Forum home Babies Baby

Please tell me it will get better soon .... !!

Where do I start ..... George was 7 weeks old yesterday, and for the last week has been Satan's child (he has even shocked my parents with how bad he has been as they have witnessed it themselves - I should say that I was the child from hell when I was a baby, so they are not easily shocked!)

He has Reflux, which does not help the porr little mite, but he is just such a grumpy little soul - I swear he is never happy, He is either asleep (on us in the day as he has refused to sleep in his basket for the past week!), eating or screaming. We have very slight glimpses of a "normal" happy baby, but they might be 5 minutes here and there, until he starts to scream again.

He has basically cried himself through the last week, and nothing we have done seems to have helped. I am so worried it is something we are doing wrong, but I have no idea what else I can do. Whenever he cries, I always offer a feed, check bum, wind, try and occupy him (although he will only tolerate so much interaction - perhaps 20 mins, before he gets overtired and starts to cry again).

His little day consists of waking, eating, then sleeping (with a LOT of crying in between). I am starting to wonder if Reflux has a lot to do with it, and also whether he has a touch of Colic, as this week he has cried for HOURS at night, the only thing that has calmed him down is bathing him!

We went to Baby Massage this week, and had to leave as the screaming was so bad and nothing I could do would settle him.

Last night was dreadful, He was put down at 10.15, after his bath and feed, then woke up at 12.45, 2.15, 2.45, 3.45, 6.45 and then 7.45 - each time screaming to be fed, but taking no more than an ounce or two of his bottle (he was taking 3-4 oz at each feed, but this week seems to struggle to take 2 or 3). I have changed to faster flow teats as he was falling asleep trying to suck, but they really haven't helped, and he is still falling asleep after 2oz. Our neighbour took pity on us today as we both looked like death, and took him for 3 hours so we could get a bit of sleep.

HELP! Please tell me that things will get better. I love him to pieces, and know it is not his little fault, but all I want is a happy, contented baby who I can "enjoy", at the moment we just seem to be lurching from day to day, with no semblance of a routine, and in a sleep deprived haze :cry:

Replies

  • Does he have any meds for the reflux?
  • Yeah - he has Infant Gaviscon in his bottles and is on Ranitidine 3 times a day
  • I wrote on a due in post about the issues I had with my boys at a similar age...im sure it was yours?? Shout if you havent seen it and ill post a link. Not sure if it will help but might be worth a look??
  • Is he sleeping enough? Is he too tired to take a proper feed and then not full enough to take a proper long sleep and so it goes on? Try carrying him in a sling to get him to sleep long amounts and then get as much milk in him as you can, this might help him change his current rhythm.




  • Hey hun

    You say you where feeding him 12.45, 2.15, 2.45, 3.45, 6.45 last night as he was screaming to be fed.. are you sure he is actually hungry? Sorry i hope that doesn't sound patronising but chances are he is only taking 1oz or so because he isn't actually crying for hunger its probably something else and feeding him so often may be giving him tummy ache. I am sorry if i misunderstood what you where saying but its just an idea.

    Maybe get strict with his feeding see if it helps? Ya know feed every 3 hours and don't let him have it before that 3 hours is up then he may take a full bottle and should seem more settled.

    I totally sympathise with you my dd was a screamer as she had silent reflux and its so hard but it does get better with time xx
  • This sounds a lot like my god daughter at that age - she screamed and screamed constantly (I'm surprised the neighbours didn't send social services round!) she was ex-bf at that point and things did get easier when her mum introduced 2 bottles of formula a day (1 at 1pm and 1 at bedtime) she demand fed all the rest of the time and baby did seem to be latched on constantly! My friend got very good at feeding on the go - and she could even make a brew or do the washing up with baby latched on! (She became my hero, because I had struggled to even scratch my own nose when I bf my daughter!)

