Colic or Reflux?

DD2 is 5 weeks old today. I understand she is right in the middle of her wonder week but I believe the following isnt caused by that. DD1 had severe reflux so I have some understanding of that but not colic. That being said I cant really remember what it was like with DD1 when she had reflux (apart from the spew!).. maybe thats why I had another? lol.

Anyway, I know something is up with DD2 but Im not sure whether its colic or reflux. So I thought I would put it in here and let you girls see what you think.

- Shes a chucker but it doesnt upset her unless is a small, thick spew a couple hours after a feed. So the initial spews after a feed dont seem to bother her too much. Only every now and then. She even spews in her sleep.
- She is breastfed. I havent changed my diet in the past week.
- Everyday she is very upset from about 1pm till 9pm (no joke, shes awake the entire time. Unless she power naps for 5 minutes here and there).
- During her upset, grunting, crying phases, she goes completley crazy sucking on her dummy and screams the minute it falls out of her mouth.
- Feeding during this time is frequent but seems to make the situation worse when she is not feeding anymore. Feeding is a real PITA at this stage as she constantly cries, pulls on and off and honestly doenst want food but needs to suck and likes the comfort booby provides.
- She loves being in the carrier but the sleep does not change if she is in it in the afternoon. She still wakes every 5 minutes, crying. Not screaming... more of a "help me mummy" cry.
- She sneezes and coughs alot. More so after a feed.
- She gulps her feed down like she hasnt been fed in days. This makes her eyes water something feirce.
- She arches her back some of the time when I burp her.
- She refuses to sleep on her back (but has been this way since she was born) and sleeps on her side.
- She grunts and groans constantly, asleep or not.
- She co-sleeps at night and through out the night I can hear her regurgitating.


So what do you think?

my DD2 was exactly the same as your DD - she would use the boob as comfort but then cry and scream when on it and off it. she also would not sleep on her back and was either on her side or tummy (yep i totally went against SIDS recommendations :redface: but she could lift and turn her head from 7weeks) anyway when i finally got in to see a paed he diagnosed silent reflux and she was put on Losec suspension. it. was. my. lifesaver. as she became a different child. she would still have her spews but minus the screaming crying afterward and she finally began sleeping longer than 15mins.

ETA: not sure about Colic, but from the research i did when DD2 was at her worst, most info i read said that reflux and colic tend to go hand-in-hand but i was never really sure and once i saw the difference in DD2 once she was on the Losec i didn't really focus on whether or not she had colic as well, itms?

Some of the things you described were familiar, and my LO had colic.

- Shes a chucker but it doesnt upset her unless is a small, thick spew a couple hours after a feed. So the initial spews after a feed dont seem to bother her too much. Only every now and then. She even spews in her sleep. my DD wasn't a chucker
- She is breastfed. I havent changed my diet in the past week.
- Everyday she is very upset from about 1pm till 9pm (no joke, shes awake the entire time. Unless she power naps for 5 minutes here and there). My DD could be awake for hours and hours, she only did the newborn sleep thing for 2 days
- During her upset, grunting, crying phases, she goes completley crazy sucking on her dummy and screams the minute it falls out of her mouth. we didn't try a dummy til 6 weeks, but it definitely helped when she was sucking on it.
- Feeding during this time is frequent but seems to make the situation worse when she is not feeding anymore. Feeding is a real PITA at this stage as she constantly cries, pulls on and off and honestly doenst want food but needs to suck and likes the comfort booby provides. Yep,
- She loves being in the carrier but the sleep does not change if she is in it in the afternoon. She still wakes every 5 minutes, crying. Not screaming... more of a "help me mummy" cry.
- She sneezes and coughs alot. More so after a feed. My LO did too, lots of hiccups too- don't know if this is related
- She gulps her feed down like she hasnt been fed in days. This makes her eyes water something feirce.sorry, can't remember
- She arches her back some of the time when I burp her. yep
- She refuses to sleep on her back (but has been this way since she was born) and sleeps on her side. no, but dd slept in a hammock at this age with the head raised
- She grunts and groans constantly, asleep or not. not here
- She co-sleeps at night and through out the night I can hear her regurgitating. not here

things that helped here were baths were bub coukd kick her legs (somteimes 4 times a day)
baby carrier- walking around the block again & again (we didn't have an older child to look after though)
infants friend
taking bub off the breast and bouncing/burping her during the feed.
feeding lying dwn so she wasn't getting milk pushed down her throat.
expressing off first bit (bc i initially had strong let down)

