What is wrong with my baby???

[LISAR26]

Could someone pleeeeease help me.

Nicole was doing so well now she's going back down hill? Whats up with that?

She was started a week ago on Zantac which gave her slight relief of her colicky/reflux symptoms. Then, on Sunday, we started Alimentum and using Dr. Brown's bottles. What a difference. Tuesday and Wednesday were great days!!!

Thursday came and she took a two hour nap in the morning WOOHOO!!! But, when she woke up she was miserable and fussy. She still is fidgeting and fussing through her bottles and for some reason once you burp her, that is it, she don't want any more.

Since starting Alimentum her feedings have spread out to around every 3 to 3 1/2 hours which is good except that now today she only wants to take 2 ounces with each feeding which is bad for a nearly 3 mo. old who weighs 11 pounds.

Could she be constipated? She did not poop yesterday and was very, very gassy yesterday. You could just feel her stomach gurgling when you were holding her. Does Alimentum cause constipation. She never had trouble with constipation on any of the other formulas. Also, how should I treat it if she is constipated. She does seem to be straining like she wants to poop every now and then but so far today nothing and she usually poops every afternoon.

Do any of you think I should consult a GI specialist at this point?

Any input would be greatly appreciated. My sanity is on the line here!!!

Lisa

[JULIET]

Lisa

How is your situation now - I take it your baby is about 14-15 weeks old. Is her feeding still and issue?

I am experiencing a very similar problem with my 15 week old baby boy.

He has become a very fussy feeder as is down from about 40oz a day to only 28-30oz of milk. My husband and I always dread each feed. We don't know if he is going to take it or arch his back and refuse despite being hungry.

We are pretty certain he has refulx but the Doctors don't seem interested because he seems healthy.

Let me know how things are getting on with your baby - has she put on any weight?

All the very best


Juliet

[supermum?]

zantac can cause stomach cramps so you might find that your baby responds better to prilosec, mine did.

[LISAR26]

Juliet,

Nicole is doing a good bit better now. Over the past two or three days she has actually been VERY relaxed with her feedings. Now she does tend to get fussier around the time when her Zantac is due but settles down shortly after she has that feeding (with the Zantac).

I am beginning to think that sudden spurt of fussiness was maybe a growth spurt because her motor skills and all have made dramatic leaps in the past few days also. She now can easily suck her fingers and smiles and "talks" and interacts with us more than she did before. Plus, she darn near rolled over from her back to front today.

She was a little constipated during that fussy spell too and now that seems to have cleared and she is going every day with ease and without the aid of the Kayro syrup.

I hope your little one soon feels better and I only pray that Nicole will continue on the path she is now.

As far as your doctors being reluctant to consider reflux. Be more insistant. At first my doctor tried to tell me maybe Nicole picked up a virus but I refused to take that for an answer. Fortunately, my pediatrician respects my opinions and like she says "no one knows your child better than you" So, be a little more persistent on that issue if need be.

lisa

[LISAR26]

Juliet,

Also, yes Nicole is VERY healthy and has put on a ton of weight!!! I attribute that to the fact that when she has a tummy ache, she wants to eat more frequently. Reflux babies can be perfectly healthy and be gaining weight sufficiently at least Nicole did but she was obviously in tremendous pain that the doctor was not witnessing.

[JULIET]

Hi Lisa

I am so pleased your little girl is getting better - you must be delighted.

I would never compare one baby to another as I understand all babies are different, but tell me, how many feeds a day to you give her and how much does she consume.

Does she now take the bottle with ease and at what stages do you burp her...

Lance has put on 11oz in the past 14 days - but it's ever so hard to feed him. He wants to take only very small amounts and then refuses the rest of the bottle. He is on about 25-28oz a day if I am lucky but he has put on weight through my perseverance. I am lucky if I can get 4oz down him at each feed. Lance is 16 weeks on 30th May and weighs 15lbs 5oz.

Also, did your baby girl suffer from silent reflux or did she vomit much.

Sorry to trouble you but it does help just to communicate with someone who understands what I am going through - you were very kind to respond.

I have made my home surroundings very calm - although I live in a small country English village so it's very peaceful. Lance became very curious/interested at about 8 weeks - he was more interested in looking around than feeding. I don't think this is his main problem though. I am taking him back to the Doctor tomorrow to check his progress.

