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Is he spitting up a lot? If not, I'm hesitant about the reflux diagnosis (we had that here).

I think both babies have reflux. They are a month old but adjusted age is less than a week. Baby boy is a bit more fussy but at this moment crying is ok... Normal, I think. Though, I just read that colic starts about 2-3 weeks (adjusted age) for preemies. Wondering if this is the start of it.

I think I need to see if I see a pattern.

DS was colicy and had reflux (prescribed Zantac). The fussiness started really early on and lasted until 4 months. He would cry constantly all evening and all night. The swing helped us some and so did gas drops but we just didn't take him out much and tried to ride it out. We FF so no advice on the elimination diet. Sorry you are going through this! There were nights I would cry probably as hard as he did so I sympathize : /

Your baby can have reflux without spitting up. Silent reflux is common. Personally I don't think there is much the medical community can do for high needs babies. Another ped opinion will likely tell you the same thing - reflux or colic. I find Babywearing helps a lot as well as having people give you a break. Having a colicky baby is exhausting.

M had pretty bad colic. Around 2 or 3 weeks she began getting fussy, and it progressively got worse as she got older. At 5 weeks we started to seek help, first from an IBCLC, then a ped, then another ped, and then by 8 weeks I was seeking help from a pediatric gastroenterologist.

She cried about 10 hours a day, as horrible as that sounds. She slept soundly during the day, but would wake up screaming and would not stop screaming until she was asleep again. Two separate peds prescribed both Zantac and Prevacid, but neither of those did anything. I don't think she had reflux (or silent reflux). At 6 or 7 weeks I eliminated dairy, and then soy, and then eventually gluten. I noticed a big change in her once I eliminated gluten. We also gave probiotics (which seemed to help). But overall, she was still generally a fussy baby--the diet definitely wasn't a cure-all. She did not start to mellow out until around 7 months. But even now, she's a finicky (but awesome) kid. Who knows, maybe some of it was temperament?

DS cried pretty much the whole time he was awake from birth until 3 months. After that he calmed down a bit, but still cried a huge amount during and after feeds - eventually it turned out he had a tongue tie the whole time that was making it so hard for him to feed.
I'll never know how much of his early crying was caused by that - but I suspect there was some traditional colic at play too.
Personally I would not advise doing any elimination unless there are strong signs of intolerance like blood in stools. I eliminated so many things and nothing made a difference - but I feel like you can always convince yourself it is helping because you so want something to work. I think looking after a colicky baby is hard enough without depriving yourself of so many foods! That's just my opinion though, I know some babies do have strong intolerances. Hugs

I remember you posted on my post that mentioned baby grunting all night / feeling like I could never wake up and handle the nights well.... in our case all of that turned out to be reflux related. The noises all night were spitting and coughing and suffering from reflux after being laid flat in the bassinet. We had MSPI issues as well. Once those were resolved it was easier for me to see we still had a problem and pick out the reflux symptoms. In addition to the all night discomfort she would also do random cry screams and refuse to be comforted in the day.

She's on Zantac and we hold upright 30 min after feeding now. And she's slept in the rock n play for the last week. So far so good but I am dreading the crib transition......

DS didn't have colic but he had silent reflux which can sometimes be missed as "colic." For us the main symptom was fussiness during and after feedings. I fed him while the ped observed and she deemed it a pretty classic case of silent reflux. We tried Zantac first but eventually Prilosec was the game-changer. He was off meds around 6-7 months. Also if you're using formula or supplementing at all, the Gerber Soothe formula is great for reflux & colic. They also make the Soothe probiotic drops that you can add to a bottle or give otherwise like you would vitamin d drops.

@shopaholic: no, I stayed off of all of them. So I was off of dairy, soy, and gluten for a year.
The probiotics we used were Gerber Soothe. I'd try them--can't hurt!!!

@shopaholic: how long has he had the Zantac? It can take a little to work, but they definitely don't like to take it. I would try squirting down the inside of his cheek. It was a battle to get DS to eat for a while. There was so much screaming and I had to nurse him in a lot of different positions, sing to him and rub his foot or hand. Drops were a constant. Cutting dairy did not help here. When he had a bottle, preemie nipples (dr brown) worked best. I'm sorry mama. It does get better! It just takes time, time, time.

@shopaholic: oops sorry now I see it!! Can you try mixing it in a bottle with 5mL of breastmilk? That's what we do in the NICU. The other thing you can try is squirting the Zantac into a nipple and letting him suck on the nipple. Good luck!!