hth

Most of what you've described is the same as my DS2 except that he doesn't spew very often and when he does eventually go to sleep, he sleeps well. I also put him on his side and never lay him flat. His bassinet and cot are both raised at one end which helps. He's 7 weeks today and I took him to a paed at 5 weeks and he was diagnosed with silent reflux. He's just started losec, a colic mixture (our evenings are a nightmare too), homeopathic drops and is seeing a chiropractor!! We're now seeing some improvements. The dummy helps him to continue swallowing as it's the acid coming up and burning his throat that is making him so uncomfortable. :( It's hard isn't it? Especially when they thrash around at the breast and cry so much. DS1 was an 'easy' baby so this is a bit of a shock for us.
Hope things improve for your LO soon.

With the coughing and sneezing it sounds like reflux, colic as the reflux burns the throat making the cough and sound husky but colic is tummy and wind pain.

Have you had a read of or heard of the book Colic Solved - The Essential Guide to Infant Reflux and the Care of Your Crying, Difficult-to-Soothe Baby written by Bryan Vartabedian? In a post i made about my DD who i believe had Silent Reflux (no vomiting) someone reccommended it to me and it helped understand what DD was going through and it was also nice to have confirmation that the extent of DD's symptoms weren't 'normal' which was what i was told so often.

What the book explains (from the Dr's point of view) is that most babies will have relfux to some degree while the digestive system sorts itself out but they can have reflux in different severities. Some need medication some don't. Which i believe totally as my boys had some signs but nothing at all like DD. DD being #3 had DH and I absolutely desperate to do something for her, we were at a loss. So much screaming out of a poor little one surely can not be 'normal' (I have really begun dislike that word and that assumption).

In this Dr's POV he says so many Dr's don't know enough or are hesitant to diagnose reflux so they say colic but he goes on to say that colic is pretty much non existant, just a made up something so a Dr doesn't have to say 'i don't know what is wrong with your child'.

All the symptoms you describe make me want to give you and your little one a big hug. It's a really difficult time. DD was miserable for the first 10 weeks of her life and there were no smiles for us until she was on medication. Like you have described, lots of arching of the back, lots of swallowing and she would start her screaming from 6pm till about 11pm when she'd finally quit. She cat napped and fed every two hours day and night. She was so uncomfortable.

I would recommend you take her to a Dr and depeneding on the Dr you may or may not get prescribed something. It also depends on you if you are comfortable giving your little one medication. For me I knew something needed to be done, she was prescribed zantac but i hated giving it to her. Other options are to take a more natural approach to it. I tried the Osteo and some say the chiro can help. Another option is a naturopath, i ended up seeing one when DD was about 5-6 months old (for my own personal reasons) and she was horrified that DD was on Zantac. For me i know it wasn't pleasent to give a little one medicine but it got us through a very difficult time. Maybe if i'd seen her earlier she may have been able to help in a more natural way?!

It's up to you what you would like to do for your little one, it may be the reflux that is your little ones digestive system just sorting itself out or she may need some help. Whatever you choose good luck and i hope she's feeling much better soon.

ETA I have the book but i have loaned it to a friend, i can get it back though and i'm happy to loan it to you. It's worth the read :)

Well after days of screaming, not sleeping and in the end, not feeding (the poor darlin was crying every swallow).. I took her to the doc today. The doctor diagnosed quite severe reflux (same as DD1 was) and is now on quite a high dose of Zantac. He wants to see her next week to see how shes going.

Thankyou everyone for your replies :hug:

As you've had expereince with it before you'll know the improvement won't be instant but i hope it's really soon for you guys.

All the best :)

This sounds like what has suddenly started this week with our DD. It was so bad last night I was walking the streets at 1am with her in the pram trying to soothe her.

I'm hoping out GP can help tomorrow, as we can't see the Pead till almost the end of the week. She is affected after feeds, regurgitates, then screams, burps then screams, she also hiccups almost every feed, and sneezes and coughs alot. Last night it was from 9:30 - 2am, however after every feed that day it took an hour to settle her and she had to sleep upright in her sleepy wrap.

So terrible seeing her in so much pain. :(

Glad your daughter is feeling better however.