Advice for a 5 week old spitting up and comfort feeding at night

[Karma1387]

Looking for some advice for my almost 5 week old.

He is EBF but he is constantly spitting up especially ate night. I have tried sitting him up for 30 minutes after but it doesn't help and he even spits up whilst feeding.

At night we co-sleep and he wants to suck on the breast until he falls asleep but sometimes this can take hours so he is spits up a lot. He gets very uncomfortable and gassy so wants the breast for comfort.

The health visitors suggestion as he isn't losing weight is to refuse him the breast except every 2-3 hours at night even if that means him screaming for 2-3 hours.

I have been trying to get him to take a dummy to suck on instead of me but hes refused the ones I have tried and just gags and spits them out.

I feel awful that he is being sick so much everyday but if he wont take a dummy I don't know how to help him but I cannot listen to him crying for hours every 2-3 hours it seems so cruel.

I'm hoping someone may have some suggestions on how to help him as health visitors arent concerned due to him gaining weight and have said this will likely just be how he is for the next 6 months- 1 year.

Any suggestions welcome!

My DS was the same. It was awful. He had CMPA. I cut out dairy around 7 weeks and by 9 weeks he was a totally different baby. I reintroduced dairy under GP's advice twice, at 4 months and 6 months and all the reflux came back instantly. We tried dairy directly at 8 months and confirmed the dairy allergy (almost ended up in AE as he couldn't stop vomiting for about 6 hours).

Good news is that at 20 months we almost completed the dairy ladder successfully. He can have yogurt, but milk itself gives him a dodgy belly.

Also, your HV is an evil idiot. No way should you withhold feeds from.a 5 week old!!!

Even if it's not CMPA, and just colic, he will grow out of that in a few weeks.

I would also get a lactation consultant to check the latch and technique. Reflux can also be caused by taking in too much air.

I was shocked by her response! Everything you read says about feeding on demand so for her to say just don't feed him was a real shock.

Was he projectile vomiting or just spitting up. HV said if its not proper projectile sick its most likely colic/ reflux and for us both to basically just suffer through it.

Did you cut out dairy on doctors advice or did you go ahead and make the decision yourself? Did you cut out all dairy completely?

A lot of spit up. Constant reflux and hiccups. Not projectile vomiting, no. Would not sleep on his back, had to hold him for 20-30 minutes after every feed. Feeding A LOT which apparently is normal for reflux and feeding is the only thing that soothes it.

I did see a private paedetrician. She said she/doctors generally are reluctant to advise cutting out dairy as it's quite rare and it's such an enormous commitment from the mum. But recent research suggests that CMPA means the dairy inflames their gut and actually letting their gut heal, allows them to recover from CMPA more quickly later on. She emphasised you really need to cut it all out. Not just no milk. But no cooking in butter or ghee. No biscuits or cakes. 50% of CMPA babies also react to soy so you likely need to cut that too. Essentially no takeaways or restaurant meals as everything is cooked in dairy or soy. Especially if it's advertised as vegan, it will have soy.

The dairy/soy protein stays in your system for a while so even one screw up will cause a reaction.

I did also see a lactation consultant who confirmed the breastfeeding technique was OK, no issues with the latch.

So CMPA was the only answer.

It was hard, no lie. I cooked absoutely everything from scratch. It was even harder when weaning to figure out what to cook for him. But you adjust quickly.

Worth it for us as the change was huge. He went from a very poorly baby to a happy baby that slept 6/7 hour stretches. And he has recovered from CMPA now mostly (fresh milk is still an issue).

Have you tried any medication for the reflux?

That is terrible advice from your HV also not based on any current guidance. I’d complain about that if you have the bandwidth. 5 weeks is still very young so hopefully things will settle.

Thank you so much for all the info. I will make an appointment with a lactation consultant to rule the latch out as a problem first and then start looking at cutting out dairy. Anything to help him feel better!

She said there is nothing to treat it except suffering for 6 months to a year. She mentioned some drops I could get from the pharmacy but said they don't actually work so not to bother and just withold the feeds except every 2-3 hourly.

Is she the health visitor? Have you seen a doctor?

There are definitely treatments for reflux https://www.kingstonandrichmond.nhs.uk/patients-and-families/patient-leaflets/reflux-babies

Yeah the health visitor. I went to see them at the drop in clinic hoping for a feeding team referral but they checked his weight and said its fine so no need for feeding team as even if his latch is bad it wont affect my milk supply.

HV said its most likely reflux/colic and to only feed every 2-3 hours at night even if he cries and said there are drops advertised as helping but they dont actually work. She said its normal and doesn't have a treatment except waiting until 6 months- 1 year when it should stop.

I haven't taken him to the doctor as she said there is nothing that can be done but wait.

If his latch is bad, it will absolutely affect the feeding because he could be taking in air while he feeds. And if he's a good feeder, he'll just work extra hard to get the milk he needs so it won't cause a weight issue. But would indeed cause some spit up and discomfort.

Personally, i paid for a lactation consultant as I found the midwives incredibly incompetent when it came to breastfeeding. They didn't even know the basics.

Right after birth, my midwife shoved the tip of the nipple into the baby's mouth, baby clamped down and I went "ouch". She told me it's supposed to hurt and it will get better in time....if you know anything about BF you will know that shoving the tip of the nippple into baby's mouth is the complete opposite of what you should do!!!

Thank you so much for your input on this! I have found a local lactation consultant who can fit me in Thursday thankfully.

My DD was like this and thankfully it got better after around 12 weeks. I had an oversupply which didn't help. I kept her upright for 30 minutes after each feed which robbed me of quite a lot of sleep.