Gas, Acid Reflux, or Just Fussy?????

Your baby has classic acid reflux symptoms (I have two with GERD myself, one 2 years old and another 3 mos, both on Prevacid). Check with your pediatrician about meds. Your breastmilk is best for him so keep it up. Here are some information resources:

Colic Solved: A guide to Infant reflux.... by Bryan Vartabedian, MD (2007). You can get it from Amazon.com or other bookstore.

Infantrefluxdisease.org

Kellymom.com (I noticed someone else mentioned this site; it's great)

Pollywogbaby.com (has a downloadable guide to living with infant acid reflux).

Good luck.

I am not sure of this but I remember reading and being told that around 3-6 pm it is normal for babies to be cranky, I believe it is called "the crying time". I noticed it alot with my 4 kids! If you have a concern call the pediatrician, they expect those calls! Don't second guess yourself, you may be making things worse by messing with your diet and his! Just relax...Your milk is the best thing for him no matter what!

good lord i'm going through the same thing, my baby is 5 weeks. all the same symptoms. My 1st had severe allergies and it isn't the case here.. my doc thought maybe gastric reflux cuz she likes to be sitting up. Nothing like trying to nurse a screaming baby. I don't get much gas but eat gassy foods... i've been told it's up to 12 weeks their system gets more mature. From my past experience you have to eliminate foods like milk for at least a week before you notice a change, so just 2 days may not do it. the major foods are dairy, egg, nuts and tomatoe i believe. good luck. sorry can't help, i'm in the same boat. Its hard when you have other kids that need your attention too!!!

Just an idea but did you get to talk to any of the lactation consultants at the hospital you gave birth at? Usually they stop by and introduce themselves and check in with you- at least they did at Rush Copley. They were a great support line for me with my first child. I called so many times w/ questions. If they can answer/solve it over the phone, there is no charge. You could check that out or I would ask your pediatrician for advice. I had a few issues with my second who was born in December. Lucky for me our reflux issues were very minimal. After talking w/ my pediatrician, I changed up how I was feeding-nursing one side only at a time and feeding positions- I did more of a modified football hold to have my daughter be more upright and she could control how much milk she was getting. I also used a hammock bed for sleeping-ours was like the Amby. I bought it off of craig's list for a much cheaper price. I also got her adjusted a little more frequently while she was dealing with it.

Hopefully you can get some good answers from your pediatrician or lactation consultant. Good Luck!

Hi S. - you must be exhausted! My daughter was very fussy at that age as well and did end up having acid reflux. She grunted and groaned as she tried to sleep and wanted to nurse all the time (because reflux babies eat smaller amounts more often). She really was miserable, we all were. Her ped. prescribed Prevacid for her and she was a totally different baby within two days of taking the medicine. Additionally, we kept her upright for 1/2 hour after all meals and made sure she got a really good burp. That seemed to help.
Before she was diagnosed I thought it may be a milk intolerance so I stopped consuming all dairy and used rice milk for cereal and coffee (soy upsets my stomach bad) and I felt so much better that I have continued using rice milk in place of cows milk.
Best of luck to you!

my son was born may 4th so i hear ya! some days i want to be the one screaming! he is always fussy between 5pm and when he goes down for the night at 8pm. we basically try anything and everything to get him to settle- he really likes the moby wrap or the baby bjorn and getting his bottom patted.

one thing i've noticed with my guy is if he is all worked up going into nursing we have a heck of a time nursing and he gets more spit up/gassy afterwards. i've started trying to calm him down first - even putting him to sleep for 10 minutes and nursing when he's still half asleep (that's if i can get him to sleep in the first place). also, try pulling him off and burping within the first 10 minutes. if you have a fast let down he could be swallowing too fast and getting too much air right from the start. i try to burp every 10 minutes after that.

check out www.kellymom.com and dr. sears' website for information on how to do an elimination diet.

S.,

I think it could be any of those things :) isn't the guessing game fun?!?!?!

If i were in your shoes, I would call a lactation consultant and see if they recommend a particular 'diet' or guideline of foods for nursing. they will know best what common triggers are for gas and intolerances for babies.

Secondly. your babies digestive tract just began functioning 22 days ago, with the passing of the first stool, meconium. it can be a bit sluggish, painful and gassy to get things worked out, so try some 'little tummies' gas relief drops before or after meals, be sure to burp often (I always tried to press my breast against their stomach for gentle pressure while they were up on my shoulder - stomach is on their left side) and you could try moving the legs in a bicycle peddling pattern to help push gas out. make sure not to push the legs too far up because it can make them regurgitate. Keep baby head and shoulders elevated after meals. burp after crying jags... sucking that air in is counterproductive and just makes them more farty :(

With the arching the back, frequent hiccups and spitting up, it's quite possible he has reflux. Those were my sons signs and he was put on Zantac which seemed to start working within a few hours of his first dose. Speak with your doctor about this.

And then all those other factors aside, every single one of my babies has had the evening crying spells. If you are so inclined, you could 'wear' baby with one of those wraps... i've never done this so I can't recommend a brand from personal experience, but i've seen a lot of moms recommend the Moby wrap here on mamasource. I've always just carried baby and seen it as a chance to work out my arms :)

you could try the colic hold. lets see if i can describe it. ok... baby is tummy down on your forearm with head either in the crook of your arm (better for when they have more head control) or in your hand with crotch in elbow nook and legs wrapped around your arm... this hold always seemed to calm my babies in the evenings... and if they spit up i didn't have to wear it.

Good luck to you, these trying times will be erased from memory when your little boy says 'mommy' for the first time :)