Sick after last feed

[ToonLass]

My DD (7.5months) has had a disturbed few nights - she has never been a great sleeper, getting up about 3 times a night for a feed, but is usually asleep again in 10mins so it's not too unbearable.

The last few nights though she is waking up really upset, she'll take a feed but then scream after it and take no more. She's pushing off of me and arching her back, and doesn't want to be put back into cot.

Also, the last couple nights after her last feed, she has started coughing and then been sick.

Not sure what's wrong with her but if anyone has any advice that would be great!!

She might be a bit poorly and that's the reason for being unsettled. So may well just be a case of waiting a while, give her a week to get better and things might improve without you needing to do anything other than being patient.

Maybe her being sick is that she doesn't want night feed anymore. Could you try a few new ways to see if you can settle her back to sleep without feeding?

Thanks for your reply Fate. I did wonder if maybe she had a bug - but she's fine during the day so doesn't really make sense.

Often when she wakes in the night but not needing a feed she will suck my pinky to got back to sleep (won't take a dummy ). However when she's waking really upset she won't take even that.

Last night was really bad after her first night time feed. I eventually gave her nurofen and she went back to sleep. She's arching her back and pushing off me while screaming, not like her and really upsetting to see . She does get quite windy during the night but never seen her like this before.

Reflux and wind issues should generally be reducing to nothing by 7.5 months old. I think the peak is 3 or 4 months and things get better from then onwards.

But lots of crying can give her wind, if she is really upset beforehand. Also sucking on something without a seal around her mouth will mean sucking in air at the same time. So these things could be creating the problems.

The symptoms you describe, while the same as wind issues, could also be that she's full and so giving her more milk is making her feel uncomfortable. Like anyone does when they've eaten too much. This could be especially true if she is bringing up the milk afterwards too.

This age is a good age for introducing comforter toys - babies often hold them in their hand and suck the corner of the material. It is not as hygienic or a sealed suck like as a dummy - but it seems clear that your baby likes to suck and this might be something that would help her be able to do that comfort sucking for himself.

All this may be a moot point though - maybe she's just poorly and will be better soon. Lets hope so.

Thanks again for reply, I definitely think me feeding her certainly isn't helping her, but it's the only way to calm her down when she wakes up howling. She has a wee rabbit comforter which she loves to 'paw' when I feed her or am giving her a pinky, but it alone doesn't get her to sleep.

It only seems to be the feed before bedtime that she is sick with, and she isn't really taking a huge amount. She usually starts coughing and then it comes up after that. She goes from being really upset to the happiest baby ever. Her bedtime feed is about 2 hours after her dinner, and 3 hours after her last feed so don't think it's from being too full.

Tonight I gave her gripe water before her bedtime feed, she cried after her feed and started coughing but luckily no sick. The good thing is she brought up wind which I really struggle to get her to do at night.

Will see how she is during the night...not looking forward to it