What's up with my newborn??

[Teri7489]

Alexander is 8 days old now and up until 2 days ago he's been great. He's bottle fed expressed milk and now seems so uncomfortable. He either throws up after his bottle or he spends hours grunting, squirming and going red. He also poos every time he's fed as he's pushing so hard. No matter how good I wind him I get little burpa and that's it. Infacol is making no difference. Oh and his poo reeks. I mean, not just newborn yucky poo. I mean gross!!

Could it be just wind? A tummy bug? Something I've eaten?

Help!!!!!

 

[_Meep_]

What I found was that at first, they constantly poop meconium and yucky transitional poop with little effort, but after a little while, as their digestive system really kicks in and they begin to transtion to the typical yellow breastmilk poops, they get really uncomfortable and squirmy as their bodies learn to move it along and out. They literally have to learn how to poop, and can spend ages grunting and groaning as they try to do it. Mine used to squirm and groan all night, and went through a stage of only pooping when she had her nappy off and was having her bottom wiped! I guess the stimulation to her bum helped her do it.

As your son is throwing up a bit and sounds like he might be experiencing some gas discomfort, he might be swallowing a bit of air from his bottle which is getting trapped.

This is generally normal and all babies get windy and uncomfortable early on, but there are things you can try to help him swallow a bit less air. Are you using the slowest flow teat for him? If it's too fast, it might be a bit much for him to cope with at his age. There are also bottles out there which claim to reduce colic/gas pain - Dr. Brown's and such. Feeding him upright and burping him regularly DURING feeding may help him too. When a gas bubble goes down and is pushed down by milk, it brings all the milk on top with it when it comes back up.

Rest assured that your son is still tiny and he will grow out of this as his body matures.

 

[Teri7489]

Hey, thanks for your reply. Has made me feel so much better. He seems to be more comfortable sleeping in his v pillow which has him elevated. I'll have to check his bottles to see, never thought of that. I have my husband to help out so at least we both get some sleep making it a little bit easier to deal with. Just need him to not be so loud so NY toddler can sleep as she's in my bed lol. Thanks again xxx

 

[mummytobe_93]

Alexander is 8 days old now and up until 2 days ago he's been great. He's bottle fed expressed milk and now seems so uncomfortable. He either throws up after his bottle or he spends hours grunting, squirming and going red. He also poos every time he's fed as he's pushing so hard. No matter how good I wind him I get little burpa and that's it. Infacol is making no difference. Oh and his poo reeks. I mean, not just newborn yucky poo. I mean gross!!

Could it be just wind? A tummy bug? Something I've eaten?

Help!!!!!

I've been going through the same with my 4 week old since birth. I breastfeed. I've been too and back from the doctors they say reflux and colic. But I've been doing a bit of research and think it could be a cmpi or cmpa. Basically a dairy allergy.

Have you spoken to the health visitor or gone to the doctors? It could just simply be a bit of colic and wind because he has an under developed gut or it could be an allergy?

I know how hard it is seeing them in pain and how tiring it is as well!

The symptoms by baby has been showing us
Curling legs up to stomach
Passing lots of gas
Gassy no matter how much I wind hun
Arches back
Cries in pain
Wants to feed but sometimes refuses
Green poo
Vomits a lot and sometimes its projectile
Is worse at night
Clingy wants to be held constantly won't be put down

X

 

[_Meep_]

Hey,

Green poop is often a sign that your baby is receiving too much lactose through his milk. Think of your breast as a hot tap in the bath - the first milk he receives at the point of letdown is watery and quenches his thirst, and as the feed progresses, the fat content of the milk increases; the milk becomes richer and thicker and helps to fill him up - much like a hot tap, which starts out cold and slowly warms up. If you were to turn the tap back on after a little while, it would still be hot, but if you left it longer, it would be cold and need time to warm up again.

I say all this because the watery milk (the 'cold water') is high in lactose - natural milk sugar - and too much of this can really irritate a new baby's system at first and give them a lot of gas.

Do you know if you are suffering with oversupply at all? If your letdowns are very strong/forceful and your breasts leak a lot, feel very full, or even engorged, you could be producing more milk (at the moment) than your baby needs.

How do you feed him? Do you feed from one breast at a time, or from both at each feeding? Do you wait until he has finished and unlatched by himself before offering the second breast? Are you feeding for a set time, e.g. 5 minutes per breast?

It's important to let the baby empty the first breast before offering the second, no matter how long that takes. Otherwise he might just be taking the top off the milk and not getting much of the the creamier milk (the 'hot water') that will turn his poop yellow.

One thing that might help is starting a feed on the breast that you finished on before - as the water will still be hot as it were.

I'm not a doctor but I believe that green poops coupled with wind are usually a sign of a lactose overload rather than an allergy - CMPI/CMPA generally causes blood-streaked and/or mucous-filled nappies, persistent vomiting, poor weight gain, etc.

 

[bundle4me]

Alexander is 8 days old now and up until 2 days ago he's been great. He's bottle fed expressed milk and now seems so uncomfortable. He either throws up after his bottle or he spends hours grunting, squirming and going red. He also poos every time he's fed as he's pushing so hard. No matter how good I wind him I get little burpa and that's it. Infacol is making no difference. Oh and his poo reeks. I mean, not just newborn yucky poo. I mean gross!!

