I’m at my wits end.. is this colic, cmpa, reflux or..??

[K2012]

I’m at my wits end and need some help and advice.

I posted this a few days ago https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/parenting/5332170-need-advice-regarding-reflux-and-kendamil-with-goats-milk

Baby is 3 weeks old. The last few days he’s been extremely fussy, can’t settle down, is extremely tired (didn’t sleep properly till 1am last night and just took me 2 hours to put him to sleep where he normally sleeps quite quick). He’s on Kendamil formula, since he was born he probably does 8-10 poos in a day (normal yellow color with seeds in) health worker and midwife said it’s normal to poo that much. When he has the Kendamil I can hear a lot of gas in his stomach, then most times during the feeds he has a poo, falls asleep most of the time after milk and then I wait 15-20 minutes while he’s sitting up to change his nappy. Then he becomes unsettled because I changed his nappy and sometimes doesn’t fall asleep straight away. The last few days he’s been more fussy after milk, cries a lot I try to burp him and even after burping him he’s still not settled. I’ve tried Dentinox but didn’t really do much for the gas. Spoke to GP this morning who said it doesn’t sound like colic as it’s not after every feed and told me to get advice from health worker regarding burping and reflux. He prescribed Gaviscon and didn’t really say much after but did say he doesn’t think I should change formula yet. Baby doesn’t vomit but has a
little bit of milk coming up after almost every feed.

I’m considering trying Kendamil goats milk as I read it can be more gentle on the stomach.

I don’t know what to do and need some advice please. Thank you for reading.

I hate to break it to you, but this sounds like very normal baby digestion.

I'm not saying this with any judgement at all, I have formula fed and breast fed. If you think about how heavy formula is in comparison to breast milk - their bodies aren't designed to digest it so I find they can struggle a little bit at first, but it does settle.Three weeks is so, so fresh. They are only just developing their microbiome.

I wouldn't change formula yet, you need to let the microbiome develop to digest the Kendamil cows.

If it persists then beyond 6-8 weeks then maybe re-visit the goats milk.

We ended up doing half and half cow/goat!

Have you tried good old gripe water?

Thank you for your reply @WilberForce5

At what age did you start the goats milk?

Doctor prescribed Dentinox and I’ve bought Infacol but I’ll try gripe water as well.

Also agree with above, babies digestion is so underdeveloped when they are so little. My 15 week old went through a stage of lots of poos at a similar age as yours and it settled massively, try feeding little but often and see how it goes over the next few weeks. I recommend infacol and we also use the Kendamil comfort drops which seem to have helped us.

If things don't improve most definitely go back to GP and talk to health visitor but a lot of what you described is normal for a newborn.

It sounds like normal 3 week old digestion to me, there’s nothing from your post which is screaming out that it’s reflux or CMPA. I know it’s tough but he’s still so little and getting used to having milk in his tummy, as a PP said formula is also thicker and more difficult to digest than breast milk. I would give it a few more weeks before jumping to there being something wrong.

Not to mention, babies take in a lot of air in bottles.

Gently, while your child may have one of the conditions you have mentioned, I find that these are incredibly overdiagnosed. New parents are not educated about their new baby's digestive system and believe they have reflux when they are just spitting up lightly due to the sphincter muscle near the top of the stomach being immature, or CMPA when actually the baby's latch on the breast is terrible so they're taking in lots of air.

It can help to let the air settle for a bit before attempting to burp your baby. At 3 weeks he is still brand new, he will be fussy at times, especially as he starts to be a little more awake for a little longer!

First babies are a real learning curve. You've got this!

Probably around 8-12 weeks, hard to remember now!

Obviously, I am not a medical professional but your doctor isn't a baby digestion expert either...I would take your baby off any kind of medicine because you really need to establish a baseline before you can see if there's a problem.

Hello my daughter has allergies and reflux and has had from birth.

She had over 20 poos a day, in the time it took to change one poo nappy she would have had 3 more on the changing mat!

She started getting unsettled at feeds around 1 week and then during the day around 3 weeks but it was only when she was screaming and unsettled for every waking moment every day around 8 weeks and got to the point she physically couldn't be out of my arms night and day that it started to be distinguished from "normal" baby.

Evenings is a really common time of day for 3 weeks olds to get unsettled. The biggest surprise to me when having my daughter was how difficult she found pooing and going to sleep. You always hear how babies just sleep and poo all day I wasn't prepared that I would have to teach her to do so! They quite easily at 3 weeks can get overtired very easily and then it is a lot harder to get them to sleep. Under 3 weeks my daughter was still quite sleepy but there was absolutely a change a 3 weeks when she woke up and became more alert which was great but it did require more input to her her to sleep especially in the evening.

The ranges of normal in babies are very vast which makes it so hard to spot when things are wrong.

My two sons were ebf and both had issues with dairy and egg (possibly soya but may have become milder with age).

My first was exactly like you describe. 1am bedtimes where he would just scream himself to exhaustion. No one believed he had cmpa despite my instinct on it and so I kept it in my diet but found a serious reaction to egg and dairy when he was weaning.

Cutting them out stopped the gas and multiple stools. He never had the bloody or green poos just very gassy and frequent. The gas seemed to be the source of the crying etc. he may have had tummy cramps from it too.

As hard as it is, try to trust your gut and push for tests, alternative milks etc as required.

Thank you everyone for the replies 🙏🏻