As I start writing this “series” I realize I have no idea how many parts there will be, because we’re still trying to figure everything out for this sweet girl. I want to write it all down not just so I remember what we did to help figure out her tummy issues, but also in case others are struggling with colic, reflux, and overall tummy discomfort or fussiness in their babies just in case it helps someone else.
From the time we brought Sweet P home from the hospital, she was sweet, but definitely fussier than I remember a newborn to be. I remembered that when we brought Little Piñata home from the hospital, he pretty much just ate and slept all day for at least a week or two. But, Sweet P was never this way. She was always more difficult to get to sleep and she pretty much never fell asleep taking a bottle, which I thought was so strange for a newborn. So, from the get-go, we knew her personality was different. She was more high strung and sensitive to things, so when she cried (err.. screamed) a lot at night or at feedings, I didn’t know if they were tummy issues or her personality. My first change was to get her on breastmilk instead of the high-calorie soy formula they sent us home with from the hospital. This definitely seemed to help her at feeding time and she was no longer constipated so much. But, we definitely still had lots of late night crying. Even at just 2 weeks old I remember several nights where neither Mr. Piñata or I could calm her down no matter what we did until well past 1am. This happened on numerous occasions so I thought she must have colic.
Who me? Fussy?
I brought our concerns to our pediatrician at both her 2 week and 1 month appointment and he told us that some babies cry more than others.
But, as she got closer to 2 months I just knew something wasn’t right. I read up on reflux and decided this was definitely a contributing factor to her fussiness. She had pretty much all the symptoms of both regular reflux and silent reflux, so I scheduled an appointment with the pediatrician. In the meantime I was connected to a local lactation consultant who also specializes in gut issues, so we took Sweet P there first.
I don’t know what we would have done had we not met this amazing LC! First of all, she discovered Sweet P’s tongue and lip ties and also recommended a few natural remedies to help calm the stomach acid she had going on, all of which was contributing to her reflux. I asked her if she recommended changing her diet from donated breastmilk, but she said it was better to try one thing at a time. So, we started Sweet P on Gerber Soothe, in addition to the probiotic she was already on and also added some powdered digestive enzymes to her bottles.Within a couple of days we definitely saw an improvement. She didn’t seem like she was in so much pain during feedings, but the nights were still rough.
Ok, ok. I’ll admit it. I’m fussy. (Please either ignore the background or use it to reassure yourself about your own messy house.)
Our visit to the pediatrician was delayed because of an ice storm that closed their offices for most of the week (only in the South!), so we were unable to meet with him until a week and a half after meeting with the Lactation Consultant. So, then at her 2 month appointment I asked him about his recommendation of reflux medicine and he put her on a twice daily dose of Zantac and we waited to see if this would help as well.
In the meantime, I was very anxious to get the tongue tie procedure done to see if that helped even more with feedings and nighttime fussiness. Even though we had seen improvement, she was definitely not forming a good suction on the bottle and still taking in a lot of air. I was so hopeful that getting the tongue and lip tie procedure done would alleviate so many of her issues. But, sadly, the only specialist in town that would take our insurance didn’t have an appointment for 2.5 weeks in the future. In normal person time, that’s not too long to wait for an appointment, but in “baby days” that’s a long time to wait to see if it helps your baby’s eating and sleeping! Sweet P was still taking in so much air and spitting up so much in the middle and after each feed and I was desperate to get it done to see if it could help.
The day of the procedure we ended up seeing the nurse practitioner first who seemed confused as to why I was there when she found out I was bottle feeding and not breastfeeding. She then examined Sweet P and said that her tongue tie was so minor that “most ENTs wouldn’t even consider it a tongue tie.” I was shocked! I thought for sure that this was going to help her so much and to hear that she doesn’t even really have a tongue tie was so upsetting. We asked if a doctor could look at her as well (an actual ENT) to get another opinion before we left. He said similar things, saying that it wasn’t a severe tongue tie, that they would perform it if we wanted, but he would recommend to just give it more time and see if her feeding improved on its own. He also mentioned that if I were breastfeeding he would recommend to get it done to encourage the continuation of breastfeeding, but that since she was bottle fed that he wouldn’t do it.
I left the appointment so confused and upset. Of course part of me was relieved that our sweet girl wouldn’t endure the pain of the clipping, but I also felt less hopeful that her feeding issues would improve anytime soon. We got in contact with the lactation consultant that recommended we call another specialist in town, so that was our next step, but it left me feeling like our poor girl would continue to have uncomfortable feedings for a long time to come.
