10 week old won’t settle

[Lars23]

So my DD is 10 weeks old and suffers with reflux. Doctors are useless. Prescribed gaviscon which made her constipated so just went back on her normal aptamil 1. Reflux symptoms seem to subside for a couple weeks but now she’s constantly crying. Still spits up, just won’t sleep at all unless being held and even when holding she still squirms around and screams. I’ve tried everything, from sitting her upright, infacol, coilef, tiger hold, dummy, the lot. Nothing seems to be working at the minute and I’m at a loss I just don’t know what to do. Weight gain is fine and having plenty of dirty and wet nappies. No temp etc. she has 3-4oz every 2-3 hours. Can someone please give me some advice / experiences. Is this normal for a 10 week old?

It could be normal but I would press G P or health visitor for some advice or support.
Has she been checked for tongue tie?

Some crying can be normal yes, but for her to be crying constantly then no that doesn’t sound normal. Have you looked at the symptoms for CMPA? Does it sound like it could be that? I was told that reflux is often a symptom of something else rather than a medical condition in itself. My little one had a lot of the symptoms you’re describing and it turned out to be a posterior tongue tie. Has baby been checked for that?
Also Gaviscon doesn’t work for lots of babies, I would be pushing for omeprazole to see if that helps.

our doctors are literally useless, I’ve been to them twice and all they’ve said is try stuff at home and prescribed gaviscon. The doctor even told me to phone neonatal unit and ask them!! Honestly I give up with them, last time I spoke to the health visitors things seemed to be okay with DD so I told them she was okay. All my health visitor says is go to the GP. I queried with the doctor CMPA and she said it was reflux because at the time she had all of the reflux symptoms (vomitting, arching back constantly, bringing legs up, unsettled etc) but all of that did subside she also has colic. I tried her aptamil on its own because the gaviscon wasn’t working / made her constipated and things started to improve so I thought maybe she’s growing out of it? But obviously now all she does is cry all day, no matter what I do nothing works. I’ve tried doing all the things before when she was unsettled with reflux and nothings working apart from playing white noise but the second the white noise stops she’s screaming again for ages. She hasn’t been checked for tounge tie but again I brought it up with the GP and they said it wouldn’t be that which I thought was ridiculous. From looking myself I don’t think it’s tounge tie, but who knows. I’m going to go back to them Monday and demand they check her for tounge tie hopefully they actually listen😩

Oh that was it, the GP said with CMPA she would have blood in her stools and a rash which she doesn’t have, so I’m honestly at a loss

Sounds tough for you and it does sound like it needs investigating, especially if it hasn't always been like this.
My son has CMPA and didn't have blood in his stools so your GP isn't correct there. He did squirm around a lot and seem really uncomfortable.
Is there a different GP you could see? My area has a HV duty desk which you can call for support and they will give advice over phone or send someone out- is this service available in your area?

@ivf2022 thank you! I did think she wouldn’t have to display all symptoms, I think it was just an easy way to fob us off if I’m honest. The doctor was reluctant to even prescribe the gaviscon I had to practically beg them. My health visitors usually have to call me back once I get through to the office, which can take any where from 1 day to a week. In my experience it’s always days later. I will phone them and see if I can get through to someone for some advice there and then, fingers crossed! & our gp is registered all under one so there’s multiple different surgeries, but I have to fill out my enquiries online so it goes through to triage to allocate so I don’t have a say in the matter on which doctor we see, but they always seem to give us the same doctor 😩

My 6 month old has CMPA. He had all the symptoms you've described. No blood in stools or rash. I pushed the GP, and he was prescribed aptamil pepti 1. His symptoms cleared within 2 weeks (that's how long it takes for the proteins to leave their system). We were also referred to a dietician who wanted to try another formula (can't remember the name), and within 24 hours, he was back to screaming again. Gp swapped him back to the aptamil, and he's been fine ever since. It took me to take my baby down armed with a bottle so they could hear him really screaming before they would trial aptamil pepti though, so prepare for a fight.

Also ask to see a different doctor. Nothing wrong with a second opinion.

@Faz469 thank you so much! I will have to start being more pushy with them. I will go back to the GP Monday, and firstly ask if I can see a different doctor. Then hopefully they will listen to me, I will take a bottle down too so they can watch me feed her and see how she is afterwards. Looking up about tounge tie she does have some of the symptoms of those too but not all. Same with CMPA. So I guess I really need someone to take a look properly and take us more seriously