Colic, Reflux or Wind??

[Benandrewsmum]

Hi all you wise mums out there....I am hoping for some opinions and help!!

I have a four month old boy who up until about a month ago fed like an angel and has been gaining weight like a little monster. He is breastfed but has a bottle (formula) at night time and sometimes one at lunch.......started doing that because of all sorts of trouble breastfeeding.

Anyway, he has alsways has wind but never had any issues in getting rid of it ie lots of big burps during and after feeding and lots of big farts all the time. About a month ago he started being a bit fussy on the boob and sometime the bottle....arching his back and sometimes screaming like he is in pain during his feeds??

However, he doesn't seem to mind lying flat, doesn't ever vomit at all, seems to sleep OK (although might wake up sometimes through the night for a feed and can have what seems to be a pain in the tummy some nights??).

Any suggestions on what this sounds like?? What is the difference between Colic, Reflux and wind???

He seems to be getting worse.....maybe I should see the GP or CHN??


Any suggestions would be most appreciated!

Ben's mum
(tired & frazzled) :confused:

[Aprilsmum]

Hi Ben's Mum,

Gee this sounds like my story. I have struggled with breastfeeding my bub since she was born. She is now 15 wks old and it has only been the last 3 wks that I have started enjoying feeding her. What changed??? Three weeks ago I finally decided to get a private lactation consultant out to my house to help me with my endless questions.

I had several symptoms. April constantly fussed at the breast. She would wriggle and squirm from about halfway through her feed until the end. Sometimes she would scream - although, it was more of a frustrated scream than a painful one. I always thought it was because she was not attached properly and therefore, I would have terrible posture - just to try and make her comfortable. Feedings were never pain free, and my nipples were always damaged. There were even some days where the pain was so bad that I would have to grit my teath and tap my food to try not to feel it.

Anyway - the short end of the story is that April had thrush. Although you couldn't see the thrush in her mouth, her symptoms were typical. It was easily treated and within 10 days of treatment, her fussing has stopped, and now I really enjoy breastfeeding. Other symptoms were that I would quite often get sharp pains in my nipples throughout the day, and my nipples would never heal.

Don't know if this is what your little one may have, but the symptoms sound familiar. Just send me a private message if you would like the details of the lactation consultant - she's fantastic. (Took her 5 mins to diagnose). She also explained to me why it was thrush and not silent reflux.

Take care,
B :)

[june05isttimer]

Hi there

I too had and still have the same problem from time to time.
My bub now 10wks is fully bottlefed though but was acting the same as your bub with all of a sudden squirming, arching and screaming whilst trying to feed her. I got really worried as she hardly would take any milk at all.

Finally took her to the Dr and they couldn't find anything wrong with her at all.
He said it could have been a mild reflux although my bub also has no probs sleeping flat and doesn't throw up.
She had still put on weight so the amount she was drinking was apparently still enough.

He did subscibe some Zantac liquid to try and if it was reflux then it would settle within a few doses.
The liquid made no difference so I figure its not reflux.
That was a week and a half ago now and over that time she has gradually gotton better with the feeding and the screaming is now maybe only at her last feed and I think this is because she is pretty tired.
She still squirms and thrashes her head from side to side to somewhat want to look in any other direction to how I have her sitting !!!!
I have so far put it down to just a stage she has decided to go through seeing as how the Dr couldn't find anything. It did almost break my heart with the screaming though, anybody would have thought we were trying to kill her with the way she carried on.
So whilst this may not be a solution to your prob, it may put you at ease to know someone who went through a similar thing !!!!!!

see ya

[Benandrewsmum]

Thanks for the info ladies.

I took Ben to the doctor this morning after the day from hell yesterday. She told me that she thinks he may have Colic not reflux. So we are trying some Colic medicine at the moment. I have also decided that he seems to be better on the bottle rather than the boob....so the weaning process has begun!!

His dad stayed home with us today (given my highly emotional state)...and guess what...an angel all day.....I think my hubby thinks I am dreaming it!!

Cheers

Ben's mum

[Heids]

Hi Bens Mum,

I am in a similar situaltion at the moment as I think my son has a little bit of colic.

Could you let me know what medicine was recommened to you ?

Also my bub was feed with the bottle of expressed milk yesterday 3 times ( we had our first time away from our 6 week old as we had a wedding to go to ) and had no probs at all... The 1pm breastfeed was fine but the 4am and 7am feed on the boob he was hysterical with wind ( I used Infants friend which didn't seem to help at all )

Would you know why the bottle be better ? Is it a slower feed ? I do know I have a very fast flow , Did you ?

