Silent reflux/wind and terrible sleep - please help, I'm broken

[Tasha121]

Hi, my second DS is now 3 weeks old, and for the last week has got worse and worse with being unsettled and sleeping. Before this he was the dream newborn - never really awake, or just briefly, fed well, nodded off whenever he'd had enough etc.

I appreciate they don't stay like this forever, but the contrast in just a week is awful - he now won't settle to sleep unless I hold and rock him, occasionally I can then put him down once he's in a deep sleep but increasingly he lasts 10/15 mins and then starts writhing/crying/going red in the face and only settles when I pick him up again.

We are bottle feeding and I'm trying to stick roughly to a 3 hour routine, he seems happy with that and takes his feeds well mostly. I'm just increasingly convinced he might have silent reflux/cows milk allergy like our first son but seems so early to diagnose - he has these symptoms:
Straining, pulling legs up, high pitched scream type noise
Poo is starting to look greenish
Red in the face and pushing, thrashing legs
Back arching, sometimes choking at the same time, can hear liquid in the throat etc
Hiccups 3-4 times a day minimum
Trapped air in tummy
Pooing has been OK but now started to get jelly-like mucous
Acidic smelling dummy
High pitched coughing/hooping type noise
Constant mucous, worse after feeds - builds up horrendously at night
Throws himself backwards when winding sat up, turns head quite forcefully to the side
Can 'hear" liquid going up and down his system sometimes.

I'm at my wits end, he's sleeping a lot in the day which is fine as he's tiny, but I literally now can't put him down and get anything done, night times he is so unsettled and horrendous I'm probably getting two to three hours of broken sleep max. My back is in bits from holding and rocking most of the day.

DH has offered to take him once our 4 year old is in bed and asleep so I can catch up on a couple of hours, but I'm worried he's exhausted too and might fall asleep with him on the sofa etc.

I feel like I can't spend any proper time with my older son, I've lost my apetite completely and I've got this constant dread feeling in my stomach at what the day/evening will bring - any help or advice would be most welcome, I will take him to the Dr in the next few days if all symptoms persist.

I know I'm not depressed, just sleep deprived and on edge, I was the exact same with my first son until we figured what was wrong with him, but he was more like 5/6 weeks, this just seems so young still.

Straining, pulling legs up, high pitched scream type noise
Poo is starting to look greenish
Red in the face and pushing, thrashing legs
Back arching, sometimes choking at the same time, can hear liquid in the throat etc
Hiccups 3-4 times a day minimum
Trapped air in tummy
Pooing has been OK but now started to get jelly-like mucous
Acidic smelling dummy
High pitched coughing/hooping type noise
Constant mucous, worse after feeds - builds up horrendously at night
Throws himself backwards when winding sat up, turns head quite forcefully to the side
Can 'hear" liquid going up and down his system sometimes.

I think it's definitely worth going to the GP today to discuss the possibility of CMPA. Have a read of this article from Allergy UKK* before you go.

If DH is home, get him to come to the appointment too. The GP is much more likely to take notice of Dad is there.

I second the cows milk allergy suggestion. Ask for a non-dairy formula. Nutramigen used to be the go to but Neocate is the best (I think Nutramigen used to have traces of cows milk so check).

My baby had a dairy allergy which caused silent reflux and everything you've said sounds familiar. For him it started at two weeks old, prior to that he just ate and slept like a dream.

Good luck, if the doctor doesn't pay attention, rotate around the docs at the practice until someone does.

You may get suggestions of going to osteopaths etc but I would suggest don't go until you have a diagnosis of reflux or milk allergy as it doesn't fix the cause. Money is best spent going private to get a diagnosis if needs be, or buying non-dairy formula if that's available anywhere (was prescription only when my baby was born).

@Tasha121 how are you getting in tonight?

3 weeks isn't too early to tell for cmpa. I switched my little one to soya formula at 3 weeks and the difference was amazing. Definitely go to gp because everything you describe is just like mine was. I think it's neocate formula as the nutramigen does contain dairy traces. Many babies with cmpa are allergic to soya too, I got lucky I think because I only drink soya myself. Hope you get it figured out because I know how awful it is watching little one in pain😊

Had a better day and night yesterday, we've slightly reduced his feeds down from 4 ounces to 3, he's only around 8ish pounds so we were wondering if we were slightly overfeeding on the ones where he's taken 4 ounces. He's definitely been better but the congestion/mucus/mucus poo is persisting so I'm not 100% convinced we've solved the issue but going to see how it goes for a few days