DS is 7 wks old and I just feel like I need to chime in to the colic/reflux discussion. I'd say we definitely have at least 3 hours of crying over the course of a day. He is in general just not a happy camper.

BUT he has very bad reflux and protein intolerance, for sure - he was actually hospitalized and also had 2 ER visits for constant choking and vomiting/spit up after feeds. He also had nasty mucus diapers. After feeds (well really all the time) you can hear him refluxing and bringing stuff up even if he doesn't spit up (you can actually feel it if you put your hand on his chest).

The first GI we were on put him on Zantac which did nothing. We switched GI doctors - love the new ped GI. He put him on Prevacid, Zantac, and Carafate. Carafate coats the esophagus. The acid actually erodes the esophagus so the GI said his esophagus probably had sores on it from his reflux being so bad - DS would literally be hysterical for 2 hours after every feeding, it was a NIGHTMARE. And not uncommon for him to spit up 10 to 20 times, each time screaming. And the reflux smelled awful, it was like the smell was coming out of his pores.

Anyway, after 2 weeks on that, he was not a lot better. So the GI put me on a strict elimination diet - he suspected with the diapers and other issues (DS also was very congested/sniffly and got little rashes around his chest and back) that he had some kind of food intolerance (MSPI or otherwise). We also switched from Prevacid to Nexium.

Well, now on Nexium plus elimination diet he is finally improving. Although I think he's still sensitive to things - we will have a few good days, and then for example the last 24 hours have been horrible. I think it's tomatoes that I ate. Anyway, it's a work in progress and he still struggles with the reflux and a lot of crying but it's not nearly as bad as it was.

FYI for those of you struggling to get your LO to take Zantac, get it at a compounding pharmacy. Our new pediatric GI said that the liquid Zantac that you get filled at Walgreens or CVS for your baby is like 8% alcohol!! I tasted some of it and it was so bitter, like rusty pipes. We get everything filled at a compounding pharmacy and the meds now are a little sweet tasting, LO takes them without issue.

He's also a super difficult sleeper, we have to use white noise, rocking, swaddle, etc. and it takes FOREVER to get him to sleep. He is not a good napper on the go. I think it's because he was in so much pain after he eats (and probably still is a little) that it's really hard to get him to relax and calm down.

I can't WAIT until he outgrows all this. Right now I am not eating gluten, corn, dairy, soy, nuts, eggs, fish, and as of now also tomatoes and berries. (We tried Alimentum and he had an awful reaction to it - so BF is better - if he needed formula he'd probably have to go on an elemental formula like Elecare or Neocate.) It's likely he's not sensitive to ALL the things I eliminated. We'll probably try to re-introduce them one at a time, at least for things like eggs and wheat, maybe not dairy. I pretty much just eat chicken and potatoes!

I had 2 colicky babies, who are high-needs kids. It's temperament and high-sensitivity/ sensory stuff. DD1 was diagnosed with reflux, put on various meds, they didn't do anything. She got her tongue tie revised at 6 months and that made a big difference, but neither stopped long screaming fits until around a year old. Both still have very long and intense tantrum meltdowns, especially bad between 18 months and 2.5 years. DD1 has calmed since turning 3, yet still has some screaming meltdowns. It's just who and how they are.

E was a colicky baby. We did screaming car rides, Windi, everything. He slept okay in the day and awful at night. Happiest Baby helped us a lot. The Windi helped with gas until he could fart. Those were rough months.

I don't know if it's really colic if it's not inconsolable, but for a long time the only things that would keep DD from screaming were nursing and being held (not in a carrier either, only in arms). I think it's mostly her temperament, she's really sensitive. She did have a lot of gas when she was really small, but I think many babies do and they don't scream like that. It hit a low point around six weeks, and now at three months she's finally getting to the point where she can be awake and happy without me holding her. I already dread teething though!

I am personally a very picky eater (extreme) and I have survived two babies on a very limited diet. And as miserable as not eating is (and it came to that some times) it is so much better than seeing my babes in pain. My son was MSPI (and at 4 still soy intolerant) and my daughter is reacting to so much more. My son screamed 12-15 hours a day no matter what we did until we finally eliminated the food and the Zantac. My daughter is not very fussy unless we introduce a trigger food. She is pretty incredible.

I can't believe I have been off dairy for the last 12 months and look at 18 more months off because my diet was a steady supply of ice cream, Mac and cheese.