Hoping you can send some advice my way
Hugs Heids

[catnapjack]

I have a 4 month old son who has had colic and reflux and wind. To explain what we have been through in the last 4 months would take another 4 months so I'll try and keep it brief. I originally thought it was normal for a baby to scream up to 14 hours in a row, pushing and straining like he was constipated, only to then pass a normal poo. That was sleep time....feed times included arching and screaming, gulping and overeating eventually followed by an inability to swallow milk at all.

Firstly, the paediatrician put Jack on Elecare which is a formula without lactose or cows milk protein (If I was breastfeeding he would have advised me to stop all dairy) It helped immensely, he was much more settled and the straining behaviour became "modified". Dairy intolerance can sometimes cause unsettled behaviour but needs to be diagnosed by a paediatrician.

With one behaviour modified, it became more obvious that the feeding was a seperate issue ( instead of all the screaming blurring into one) Reflux was diagnosed and treated effectively with losec (however due to an intolerance to this medicine we unfortunately had to cease it) Reflux is not just about vomitting, it causes heartburn from the stomach acid and can make the gullet red and inflammed if serious enough. This oesophagitis causes a very sore throat and makes it difficult to swallow. We treated this with mylanta before feeds.

With the reflux finally getting addressed, occasional screaming through the night I identified as wind as he was still sleeping yet crying and drawing up his legs. I started him on infacol drops and haven't looked back.

As for "colic", I initially thought that colic was a word to describe the above behavior, but I tend to think that it is something else again. At 3 months of age, Jack suddenly stoppped the straining behaviour without any further intervention. My personal feeling is that "colic" is an immature gut coming to terms with digestion combined with an overwhelming sensory overload of entry into our big bright and LOUD world.

Seriously, I have endured hell over the last 4 months and I am still left with the task of managing daytime catnap behaviour as a result of his previous sleeping discomfort. Time and a couple of visits to a trusted paediatrician worked wonders for Jack. Dont be afraid to seek medical advice. As a mother, if you suspect something is wrong, have him/her seen. :)

[Benandrewsmum]

Hi Bens Mum,

I am in a similar situaltion at the moment as I think my son has a little bit of colic.

Could you let me know what medicine was recommened to you ?

Also my bub was feed with the bottle of expressed milk yesterday 3 times ( we had our first time away from our 6 week old as we had a wedding to go to ) and had no probs at all... The 1pm breastfeed was fine but the 4am and 7am feed on the boob he was hysterical with wind ( I used Infants friend which didn't seem to help at all )

Would you know why the bottle be better ? Is it a slower feed ? I do know I have a very fast flow , Did you ?

Hoping you can send some advice my way
Hugs Heids

Hi Heids

Sorry it has taken me a while to get back to you...been on holidays!

Ben seemed to just grow out of this 'phase'......we gave him infacol for the so called colic....not sure if that is what helped him or not??

Everytime we go through something now, I tend to try and look at it as a phase.....even the good times...things seem to change so quickly!!

Not sure why your little bubba might be taking bottle better??

Cheers

[JanetF]

Hi Donna :)
Have you looked at www.askdrsears.com for colic/reflux etc stuff? It's my fave resource. Hope you all get some relief soon!

[bec05]

Hi Donna

I am more an amateur than a 'wise mum' and still trying to figure out so much myself... but to me it seems a bit illogical for screaming
& fussing to be caused by wind, particularly when (like most babies) he burps and farts happily! It's understandable in the first few weeks when they're getting used to new bodily sensations, but you'd think a 4 month old would have it sorted out. And I'm still not really sure what 'colic' means, other than 'unexplained crying'.

I've had a similar experience with my DD, although in her case she changed (from a happy bub to a screaming fussy one) at about the 2 month mark. After various unhelpful diagnoses (like 'gastro') I tried as a last resort cutting out all dairy from my diet, and it made a HUGE difference (though not 100%). Apparently she has reflux and though I don't know how or why apparently there's a strong link between cows milk intolerance and reflux (in which case weaning to a cows milk formula may not be the answer!). I'm told other signs apart from arching back when feeding (& refusing to continue) include trying to rub their nose on you (because the acid irritates the nasal passages), liking to be carried up on your shoulder, choking and coughing during feeding... etc. They don't necessarily vomit and my DD also is happy enough lying flat on her back - the main problems are during feeding.

It's like being a detective trying to figure this stuff out.. good luck with getting to the bottom of it!

