HELP! My 11 day old baby boy gets really upset between feedings and seems to want to eat non stop unless in a really deep sleep. He grunts and kicks and pushes like he can't go but is going good and peeing good too. I am concerned that he has mega gas that he can't pass or colic..
I am getting fruserated and just feel bad for him.
I called his doctor to ask what we can do, and no call back yet, and the staff was really rude. I have been walking him around trying to burb him ( which he does) and then he wants to eat..... What do we do??
THank you all so much.
He is breastfed and rutting around to eat about every 20 or so. pushing to try to pass and lots of crying ( him and me) Not sure what we are going to do just yet as the drops are not working.
Feed him.
If you're breastfeeding, he's going to be hungry pretty much all the time. Breast milk digests very quickly and easily. This is why newborns always seem to be eating, pooping or sleeping. Because they are.
Don't worry! If things are moving and he's not in pain, he likely just fine.
A lot of times young babies do that because they don't know how to really use those "push it out" muscles yet, not because they are constipated and/or have gas.
I agree with gently bicycling his legs.
Warm a small hand towel in the microwave (NOT HOT--obviously) and hold it on his tummy while you hold him.
Take his little legs, and gently push his knees into his tummy. It is a good, surefire way to help relive gas.
Also, feed him, he is probably hungry.
I ditto Christy P. and Amanda W.
Okay now... my son was very expressive as a baby.
Whenever he was hungry or feeding or going to fart or going to poop... he ALWAYS made a LOT of noises and GRUNTED. He was NOT, 'upset.' He was communicating... with me... and I knew when he was like that, he was going to poop or had gas and was going to fart... or he was hungry. And he could not wait.
Or he had to poop, but was on breast... so then I'd take him off breast so he'd poop. He couldn't do 2 things at once.
But he was normal.
Not colicky.
Not anything 'wrong' with him.
He was just very expressive and made all kinds of sounds/grunts/squirming, when he was hungry/going to poop/or had gas.
He had no inability to poop or pass gas. Because it did come out.
But he simply made a lot of noises. He was not "upset."
And yes, my son had a GINORMOUS appetite too, and I breastfed and he was always hungry, grew like a weed, and is very healthy. I always fed on-demand.
You need to feed baby, whenever... he is hungry. On-demand. Babies also "cluster feed" which means they get hungry every single, hour. And this is NORMAL.
.
All of this sounds perfectly normal to me. But better discuss with your ped, ok?
Congrats, and enjoy him!
:)
May want to get a infant massage book . I used to have one that would show you different techniques to use for discomforts infants may have. There was one for stomach pains ( gas & constipation). They loved it & it seemed to work / atleast relax them.
You don't state if he is bottle fed or breast. If he is bottle fed, put some Mylecon gas drops in his formula. Burp him after every ounce.
If he is breast fed, give him a drop before feeding.
I am one for feeding a baby when he is hungry, within the relms of a schedule. So if he just ate, try to wait at least 2 hours before feeding again. A normal schedule for a bottle fed baby is every 3-4 hours. You can also try increasing his formula by an ounce (1/2 scoop). If he is breast fed, try leaving him a bit more time to feed.
my second daughter, now 4 months old, did this constantly as a newborn too! my first never did, so i was concerned at first, although she was also pooping and peeing fine, and didn't seem to be in pain so much as just making a lot of noise. when i asked the ped he said that often times it will just go away. we couldn't even keep her in the co-sleeper cuz she was so loud we couldn't sleep ;-) i tried giving her gripe water, keeping her upright for a while after she nursed...it just kinda phased out around 2 months old or so...
You could try the so called "colic hold" where you hold him so he's face down, supporting his head in your hand and his tummy on your forearm. Sometimes they like the pressure. On their belly. Don't despair.
Do be sure to speak with your ped. Babies need to eat often, but not constantly either. Feeding constantly can further the stomach upset.
I just went through this myself so I totally feel for you! My baby is 6 weeks now but a few weeks ago we were experimenting with every bottle and nipple combination on the market (I was not able to breast feed and boy did this experience make the guilt and heartbreak of that even worse!!). Ultimately, we concluded it was nothing more than a phase. He would cry and grunt and squirm around like crazy while eating but his symptoms did not quite match those of reflux. He is a frequent tooter but they seem to come on out without too much fuss; same with pee, poop, and burps. I did buy the mylicon drops and at times we have thought they helped (same with gripe water) and at other times we thought they did nothing. My son actually likes the mylicon drops (not so for gripe water) so I don't hesitate to try those once a day or so but its very hit or miss. I thought it could be the flow of the formula through the nipple so tried all combinations of that and nothing seemed to make a difference. Eventually it faded and right now he is fine. He had the occasional fussy feeding but its not nearly all the time anymore. Our pediatrician said it can be just part of their little systems getting used to digestion, every sensation is brand new, etc.
One other thing we did was our dr had us drop off a poopy diaper to the office and they ran a test too see if he was lactose intolerant. For him it was negative. If you're formula-feeding you could ask your dr's office to do this as well; if it had been positive we would have had to switch to a soy-based formula. If you're nursing then I think you have to cut dairy out of your diet.
If it helps, here's what I was told to look for:
Reflux: he would arch his back, squim, grunt, fuss while eating and he would not be able to lay flat. not all babies with reflux spit up a lot; sometimes they have the pain without the spitting up, but the key symptom accoring to our dr was the inability to lay flat without crying because the acid would be creeping up in that position and causing dicomfort.
Lactose intolerance: green poop or otherwise weird poop, upset stomach between feedings, sometimes gas
Just a phase: if nothing else makes sense! For us that's what it was, as nothing else fit and the symptoms were inconsistent.
Good luck and hang in there!
My month old has colic and loves to eat non stop unless sleeping also. We use gripe water and gas drops alternating thru-out the day and make sure we burp him well.
The crying and frustrating behavior (spit up, arches back, burps and wants to go right back to eating again) is hard... especially since I have him 10 hours a day all alone and when husband comes home - he doesn't want to deal with crying baby so he says - you breastfeed, that's what he wants - but that is not always the case. Sometimes baby will just cry and cry and nothing I do makes it better until he's done.
Good luck!! We will both survive and so will our children!
You may have never heard of craniosacral therapy but it is amazing for this.
If you are interested you can email me and I will give you some names.
L.
We went through that with my son. I had to eliminate dairy from my diet the entire year that I was nursing. That eliminated gas. I also started him on medication for acid reflux. The combination of those 2 things worked perfectly & he became a totally different baby. It is definitely a process to figure out what it is or if it is a combination. Good luck!
A.
