3 Month Cries During and After Breastfeeding (Has Acid Reflux)

There are a few ideas...

Maybe you have a very fast let down... chedck out www.kellymom.com and www.drjacknewman.com - GREAT sites to help Mommas with breastfeeding questions.

Do you bicycle her legs (pump them in circles like riding a bike) and do any tummy massage or tummy time?

Getting a hold of a Le Leche League local Leader or an IBCLC (not a LC or CLC) will REALLY help you right now. You can google it to call some local Midwives who can most likely steer you in the right direction.

My son experienced a lot of the same, ladies. One thing we tried was switching to a hypoallergenic formula for awhile to see if there was any difference. You may want to try that, Alimentum or Nutramagin.

As it turned out, my son had gluten intolerance as well as a dairy allergy as an infant. And, he was on Xantac first to control the heartburn and then switched to Prevacid, which worked a little differently but was equally effective. You may want to ask your doctor if it might be time to switch to something new. Then, you could try an elimination diet of foods to see if that makes any difference. But it's not easy to do that, when you have a crying 3 month old. I know.

If you have any questions, let me know. Always keep in mind that this too will pass. Hang in there.

H.

My daughter also had to have Nutramagin and she was like a different child. One day she screamed for 18 hours I thought I would loose my mind. Talk to the doctor and if you have to switch do it for the baby and you. One other thing that helped get the gas out was to rotate their legs like they are riding a bicycle while gently pushing their knees into their belly. It can really help to get the gas out. Maybe the medication also needs to be increased. If she has grown the medication may not be strong enough. Call the doctor, no need for both of you to suffer, you should be able to enjoy this time with your baby. I feel for you I like you was on my own, my hubby worked a very long day and had a commute on top of it. I remember just wanting to sit and cry. Take a deep breath and call the doctor for advice. Good luck!!

We used some gas drops for my son for a while. I think they helped. You can by them anywhere that sells infant/child medication. We gave them to him after every feeding, really seemed to help. And my husband found a way to pump my son's legs to help him toot. Always made my son feel much better. I could never figure out how to do it, but I'm sure there are websites that would show you how.

I also eliminated nearly everything from my diet - turned out to be tomatoes and tomato sauce for us. Keep examining your diet, and keep a log of everything you eat. I think it takes about 6 hours for food traces to show up in the breast milk. Don't quote me on that, it's been a while since I dealt with this. But by keeping a careful diary you should be able to figure out which foods are triggering her gassiness.

Another thought I had while reading your post is that you may be waiting too long in between feedings. Maybe your sdaughter is too hungry and gets herself all worked up so that she's so upset she can't feed. Maybe try starting a feeding about 15 minutes earlier to meet her hunger rather than wait for her to show hunger signs. Just a thought. All that crying during eating is probably contributing to her gas. Make sure you burp a lot so the air has a chance to escape out the mouth rather than the intestines.

This too shall pass - I promise. She'll get it figured out.

Infant massage (there are often classes at yoga studios that teach mom/baby yoga, or they could refer you) can do wonders for digestive disorders. The technique described by Diana, tucking baby's knees into her chest and bicycling her legs, can be very effective for gas, but you need to be careful if your baby has reflux because it could push things upward to, in a child whose body is already geared that way! I definitely would recommend doing a massage class/workshop. It sounds like you are very knowledgeable as to what triggers can be and are really doing what you can personally to help her. I hope the suggestions you get help. Its hard to bear when you know your baby is miserable, and will be again and again.

I wonder if she might be lactose intolerant? Michelle Duggar's premie was breast fed, and she had to switch to lactose free formula (19 Kids and Counting). The poor baby was miserable, but a few days after the switch was much better- just a thought.

I had gassy babies too (w/ reflux). Warming a towel in the dryer and putting it on their belly helped soothe them.

I would seriously consider switching to formula though- either Lactose free or Nutrimigen. The Nutrimigen is really expensive though, so you might want to start lactose free.