[Michele Crocker]

Hi,

I know my baby is a bit young to be diagnosed with Reflux, but this is what my paedaetrician thinks it is. She is 13 days old and already she is showing signs of having it. Having another child who had it it seemed like the same thing.

My baby symptoms have been some projective vomitting, coughing and gagging at each bottle, very irritable especially at certain times during the 24 hour period. Some times it will be night time, today she was irritable through the day.

My paedaetrician has put her on anti reflux formula, then if this does not work I have a script for zantac to get made up. If this does not work the doctor wants her to go and have a barium meal to look at her insides. Apart from that he says it could be due to allergies, as it runs in our family.

Michele
Mother of Christopher, Luke, Melissa, Jayden and Ashleigh(13 days old)

[Rell]

Hi Michele
I'm not saying this to scare you just to make you aware of a condition called pyloric stenosis. It is where the muscle at the bottom of the stomach closes after birth and does not let anything through. It usualy presents at around 2 to 4 weeks old and the main symptom is projectile vomiting after a feed. My son had this and becouse my daughter had reflux I just thought he had reflux too. I guess the main difference I saw with him was he would throw up almost all his milk about 5 min after his feed in one almighty vomit. he then started refusing feeds which I later relised was because his tummy was still full. It was our GP who sent him off for an ultrasound which dignosed pyloric stenosis and he had an operation the next day to fix it.
I really hope this isn't your little ones problem but I just thought I should make you aware of this condition.

Good luck

[Michele Crocker]

Hi,

Thanks Rell, for letting me know of this condition, I will speak to the paedaetrician tomorrow regarding this problem. I think the doctor is thinking the same thing because she is a bit young to be diagnosed with reflux. He also said it could be a Hiatus hernia, which I hope it is not.

She has been very irritable the last couple of days, screaming in pain during the day and it took me nearly five hours today to get her settled. I am hoping what ever the problem is that they get to the bottom of it and treat it because I am upset that I can not get her settled and get her into some sort of routine.

Michele
Mother of Christopher, Luke, Melissa, Jayden and Ashleigh(2 weeks today)

[Rell]

Apparently it is not that uncommon. Nathan also started to loose weight so if this happens I would suggest you keep pressing until you get answers.
Good luck I hope your problems are sorted out soon

[Jireh]

Hi ladies with windy babies,
what we find helps us is charcoal, we put a teaspoon of charcoal and disolve it in warm water and either put it in a bottle or feed with teaspoon, this seems to help, and its natural with no side effects except black stools. Also we put her on her tummy to sleep, we know about SIDS but we have a Sids mattress cover which claims that if you use it your baby wont die, thats a pretty BIG claim. Hope all goes well
Jireh's mum

[♥Heaven Sent♥]

Hi girls,
my daughter has suffered from all three from birth she is now 8months old.I had problems breastfeeding my daughter as she would feed for five minutes come off and start screaming i found that when i ate anything to do wth dairy she got worse.In the end i put her on a bottle of lactose free formula and was much better slept through the night.I also put natural medications in her bottle that consisted of gripe water(excellent) gets all the wind up Brauer stomach calm helps significantly to keep the bowels regular and to settle her reflux down all i use now is infant friend it is wonderful.she still gets wind and reflux but nowhere near as bad.also some things that help to get the wind up is putting the baby in between your legs with the tummy on one leg and rub their back, you can also get calming music for babys in the shops maybe Kmart,Big w,Target or Woolworths you can put this on when ever your baby is unsettled and even when its bedtime.Also baies like to feel secure so when they are sleeping wrap them with a sheet or blanket my daughter is still wrapped at night.Another thing is to get a special air bottle that takes the air out of the bottle playtex and tommy tippee they unscrew at the top and bottem and at the bottom the bottle has a teat like material with holes(it does not leak it is great prices can range from 10 to 15 dollars each).U can also use nuk bottles.I had been to so many doctors and even took baby to the hospital got a referal to the paediatriton and they said she would grow out of it she was on losec but didnt help a great deal so i just went and tried some things for myself.I did not sleep properly for 5-6months but in the end she settled down its just a matter of finding what works for bubs.Hope my information has helped.Goodluck with those babies.P.s.it can also be related to having a long stressful birth and being pulled out by ventouse you can see some chiropractors that do baies i heard that its great but didnt do it cause it expensive.anyway good luck ladies.Sorry its a bit long

[Girt]

Dear all,

I'm Ethan's mum.

