on your bra and a breast pad yet.
A little consolation for all this dampness is that you are producing lots of milk for your baby. You’ll find that when weaning starts and you start to reduce the number of times you feed a day you’ll leak less and may not need to wear breast pads any more.
Colic
You will be able to see if it is colic that is making your baby cry when they draw up their knees, arch their back or try to push themselves off your lap or out of your arms with their feet. Keeping a firm hold will keep them safe and secure. To calm them you may want to try the Up-Down Technique (see Chapter 3) to get them to stop crying – dads are usually great at this.
Try soothing your Little One: babies love sympathy. If you calmly tell them Mummy or Daddy is here and you know how hard it is, it will help focus your mind and give them comfort to get over the colic spasm quickly. It is hard for your baby when they have colic, as they don’t understand what this pain is, and they don’t know it will pass soon enough.
Colic, which literally means ‘pain’, is horrid for your baby and for you. Your Little One is experiencing the discomfort of digestion for the first time. Just picture all the rumblings in their tummy and the windy feeling as a brand-new gut has to digest all the nutrients from their milk. Their bodies are learning how to do this, and your baby’s problem is gas, not you. I know it’s horrible when they get beside themselves with colic, but your baby has no idea what is causing this pain and does not know when it will end. It comes as a bit of a shock for them after all those months of a carefree existence in the womb.
You can give your Little One some relief by staying calm and giving them lots of comfort; it may be you want to try some skin-to-skin contact so they can feel your warmth and hear your heartbeat.
There are products on the market to help relieve colic, and your doctor or health visitor can write you a prescription or you can get over-the-counter remedies from the pharmacist.
There are remedies you give to your baby before the feed which work by bringing all the little bubbles of wind together to help your baby to burp them up, and they may posset and vomit up a little milk as well which is to be expected with these products.
You can also use gripe water from the ages of six to eight weeks by giving a 2.5 ml spoon in 1 fl oz of cooled boiled water in a sterilised bottle. I usually say gripe water works best when your Little One is experiencing colic as it will help to bring up any wind if you give it to them 10–15 minutes before their feed, and make it more likely they’ll have an easier job finishing their milk.
What works for your baby may not be the same as for your friends’ babies, so keep an open mind and use only one product at a time. I have known mums who have been having such a hard time and are so desperate to find a remedy they’ve given all the products together, but not only would this mean you wouldn’t know which product worked for your baby, it would be unsafe as well. (See the A–Z section for further information.)
Posseting
Posseting is common in most babies and is an old-fashioned word that we use for babies who bring up little bits of vomit after feeding or sometimes even during a feed. It is normal for babies to posset because, as they burp, often some partly digested feed comes up. Many babies will be experiencing symptoms of colic as well as posseting from birth to six months, so it is no wonder it makes many parents feel anxious. Posseting is nothing to worry about unless you think it is affecting your baby’s weight gain and well-being.
You cannot stop your baby being sick but you can help them by feeding frequently (usually every two to three hours); raising the head end of their crib by placing a folded blanket or muslin underneath their mattress so your baby can rest in a more upright position; and giving your baby the opportunity to be on their tummy during regular supervised ‘Tummy Time’. Once they can sit up with support, being upright may help lessen their vomiting reflex. Once babies start to wean and are having solid food and spend more of their day in an upright position, most parents notice they posset less or not at all.
Reflux
A small number of babies have Gastro-Oesophageal Reflux Disease (GORD) when acid from the stomach leaks out and backs up into the oesophagus. Sometimes this is confused with posseting, which is very common in new babies who frequently posset or vomit up some of their milk feed during or after a feed. In babies, reflux occurs when the milk feed ‘flows back’ up the baby’s food pipe and is either projectile-vomited or, in the case of silent reflux, is regurgitated back up in the oesophagus and swallowed again.
Reflux requires a professional medical diagnosis and treatment as the acid reflux may cause inflammation of your baby’s food pipe and affect their weight gain. If you think your baby has reflux and are worried they are not gaining weight and are in pain and distress, ask for a referral to a paediatrician to investigate and treat if needed.
Tongue-tie
Tongue-tie is when the frenulum, a short string-like membrane under the tongue, is tightly attached to the floor of the mouth rather than loosely attached. If your baby has trouble sticking out their tongue and it doesn’t go past their gums, or pulls into a heart shape, they may be tongue-tied. If your baby latches on and feeds well, and is gaining weight, they may not need any treatment. However, if your baby finds latching difficult and is not feeding well, ask your health visitor or doctor about whether they think it would help to clip the frenulum.
Winding
Wind is a build-up of gases in the stomach. With all the feeding your baby does there is inevitably a lot of wind in their tummy which causes gripe pains. By winding and burping your baby you are helping them to bring up some of that gas so they feel more relaxed and happier. (Winding techniques are described in the A–Z section.)
Moving on from breastfeeding when the time is right for you
There is no perfect time to give up breastfeeding; it is simply when the time is right for you. Many mums will experience a moment that signifies breastfeeding is coming to an end. It may be for practical reasons like returning to work, or it may be when biting becomes a problem, or that weaning is so established your baby is not showing much interest in breast milk these days. Don’t worry about what your friends are doing; some women may only breastfeed for the first few weeks; others will go on until their child is one or over. Whatever you decide, your baby has benefited hugely from the nourishment and time you have given them.
How to manage giving up breastfeeding if your baby is 0–6 months
If in the early weeks of breastfeeding you feel you want to stop and completely switch to formula, do try and drop one feed at a time if you can, rather than suddenly stopping altogether, which makes it hard on you physically (you’ll experience engorgement) and your baby (who will need time to adjust to taking formula from a bottle).
You may want your partner or someone else to give the bottle to start with, as it can be confusing for your baby to smell the milk on you and taste the formula at the same time. Once they are used to it, most babies will happily take the bottle of formula from Mum and some won’t care who gives it to them just so long as they get their milk. Do whatever is right for you and your baby. (You’ll find some helpful advice on bottle feeding in the next chapter.)
Strategies for giving up breastfeeding if your baby is over 6 months old
For mums who want to switch to formula from six months, it is best to drop one feed at a time and replace with a bottle. Babies who are weaning still need regular milk feeds, but
