Is it Colic or Reflux???

Emcm

I have a 5 week old baby boy who was the most content baby until about 4 days ago.

He has suddenly started spitting up a lot and has great difficulty getting wind up or down into his nappy. He seems quite distressed at times especially during late evening 8 to 12. I feel so useless don't know how to help him. As he is breastfed when I hold him he wants to feed all the time which I am fine with but I don't think it helps him as he feeds for a couple of minutes and then the red face and writhing starts I think he is mistaking pain for hunger.

I was on an antibiotic last week klacid for bronchitis which finished on Sunday could this be the problem? Doctor assured me it was fine with feeding. I have his 6 week check on Friday so will ask my doctor but I was just wondering in the meantime did any of you have similar problems and give me any advice on what to do? Is Infacol or Gripe water a good option to help him? Any help greatly appreciated !

He is actually my fourth baby so feel like a complete newbie as this is unchartered waters for me !

January

Could be your diet if he's breastfed or the anti-b's. If it's only coming on now it's probably to do with something you are eating. Too much dairy?

Neyite

Poor you! - Poor baby, but its seriously stressful on the parents too!

We had that too in this house. Started when baby was about 3 weeks, and one night in particular roared his head off from about 11pm until 5am. Before that it was until 2 or 3am.

We started infacol, and it seemed to help, but didnt take away his pain entirely, so we added Colief . Then, for each feed, he got the Infacol drops, followed by his starter of an ounce of breast milk expressed into a bottle doctored with Colief drops. I also got a friend in the north to get me gripe water as its hard to find here in the republic, but I've only used that once.

After a few days on those, he really settled down, and in the evenings he "chats" and coos and laughs- different baby altogether. Even his 6 week growth spurt was just a happy baby feeding like mad and a tired but not stressed mammy, which I can deal with.:)

Now 4 weeks on from introducing those doses, I've halved the dosage of each and he has been grand. I'm going to give him another couple of weeks and gradually withdraw one, then the other to see if his little system copes better.

I also reduced my dairy drastically - only have a splash of milk in my morning coffee. I got nursing tea from the healthfood store that has fennel in it which seems to make him fart loads (but thats great- better out than in!)

What I felt was that, like you, he would be soothed by another drop from the breast, but would roar again shortly afterwards, I wondered if it was reflux and the milk was temporary soothing it. I decided to try the meds I've mentioned and if the Infacol and Colief hadnt worked, I'd have been into the GP to talk about reflux or silent reflux.

Emcm

Thanks Neyite will definitely give your remedies a try. I actually thought it might be diary so I didn't have my usual Bowl of special k this am and stuck to toast!! At least I have an appointment with doctor made for Friday if I get really worried. Came down from my shower there and hubby standing with baby in sling Baby had thrown up all over himself. Poor wee pet I am hoping if it is antibiotic it should be almost out of my system as I took last one on Sunday morning. Also I will restrict diary just to a tiny drop in tea and coffee will avoid cheese, yoghurts etc.

wmpdd3

Brilliant advice above, just tp add, if you think its reflux, you can get galvascon sachets over the counter from the chemist and use 1 sachet in an expressed bottle or just with water.

There was a time when I was adding colief and galvascon to 15 ml of expressed milk for each feed!! It did help, but he was still straining with the last bit of wind.

lounakin

If it's reflux, you should see improvement if you feed the baby with his head higher that the body (as opposed to lying) and winding him frequently, and keeping him upright at least 20 minutes after a feed... If there's no improvement then it's not reflux.

liliq

It would be around now that your supply is starting to settle.
Does he pull of the breast when he's nursing? It could be possible that you have an overactive let down or oversupply.
It's also very possible that he's colicky- the colic hold can help (it's hard to describe, but youtube could help!)
Klacid is fine as faras I can remember- lactmed is a great resource for checking if medications are safe while breastfeeding. Generally diet doesn't affect your baby, but there are pf course some incidences when it does.