June 2020 Babies - newborn snuggles, recovery, milk and night feeds!

[LillianFullStop]

First post natal thread for June 2020 babies! Looking forward to seeing our birth club thread members here soon!

Feeling really down today with this whole reflux situation. My GP was quite dismissive, said to keep trying with the gaviscon (even though it doesn’t seem to be doing anything) and try a comfort version of her formula.
She seemed to imply that I’m just being an overdramatic first time mum who doesn’t understand that babies cry sometimes and I should just suck it up and get on with it.
It makes me so sad when she is clearly in pain during/after a feed.
I feel like we don’t get to do anything with her aside from feed & soothe her, she’s rarely settled when awake so there isn’t much opportunity for us to interact with her or do things like introduce a nice bath time / bed time routine. Everyday I have the intention of giving her a nice bath before bed, but then she’ll become unsettled sometime between 4-6pm and this continues until 9/10pm by which time I’m exhausted and she’s finally fallen asleep so I can’t bathe her then.
Anyone else dealing with reflux finding the same? Or have any advice?
Grace was 4 weeks on Saturday ♥️

@Gigitree we are not having issues with reflux but Theo is often really grouchy and unsettled in the evening - sometimes just tired but also colic. When he is particularly unsettled we find starting his bedtime routine early - so going upstairs before 9 while he is still awake and unsettled really helps. Depends if your LO likes the bath but theo loves it and always seems to forget what he was so upset about!

@Girlinajumpsuit we’ve only managed to actually bath her a couple of times due to her being so unsettled a lot of the time and for the most part she seems to hate it, but I don’t know if that’s because she’s generally feeling upset or because she hates it because it’s still so new to her. I don’t want to have her end up hating baths so I don’t know whether to persevere or just stick to giving her a quick wash with a warm damp flannel for the time being 🤷🏼‍♀️

@Gigitree you have my sympathies. I found I really had to push hard with the GP to prescribe decent meds for my son. We started off on gaviscon (which did nothing) ended
up on ranitidine, which helped until he reached the maximum dosage. Next in line was omeprozole, this was the wonder drug for us, one wee dose in the morning and ds turned into the happiest baby from the most miserable and sad wee person because of the pain. To help ease his symptoms I kept him upright for at least 20 mins after feeding, never (I mean never) lay him flat. I had a wedge hog for his crib and used cot blocks to raise his cot. He was happiest when he was inclined. I used Dr Brown and Mam bottles. We could never do tummy time with him either as it put too much pressure on his tummy and made him throw up massively.

@Gigitree the evening fussiness is completely normal for many babies for the first 2-3 months. The lovely bedtime routines work for some this early but some of us won't be ready for that until the fourth trimester is over.

With the reflux, keeping upright is the key as @Blizy said. Will your little one tolerate a sling as it helps settle some babies and it keeps them upright.

Current baby has reflux and has just started some interaction (5wks today) but still crying after feeds most times- we try to distract her from the misery by walking round with her lots and as we are using formula, we also give her a dummy sometimes which comforts her about 30-% of the time!

Last baby had bad reflux- even omeprazole wasn't helping but she grew out of it. It was hell though - I used to imagine her cries even when she slept as it was so incessant.

Thank you @Blizy she said she was reluctant to proscribe anything stronger because Grace isn’t throwing up every feed and she is still gaining weight, therefore in her eyes she is ‘thriving’ and we just have to accept that she is going to be unsettled for a while and it’s normal baby behaviour 🤷🏼‍♀️
I’ll admit it sounds like her reflux isn’t as severe as others as she does at times take a whole feed, keep it down and settle really well. But then other times it’s awful as she is clearly hungry but having her milk is causing her pain and she struggles to get it down and then she is inconsolable 💔😟

We’re going to stop using the infacol for a day or so and try a comfort formula and the gaviscon to see if that helps. I read in a few places that infacol makes reflux worse, so we’re going to stop using it for a short time to see if it helps at all.

@Gigitree infacol can came reflux symptoms worse.

Ah the good old "your baby is gaining weight" so you don't need meds. Weight gain does not mean they are not in pain.
Rose is showing some symptoms although she doesn't really throw up, I suspect she has laryngomalacia (just like her brother had) and silent reflux. She does the gulping then screaming thing and has hiccups a lot. She's no where near as bad as her brother was though, thankfully.
I've noticed her nappies have some mucous in them, does anyone else have this?

