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What's going wrong?? Please help!
in Baby
My daughter is 5 weeks old, and was born at 34 weeks. We managed to bf quite quickly, and it was going really well, and she was such a contented baby, never crying. A couple of weeks ago she started getting very windy, and I have started giving infacol. Feeding has started going down hill, and I am now at my wits end! BF is on demand and happens alot as Madelyn falls asleep straight away, including through the night. It is geting worse and more often, and I am only getting a couple of hours sleep a night! Madelyn is quite a noisy baby, with strange machine gun like noises, pulling up her legs and can never get into a proper sleep, making her think she is hungry again and not settling. It seems to go: nappy change, feed, wind, into bed, wind, feed, wind, nappy change, wind, into bed, feed.... and keeps going and going! I am exhausted, and feel like giving formula at night so I can sleep, but will that make the wind worse? Also, I dont really want to give her formula but I am starting to burst into tears all night which isnt good for her. Does anyone know what these noises are? She makes them even when there shouldnt be any wind there. Also, due to being bf, she poo's all the time and all the nappy changes wake her up and starts off the cycle again. I know that formula feeding reduces the frequency so feel that might help her too, but I love bf'ing and want to do whats best for my baby!
Please, has anyone been here? Can anyone give me some advice? My confidence is plumeting and I feel like a failure as a mother.
Please, has anyone been here? Can anyone give me some advice? My confidence is plumeting and I feel like a failure as a mother.
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I have tried a TT closer to nature dummy, but she wont have it.
I watched the bf documentary last night and it made me so determined to keep going as long as possible. It looks so easy once baby can get on themselves - I have to hold back my boob as they are quite large and always smother her which means I am under pressure to stay very alert.
Thank you for your advice, it is very much appreciated x
It is hard to get into any type of pattern if your baby suffers from wind (or reflux I might add!) so dont pressure yourself until it disappears around 12wks. You will learn how to better manage her wind - try all the tools available (gripe water, infacol, colief, different winding techniques). I dont need to anymore but in the early days I propped my daugher up on her side to go to sleep using rolled up cotton blankets (kept down away from her face). It's more painful for them on their back. I also find that as soon as she stops feeding I need to immediately put her up over my shoulder to burp her straight away otherwise there is more chance of the wind becoming stuck. Even if you do this mid feed it helps. The poos in the night will definately ease up or stop altogether soon. There is a light at the end of the tunnel so keep going. We too were at around 5wks and going through the same as you - it was a 2hr cycle in the night to complete a feed/wind/put back down and it was then almost time to start over! But Ive lived to tell the tale that it gets better and so will you.
Try to persevere with getting her to take a dummy. My daughter point blank refused it for weeks but I kept trying and finally she did. It helps her settle and it's also good for colicky babies to bring their wind up apparently. We use the Nuk ones.
Keep going hon, you have just hit a really tough point where colic escalates at around 6wks before it starts to ease up again. Take one day at a time and try not to let it consume you - have some support around you. In a matter of weeks you will be looking back on this and your daughter will be happily bf from you without all these problems.
At 5 weeks you just need to take it as it comes, MW's make me laugh, when my LO was newborn they were trying to get me to wake her to feed every 3 hours and I had to ask them to define the term breast feeding ON DEMAND... We settled into a nice pattern aboout 7-8 weeks ish. With the frequent pooping it is totally normal, formula is harder to digest and can make a baby constipated so you may find if you were to give her formula she might poo less but grumble more with tummy ache, it's all swings and roundabouts really and you've just got to do what feels right to you. Oh and the dummy, my LO would only take the ones that are flat on one side not sure if they're the ones you've tried or not x
Thank you all again, I am feeling more positive as we head into another night.......
Do you have a lot of milk, or suffer from forceful let down? Freya is 6 weeks on saturday and we were having alot of the same problems as you. What colour is your daughters poo? I went to the health visitor and she suggested Freya was lactose intolerant and for me to cut out dairy and try colief. I contacted the bf counseller from our nct classes as i felt dubious about he hv advice. She said that Freya is taking in air when she feeds, and was able to suggest some solutions. A week on and things are much improved without any need for colief, infacol etc... except on two occassion to shift some really stubborn wind.
xx
With the dummy , my LO wouldn't take one for ages. She used to play with the end of it (the same way she did with my nipple which was why I was giving her one) but after a few days of me holding the dum to her mouth while she played with it she did start taking it properly. She's 6 months now and only really has it for nap time and once in the night unless she's poorly. Hope things are getting easier for you x