    We managed to give her a bit of respite by pacing the floor with the baby while she had a few minutes to herself, I would often put LO, leaning forwards over my arm - while I paced, which she seemed to like. or having her over my shoulder in a mini firemans lift worked too.

    Anyway, I just wanted to say you are not on your own, and your are not doing anything wrong. Things will get easier (my god daughter is such a happy smiley thing now, you wouldn't know it was the same baby!) just survive as best you can for now, and get as much help as you can - it will get better!

    Hugs
    Nx

  • Oh bless you. It does get better I promise!
    DD1 had terrible colic with a touch of silent reflux (she was never prescribed anything for this). The colic was hell!
    She was hard work all day everyday. Needed constant entertaining and would only sleep in the car or pushchair. If she stopped moving, she woke up. Then at 6pm every night she would start the heart breaking screaming and would keep going till 10pm on a good day or 1am on a bad.
    At around 6-7 weeks it is the 'peak' of the crying and is usually over when bub hits 3 months (if it is coilc. It sounds to me like it is). DD1 became a different child when she hit 12 weeks, within 3 days the colic was gone!
    Things we tried (they are not cures but at times help) :
    Regulating feeding. Sometimes babies mistake tummy ache as hunger. Sticking to 3 hourly feeds prevents this.
    A baby swing
    Carrying her round in a sling
    Dr Browns bottles
    Changing her formula to cow and gate comfort 1 (its thicker)
    Infacol
    Doing the hoovering (white noise)
    Massaging her tummy
    Putting pressure on her tummy (I have a photo of her asleep on her front over hubby's knee)

    And accept all help offered LOL

    It does pass and no 2 children are the same. I was so paranoid that DD2 would be the same but she couldnt be more different. Its horrible to say but I have enjoyed DD2 as a baby a lot more than DD1.
    However, DD1 was a dream to wean and a doddle to potty train. DD2 will probably be a nightmare!

    Serena
  • Thanks all for your comments, all advice welcome so please don't worry about being patronising! If someone told me I could cure this by eating my own vomit, I would go and get a spoon!

    Last night, between 7 and 9 he screamed blue murder, so think on top of everything he has developed colic, although he did sleep a lot better last night (when he eventually went off to sleep, after much pacing, and in the end praying from me!!) We were only up twice in the night, and so far today he has taken more bottle each feed (3 1/2 - 4 oz), so hoping things might be getting a little better.

    I think that he gets VERY easily overtired, but his BIG problem is that he fights sleep like you would not believe, and is then so tired that he (a) cannot take his bottle, or (b) falls asleep half way through, I think this is a big problem for him, which we will have to try and work on.

    We have a baby swing, which we are trying to use for him, problem is he screams blue murder when we put him in it (he does the same when we put him in his pram for a walk) that we are trying to introduce it to him slowly, we find if he cries to much he makes himself sick. We also have a baby sling, which we again are trying to use with him, although at the moment he really seems to hate it - we will persevere with him!

    It sounds so horrible to say but I just sit wishing the next 5 weeks away, in the hope that when he gets to 3 months, things "may" possibly get a bit better for him (and us!)

    [Modified by: **MrsD2B** on August 08, 2010 02:16 PM]