@Gigitree ours is identical to yours, he is only 2 weeks old though. We have tried infacol and gaviscon without noticing much difference. He is putting on weight easily and probably only throwing up once in 5 or 6 feeds. However he is constantly fidgety, squirming, like hes in pain / cramps and hiccups. This means we find it very hard to put him down or settle him. Same for us - starts to be bad around 5pm till 10pm. What's yours like over night? We still have same issues with settling so no sleep.

I spoke to health care visitor today and she could not help much. Basically said go back to GP. I have midwife coming Wednesday so was going to wait till then but fear my GP will be same as yours.

We are considering trying cow and gate comfort formula as I've read this is quite good. It's hard to know what to do for the best and I feel like its having a big impact on my enjoyment with the baby as it's so exhausting.

For all of us going through Reflux

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2005/apr/13/familyandrelationships.health

@Gigitree we have stopped the infacol for the same reason, it was making him throw up more and an awful combo of the orange flavour and milk!! 🤢 I am going to speak to the doc again as keep getting robbed off for the exact same reason as you! Benji is gaining weight but is so often in pain and screeching out woth it it's horrible to see! 😢

Those of you with babies with reflux, when did they first show signs of it? Jia has been pretty fussy in the evenings lately and I’m wondering if it’s just usual baby behaviour or a sign of something upsetting her. She seems happy enough most of the time otherwise.

We have had our first two days home alone without dad this week as he finished his two weeks paternity leave and is now back at work. It has been ok, but she’s basically permanently attached to the boob which is pretty draining. And since baby is fussiest in the evenings he can’t even really take her when he gets home to give me a break as she can only be comforted by me when she’s like that.

@Blizy @SRS1311 @BabyBird20
So sorry to hear you guys are going through this too with your little ones it’s so hard isn’t it? Im glad to not be alone in this but I’m sorry your little ones are suffering too. I had joined a group on Facebook for babies with reflux/colic But I’m not sure that was the right idea because now it feel so conflicted and overwhelmed with the amount of information.

We’re trying no infacol for today with her normal milk and gaviscon to see if that makes any difference.

@UKtoSK our little one seems to be worst in the evenings, I think that babies can sense when your energy is low and that’s when they decide to be fussy!
It might just be normal newborn fussiness or it could be colic - have you tried infacol or anything like that?
Her reflux really got bad by week 4 but she had been fussy before that but we thought it was colic. I’m still not certain if she has colic or reflux or a touch of both.

I don’t know how those whose partners are at work are doing it, my husband is working from home thanks to Covid and I really don’t know what I would have done if he wasn’t here. Although he has to work at least he is here to help occasionally and he doesn’t have his long commute now so can be here to help in the evenings when she starts getting really badly upset.

Hi everyone, just catching up on the chat. My LO is 3 weeks old now. I'd day the first few weeks of parenthood have gone as I would have expected (tiring, emotional and wonderful).

I'm on day 2 of exclusively formula feeding having been combination feeding (expressing and formula). LO was difficult to settle last night (over 3 hours!) as she was uncomfortable with trapped wind. Has anyone found this in the transition to formula? I am making the link with the change but actually she has been difficult to burp since day one, so it could be a coincidence.

Also, she has had sticky eyes since day one. Has anyone else found the sticky eye situation to last this long?

I'm sorry to hear that some you the group are having difficulties at night and so on. It's a rollercoaster ride isn't it! I felt that last night and really hope for a better night tonight!

@Gigitree sorry you are struggling I don't really have any advice my baby is abit windy and gets a little frustrated for maybe and hour or 2 each evening I'm not sure if it's reflux or general witching hour /s!

My husband works away offshore Monday to Thursday so I am flying solo but I love it she is just my little best friend I think losing my mum is the hardest thing I will ever go through so this seems easy in comparison but I can appreciate it's probably not in normal circumstances she did a 5hr 20 min stretch last night so I am fully expecting to be up every hour tonight. ! ! X

@Magpie21 all 3 of mine have had sticky eye soon after birth and it lasts a couple of weeks. Charlotte had it. She's 6 weeks old today and the sticky eye has been gone about a fortnight now perhaps. I just kept wiping it with cooled boiled water and cotton wool. The Dr also reminded me about a very gentle massage at the corner of the nose where the eye starts as it can stimulate the blocked tear duct to unblock. I did this and there was a noticeable difference within two days.

I'm so sorry to hear about all the fussy feeding, unsettled hours and colic/reflux distress. As @Gigitree said, it's nice to know you're not alone though. It took me 4 hours to settle her the other night, 2 hours of which was pretty much just non-stop crying and it was awful. She did a 6hr stretch co-sleeping afterwards though, and then slept most of the next day too.

