New, please help

[joolz2502]

Hi everyone, my name is julie and I have some problems regarding my 6wk old little girl called Leah. I don't currently use the BW techniques but I have ordered my book and it should be here on tues so looking forward to getting stuck into it!!

Initially, it was thought that Leah had colic so she's been on Infacol and anti-colic bottles since approx 2wks. Her feeding continued to get worse - she was becoming extremely upset and unsettled after eating and was bringing up tiny amounts of milk. The crying was definitely worse as the day went on.

The dr then felt that it's maybe silent reflux so she's been on Gaviscon since last Tues. This hasn't made any difference - in fact things are much, much worse.

She's now only taking about 2ozs of milk then going into 'meltdown mode'. That's the only way I an describe it, she is totally inconsolable. This weekend she has screamed herself hoarse and it's heartbreaking. She used to take 4-5ozs every 3-4hrs but today she's only had about 16ozs.

I don't know what to do next, she's clearly very upset about something. Could it be the milk itself? Currently using SMA Gold but don't know if changing it will make a difference. I want my happy little girl back, she's just so upset all the time now.

She rarely manages any quality sleep through the day and at night she's sleeping 12hrs through sheer exhaustion.

Help please,
julie x   

[~Emma~]

 Hi and Welcome to BW! 

 I am sorry you and your LO are having such a hard time right now. Personally I would go back to the doc and explain the situation. The Gaviscon is obviously not doing the trick in controlling the reflux and perhaps your LO needs medication of some sort.

 How are her bowel movements? We used sma initially and it caused quite a bit of constipation with DS.

 ((((((((((hugs))))))))))))

[Lolly]

I agree with Emma, go back and see the Dr, if they can't prescribe anything else (ranitadine is usually the next step) make sure they referr you to a peadiatrician.

Both my kids are refluxers and your LO's behaviour on the bottle is exactly how my DD used to behave. If her bowel movements are ok and there is no indication of a cows milk protien intolerance (a lot of refluxers have this) you could ask about moving onto a reflux formula. We have used Enfamil AR, it thickens in the stomach and does a much better job than gaviscon.

Here are some links that may be useful for you.

http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=654.0

http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=66236.0

Laura

[joolz2502]

Thanks Emma & Laura for replying. Spoke to the health visitor this morning and she also felt that Ranitidine would be required too so I managed to get an appointment with the GP.

The GP, however, feels that it's still more likely to be really bad colic so has suggested we try gripe water instead of the Infacol. We've also to stop using the Gaviscon as it doesn't seem to be helping.

Feel so bad for her, it's so harrowing to hear her so upset.

Her bm have gone from once every 24-36hrs but sat & sun she went 3 times - not loose but more 'formed'. Not sure is that's significant or not but just wanted to answer emmas question.

Will definitely check out those links, am willing to try anything to help her feel better.

Julie x

[Lolly]

The more formed stools are probably from the gaviscon - it usually turns poo to a play-doh like consistency and generally causes constipation.

If the gripe water makes no difference go back to the GP, you may just have to be persistent. You could always print off any info you find that describes your DD's problems and take it with you.

Gripe water has helped some babies, I haven't tried it with DD as it made DS projectile vomit so I am too scared to try that again!

{{HUGS}} for you both though - it's horrible when you can't do much for them.

Laura