my baby cries all day long. and sometimes throughout the night. I've tried everything to soothe him. he also is very hard to feed because he fusses so much when he eats. I've switched him to soy thinking maybe that would help and I've even tried increasing his acid reflux meds...nothing is working and I'm about to pull my hair out. what could be wrong?
How old is he? Is it possible that he is teething? It sounds like you have tried a few options - any input from your pediatrician? He may need to be checked out just to make sure that nothing is medically wrong. If he is still a newborn, it may be colic. I am not familiar with colic or how long it may last, but constant crying seems to be a common symptom / side effect?
if its colic (gas), it can last up to 6 months.. i would definately get the baby checked out with the pediatrician to make sure theres nothing medically wrong. Casey had a hard time working gas through his system at first an we doubled our burping efforts, laid a folded towel under his tummy.. (not rolled, just thick enough to apply a slight bit of pressure) and we did exercises (lifted his legs for a count of 10 seconds, several times and rubbed his tummy in circles clockwise) My friend the FNP told me to try those and it helped SO much with Casey. If you are very stressed, take a break. The baby is going to cry nomatter what you're doing, so make sure he's safe, step outside in the sun for a couple of minutes, take a deep breath and think of how in a few months, this won;t even be an issue. Did you check with the pediatrician before increasing his meds? Also have you tried mylicon drops? some people say they don't work, but we were advised to try them when doing feedings. that also seemed to help a lot for us.
I understand your pain. My DD cried like that...literally 4-12 hours a day...day and night for 11 months. It turns out that her reflux was so bad that she had severe erosive esophagitis. The pediatrician kept telling me that it was colic. Really though, what is colic? I think it is a dumping diagnosis for anything that docs can't figure out.
It took 11 months to properly diagnose her and realize she needed surgery. I hope this is not the case for you. My husband and I went crazy for all that time and we couldn't console her.
Get him checked out. If the pediatrician can't figure it out, take him to a GI specialist. It can't hurt to take him. They will ask you all sorts of questions that will help figure out if it is uncontrolled reflux. There are other meds that can be tried.
Good luck and keep us posted on what happens.
Palak
How old is your child?
(1) Reflux medication dosage. If your child is on reflux medications, you should discuss with your child's GI the appropriate dosage. Perhaps it can be increased. You don't want to do this yourself without doctor's approval b/c too much medication can wipe out the good bacteria in the stomach (necessary for digestion).
(2) Reflux medications. Perhaps you should discuss switching medications if the one that he is on is not working for him. In terms of acid blockers, my son was originally on Flamotidine (Pepcid) then switched to Ranitidine (Zantac). But it was Prevacid that finally worked for him. Also, when he first came home, they had him on Reglan for motility. The Reglan was a disaster and made him incredibly irritable and gave him insomnia. As it turns out, there are other parents on this board who have children for whom Reglan was problematic.
(3) Teething. It took months for our son's first teeth to come through. He was not a happy camper during that time. Teething hurts.
(4) Diet. You mention that you switched to a soy formula. If your son has a cow's milk allergy (which can cause "colic"), there is also a 50% chance that he will have problems with soy too. Luckily, most kids do grow out of these problems. My son had both cow's milk and soy allergies. I give him expressed breast milk. When he first came home, it was fortified with cow's milk formula and even that little bit caused him problems. Consequently, when he began to outpace my supply, we had to give him an elemental (amino acid) formula for his supplemental bottles; the formula he was on was Neocate. Around 8 months adjusted, we switched from Neocate to goat's milk, which has been the easiest on his stomach by far. That said, some kids who are allergic to cow's milk are also allergic to goat's milk. We were fortunate that our son wasn't one of them. We have to give him Poly-Vi-Sol because goat's milk is lower in B vitamins than formula.
I agree with RevazMom about seeing a GI specialist if the pediatrician can't figure things out. A lot of pediatricians aren't well-schooled in preemie development. A lot of doctors write off the mother's concerns as "anxiety" even though there may be a real problem, so it is important to be assertive (not necessarily confrontational) and be your child's advocate if the doctors don't take your concerns seriously.
Best wishes.
