Baby always crying, refluxy, constipated, generally unhappy.

[momofmisters]

It sounds like he could very well have a lactose or milk protien intolerance. If your going to switch his formula again I would switch it a Nutramigen or similar brand. If it were me and you have exhausted all other possibilites...I would switch him to Nutramigen or similar formula and have him only use the formula for a few days..while pumping so you don't lose your supply. This way you could maybe determine if it is a something with an allergy to the milk protien. Just a thought.

Good Luck.

 

[littleone2010]

Hi Hun, mother to a one colicky baby (now threeyrs old) and on colicky baby number 2! Really feel for you, it's so so difficult and you feel so alone. You seem to have tried most things, have you tried colief? (sorry if someone mentioned it already) They are enzyme drops you put in milk? It's pricey but you can get it over the counter. My first daughter I got them prescribed twice by my gp then I had to get them myself. They did help.
We are using them this time again. They did help then we have had a bad week so I have weaned her off them as I wanted to use a homeopathic remedy my friend suggested called colic calm. It doesn't help her fussiness in the day but she slept 7 hrs in a row last night which she never does (usually crying all night) again, expensive but seems to be helping somewhat (ive only used it a few days now) I might need to start the colief again in the day as she's so fussy and crying without it but at least I'm sleeping at night.

Please message me if you need some support. With my first daughter the first 4-5 months was very tough, I thought I would have this miserable baby forever but she just grew out of it one day and was such a lovely baby and easy toddler (well as easy as toddlers can possibly be lol) so I just wanted to give you some reassurance that even though it seems never ending, it will get better xxxx

 

[ZooMa]

My pediatrician also mentioned that probiotics were the only thing that has been proven to help a little with true colic (where no other cause could be found). He recommended the BioGaia brand, since those were the ones studied (I think). Gerber has bought the brand and now it is called Gerber Soothe in the States - don't know what name it might be sold under elsewhere. There were some comments online that the product is shelf-stable at room temperature, but shouldn't reach > 77 F. Some people had concerns about ordering the product online from vendors through Amazon that may not store or ship it refrigerated. That may not be as much of an issue in the winter.

The other caveat is that the probiotic drops are pretty expensive compared to other remidies. However, if it works, it would be priceless.

I haven't tried it yet, but am thinking about it. My LO has only had a few inconsolable nights, but she is gassy and her diapers are always very mucusy. I personally think it's my diet, but it's VERY hard to cut out all dairy products. For babies that are truly allergic, even a dollop of cream in the morning coffee, or whey listed 10 items down in the ingredients of a packaged food can be the culprit.

And then, of course, a percentage of babies sensitive to milk are cross sensitive to soy.

It's so difficult. I really hope your LO grows out of this soon. My heart goes out to you both.

 

[JFG]

I feel for you! This could be my lo except hers is silent reflux so she is never ever sick but she gulps and chokes! I ended up in the drs in tears when she refused to feed for 3 days, saw a different dr than usual and he was great and the only one to except it wasn't colic and was in fact silent reflux! He put her on gaviscon and so far so good although she does struggle to poo some days she is going every day and passing wind can bother her but on the whole she is more settled on it, I'm giving her one dose in every other bottle, she is 15 weeks and will only have 3-4oz every 3-4 hours and that's me pushing it..she rarely demands it in the day she also feeds best when sleepy and relaxed! The immunisations caused her reflux to really flare up too! She is also teething I think

 

[laila 44]

Sorry u are experiencing this Hun. My baby has a mild case of reflux too and I had to stop bf as well because my milk was making her worse. She's on zantac and lactose free formula. Recently I switched her bottles to dr browns and it made a huge difference with gas. I'm also giving her infant pro biotic drops called biogaia that turned her into a different baby! I no longer swaddle either but I put her on her side in a sleep sac with bumpers on both sides of her so that she can't move and her crib has a wedge that elevates her so she isn't flat. I also make sure her milk is very warm which helps get gas out. My dd doesn't vomit however, my pediatrician told me that for refux babies many times he recommends putting a half teaspoon of rice cereal in the bottle which thickens formula and stops the vomit and acids from rising and burning their throat. Hope your baby feels better soon it's tough xx

 

[ladybrock]

Sorry u are experiencing this Hun. My baby has a mild case of reflux too and I had to stop bf as well because my milk was making her worse. She's on zantac and lactose free formula. Recently I switched her bottles to dr browns and it made a huge difference with gas. I'm also giving her infant pro biotic drops called biogaia that turned her into a different baby! I no longer swaddle either but I put her on her side in a sleep sac with bumpers on both sides of her so that she can't move and her crib has a wedge that elevates her so she isn't flat. I also make sure her milk is very warm which helps get gas out. My dd doesn't vomit however, my pediatrician told me that for refux babies many times he recommends putting a half teaspoon of rice cereal in the bottle which thickens formula and stops the vomit and acids from rising and burning their throat. Hope your baby feels better soon it's tough xx

How are you finding the rice cereal? Im thinking of gettng some of this to try in his bedtime bottle

Where did you buy it from?

 

[CordeliaJ]

Lanaross - yes he does have a pacifier! In the beginning before the reflux issue arrived, we used to do the E.A.S.Y method, which meant Eating was followed by Activity, which was then followed by Sleeping. It worked really well at the time because he never associated feeding with sleeping, but it meant that as soon as we did have sleep problems, the pacifier was the only thing I could give him. If he actually uses it it does help his reflux, but he usually spits it out after 10 mins.

Thanks Zooma - I've been on kellymom loads to try and work out what's going on. He pretty much has the symptoms of GERD that they list there, so sadly doesn't tell me anything new, as I already do everything it suggests. You're right, it is a great resource though
Also, someone else recommended probiotics to me, so perhaps that's something I should try.

Momofmisters - the doctor told me (no idea how accurate this is though) that it if was a cow's milk intolerance, that his symptoms wouldn't have been so strong when he was exclusively BF. Mainly because I am pretty much dairy free myself, so 1. there was no cow's milk in my body, and 2. the lactose in my milk would've been very low. As I say though, doctors say all sorts, so I'm not sure how accurate it is. I thought about trying nutrimigen, but I'm a bit reluctant to switch him again to yet another formula. It could be a great idea, or it could be confusing his body when I try out all these new things.

Littleone2010 - I haven't tried colief but of course have heard of it. I had previously tried infacol and gripe water with no luck, but that was before we realised it was reflux. Do you think it's worth trying for reflux/constipation? I just thought as I had tried similar things, there was no point me spending money on something unlikely to work. I don't know really :S

In the last few days I have put him back on cow & gate comfort formula and bf him during the night, and occasionally during the day when he will actually feed. For example he fed all through the night last night, every 1.5-2 hours, yet from 5am this morning until 6pm this evening, he had 5 feeds. The two formula feeds totaled only 2.5oz and then he had 3 really short breast feeds. That's f*ck all for a baby almost 11 weeks old in over a 12 hour period, it scares me so much!

I think the next step is to try probiotics. I reckon I might try and thicken milk with carobel instead of rice cereal, as I have heard that the rice can cause more digestive problems in the long term if given before 6 months. x