Could it be just wind? A tummy bug? Something I've eaten?

Help!!!!!

I've been going through the same with my 4 week old since birth. I breastfeed. I've been too and back from the doctors they say reflux and colic. But I've been doing a bit of research and think it could be a cmpi or cmpa. Basically a dairy allergy.

Have you spoken to the health visitor or gone to the doctors? It could just simply be a bit of colic and wind because he has an under developed gut or it could be an allergy?

I know how hard it is seeing them in pain and how tiring it is as well!

The symptoms by baby has been showing us
Curling legs up to stomach
Passing lots of gas
Gassy no matter how much I wind hun
Arches back
Cries in pain
Wants to feed but sometimes refuses
Green poo
Vomits a lot and sometimes its projectile
Is worse at night
Clingy wants to be held constantly won't be put down

X

Your lo sounds like mine except my dd is gagging on saliva and looses her breath alot. Been to docs today and got gaviscon to try and see if it makes a difference.
She also grunts and squirms all day and strains alot

 

[Teri7489]

Hey, thanks for the replies. His poo is the normal colour it should be ie yellow just smelly. He's been settled today if we tap his back til he sleeps then settle him almost sat up. I express milk til I empty both breasts every 3 hours and get approx 6oz. Am I doing it wrong? Should I express less or more than that? Or should I change him to formula? Midwife seen him today and said to give him formula at night and keep trying the infacol??? Xxx

 

[bundle4me]

Don't no what others would say but I wouldn't add formula but that's just me. At 8 days my lo was not going on both Breasts that would of been far to much for her, she possibly emptied one but not every feed x

 

[mummytobe_93]

Hey,

Green poop is often a sign that your baby is receiving too much lactose through his milk. Think of your breast as a hot tap in the bath - the first milk he receives at the point of letdown is watery and quenches his thirst, and as the feed progresses, the fat content of the milk increases; the milk becomes richer and thicker and helps to fill him up - much like a hot tap, which starts out cold and slowly warms up. If you were to turn the tap back on after a little while, it would still be hot, but if you left it longer, it would be cold and need time to warm up again.

I say all this because the watery milk (the 'cold water') is high in lactose - natural milk sugar - and too much of this can really irritate a new baby's system at first and give them a lot of gas.

Do you know if you are suffering with oversupply at all? If your letdowns are very strong/forceful and your breasts leak a lot, feel very full, or even engorged, you could be producing more milk (at the moment) than your baby needs.

How do you feed him? Do you feed from one breast at a time, or from both at each feeding? Do you wait until he has finished and unlatched by himself before offering the second breast? Are you feeding for a set time, e.g. 5 minutes per breast?

It's important to let the baby empty the first breast before offering the second, no matter how long that takes. Otherwise he might just be taking the top off the milk and not getting much of the the creamier milk (the 'hot water') that will turn his poop yellow.

One thing that might help is starting a feed on the breast that you finished on before - as the water will still be hot as it were.

I'm not a doctor but I believe that green poops coupled with wind are usually a sign of a lactose overload rather than an allergy - CMPI/CMPA generally causes blood-streaked and/or mucous-filled nappies, persistent vomiting, poor weight gain, etc.

Thanks for the reply, yes I've heard about lactose over load and went to a breastfeeding group they told me to block feed which I've been doing and has made 0 difference. I always make sure one breast is emptied before offering the other and follow his lead. I don't think I have an over supply I think it's probably just right, I think I used to have quite a fast let down but I now express a bit before feeding him and that's helped loads.

Sorry forgot to mention the green pooey nappies are mucousy most of the time as well x

 

[_Meep_]

Hmm, it does sound like there could be more going on there then. You could try cutting out dairy and soy for a while (soy protein is very similar to milk protein) and see if that helps.

Teri - my post about green poop and breastfeeding was in response to the other poster who had a question - please don't worry - yellow and seedy is completely normal and indicates that he is getting a good balance of milk!

 

[mummytobe_93]

Hey, thanks for the replies. His poo is the normal colour it should be ie yellow just smelly. He's been settled today if we tap his back til he sleeps then settle him almost sat up. I express milk til I empty both breasts every 3 hours and get approx 6oz. Am I doing it wrong? Should I express less or more than that? Or should I change him to formula? Midwife seen him today and said to give him formula at night and keep trying the infacol??? Xxx

You sound like you're expressing enough for yourself so I wouldn't worry. I don't know why they wouel suggest formula. I would ignore that advice personally as it could be your babiwa body just getting used to the milk and I think introducing formula woule or could cause the opposite effect of what they want.

Your breast milk is enough and if you're happy with that I don't see why you should Introduce formula when your baby doesn't need it xx

 

[_Meep_]

Just wanted to say that my baby's poop (breastfed) also used to absolutely reek, like rotten eggs. She only used to go every 5 days though, so I always assumed that was causing it.

 

[Teri7489]

Seen health visitor today for assessment. She thinks he has reflux as he gets hiccups and gags a bit when lying down. Last night was pure hell with awful projectile vomit after every feed. She agrees not to try him on formula so going to stick with expressing xxx