Our baby had terrible acid reflux for a couple of months. If your baby is 4 months or less in age I'd totally recommend the "happiest baby on the block" DVD. I know, it sounds silly, but honestly, the tricks he used in that DVD absolutely worked for us 100% of the time. Someone gave us the DVD and we didn't watch it for 2 or 3 weeks, but after we finally did I couldn't believe we didn't watch it earlier.
From what I've heard from friends, get the DVD not the book. You need to see it first hand, and the DVD is about 35 minutes long and the book is about 300 pages long. You don't have time to read a 300 page book right now! I think you can get the DVD new or used off of Amazon.
i just wanted to make a comment about the mylicon drops---my son was a 28 wk preemie and he just turned one (actual) and we used the mylicon drops and i swear by them!! i realize they probably wont work for everyone, but they REALLY did lessen my son's gas and fussiness...i firmly believe there were times that could have been ALOT worse had i not had the drops..
thank you for the great advice. I just switched his bottle to see if it would help him eat better. It's the drbrown's bottle and it seems to be helping. When I increased his medication it was under his neonatologist's supervision. But after a few days of using the increasd amount with no improvment he brought him down to a lower dose. I'm really considering a change in his med because every morning when I give him his omeprazole in his bottle he dosen't want it. He is three months old, one month adjusted and does not seem to be teething. I give him breast milk as well and he still cries so I'm leaning toward his acid reflux. I've tried the five ways to soothe a baby 1)swaddle 2) place them on their side or stomach 3) give them something to suck 4) shushing and 5) shaking their head on your knees lighty. It works but not everytime. He is seeing the neonatologist next weeks so I will let you all know how that goes. Thanks again for all the great advice
I would be careful putting the medicine in his bottle because this could cause him to not want to take his feeds since feeding issues already tend to be a problem for lots of preemies.
Just a tip about dosing omeprazole and Prevacid. They are PPIs so the way they work is by reducing acid production in response to food. They are both in the same class of medications, but Prevacid as a great percentage of acid reduction.
If you mix these meds with food, they will not work as well. It is best to give on an empty stomach and 30 minutes before a feed. Giving it 30 minutes before breakfast, or the first bottle of the day would be best. I know it's easier said than done, but try it. It will improve the efficacy of the medicine and not always require such high doses. I agree with the higher doses causing a reduction in the "good bacteria" in the GI tract leading to other digestive issues.
Ask your GI about also supplementing with Culturell (lactobacillus) when your child is on a PPI. You can just mix it with a feed and it is tasteless and odorless.
Palak
My son is 1 week adjusted, he was 9 weeks early, he did the same thing, crying a LOT, so I took him in to the ped. and turns out there is still blood in his stools (I've already been off all kinds of dairy), so they are now testing him for more allergies. He would even cry while eating, so I knew his stomach was hurting. We should get the results back tomorrow.
I have to agree with all of you who negated the "colic" thing... horses get COLIC... babies don't. In fact, there is no possibly way for a human to get "colic". I just found that out on the Discovery Health Channel, and BOY was I miffed (again) at our first pediatrician.
That being said... If your son is crying all the time, talk with your pediatrician. If the word colic comes up... switch pediatricians. Reflux in preemies causes so much damage it isn't funny.
I have read the advice already given on here and I can't offer any better. The ladies and gents on here really know their stuff. I just want to toss out there, that there is another type of reflux that causes this type of behaviour beyond the normal esophogeal (forgive my spelling please) it is called Kidney Reflux. My friend's daughter had this and the child didn't sleep through the night or have a comfortable day until she was 17 months old and her mother finally found a pediatrician to look beyond thinking she was a crazy over-protective mom. The little girl is doing great now at 5 years old and the mom knows what foods and medicines to avoid which cause flair-ups.
Hope this helps.
Lisa
Boston.
My baby was the same way! We got her on goat milk and enzymes, problem solved. We even discontinued her reflux medicine. Reflux is tough!! No matter what the dose it never helped her. Gas is a biggie, because without enzymes they cannot digest the lactose, and that creates gas, and that causes reflux. The goat milk was a stronger acid neutralizer than any antacid we put Cally on.
And what really helped with her sleeping through the night was a nap schedule during the day.
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