General Chat

Being a Mother of five, you would have thought I knew all the tricks-but my first grand daughter cried a lot, until the midwife came and said the house was two hot......

Colic comes to mind - Infacol or Dentinox (from 1 month old) or Colief are available in the UK as is Gripe Water. - Dr's denigh Colic exists but if you've ever had trapped wind imagin what it is like for a baby that can't tell you! Reflux also comes to mind - Acid indigestion, more likely if baby is vomitting after feeds (esspecially projectile vomiting) - they would need to see the GP about this. Babies do grow out of reflux and colic - so give it a few weeks and all should be fine. - sitting baby up may help for both too. You could suggest they look at:- http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/ under Head and neck on the body key, is Crying baby - it may have some advice they will find useful. But my mum would tell you thay I cried alot, I wouldn't be put down at all for months, my nan had me one day a week so mum could do some house work and rest - but I grew out of it,

may or may not work but try placing the baby on your lap and rocking him from side to side and patting the back. always worked with mine :)

Margaret, Which county are they in? There's a great video called The Happiest Baby on the Block. Try the 5 Ss. Swaddling, side/stomach position, shhh sounds, swinging and sucking. Rose

Hello new Granny, I saw this demonstrated on TV by a doctor..and it works....... swaddling: hold them tight with the arms down . side or stomach position: the swaying and the pressure are comforting (the back is safest for sleeping but it is not the best for calming crying). loud shushing: noise helps remind of being inside the uterus. swinging : all that fine, jiggly movement again echoes prebirth experience. sucking: the ultimate comfort reflex action.. Some babies only need one or two of the 'S's' to get calm, but the fussiest babies need all '5 S's' simultaneously to switch on their calming reflex.

I'd like to thank everyone with your wonderful advice, which i'm passing on to the new parents. I knew there would be some modern approaches, 32 yrs since I last dealt with a baby, so a bit rusty!! At least they can try, and feel that they are doing something to help. I will post a progress on baby, with whichever ideas work for them. Watch this space. Thank you all, much appreciated. Cheers Margaret. xx

Congratulations Msrgaret to you and new parents on new baby. I'I've just become a ist time granny too- grandson now 5 weeks old, and daughter and partner suffering from similar problem. Colleague from work recommended a book called 'The New Contented Little Baby' by Gina Ford its wonderful, gives lots of useful advice which my daughter has been strictly following and baby now much more settled Good luck Kath

Hi Margaret I have a few suggestions but firstly where are the new parents based as that will influence my suggestions a little Regards Tania

Congrats Margaret on the new baby. If the mother is getting anxious this can pass through the milk, sounds stupid I know, but when ever I was upset or anxious my two would always end up vomiting after feeds and a midwife told me my anxiety was the cause. Also, even though she has lots of milk it may not be nourishing the baby, the milk even when plentiful can be of poor quality, she may be wise just to try on the bottle to see if that helps. Good luck.

Oh - just remembered - GUINNESS! Midwife told me to drink a can of Guinness a day to improve my milk - but the hospital told me this was rubbish, my milk was fine, they knew this as I donated surplus milk to the milk bank. It would be very unusual if breast milk was not sufficient for nutritional needs, the milk production system robs the mother's body of nutrients in order to provide them for the baby. So unless your daughter is very undernourished herself, I doubt if that's the cause. OC

Sorry Margaret for stealing your thread xx Thank you all for your input here-I'm off to Manchester next week as my eldest daughter is due her 2nd child,Icould not be there for the first, so all the new and old ideas I will be taking with me-you are stars!! Lynda in Cyprus x

Hi Folk Unfortunately for many decades there has been very poor and inconsistent advice about breastfeeding and the 'quality'' of breastmilk.OC is quite right Breastmilk is a perfect nutritious food that is the only feed required for a newborn baby up to 6mths (although I do concede some demand solids between 4-6mths) Poor weight gain and an unsatisfied baby are simply down to poor technique,and a lack of understanding about supply and demand. The only time someone can throw there milk supply is when they are losing weight extremely rapidly, for those women a high fat berry smoothie with milk and icecream will most often reverse the trend All these problems can be fixed by an experienced practitioner and a bit of time and effort.(by the practitioner) Unfortunately the british postnatal system sets women up for failure,they are out on there ears from hospital well before they can establish feeding and midwives only visit for 10 -14 days Formula is expensive,it does not contain the same brain developing fats as breastmilk,it contains no antibodies to disease and it is not guaranteed sterile so no matter how carefully mums mix it it can cause fatal gastric illness. Improperley mixed and stored formula also causes tummy problems. For this reason it really needs to only be used by mums with a good medical reason after a good deal of thought. Regards Tania

Buy a battery operated swing that plays lullabys,worked wonders for me,I was able to have 1hrs piece and quiete,because she was rocked to sleep,but DONT turn off swing after theyre asleep I found she slept better whilst rocking! Oh! and for some reason she liked a hat on her head whilst couching to sleep wrapped in a blanket.

Thanks everyone, you're all great and some superb advice. Wish this sort of input had been around in my day, very supportive. Lynda you are welcome, and so is anyone else having similar problems or needing advice. Baby is putting on weight, no probs in the nappy function dept., and yesterday, he slept for two separate 4 hour periods. Dad says he fed better, so I do think it's first time Mum with the breastfeeding. She is persisting, which is admirable and fingers crossed getting the hang of it. I drank lots of Jubilee stout, don't know if it helped with the milk, but made me feel good and relaxed. Garlic - they eat loads of it, will tell her to ease off. Cheers to all, you're stars. From a very appreciative Nana Margaret.

I'm glad things were a little better yesterday Margaret, I'm sure things will settle down soon. One thing I would like to add, I stand by what I said about poor quality breast milk, as this happened to a friend of mine when we were breast feeding our children and she was told her milk was plentiful but poor quality by our midwife. On my second child, who was 9lb 8, I lost weight very quickly and was advised to stop feeding him, I carried on and was being weighed at the same time as my son at the clinic each week, but the quality of my milk was not affected by my weight loss.