My baby is miserable and/or hates me!

[Ellie]

What!?! If it is reflux a ped has to write a perscription. I couldn't disagree more.

But "reflux" is often a result of the baby's being intolerant to the dairy his mother is consuming. Before giving the baby meds, the mother could try eliminating dairy for a month to see if it improves. That doesn't have to be a discussion with a ped.

 

If the ped recommends any sort of ceseation from BF then they are not worth their salt and you should find a new one. Formula would make anything like this WORSE not better. If they try to get you to give solids to an 8 week old well....IMO it is better to find out your ped is an idiot early on than when it is a serious situation.

:iagree:

[rwilliams]

Well, you've heard dairy a lot so I won't repeat that suggestion.

 

 

I spent 5 years attached to that child (physically) most of the time. He couldn't sleep unless he had my shirt in his hand or he was otherwise touching me. But after that five years, it was like a light switch was flipped and he became Mr. Self Confident. He's a healthy, happy, independent 10 yr old today.

 

My nephew was like this and his G-mother and Mom did not take this approach. He has many problems today as a teenager that I personally think was because is intense needs as an infant were not met. I have also seen children in therapy whose Mom's took this approach of meeting the child's needs with much dissapproval from the doctors and school. These kids in the long run are doing well.

[sarawatsonim]

My dd is 8 weeks too and she cries with anyone but me. So she is perpetually ini my arms or strapped to my body. I never get a break. I even had to move dd6 into my bed with dh so I can co sleep in her bed with the baby without disruption. As for the smiles, dd only seems to smile at me, her stuffed carrot and a Justin Bieber poster.

 

My niece who is 4 months cries constantly all day and night. My SIL is going insane and after many tests the doctor says it must just be her personality because they have found nothing wrong. On the other side though, a friend of mine had her baby a week before me. He had much of the same behaviour you have described and he was diagnosed with reflux. He has been on meds for a few weeks and is like a whole new baby. Good luck, you must be physically and emotionally drained.

[scrappyhappymama]

My sister's first baby was like this. Her daughter cried all the time. It went beyond colicky- if she wasn't sleeping or nursing, she was crying. My sister held her, other people held her, but it didn't matter. Her husband was deployed in Iraq until the baby was 6 months old, and she did not live near any family, so it was a dark time for her. Her baby didn't spit up often, so we never suspected reflux or dairy issues (didn't know about silent reflux or dairy allergies causing colic then).

 

At about 4 months, my sister decided to try cutting dairy from her diet. I have babies who are allergic to dairy (with severe reflux and projectile vomiting, which is why I never made the connection with her baby), and I warned her that it could take up to two weeks to see a difference. But within only a few days, she saw a dramatic difference with her daughter. She was like a completely different baby, happy and interactive, not screaming all the time. My sister was thrilled, but a little skeptical- what if she had just grown out of the colic finally and it was coincidental? So a week later, she had a morning bowl of cereal and by that evening, her baby was back to screaming and crying incessantly again.

 

So yeah, I would definitely give cutting the dairy from your diet a shot. I'm not gonna lie- it's kind of annoying for mom having to be off dairy completely. I've done it for 18 months before for my severe reflux baby. But there are good milk substitutes- rice milk for cereal, drinking and baking, and as a bonus I lost a lot of baby weight and more while on a dairy free diet. It was worth it to me to have a happy baby and to avoid unnecessary reflux meds for baby as well.

 

I learned a lot more about silent reflux with another of my babies, and that's certainly a possibility too, diary related or not. Since he sleeps well at nigh, I wouldn't mess with that, but you might try having him sleep in a swing and be more upright more often during the day to see if that helps. Babywearing is great for that too, but is hard to do if they are heavy spitters.

 

Hope you find out what's troubling your little guy and he gets to feeling better soon!! :grouphug: