3 week old, persistent gas troubles

jlf1019

My baby girl will be 3 weeks old tomorrow. She's had gas issues since birth, we've always been able to hear her belly rumbling pretty frequently. But up until his weekend, she has been an awesome baby. We had to force her awake to eat, she was so calm, etc. but the last couple days, it seems like her problems have gotten worse. Her belly is so swollen and distended, she can't sleep more than 30-45 minutes at a time without waking up whimpering in pain, kicking her legs, etc. Last night, she would only sleep if I held her. It just seems like her belly is always upset. I breast feed, and we've tried adding an hour between feelings to give her extra digestion time, we do bicycle legs, lay her on her tummy and rub her back, etc and nothing seems to help. She's gone from having 3-6 watery dirty diapers a day to only two in the last 24 hours. Does anyone have any advice? I called the pediatrician this morning and he wants us to give her another day. Part of me keeps thinking colic, but she honestly doesn't cry most of the time, she just whines and grunts in pain. And her stomach seems to clearly be the culprit. We do gas drops before each feeding, too. It breaks my heart to see her so uncomfortable, and she is so tired but can't rest.

ashiscute

Honestly, all babies have tummy troubles.  Most babies are gassy, loud, and kick their legs while crying. 

Both of mine went through a huge growth spurt around 3 weeks and wanted to breastfeed all the time.  It lasted 2 or 3 days of needing more attention and then got better.  Then it hit around 5 or 6 weeks again.  I don't understand what you mean by adding an extra hour between feedings.  If she's 3 weeks she should be fed on command all day and night still.  I'm with your doctor that I'd give it another day or so and see how she feels and then if you are still concerned follow up with them.

FWIW, my DS had reflux and he was inconsolable starting when my milk came in until we got him on his medicine.  Since she was acting fine until this weekend I'd bet it's a normal phase.  

jlf1019

She has never fed on demand consistently. As I mentioned, we've always had to wake her up to eat since she was born. We had to spend a few days in the hospital with her and they got us on an every 3 hour feeding schedule, but she never woke up to eat on her own and still doesn't. We were forcing her awake to eat to help her get back up to her birth weight, which she just now reached as of Friday. We tried giving her more time between feelings because her belly has been so huge and swollen, we didn't want to force more food into her if she wasn't ready.

sbwinsor

My little guy has the same issue, just like your kiddo! We ended up getting gas drops, but we don't do it at every feeding. He seems to be doing a lot better. This issue is a bit new to me as well as his older brother never had this issue.