Best Wishes

Juliet

[LISAR26]

Juliet,

I offer Nicole 5 oz. at a time. She usually takes at least 4 oz. every three hours but on occasion she does take the entire 5 oz. and at other times she may only take 2 oz. and then want to finish the rest a little later.

She is very rarely fussy with her feeds now and as far as burping goes, I don't!!! If I burp her half way through her feed, then she will refuse the rest of the bottle so I bought the Dr. Brown's bottles which prevents her from swallowing the air and with these bottles she don't seem to need a burp in the middle of the feed. If she starts to squirm or fidget, I will burp her but usually she will finish at least 4 oz. before I need to do that.

I guess you could say Nicole suffered from "silent reflux" at first because she did not spit up much at all. However, gradually she began to spit up more and more. I guess the reflux was progressively getting worse or something. I'm not really sure. One thing is that when she did spit up, it was real curdled or cottage cheese looking (GROSS). And. . . her poop was like green slime that had a very fowl odor (DOUBLE GROSS). Once we started the Zantac, that all changed. She is spitting up quite a bit but it is no longer thick and curdled looking and does not seem to cause her so much discomfort and her poop looks more normal.

Another thing Nicole used to do is cough. Every time you laid her flat on her back, she would cough this dry cough and since the Zantac the cough is gone. I guess it was from the esophagus irritation.

Nicole is a little fussy today but I think we are passing a mild stomach virus around as both Nicole, Brooke (my 5 year old) and myself have had mild diarrhea. Hopefully she will feel better tomorrow. Yesterday, she was a dream baby!!!

I hope this helps you out. If you are not using the Dr. Brown's bottles, try them. They really work great. Expensive but buy just one and keep washing it and reusing it until you are sure you like it. That is what I did. Before Dr. Brown's I was using Playtex nursers. Once I was sure I was going to stick with Dr. Brown's I went and bought a 3 pack of them so now I have 4 total which means I have to clean them in the middle of the day but its worth the hassel.

Have you tried thickening Lance's feeds at all? That is the first thing my pediatrician recommended trying but Nicole did not digest the rice cereal well at all so I gave up on that.

Let me know if you have any more questions.

Lisa

[LISAR26]

Juliet,

Here is another little tid-bit of info. that my pediatrician shared with me.

She told me in the past they did not treat reflux in babies who were seemingly healthy and gaining weight well.

Now, most doctors are picking up on the fact that even a baby who is appearing healthy and gaining weight can be in terrible pain and they are more willing to treat the reflux than they were in the past.

Maybe your doc. needs a little boot in the butt to get him to realize that you know your baby better than he/she. I actually jokingly threatened to send Nicole home with my pediatrician if she did not "fix her". Fortunately, I can joke with our pediatrician like that.

Lisa

[chele]

Juliet -

Hi, Your son sounds like my dd. She seemed happy enough and definately healthy, gaining weight consistently, never losing. It took us 5 months to get her diagnosed with reflux. She started crying at 2 days old, doctors said "colic" even though colic doesn't usually start until 2 weeks. She hardly ever spit up at first, and was just about impossible to burp. That poor little girl did more baby sit-ups than I have done in my entire life - abs of steal baby! But if you watched her a while later she would burp on her own and you would see her swallow it back down. which is called silent reflux, which is worse than straight reflux cuz it burns coming up and going back down. She then grew into projectile vomitting, which became really gross. And we would go to the doctors and she would be the prefect princess, and they didn't understand why we were complaining, we had an angel baby and were just nervous first time parents - I would get so mad.
My recommendation is if your ped doesn't really seem to believe the troubles you are having, if you can, video tape a couple of episodes and take to him. We told our GI we were going to do this and he welcomed it. What you have describe sounds like reflux to me, but I am not a doctor, just a parent. Your baby sounds like ours was. Her GI believes she will have out grown reflux by 8 months we are heading into our final month if he is right, and I hope he is.

[JULIET]

Hi Chele

Thanks for the response.

Lance still has a poor appetite - this all stems from his 12-week jab. I believe he has silent reflux and this has been a problem since day one. I am lucky if I can get 4oz down him every 4-5 hours although he has put on a small amount of weight.

