# HELP! 'colicky', distressed 1 mth baby on expressed breast & formula milk



## dharmagrrl (Aug 25, 2010)

Please help - open to any advise and top tips  
Little one is possetting, small-medium vomiting, screaming with distress, stomach hard and tense, red face and clenched fists. Baby never latched on from birth and despite committed trying ( and feeling a breatfeeding failure!) I have had to express breast milk and am feeding her with tomee tippee anti colic nipple bottles and using SMA formula as top up. All was well up until 2 weeks ago when LO started to scream in pain on regular basis. LO clearly distressed - I am desperate to help her and make things more comfortable for her. LO needing to be held and rocked constantly. I try to do this as much as I can but not always possible ie: nights.

Winding helps a little but not always. I am trying Infacol and of this week Gripe water - not sure if it helps...

Last few days 9lbs 11 baby has gone from taking 1 litre of mixed feed a day to approx half the amount. Today has been slightly better in terms of amount taken but all the symptoms=distress, vomiting etc. present.

Anyone experienced this? What helps? Should I try another type of bottle or feed?

HELP!

Many thanks in advance


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## nichub (Sep 2, 2010)

Hi Hun, if she is positing regularly and is distressed it could be reflux, it might be worth going to see your go and try some gaviacon, in the mean time try keeping her upright after feeds for a little while

Hope this helps
Let me know how you get on 

Nic
Xx


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## dharmagrrl (Aug 25, 2010)

Thanks so much Nic.
Our health visitor has told us that it is too early to decide its reflux and to try gaviscon - LO is 4wks. So feel unsure what to do... also don't want to try anything like gaviscon until I know what the actual problem is. How do you definitively diagnose reflux? Is there a test?

Thanks again for getting back to me so quickly


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## nichub (Sep 2, 2010)

No there's no test but they usually become distressed after feeds and sometimes arch their back after feeds, see if keeping her upright for a while after feeds makes a difference

Nic
Xx


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## dharmagrrl (Aug 25, 2010)

thank you


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## Kevhub (Apr 20, 2013)

Just to add babies can have reflux from birth and gaviscon is regularly given to prem babies . Have a chat with your gp


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## dharmagrrl (Aug 25, 2010)

Thank you all for the very helpful replies. I'm still trying to sort things and will return and write up what worked for us. :0)


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## nichub (Sep 2, 2010)

Great stuff hope you get it sorted 

Nic
Xx


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## dharmagrrl (Aug 25, 2010)

Hello!

Just wanted to thank you all for your help and update you: Turns out my baby has lactose intolerance and reflux and since starting a prescription formula - Lipil Nutrimigen (less lactose, not completely lactose free) and thickener - Carobel (to keep some of the milk down) is a much happier child. We still have issues with severe wind and vomits and possits but baby is less distressed.

We had to pesevere to get help from our Dr & HV. The general line is that babies cry and unless baby is losing weight it is not of concern. Our baby was thriving but miserable and in pain. We kept at it and only at 3 months found a solution. It could be that at 3 months baby's digestion is further developed and hence less distress but I know our LO and I feel the new milk and the other things I mention below have helped.

HV says that apparently there is no test for lactose intolerance when baby is wee so its a trail and error scenario and Lipil Nutrimigen is the first formula they offer you and if that doesn't help you go on to completely lactose free, which apparently babies find objectionable in terms of taste.

We were prescribed Gaviscon powder for infants but it made LO constipation which caused more distress so we stopped it.

I've pasted below some info. on reflux & colic that lovely FF folk shared with me which I found helpful. I know when you're going through this you've probably tried everything but I've collated and listed it below just in case it is of some help to someone.

We got desperate and threw money at the problem (well you'll try anything won't you to help LO even if it only works once!)

Dummys:
We are now using a dummy (on the advice of a midwife) - we NEVER thought we would ever use one but it does help and sooth baby when LO in pain and we're open to anything that will help. LO has liked the Avent ones best.

Formula:
We've also tried all the different formulas (LO never latched on & despite expressing 24/7 I'm producing only a fraction of what she needs) and switched to Dr Brown (found useless in the end, was on tommy tippee to start with - also useless for our LO) & MAM bottles - MAM have been best for LO so I would recommend these highly. We bought the anti colic starter set and it has been excellent but despite being a great birth to weaning set I'm annoyed that it comes with only 4 bottle tops and bottoms - I think you really need twice that and I'm going to buy a few more bottles just to get the extra tops/bottoms.

Swaddling
Summer Infant Swaddle Me
we bought some swaddle me wraps and they have helped LO sleep. We noticed LO definitely had less painful and longer sleeps when in one.
you can get some good deals on amazon and ebay

Tiger In Tree hold & rocking
LO loved this and it seemed to ease pain.
You can find Tiger in Tree (a baby yoga position) online

We also bought the following and they all helped once or twice but not consistently:

Robopax
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Robopax-Baby-Rocker-Automatic-included/dp/B004DORTGM/ref=sr_1_1?s=baby&ie=UTF8&qid=1375275312&sr=1-1&keywords=robopax+baby+rocker

bath pod
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Prince-Lionheart-Washpod-White-Months/dp/B002SG7JSA/ref=sr_1_1?s=baby&ie=UTF8&qid=1375275351&sr=1-1&keywords=prince+lionheart+bath+pod

slumber bear - we actually only use the sound box: it's attached to the crib and switched onto white noise and soothes LO when baby awakes mid sleep.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Prince-Lionheart-Slumber-Bear-Cream/dp/B000L3ISWI/ref=sr_1_1?s=baby&ie=UTF8&qid=1375275379&sr=1-1&keywords=prince+lionheart+slumber+bear

Thanks again for all your help & hope this lengthy post helps someone :0)

Link below for advice on reflux from FF member:

http://www.fertilityfriends.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=261961.0


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## nichub (Sep 2, 2010)

I'm glad you got sorted, sometimes it's just a case of trial and error to work out what's wrong, but I'm pleased you have got on top of it now 

Nic
Xx


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