  • This sounds really similar to what we are going through with our LO who is 5 weeks (although our LO doesnt sound like he has it quite so bad).
    One thing i find really helps is swaddling him, putting his dummy in and rocking him in my arms holding him very close and shhhh shhing him (loud to start with otherwise he wouldnt hear it over his cries!) this works almost instantly although only during the day for some reason, it sends him to sleep and if he stays swaddled he sleeps for at least an hour, this is the only thing that works for us except for a bath like your lo.
    Oh and the other thing we do is give him a few ounces os of cooled boiled water in between feeds as our LO's feeds were all over the place, he seems to really enjoy it and it helps him last the 4 hours between feeds and helps him bring up any wind he might have.
    Really hope this helps as i know exactly what your going through x
  • This sounds really similar to what we are going through with our LO who is 5 weeks (although our LO doesnt sound like he has it quite so bad).
    One thing i find really helps is swaddling him, putting his dummy in and rocking him in my arms holding him very close and shhhh shhing him (loud to start with otherwise he wouldnt hear it over his cries!) this works almost instantly although only during the day for some reason, it sends him to sleep and if he stays swaddled he sleeps for at least an hour, this is the only thing that works for us except for a bath like your lo.
    Oh and the other thing we do is give him a few ounces os of cooled boiled water in between feeds as our LO's feeds were all over the place, he seems to really enjoy it and it helps him last the 4 hours between feeds and helps him bring up any wind he might have.
    Really hope this helps as i know exactly what your going through x
  • Do you have a nice secure garden hun? My little one sleeps in his pram during the day in the garden.. i dont even have to rock him just pop him in awake and because its bright he closes his eyes and drifts off to sleep image xx
  • Hi there,

    Sorry to hear you are having problems, but I promise it really does get better. My DS is now 14 months and is the best boy in the world. But for the first 6 months he was the grumpiest baby in the world. Whenevr I met up with my antenatal group of mums, I would always be the one pacing the garden with a screaming baby. He was diagnosed with reflux, but he was a really sicky baby too and in the end he was diagnosed at about 9 months with a milk protein allergy which was obviously causing him a lot of pain. if your baby is very very sicky then I would keep going back to your doc because they are so quick to diagnose reflux without looking into it more. Looking back I wish I had pushed at the drs, but I didn't because as a first time mum i thought the doc knew best and not me. He is now on aptamil pepti and all soya products whislt we wait for advice from a dietician, but it changed his and my life around. Good luck and make sure you make the most of the support from family and friends as well to give you a break. Good luck xx
  • I really feel for you as I wrote a similar post!

    My 11 week old little boy was also diagnosed with reflux at 4 ish weeks but seemed to also have colic. He was generally grumpy in the day and 4pm every single day would just scream until 1030pm ish, we would have to walk round house just bouncing him about and he was such a hard baby to carry as he would be arching his back and thrashing about. What made it worse was that he only really lets me settle him so not great for my sanity or hubby's feelings! He is breastfed but would also only snack which was making the colic worse! We saw a lovely GP who gave us lots of advice, do you use a dummy? That can help with reflux and we used it to stretch out the feeds (although to be honest he used to scream so much, a dummy would never stay in!). We also got a close sling as he hates the pram. We had tried a sling before but he hated it but loves the close sling and I ended up wearing it even in the house! We also take him out for an early evening walk in it which apparently helps with colic. At 9 weeks, he suddenly started to settle. We got really rigid with an evening routine and started to try and get him into crib by 730ish. We stopped bouncing him about the house and I feed him in the bedroom with the curtains closed after bath time and put him in crib as soon as his eyes start going. We were amazed when he actually fell asleep and slept through the usual evening screaming, we think a lot of the screaming was from him being tired and we were bouncing him about thinking we were settling him.

    It is such a horrible thing to go through, I promise it starts to improve soon. Archie was at his worse at 7 weeks, I was at my wits end during that time! He is still a clingy baby (on my shoulder as I type hence the bad spelling etc!!) but now he is consolable and seems much happier. Keep going with what you're doing, sounds like you're doing a brilliant job! x

  • huni sorry to hear things are hard for you at the moment, i can't offer much advice as i dont have the same issues, but my baby daughter is never happy when awake either! :/ your not alone, she has such a short attention span! nothing keeps her amused for more than a few minutes!! i've bought every toy under the sun but she's not interested in anything.. when she's awake i feel like its a constant battle to entertain her utill the next feed/sleep and it's bloody hard work!!!

    I also feel like her daily routine is sleep, wake, feed, cry..... sleep, wake.. etc... :/
    Hopefully she'll get happier as she gets older, until then i guess it's just perseverence! *hugs* xx
Sign In or Register to comment.

Featured Discussions