Charlotte and I are on our 3rd lot of thrush medication and hoping this is the lot that sorts it out once and for all. We have the gel now, which really helped my son when he had it as a baby (nystatin clearly doesn't work for my children), so fingers crossed it works the same with Charlotte. We had lots of feeding/cluster feeding on Saturday but they've settled down again, although most of them have been 5 mins or more so I'm hoping we're on the right track at last (previously, the majority of feeds were 4 mins and under).

Saw the HV today and she was lovely. Charlotte had only put 6oz on in the last 30 days thanks to the thrush but since everything else is as it should be and she's well on the whole, she's leaving us to continue with the treatment and returning in 2 weeks to check on us and weigh her again.

@Gigitree I don’t think it’s at the colic stage yet thankfully. She doesn’t actually cry for that long, it’s just that she starts to fuss while feeding then gets upset and doesn’t feed until full so gets hungry again quickly and gets upset about that... but it’s more frustrated fussing than full on angry crying. I think she’s just overstimulated and overtired by the evening. She doesn’t seem to sleep much during the day apart from the 20 minutes post feeds where I hold her. Unless I take her to our room and swaddle and put her down in her cot as if it’s night time, but then I’m stuck in the bedroom all day if I want to keep doing that.

Sorry for everyone suffering with reflux, I hope things improve and I hope everyone's doing well!
Ace is 10 weeks tomorrow and now weighs 12lbs 15oz! 🤭 he's a milk monster lol.
He was very poorly with his first injections last week, I hope they are ok for everyone else!! His temp was very high and he was being very sick. 😞 hope everyone is well! It's hard to keep up on here X

Can't believe the 4 weeks difference in this pic🙈

@AmyMaria2 wow 10 weeks already. Congratulations! He is a lovely big boy!

I'm up burping baby after first 2 hour block of sleep (after over 2 hours of crying to get her down initially). Trying a smaller (formula) feed and more frequent burping to relief trapped wind. Hope it works..

@haichmal That's helpful to know re sticky eyes. I will try a little massage in addition to the clearing. She is better today than a couple of days ago so we must be close to the end of this.

Sounds strange but breast milk for sticky eyes is fab! Just clean using breast milk like you would water!
My ds had sticky eyes ah icy then turned into blocked tear ducts. He had to to have 3 different surgeries to unblock them. He's a rare case though!

@Magpie21 yes, @Blizy is right as well. I used breastmilk a few times as well

Forgive me if I’m wrong but was there a lady on here who had her tongue tie snipped privately ? Would like to ask her some questions !

Spent all day on the phone being transferred to be told the senior feeding lady isn’t there today to ring back tomorrow . They scored it a 2/10 for looks and 6/14 for function at the assessment& just told me to use nipple shields till the next appointment. Baby won’t even latch on with them. That’s less than half functioning yet 4 weeks since referral to the larger hospital and I haven’t heard a thing. Baby wants to feed constantly yet is never draining the breast fully my nipples are in agony , sorry for the rant but I’m Getting distraught !
Support is so poor .

Thanks for the advise re sticky eyes. They have actually stranger to improve naturally over the past 24 hours which is a relief.

For anyone using infacol (successfully) how long did you find it took to start working? I have started it for my LO as she always seems to have wind/burps that we can't get out despite burping etc.

@Gigitree did you try out the comfort formula in the end? We started using cow and gate comfort as of Tuesday evening and have seen an improvement. He seems more settled and less bringing up milk. So much so that we cancelled the GP apt we had regarding the reflux and will see how the next couple of days go. We also got some Dentinox. @Magpie21 we started off on Infacol, we didnt see a massive improvement as it was still hard getting him.to burp and bring wind up and we thought he was suffering with reflux too. We changed to Dentinox which seems better plus the new formula. But it's so hard to know what actually is working and what isnt!!

Curious to know - what is everyones day time and evening times like? Will yours stay down for blocks of time, are you establishing any kind of pattern / routine?

@SRS1311
No we haven’t yet, we bought it but haven’t made the switch yet as we wanted to give the gaviscon and the no infacol a fair go.
The first day using no infacol was a dream, she was happy with every feed. But then today she threw up a bit of one feed and was really unsettled for 2 other feeds so who knows 🤷🏼‍♀️
Going to give it a few more days to make sure we’ve given everything a fair shot before we think about moving to the comfort formula. That is so good and really promising to hear that it’s worked so well for you guys though ❤️

Oh and @SRS1311 we really don’t have any sort of pattern at all, mostly thanks to the reflux we’re just taking it one feed at a time xx