My liitle man is 5 and a half months old and was breast feed up until 3 weeks ago. Ethan has always had problems with wind and was fussing on the boob and arching his back when he needed to burp. When he was younger he screamed all the time, never vomitted but always seemed to be in pain. The hospital diagnosed him with reflux, although overtime I have realised that he was more colicky than anything.

This settled down when he was about 3 months old, although he still fussed on the boob when he needed to burp.

Since he has been on the formula it has been horrible. He has been screaming in pain again, arching his back, and his tummy is SOOO hard. I figured that it was wind and usually when you get a HEAP of burps out of him he is much better.

I am wondering whether the formula is upsetting him and giving him more of tummy pains. At the moment he is on NAN HA. I have also been giving him infacol, but that only helps to a certain degree. I thought that once babies where 3 months old they got rid of their wind problems?????? I'm so lost at the moment. Does any one else have any suggestions. One of my friends son is on the Novalac Colic formula, should I try it/??????

I'm so desperate. I have been to the hospital three times in the last four weeks and not getting any answers. They tried to tell me that I was feeding him too much, and even though I have been cutting down his bottles he is still the same.

At this stage I am willing to try anything, someone mentioned about taking him to a natropath to see if he has any intolerances, has anyone had experience with this, do you think it would help.


I would appreciate any advice from anyone.

[KarenPie]

Hi Girt

Your story is very similar to ours. Things really improved for us once we saw a chiropractor. I will try to explain a technique that the chiro taught us that works like magic for releasing the wind. In fact since seeing the chiro we have totally weaned off all medication.

When bub is calm lie him down flat on a pillow. Face bub and wrap your right hand around his left thigh, then lay your left hand across his stomach on an angle with your index finger just below the ribs, then gently move that hand towards bubs right leg and at the same time push his left leg upwards, like you would if you were riding a bike. When you get the two movements working together you will feel the tummy relax as you move your hands and you should get some good farts. So if wind is a problem this should help.

Other than the expense, it would be worth trying other formulas, you can get a anti-reflux formula or a or a hypoallergenic one. The colic formulas didn't make any difference when we tried them, but I have heard of them working for others.

The other thing in our house is that everything is propped up with pillows some our little one is never laying flat and we feed with her in an upright position.

Hope this helps.

[babyluv3]

Hi june05isttimer sounds like your little one might have a problem with her neck (which is very common). Have you tried a visit to the chiropractor? Head thrashing is a symptom of their neck being out, also favouring one side when they are sleeping, feeding etc. (This can cause major dramas with bfeeding)

I took my dd to the chiro when she was 7wks. She had all the silent reflux symptoms, also problems with bfeeding, major sleeping and settling dramas.

Dd is now 3.5 mths, and is a totally different bub!!

Life is wonderful! Love our chiropractor:smiliedance:
This is now my new motto!:laughing:

[Rara]

My DS is now 16 mths, I have been through the reflux so I know how you are feeling. DS was good with feeding till about 3-4 mths old then progessively gotten worse with archy back, screaming pain and refusing feed. I was worried and stressed, he wasn't a big baby to start with and him refusing milk as his only source of food was a huge concern to me. We took him to the Paeds, he was diagnosed with silent reflux. However, according to Paeds there is no sure ways of diagnosing reflux except the typical signs and symptoms of vomitting, scream during feed etc. The only sure way is to do further testing but not when they are so young. DS never vomitted at the beginning, just scream, cry, archy back and refusing feed. I have had doubts whether DS really has reflux because since on Zotons his feedings were some good and some bad.

As said, he gotten really bad at one point, refusing feed that Paeds suggested to let DS learn what hunger is. That is, if he refuses then no milk till the next feed even if he cries for hunger in between feeds. This went on for 3 days and then was miracle, he loves his milk absolutely. He got excited everytime he sees his milk that was joyful to feed him.

To think that DS reflux was resolved, then he started vomitting after feeding of either solids or milks. Then we went back on Zoton, increased to 10mls which is a big quantity for a little 9mths old baby. As he got to about 10 or 11 mths old I gradually weaned him off the Zoton and it worked. He does not throw up after feed anymore that was a relieve. Now, we have the next dilemma, DS not interested in food. Feeding has always been an issue, he is never good with food. He is now 16mths old only weighs 10.5kgs but he is healthy and growing proportionally. He is a placid and happy baby other then not being interested in food. I am a food lover and so is DH I wonder who he is taking after with his appetite??:confused:

I am not a doctor, so I cant tell you if you DS has got reflux but I thought I will share my experience of raising a reflux baby. But I would suggest taking him to the Dr/Paeds.