Struggling so much…I don’t know how to help

My girl is 4 weeks on Monday and for the last week she has been so miserable. Screaming like this for hours on end. We have tried winding her non-stop, bicycle legs, belly massage, baths, swaddling and nothing helps. She literally screams until she is exhausted and then wakes up screaming and it starts all over again. My first daughter was like this from 3-14weeks and I found it so hard. I am struggling to cope with it this time as have my toddler to look after at the same time.
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My little girl is just like this too! I can’t seem to help her either. I’m struggling too! Xx

Sounds like she might have colic, call your health visitor or gp and ask for advice on gripe water or any other things that might help xx

My LG was like this at the same age, GP recommended Infacol, you can get it in the supermarket

Can you wear her in a wrap? You'll be able to get on with your day then hands free.. The ones you wrap yourself are very comfortable. She may be more settled being on you.

My son had this too, he had cmpa, colic , reflux and constipation. How are her stools? Is she spitting up lots of milk? It might be that when she’s laying flat she’s having heartburn like symptoms or her milk might not be reacting well with her. It might be worth taking her to your gp and asking about an osteopath to figure out where her pain is? I understand entirely, my boy was like this til about 5 months. Does she like any white noise, music or anything? I didn’t find anything worked for colic it just seems like one of them things you have to ride out which is shit, infacol might work but every time you give it to your daughter you HAVE to get a burp out of her or it makes the pain worse xx

Also if you have a next to me crib you can usually tweek the settings on the legs to tilt it at an angle which stops the milk from coming up the throat. How do you burp her? Xx

@Angharad we’ve been given a special formula incase she has a cows milk protein allergy, she also has thrush which she has medicine for. My daughter had bad colic and nothing helped, just had to wait it out but it was such a hard 11 weeks.

@Leonie yes have been using infacol but doesn’t seem to have helped much. She does wind easier with it.

@Anais yes I have a wrap, never fully confident Ive got it right though. But will be using it on the days my toddler isn’t at nursery.

Could she have silent reflux? My boy had it and he cried a lot 😭

I’d say wear her in a wrap or carrier around the house. When my girl was fussing I would wear her whilst I got on with things and she’d fall asleep real quickly in there. Has she maybe got colic? I’m sorry to hear you’re struggling 🩷 these newborn weeks are rough xx

@Maisie the GP has put her on a special formula incase of cmpa. She was spitting up lots of milk and her poo’s were like water and soaking into the nappy. Health visitor suggested using the anti reflux milk we used with our first but she got extremely constipated on it. I took my daughter to an osteo so might look to take her too. Nothing helped my first with her colic. But it definitely does seem to be around feeding times. Once she has calmed down she is absolutely fine until the next feeding time. She screams as she is taking the bottle after a few mins.

@Naomi it’s so hard isn’t, just feel so bad that I can’t console her.

@Rachel yes my son did this too he’d scream with every bottle. Has she got a tongue tie? My son’s reflux was bad too , the gp gave us something called carobel you add it to the milk and it thickened it up. What size teat is she using? The milk might be coming out too slow for her? I’m so sorry your daughter sounds like my son to a t and i struggled so much. Every time she has milk keep her upright for a good 10 minutes so her milk goes down & maybe check the teat? If the milk is thicker you’ll need a bigger teat so the milk goes through faster. To help with the constipation from thicker milk I gave my son 1oz of cooled boiled water a day and it kept him regular while on milk xx

Go to your pediatrician

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Sounds like she is in pain

Take her to a children’s osteopath x

Might be colic?

My first had silent reflux :/ where he would curl backwards… and sleep in this weird backwards C position. I feel so bad for her :/ esp if she is screaming after a feed. Maybe don’t feed a lot per feed? Idk I’m talking out my bum.

She might want to cluster feed it’s difficult for bottle fed babies.. but if u can pop her on your breast it will calm her down

@Fatema bottle fed babies don’t cluster feed , babies can still have colic and reflux being breastfed. Breast isn’t always the solution! Especially if she’s solely bottle feeding she will be making no milk.

Mine had silent reflux when she screamed like this! No special milk but the GP gave me infant gaviscon sachets to add to it and they made such a difference!

