My best friends newborn who is about 3 weeks old, went from sleeping great, being happy and content to crying all the time and keeping her up all night. She switched from regular formula to soy via the Dr. and it hasn't gotten any better, it's about 5 days. He was spitting up alot before and losing weight.
She has tried little tummy's, gas drops, rocking, walking, burping, swaddling.......
Any ideas? Although I'm a mom of 3 I've ran out of suggestions for her. His bowels are moving so he's not constipated either. I know "colick" can just be a mystery, but so many of you ladies have such great different insight thought I'd pick your brains for her!
Maybe give it a few more days on the soy. My daughter was the same exact way you are describing, I switched her to soy and she was a completely different baby, but I do think it took more than a few days to get the other formula out of her system.
Breastfeeding and co-sleeping... not to mention baby wearing and lots of burping helped my insanely colicky baby into a very happy 2.5 month old. The first month was absolutely horrendous, it got so bad I had to put him in a safe place in a room and shut the door for a good 10 minutes to calm down.
If a baby is gassy anyways - formula of any kind will make it much worse.
Buy her a bottle of gripe water and she will love you for the rest of her life. Aside from him having a serious medical condition this should do the trick, it saved my sanity and I tell anyone I can about it..
Hmm, kind of soudns like what we went through when our daughter was an infant. Turns out she is allergic to milk. she did VERY well on Alimentum formula...just a thought. I hope she gets some relief soon...her her and baby!! good luck to her!
Have her try propping baby up in a bouncer or swing to sleep. It could be acid reflux and babies who have that, have a hard time laying flat on their backs. Colic is a mystery. I have heard good things about Gripe Water...
Try switching the type of bottle she uses?
Colic is a mystery and sometimes it just takes time. Offer to give her a break by going over there and watching baby while she takes a long shower or runs a quick errand to get out of the house and away from the crying.
Also, a friend of mine thought her baby was colicky but then she read "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Baby" and learned a LOT about babies sleep patterns and turned out her NB wasn't getting enough sleep!! At 3 weeks they start making that change from sleeping all the time to a bit less, so it might be worth a shot!!! GOOD LUCK!!!!
We went through this with our son and it was a nightmare. He was not allergic just to dairy. It was protein that he couldn't handle. So soy formula did now better than the dairy based. We had to go on allimentum which was protein free. It made a huge difference. It was also hugely expensive, so I would see if she could get a perscription or get it covered through wic.
My daughter was incredibly colicky and had bad gas pains, and we put her on gentlease, which is the enfamil brand of formula that is still milk, but the proteins are broken down, so it was easier on her stomach. She turned into a completely different child once we switched her over, and we didn't lose out on the calcium, which can happen if you switch to soy. She still had her rough time during the day (early - late evening), but the rest of the day was so much happier. Good luck to your friend - it can be so hard when they cry that much :(
~T.
I would go back to the Dr. Have they determined whether or not it's acid reflux??? My son was Dx with milk protein allergy at about 8 weeks... bloody and mucusy stool - while breastfed. We changed to Nutramigen (partially broken down milk protien) and he was much better... I wouldn't keep changing formula until the Dr. recommends. The first I'd check if spitting up ALOT is for acid reflux - it's painful for the little ones, and usually they get some medicine. Best of luck!
I'd go back to the ped and ask him about reflux. My ped said that baby's GI system starts to make acid right around 1 month old and if they are going to have reflux, that is when it hits. Your friend's newborn is almost exactly on that schedule. (My guess from what you describe is that he's been spitting up all along, but his stomach didn't make acid before and so it didn't hurt, and just now, at 3 weeks, his stomach started making acid and so the spitup now is suddenly hurting him, like constant hearburn).
If it is reflux, you can try putting the crib at an angle, during the day, put him in a sling/front carrier and let him nap upright. This things helped marginally for my son - the only thing that really helped was medicine. In the short term, the ped can tell her doses of mylanta to use while they wait for an acid preventer, like Prevacid, to kick in.
For what it's worth, babies with reflux are also more likely to have dairy and soy allergies. So switching to a formula like Nutramigen or Alimentum also wouldn't hurt.