The Doctors seem to think it is a social problem with him i.e. he either is not that fussy on milk or he is too interested in what’s going on around him. He was 16 weeks old on Friday and weighs about 15lbs 6oz.

I have started him on solids to see if that will help - a small amount of baby rice and banana, although he spits most of it out.

I seem to be spending most of my day trying to get Lance to feed his appetite is just so poor compared to what it used to be.

Lances weight will again be checked on Wednesday if there is no gain or weight loss I shall insist that something be done as his feeding pattern is not normal. He seems happy / healthy in himself but I just can't gather why I have encountered this issue over the last 3-4 weeks. We have tried most bottle/teat combinations (including Playtex) but nothing seems to really help. He is now back on Avent stage 3 teats.

I just hope this problem is soon resolved as the thought of having a constant fussy eater concerns me.

I am pleased that things are now getting better with your little girl – projectile vomiting – this is really nasty stuff. If this was your first baby you must have been so worried. It really is a culture shock having a baby, especially one that has a feeding issue.

Best Wishes


Juliet

[chele]

Juliet, even if your baby does gain some weight, insist the dr. check him out. Just cuz they gain weight doesn't mean everything is ok. You know your baby better than anyone and if you are concerned make sure to let the dr. know. We sometimes let these drs off easy because we believe they know what they are doing and know more than we do but they don't know your baby. You might want to try apples with the cereal to. Bananas are a constipater and we don't want that for your little one. Let me know how it goes.

[JULIET]

Hi Chele

Thanks for the advice..

I tired lance on 3 small meals today. For breakfast he had some baby rice (cereal) with Banana (he was not to keen!) For lunch he had some baby rice pudding (traditional English meal – they sell this in Wal-Mart) and for dinner he has just had some farlys rusk (small amounts). Chele, most of it I think ended up on his face but I did manage to get some down him. He is just so fussy! Like most other babies I guess.

I take your point about banana - I shall remember this! His milk feeds are still erratic. At 1.00am he had 5.5oz at 6.00am he had a large 7.oz - here it comes at 11.00 he wolfed down 3.0z and decided he did not want anymore. Same thing happened about 3.30pm. This again will happen at 7.00pm. All of this is so unlike him though - before, he really would drink the whole lot - this is why I am introducing small amounts of solids, as I do not think he is getting enough milk. He will only drink good quantities when he is sleepy at night – and this can vary too. The reason why I am concerned is that he is now 16 weeks and weighs 15.0lbs + He is feeding very much like he was at 6-8 weeks.

Anyway, the last time I took Lance to my Doctor and the hospital they did not want to run any test on him despite the fact that he went on a near hunger strike for 2 days!

My health visitor is coming this week and all I hope is that things improve and that Lance has put on weight. If this is not the case I shall be taking Lance to see a private Paediatrician as my Local Doctors wish to brush it of as they think Lance has behaviour problem more than anything else!

I will persist with this and I will not tolerate apathetic responses from these Doctors – and yes you are correct I know my baby best!

There is no way I could possibly return to work with him being this fussy. My husband is also helping me a lot too.

I shall let you know what's going on by the end of the week. Thanks ever so much for responding. You are very kind.

Best wishes


Juliet

[peanut]

Juliet: my pediatrician told me that my baby was not colic and that I just wasnt figuring out what he wanted. Mind you , this was at two weeks old!!! Since then I had to insist on a pediatric gi and only because i said my dad is a doctor and hes done research and insists of a referral. Im such a wimp. But it worked and now i have a great ped gi and my son is no longer in paiun when he eats.

As far as colicky, yes its still there and my worst fear is that he will transition into whats called a High Maintenace (fussy) baby. I see the writing on the walls. But at least i know hes not in pain.

[chele]

hi peanut,

Juliet, can I ask where you live? I don't know what farlys rusk is. I hope he starts to get better for you. Solids in the beginning are more of a sport than actual nutrition I think sometimes. We started meats last week, purely intertaining for me (she makes such sour faces - "like what the heck is this junk - Hello, I am not a cat, get rid of the cat food, bring back the veggies and fruits.") for her it is an experience. But I find it so much fun. How long of maternity leave do you get? I took 9 weeks and I have to say I was ready to go back and daycare was heaven sent. She did wonderful there, saved it all up for us at night, but they love her and are happy to see her everyday. Well let me know how it goes.