My little one did the same, he screamed all the time, we were back and forth to the doctors it turns out it was colic and silent reflux. Unfortunately nothing really helped, it just got better in time. But it is horrendous and I completely get how hard and upsetting it is. I would go to the gp and see what they say. X

Hey @Rachel bless your heart, I hope you’re doing okay and you’re doing amazing with baby girl. I was wondering, has she been checked for a tongue tie? X

Maybe try colic drops it helped a bit with my little one x

I know this gets shit on a lot on this app but I swear by pediatric chiropractics and body work physical therapists. Both my kids would scream like this until I brought them to be adjusted. They don't snap them like adults. It's gentle touches and holds. My babies would immediately have a look of relief and then have the best naps ever and poop😂 think about how traumatic birth is for you and baby. They likely get out of alignment and are in pain. I swear it was life changing.

As someone else said, wearing her in a sling might help soothe her - you can go to your local sling library and they will show you how to use it if you’re unsure. Also google TICKS. I’d consider loop ear plugs whilst you try to find the cause, just to give your ears a break and a bit of headspace!

Try some baby probiotics - really helped my little one with his tummy pain, his watery poos improved and went from 10 poos a day to 2 a day. We used ProVen, it’s a powder that they can just take off your finger

baby probiotic and gripe water might help. I don’t know what it was but my son had really bad reflux and every time we would give him gripe water he would instantly calm down.

If it’s only around feeding it could be silent reflux. You could try feeding in an elevated side lying position. The only thing that worked for us was medication. I sympathise with you massively we’ve had a really really difficult time with feeding because of silent reflux. It does gett better I promise xx

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Infacol was my life saver before every feed. After 3 months old it stopped x

We had this for hours every night from 4 weeks until 12 weeks. It’s soul destroying but she just stopped one day and hasn’t done it since. It’s awful when they seem like they are in pain. Hope it gets better soon x

She might be colic amd I think you may need to the GP to see whether or not it could be colic or a milk allergy to the formula I honestly I'm not sure but please let me know if you got any where with the GP

My baby is like this and it’s genuinely because he wants to cluster feed 24/7, soon as he’s on the boob you don’t hear a sound from him. Very difficult as I can’t go much places with him due to this

That's either hunger or wind and at this age it could be either. Have you tried any infacol or gripe water or like others have said wearing her in a sling for a short period after being fed may help.

Have you tried colief? And have you tried a sling or wrap and bouncing on a yoga ball?

Hugs mama. Can someone come help you during this stage? You’re doing all the right things, once you’ve tried everything and you know baby is fed and changed then just hold her and walk around

Cranial osteopath Colief Baby wear X

I would look up the 5s's. Happiest baby on block techniques. Those techniques settled my screaming newborn within 10 minutes. Might not have time to read the book. There should be videos on YouTube or you can even order the DVD online. That old DVD saved my sanity

Gripe water !

And does holding her close to you help ?! Babies can’t regulate their nervous system so they look for is to do it I know it’s so hard but try to hold her close! You’re in my prayers !

Try colic relief drops, gas relief drops, and add an infant probiotic everyday. Talk to your docs about these of course, and if they’re ok with it then start it asap. If gas is the problem, this will probably bring same - day relief.

I know I’m late here; but if your seeking immediate advice as to how to help baby calm down, “when all else fails, get them out into nature or into water”

Craniosacral osteopath is the type we took our son at 8 weeks as he was like this xx

have you tried mylicon for gas pain?

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Sending all the love 🩷

I have heard so many stories like this and they took the baby to a baby chiropractor and it literally solved everything birth is a traumatic experience for babies to and can cause lots of tension it’s worth looking into

Our little one was similar at this age and a paediatrician diagnosed Colic and recommended that we switch to comfort milk formula which really helped him (he was bottle fed only). We noticed a difference instantly. I also saw people recommend the Kendamil drops and doc recommended infacol but we didn’t need to use those in the end. I’d definitely recommend seeing a doctor for advice as it worked wonders for us as all baby’s are different so could be a completely different issue to our little one. x

Hope it gets better soon there's a helpline called cry sis you can ring as it can be hard hearing the crying and when you're calmer baby will be..ours had colic and found holding her in an aeroplane position helped and infancol also trying to get naps in hang in there it'll get better and well done for normalising for others x

Also bouncy ball and wearing them close to you

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