free chapter of book - Flipbook - Page 28
Behaviour …
• Irritability, grizzling, inconsolable crying, screaming.
• Bloating, cramps, excessive gas.
• Frequent watery, frothy and/or explosive bowel motions. Sometimes green in colour
with an offensive odour, seed-like deposits and/or of a stringy texture.
• Wakefulness from discomfort with episodes of longer periods of sleep, but this is often
from exhaustion through crying and lack of sleep rather than because the newborn
feels comfortable.
• Frequent searching for something to suck — exhibiting the ‘rooting reflex’.
• Weight gains that are consistently at the upper regions or beyond recommended levels
or, as described by Morris Wessel, your baby will ‘look to otherwise be thriving’.
• Arching backwards or sideways, writhing, wriggling.
• Pedalling legs.
• Gulping their food, seeming very hungry while being restless — sometimes refusing to
feed, pulling off the nipple or when bottle-fed, having flailing arms and legs with much
turning of the head because of digestive discomfort.
Note: In extremely rare instances, some newborns experience the serious condition of
lactose intolerance. Unlike lactose overload, this sees a newborn failing to gain weight.
Lactose intolerance occurs when your baby naturally produces minimal lactase and
therefore cannot break down the lactose. A screening of the stool or a hydrogen breath
test is needed to diagnose this (see p. 128).
Lactose overload | 27
BABYCUES-FINAL7.indd 27
4/03/15 11:06 am