Help.... don't know what to do??? Is it reflux?

[liamsmommy]

Hi!

This is my first time here. Our little boy, Liam, is going to be 4 weeks old on Saturday. He was a little angel for the first 3 weeks and now suddenly we are having trouble.

Here is what he's been doing:

When he is hungry, I put him on the breast. He'll take it for 5-10 minutes and then starts pulling it, grunts, arches his back so I take him off... well he gets mad and wants back on. So I do but he keeps fussing. I try to burp him and sometimes it will work some other times it won't. After 30-40 minutes of this, I change his diaper and then try to put him to sleep. That doesn't work either. He'll sleep for about 30-45 minutes and then wakes up crying. We try to soothe him and after a while, he is giving us all the signs of hunger. If I put him back on the breast, he starts fussing again after 5 minutes.

He's been having really bad gas which has prevented him from sleeping. He'll spit up once in a while, sometimes there is a lot sometimes a little. He'll get the hiccups a few times a day and seems to be congested but his nose is not running and he doesn't have a fever. He makes a lot of grunts noises when we put him to sleep as well as some glurps. I think that he's throwing up sometimes but nothing is there.

It's been really bad for the past 24 hours. We haven't gotten much sleep. I thought that it was my milk supply but there is lots coming out... Could it be reflux? If so what can we do?

Annie

[Mrsv4]

Hi, we've been having the same problem with our little one.  She's doing all the same things your lo is.  We've been doing a few things that seem to help: 
-We've propped up one end of her crib so that she sleeps on an incline
-We feed her sitting up (the football hold with her sitting up).
-We burp her frequently
-We keep her upright for at least 30minutes after she feeds (no diaper changes or anything until then).
-Lastly, today I put a call into our doctor to see about getting a persciption for liquid Zantac.  Although these tips above help, she's still suffering with it and it seems to be getting worse. 

Hope this helps.

[Mum to Ella Rose]

Hi there, it does sound like it could be. Great advice for you too! Have you also checked out the colic/reflux/crying forum? There's a lot of mums dealing with it and you'll find an announcement at the top of the forum that lists reflux symptoms, etc. Good luck and keep us posted!

Sharon

[Lewis'mum]

Hi Annie
I had exactly the same problem with my LO at around the same age. My midwife thought that it was probably wind rather than reflux and suggested that when he started fussing on the one breast, sit him up and burp for a few minutes, then try the other breast. Repeat this until he'd taken a decent amount of milk. We did this and it seemed to work and his fussing on the breast passed after a few weeks. Personnaly I think it was his little tummy getting used to taking in food and once he'd become accustomed to it, it settled down. That's not to say that it wasn't reflux, but it did pass without medication.
Hope this helps and good luck