I really feel for you (and baby)- It's hard not getting enough sleep, and harder yet seeing your baby suffering. Hope she feels better soon! :)

I agree with pamela, its your letdown! If you switch sides during feedings, STOP! Only use ONE SIDE PER FEEDING! THis will help your baby get the hindmlk she needs to grow and thrive, and if you switch sides she gets too much foremilk which will make her gassy, mimic reflux, and just plain miserable. click the link pamela put up, its so helpful and you will learn how to fix it, but first things first, one breast per feeding only, never switching sides.

Look for her poops to be yellow and seedy. If they are green, mucousy, stringy like wet lettuce, she's getting too much foremilk and all her symptoms will go away if you stop switching sides. SHe needs the hindmilk to grow and thrive and she can't get that if you switch sides.

My 2 month DD#2 was very gassy. I read a study where one group breastfeeding mothers took probiotics for 21 days. They saw a huge improvement in their baby's gassiness - much more than the simethicone group. So I started taking good probiotics (the kind you have to keep in the fridge), and her gas seems much better. I'm not sure if she grew out of her gassy stage or if it really is me taking the probiotics, but I'm relieved. Good luck, it can't hurt to take them and they're very good for you.

I just posted a question similar to yours just seconds ago! We think that our daughter has milk allergies but I have a very laid back pediatrician so I am trying to figure out what we can do to determine for sure what the issue is.

Maybe your baby is a little colicky? Have you talked to a lactation consultant or the pediatrician to find out if there is a test you can do? I'm asking because I'm looking for the same kind of answer.

This sounds EXACTLY like my first baby! but it sounds like you are doing everything we did, already. I ended up haveing a foremilk/hindmilk imbalance, and like you were saying, only do one side till empty. I actually was so bad, I had to so only one side for two feedings in a row, and not let her have the other side till the third feeding, it helped to actually decrease my supply and that helped her crying and gassiness tremendously. That is called "block feeding" - look it up on Kellymom.com Another thing that helped was to let her start nursing and then when I felt the "letdown tingle" to pull her off and let it spray into a towel/burpcloth, then re-latch the baby after the pressure had subsided. I would spray so hard it was like drowning/choking her, and she would gulp and gulp and end up gulping down more air than she should. We also ended up using a nipple sheild for a while which also slowed my flow some for her.

Which reflux med is she on? We started with Zantac, and that didn't work for us, we had the Dr. switch her to prevacid, and that worked SO much better and was easier to administer - cut the little tablet in half and take half and rub it inside her cheek till it dissolves...she wasn't able to spit it all out like he zantac.

As for eating for yourself, this may sounds stupid, but I kind of treated it as if I was still going to work - after the baby was down at night time, I would "pack a lunch" in a cooler for the next day - a sandwich, some yogurt, granola bars, fruits, nuts, water bottles....in the morning with her first feeding, I would grab my lunchbox, throw in some of those cooler thingies and set it next to my nursing chair. Each time I fed the baby I would have a little something, one piece of fruit and a glass of water, one granola bar and a glass of water. I always made sure to drink a glass of water as I nursed to replenish what she was getting.

Also, you might want to think about pumping your other side, and saving it to introduce a bottle, so that Daddy can do at least one feeding a day, to give you a little break, time to shower, read, pray, think or nap!!!! I know how tiring that can be, my girl was a 1 hour nurser ( took at least that long to feed) and then started again in an hour and 15 minutes! I felt like I was constantly nursing, and if not nursing, changing diapers and trying to get her to sleep!

Another thing, your girl is old enough to use a pacifier, that helped us ALOT, sometimes she just needed to suck , it provided her the comfort and self soothing she needed. Another thing that helped during the constant crying was the swing on HIGH, she had to be really flying to keep her calm! That is what I did when I needed a shower - put her swin in the bathroom, put a paci in her mouth and set the swing on high and some music on and showered while she swang....we were both in a better mood when that was done!

Good Luck! Keep working on it, you are doing great, some babies are just a little more challenging to figure out than others!

jessie

Have you considered trying a chiropractor. It could because her spine is out of alignment, she has more trouble expelling the gas. Many infants are helped by treatment.

I would really recommend finding a practicing classical homeopath in your area. I have had really great results with every ailment imaginable, and the remedies they use are all natural.

Good luck.