To be continued…
Getting to the bottom of Sweet P’s Tummy Issues part 1 of 2
1. Getting to the bottom of Sweet P's tummy issues: Part 1 by Mrs. Pinata2. Getting to the bottom of Sweet P's Tummy Issues: Part 2 by Mrs. Pinata
cantaloupe / 6131 posts
OMG this sounds exactly like my son. I want to hug you!! He’s 6.5 months old now and for the most part just a delight but I basically had a nervous breakdown by 10 weeks because he was just a hot mess. Our first pediatrician said the same thing – newborns are hard, they cry a lot, etc. I fired him and changed to a new pediatrician who was like yep, your kid has colic and GERD. I was EPing by 3 weeks and using Dr. Brown’s bottles, supplementing with Gerber Soothe with Gerber Soothe drops, taking a ton of probiotics on my own, inclining the crib, burping nonstop, bought the Fisher Price sit me up chair to prop DS up after all his feedings, and to this day have PTSD anytime I hear him wail hard because of the flashbacks to his newborn days. He was on Zantac which helped for like 2-3 weeks and then he went NUTS. He had a 10 day jag where he didn’t sleep and didn’t stop screaming and I lost my mind. The pediatrician switched us to Prevacid and had us go on Nutramigen for 2 weeks just to see if it would calm his system down and I went on a total elimination diet until 5 months (no dairy, acidic foods, nightshades, caffeine, chocolate, cruciferous veggies, beans, etc etc etc) to try and produce non-irritating breastmilk. I think things finally started getting better very slowly and gradually around 12 weeks and by 5 months he was off medication and I started adding back all the banned foods in my diet by 5.5 months. He eats solids and formula and breastmilk like a champ and sleeps through the night. I really thought I would never sleep again but thank God that phase is over.
blogger / pomegranate / 3044 posts
Aww poor girl. Hope the next part of this story is happier! Look at that little face!
blogger / nectarine / 2600 posts
Oh poor Sweet P. Hmm I never thought about a difference between tongue ties for breastfeeding vs bottle feeding Both my kids were tongue tied but only Drakes was fixed It was a bit horrifying to be honest so Im glad you didnt have to go through that but I never realize that if you bottle fed a baby they wouldnt consider it necessary What about speech issues? I hope you find/found answers soon
blogger / pineapple / 12381 posts
I’m excited to hear the rest and see how she’s doing now!
pomegranate / 3225 posts
Sooo cute! Hope she is doing better!
blogger / apricot / 378 posts
Poor thing! I hope things are going better for her now!
blogger / pear / 1964 posts
Oh gosh! I’d have totally lost it by now! Your persistence will hopefully pay off!
honeydew / 7230 posts
I’m so curious to hear the rest of your story. My kids are nearly 11 months now and we have finally gone to the GI to work on their ongoing stomach issues. But reading your account of Sweet P sounds so much like my kids when they were tiny (especially my DD). They were diagnosed with reflux at 2 weeks old but that just brought us to a level of maintenance. We still dealt with screaming, no sleep, discomfort while eating, bottle refusal, etc. The GI suspects we aren’t actually dealing with reflux (or, that isn’t the bulk of their issues), but delayed gastric emptying. I wish I had pushed harder early on to figure out what was going on. I just didn’t know it was so unusual! Until my sister brought her twins home and they slept constantly for the first month did I start to realize my kids were not normal! Anyway, I hope things are going better with Sweet P! Excited to read the rest of you posts on this.
blogger / apricot / 310 posts
Oh man! I can’t imagine the frustrations building up! Will had a crazy two days at three weeks and I took him in and the ped instantly diagnosed reflux. He has been on Zantac three times daily since birth and we have increased the dosage twice. Even now at 7 months he still takes it because he still spits up (infrequently) showing his little body hasn’t wuite developed fully. Basically, the few times he had before the meds and when we needed to increase were so challenging with constant tears of pain, reduced eating and sleeping – I can totally get how three weeks feels like forever! Hoping this all turns out better and quickly!!
blogger / apricot / 367 posts
Oh poor girl, I hope she is doing better now! I can’t imagine how frustrating that must be for you to see her so uncomfortable. Hope it has all worked out for you!
guest
Hey mama, this sounds so much like our youngest little guy. we suspected colic too at first and then we moved to Sweden when he was 3 months old so when the screaming continued I assumed it was the adjustment to all new foods in my diet that he was getting via breast milk. It took us some time to get in to see a doctor and I’m not sure if it was the language barrier or what but they basically told me that it happens and kids grow out of it. He was getting quite a bit better during the day but nights were a nightmare, with him up screaming every two hours and wanting to feed. I started researching and came across silent reflux and felt like he checked all the boxes symptoms wise, but the majority of tips fell short in making him feel better. I know it is too early for you but the biggest difference that we made was switching him entirely onto solid foods and giving him a protein/fat heavy meal for supper. It seemed like having an avocado and chicken for supper kept the stomach acid busy overnight and it wasn’t causing the irritation. We discovered it by accident, the first night he went from waking up every two hours to sleeping 10 straight, I thought it was an accident but tried it again the next night and we haven’t looked back. At that point I was still nursing a little bit but he started to refuse the breast. He is thriving now and is such a happier little guy. That pained cry is something that will probably haunt me for a long time. Good luck, it can be such a struggle in the moment.
blogger / nectarine / 2010 posts
The first ENT said P’s tongue tie wasn’t severe either. But second and third opinions definitely revealed that it was. We’ve had it done three times and with a cold laser twice, which can get really deep. I’m interested to hear what worked
blogger / pear / 1563 posts
Sorry that I’m just now getting to respond to these comments! Thank you everyone for sharing your story!
Poor babies with tummy issues! 
@Mrs. Stroller: So, you know how it ended, but actually, when we went back to get a check the MD said there was still more we COULD clip if we wanted, but we decided that recovery the first time was hard enough and that she was eating better and that we would not do it again (for now at least).
@gingerbebe: Oh yay! That gives me hope that it went from being so awful to a happy baby! We’re getting closer and closer all the time.