Reflux, allergy, wind… with Pavlik harness. How do you know?

[PocketRocket12]

Hi everyone. I have a gorgeous 6 week old DD. She was a completely content happy baby until recently.

For about 3 weeks she’s been struggling with feeding.

• Taking v small amounts (1-2oz at a time),
• taking over a hour to feed
• asking for milk every 1-2 hours
• coughing on bottles
• uncomfortable wind
• crying after every bottle, especially at night
• poo seems normal colour, nappies regular
• rash on face which could be milk rash but still very prominent at 6 weeks
• cold symptoms for over 2 weeks (could be genuine cold… could be allergy??)

HV said just bad wind and try Infacol which we did. It seemed to make burps come up bigger and easier.

3 days ago she was put into a Pavlik harness which seems to have (coincidentally??) heightened symptoms. She is inconsolable after every feed. HV again says nothing wrong as her poo isn’t green and to find new ways to wind her which is so so so difficult with a harness. Mentioned it when I was at GP yesterday for me and they too said to just keep trying to wind her…

I definitely understand that she could be really struggling getting her wind up now she can’t kick her legs but could it be something more? It did predate the harness. Should I persevere with GP? We are currently:

• pace feeding
• using mam bottles
• feeding upright (even more so now she’s in the harness)
• keeping upright for over 30 mins after feed
• winding every oz
• using Infacol at every feed

Feel so confused and would love our content baby back.

My DD (now 16) was in a Pavlik harness and was very windy. I would sit her on the very edge of my knee with one hand supporting her head under her chin and the other gently pushing into her back to try to get her as straight as possible (obviously her legs were still frogged).

Also gripe water or Dentinox with feeds (although gripe water seemed to work better).

I tried all the bottles, but none seemed better than any other, despite their claims.

She was a sicky baby that needed being kept upright for a good 30 minutes after a feed. This carried on until she turned 1 and then it stopped. GP said it was to do with the development of a valve in the throat (or something like that) - in some babies it can take the whole first year.

Sounds like it could be reflux, MAM bottles don’t help reflux, try a lansinoh bottle. More natural shape for the tongue etc and get a feeding assessment done and check for tongue tie, absolutely makes a difference even for a bottle fed baby. also infacol could be making it worse, if it’s still the same formula as a few years ago it’s orange based which can make reflux worse.

I have no experience with the harness unfortunately but I imagine it’ll take a few weeks for baby to get use to it but definitely try a different bottle, ditch the infacol and if you can afford to get a tongue tie assessment done.

im sure if you google some winding techniques with a harness they’ll be some you can try. I have an 18MO who still struggles with reflux and I have to help wind before bed after cows milk out of a cup!