My 3 week old vomits after every feed..Help

[Peachypoo]

My 3 week old vomits after every feed, sometimes its curdled milk and at other times its fresh milk that she hasnt taken in... Im breastfeeding and im really worried, as its persisted since birth... she's even doing this in her night feeds, im forever changing her cloths...

Any1 else going through the same thing or experienced anything like this?
Could it be reflux?

I would be grateful for your advice... thankyou in advance...

 

[summer rain]

It could be reflux but sometimes babies possett large amounts after every feed without it being reflux; also it can be due sometimes to baby taking in a bit more milk than they can handle, sometimes this is due to an overactive/fast letdown or oversupply. Does your LO have any other problems, green poo, excessive wind that is hard to bring up, or lack of weight gain? If your baby doesn't have any of these other symptoms it may just be a harmless but annoying 'habit' she will grow out of. Some doctors recommend trying cutting out dairy to see if it helps as some babies will be sicky purely due to dairy in their mum's diet.

 

[Peachypoo]

im not sure about her weight gain, havnt had her weighed since the 11th day.. she had slightly green poo few days ago, once she vomits she seems hungry again... i do drink alot of milk, should i stop... i love hot chocolate.. but it seems normal now... i never had it with my first dd.. its just got me all worried now...

should i contact my gp?

 

[summer rain]

The green poo is more with an overactive letdown or excess supply; but it can be a sign of milk intolerance as well. If shes only had that type of poo once then its probably just a one off; but the vomiting can itself be a sign of a milk intolerance. I've had to eliminate all dairy with my DS, all of my others have had some type of dairy intolerance and my second eldest had a true dairy allergy, with this little one he seems to as well though with him he only has mucus and blood in his poo, no other major symptoms. So I was advised to cut out all dairy products just for a few days at first and its rectified the problem; as soon as I accidentally have something with dairy in (even hidden dairy, additives which are made from milk but bear little resemblence to milk anymore), he has the same problem again within hours. I now have to do it for at least six months; it is really hard but for the health of my LO its worth it. It may be worth a try in your case too but I'd ask your GP for advice.

 

[mystika802]

Charlie still pukes after every feed.....even though he is exclusively breast fed and I eat no dairy or dairy protein products. He has since birth :s

 

[summer rain]

With some LOs it really is just how they are I'm afraid

 

[kim051]

Real sorry to interupt but summer rain can you tell me a little more about green poos? mine has them in the evening and I also think I have quite a fast letdown and I am lactose intolerant myself but eat cheese, butter and yoghurt fine

 

[kim051]

peechypoo is she gulping a lot especially at the start of her feeds? could be a fast letdown like others have said. If she is putting on weight I wouldn't worry too much, just try burping her little and often, especially at the start of the feed. if it is a fast flow you can try feeding off the same breast for a couple of feeds?

 

[nightkd]

I had this problem with Evey...it was when we were pumping also - she could take the bottle totally fine, but milk from the boob, she projectile vomited every time!! I asked on La Leche League & a couple of people said it sounded like over active let down... They recommended I try a different position, so we did; I positioned Evey on top of my breast, me laying way back, so the milk was against gravity - it worked!!! She didn't vomit! I was amazed! You just have to figure out how to do that & keep baby's face from being smothered in your boob...it takes some skill, but it's worth a try!!

 

[summer rain]

Real sorry to interupt but summer rain can you tell me a little more about green poos? mine has them in the evening and I also think I have quite a fast letdown and I am lactose intolerant myself but eat cheese, butter and yoghurt fine

Hi

with babies the problem tends to be the proteins in the milk (whey, casein) as opposed to the milk sugar (lactose), in yoghurt etc the actual proteins are not broken down and in my experience sometimes they can cause a worse reaction than straight up milk. Ghee is another example; the proteins are meant to be almost completely gone from it; but my LO had some of the nastiest poo after someone gave me rice with ghee in it. With my LO though if he has any milk proteins at all via my milk, every poo will be green or at least darker and greener than usual, mucusy and often with blood specks in. One of my other sons had this problem and after 8 weeks and trying to eliminate the usual suspects one by one I had no joy so put him onto comfort formula which strangely he didn't react to. I would have liked to continue BF in that case but HVs and GP just weren't supportive. My second eldest had a really severe dairy allergy but he didn't have any GI symptoms from it, aside from not gaining weight well as the milk proteins were stopping his body absorbing certain fats and nutrients properly. Some babies do have the green poos just occasionally and in the evening and this is more likely due to excess foremilk/oversupply or fast let down, as long as its not every nappy or most nappies and your LO isn't having trouble gaining weight then it isn't a problem. Hope this helps!

 

[kim051]

thank you so much summer rain, i will try cutting out yoghurt and see if that does anything, if not maybe block feeding in the mornings. i tried exprsssing in the mornings last week and that is when he started having green poos in the evening so I won't be doing that again.
nightkd is right, feedind leaning back or lying down really helps slow down the flow too!

 

[summer rain]

yes, expressing can mess up the foremilk/hindmilk balance for some ladies. I've found I can only express straight after a feed, it may take 3-4 sessions to get enough for one feed but it avoids the green poo problem. I've also just figured out that citrus fruits especially grapefruit gives him the green, mucusy poo problem also and a pretty nasty nappy rash.

 

[Peachypoo]

peechypoo is she gulping a lot especially at the start of her feeds? could be a fast letdown like others have said. If she is putting on weight I wouldn't worry too much, just try burping her little and often, especially at the start of the feed. if it is a fast flow you can try feeding off the same breast for a couple of feeds?

yeh she does struggle at the beginning and through out the feed then settles... but also she wasnt pooing much.. she would feed me empty and then vomit and then be hungry, im sure my breast arnt able to produce milk of that amount straight away.... her suckling on me has just increased my supply i think...

I did manage to take her to out of hours gp as it was weekend, and they think it may be reflux, they gave my infacol, which has helped alot, i also picked up some formula milk in case of when she empties me out (aptamil colic relief).. Havnt really used it much maybe twice, 1 and half oz.. but would express at the same time...
unfortunately because she is 3 weeks old there is limited amount of medication that can be prescribed... just as well i hate medication...
Infacol has helped alot... she seems to be vomiting less... but its still continuing... she vomits straight away, does not even give the chance to burp, a few times she has even vomited with my breast in her mouth, and even after she has burped she will spit out the milk... i should really get her weighed...


anyone tried baby gaviscon?

 

[Peachypoo]

I had this problem with Evey...it was when we were pumping also - she could take the bottle totally fine, but milk from the boob, she projectile vomited every time!! I asked on La Leche League & a couple of people said it sounded like over active let down... They recommended I try a different position, so we did; I positioned Evey on top of my breast, me laying way back, so the milk was against gravity - it worked!!! She didn't vomit! I was amazed! You just have to figure out how to do that & keep baby's face from being smothered in your boob...it takes some skill, but it's worth a try!!

lol i tried this position last night lasted about 5 mins... maybe need to practice it more..
the problem is she is vomiting even when fed my expressed milk by a bottle..
im going to keep an eye on it and see my gp if things dont get better.... at the moment infacol is helping...

 

[Peachypoo]

thanks for your advice summer rain, i think its most likely colic or reflux... i seem to be eliminating everything else out...

i just pray it doesnt get worse, and doesnt effect her health...

 

[kim051]

sounds like your doing everything right! can't think of anything else you could try....sorry

just thought, know someone in similar position and baby is slowly getting better, she said she thought she was too quick to try and feed her when baby cried and found it helpfull to try other methods of soothing first.

hope it all settles with time, good luck