baby.

the other thing is possibly that I have an oversupply of milk which is slowing down but the letdown is so forceful, I think baby has a hard time with it. Sometimes I pump for a few mins to slow the flow down but I can’t always get to it when baby is clucking and screaming for milk.

visitors - unfortunately most of them are friends and family from my husbands side, all who would provide no support at all. My closest friends and family who I do open up to, all live quite a distance away and busy with their own children/family /work so I haven’t been 100% about how low I’m feeling as I know they’d feel bad about not being able to come over.

I dread going outside with baby. I do get out for a walk occasionally but I hate doing it. She hates the pram, and so I only wear her in a sling but I feel crippled by fear of her crying and screaming outside. I know I sound ridiculous but it is the truth.

I’m so sorry that so many of you went through or are going through the same thing, but it definitely makes me feel less alone. Thank you for sharing ❤

GPs aren't trained on childrens allergies.

I can give my experience. I asked my GP repeatedly about allergies and was told no. She is gaining weight (9th percentile on dairy 35th off so was still a lower weight that she should have been). No rashes etc. She told me if she was reacting to my breastmilk she would be in hospital - true for lactose intolerance not true for cmpa. 3 months later when I had identified the 8 top allergies she had the same Dr praised me for figuring it out on my own...eyerolls

This is why it took over 4 months for my daughter to be diagnosed at which point she had developmental delays. This completely reversed itself after the paediatrician put her on the top dose of omperazole and got me to stop dairy and soya in 2 weeks!

Dairy allergies can cause reflux and the omperazole helps the reflux. If there is a dairy allergy and you stay on dairy the omperazole will only be able to do so much as the cause is still there.

As long as you have a good diet I rarely think there is harm in a short trial of being dairy free. Don't use soya dairy replacements during the trial but you usually don't need to cut it out entirely. About half of cmpa are also allergic to soya

Cmpa and reflux baby veteran here. Omeprazole and amino acid formula finally got ds to stop vomiting at 8 months old. Ds only other symptoms beyond the severe, constant vomit and pain, was constipation. He never took gaviscon for this reason.

I'd recommend Omeprazole or cutting out dairy, one first, then the other, to check the impact. The good thing is you can cut dairy (and maybe soya) no problem, no Dr needed, as youre breastfeeding. You might have to push for Omeprazole, some GPs don't take the issues seriously.

On the positive side, my second baby successfully breastfed from birth, no reflux, no allergies. But allergies and reflux can be long lasting, and severely impact on mental health. I caved and went to the Dr at 6 months for antidepressants.

Good luck!