Newborn screaming

[laura2323]

First of all apologies if this post is all over the place, new baby sleep deprivation is kicking in!

My 12 day old DD has been crying and screaming since approx 6pm. She has not done a poo today but plenty of wet nappies, could she be constipated?! If so what can I give her to help? It's heartbreaking to see her like this.

If it helps she is on 7/8 feeds a day, 2 formula 5/6 expressed milk/breast feed (with nipple shields as she refuses to latch onto the breast, using the shields on advice from breast start).

I have tried putting her to the breast for a comfort feed but she is too worked up and upset. I am at a loss at what to do! My MW and health visitor are unavailable until Monday, will go to walk in centre if necessary tomorrow.

WWYD? Tia

[SchroSawMargeryDaw]

Stupid question but have you tried giving her more milk from a bottle? She may be struggling with the nipple shields.

Also are you certain she doesn't have a lot of built up wind? My DS2 is very windy anyway but it was worse when I tried a nipple shield...

If nothing is settling her then you really need to go to a walk in centre tonight in case something is wrong.

Does she sound in pain? Has she been taking milk normally today and having regular feeds?

[HenD19]

Poor you and your baby. Am unsure about the constipation thing as none of mine have suffered with it really.

I'd take her for a walk to calm her down and keep trying to do a breastfeed as that usually settles them too.

Sorry to not be more helpful but someone will hopefully be along soon with words of more wisdom. Could you contact your community midwives in the morning and request a home visit if the baby's still unsettled?

Hope she quietens down soon and you manage to get some sleep.

[laura2323]

She has wind from both ends so don't think it could be trapped wind! Phoned MW earlier and she told me to get infa col just incase, which I have been using with every feed as the instructions state.

DD is now starting to strain as though trying to poo so maybe it is constipation! She strains for maybe 5 mins then cries hysterically afterwards.

[SchroSawMargeryDaw]

My DS2 has done this since birth, we regularly go a while without a poo, with loads of wind etc (sometimes around 10 days).

It was made a bit better when we had his tongue tie cut so he was taking less wind in when feeding and latching on better.

Has the screaming been constant? Has she been going to sleep at all?

[laura2323]

She falls asleep during feeds, I have to wake her up to finish them!

[Iheartcrunchiebars]

Sounds more like colicky wind. We've had it badly. Have you tried infacol? It's made things a lot better . Good luck. I hope things are calmer now.

[SchroSawMargeryDaw]

Try a warmish bath in case she is constipated? And rubbing her tummy clockwise an "cycling" her legs.

Hope she settles soon.

[mustardtomango]

Our baby's 17 days old and the wind thing is normally the reason he cries like this - if it helps, shifting his position seems to work (eventually) here... Over shoulder /on back /on side for feed /leant forward /repeat. Seems to dislodge bubbles in him

[mumofboyo]

If your baby seems to be struggling with wind and tummy discomfort you could try baby massage (surestart do courses) to help digestion, bicycling her legs to get things moving and holding her face down in your arms. I used to walk round with mine like this for hours because it was the only way they'd settle on bad days.
Anyway, hope she's feeling happier now.

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

How is she now laura. My first was very windy and cried a lot and he turned out to have tongue tie and upper lip tie. I'd recommend getting her checked out for these, especially if she's having trouble latching on.

Agree that if they are crying good things to try are more milk, tiger in the tree, a warm bath and baby massage can all help and if I really couldn't handle it anymore my DH used to take him out in the car.

[laura2323]

Thanks for all the recommendations. She definitely doesn't have tounge tie, in the hospital I didn't get much support with breastfeeding and her head was forced onto the breast. Now whenever we have skin to skin or try latching on she screams blue murder. Is it possible that she been scared?!
She is feeding and sleeping (and farting and burping) as normal just still crying whenever she tried to go. The infa col seems to be working now and she's burping like a docker now! I have booked onto a baby massage class tomorrow so hopefully that'll help her a little.

[WestieMamma]

My health visitor suggested putting a teaspoon of vegetable oil in the bottle when my son was constipated at this age.

[WestieMamma]

That should be 1 tsp in 1 bottle a day. Not in every bottle.

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

Please do not put vegetable oil, or anything else into the bottle unless the doctor has told you to.

My DS could scream well too which is why I didn't think it was tt. Not saying it is that but I wouldn't rule it out too easily

Not sure if she's been scared. Perhaps a BFC will be able to tell you more about that?

[Newmum0113]

Laura I had the sand experience at the hospital with BFing where they just shoved her face onto my breast, it sounded like they were choking her! She would scream blue murder and take on so much wind from it and be in agony for hours.

I've had to give up trying to breastfeed as it just wasn't working. She's much more settled on bottle feeding although still colicky and a bit constipated sometimes.

It's so heartbreaking to watch. Now she's started being bunged up at night which seems to keep her awake or wake her up in the night.

I'm looking forward to the first few months going by quickly, as horrible as that sounds. I don't feel like I'm cut out for newborns

[cathpip]

I have a little tip from my friend whose dd has bowel problems. If your baby is struggling to poo, a massage of the bottom hole (on the outside obviously) with a finger and some Vaseline for a few minutes works wonders, have tried it out on both my two and showed my sister with her ds when he was 2 weeks old, it does work! :)

[MumOfTheMoos]

I'd askabreastfeeding counsellor at your local group to have a look at whether she's got tongue tie again. I asked about tongue tie at the hospital when my DS wasn't latching on at all - was told by MW he didn't. Not the case, after a lot of heartache he finally had it snipped at about 4 weeks - it actually very easy to muss.

[ChipAndSpud]

I don't know about breast feeding, but if you think it's wind causing your baby pain, I found cycling DS's legs whilst he was lying on his back helped. I also found lying him on his tummy across my knees and patting/rubbing his back helped. A bit yuck, but if I ever have trapped wind then the best thing is lying on my tummy on the floor!

It does get easier, I found after 6 weeks it got easier, and then easier again after 12 weeks and 16 weeks.

I also found if I'd tried everything and then tried everything else again a march around the park in the pram used to stop the screaming - the rougher the paths the better! DM said I was the same and has a theory the bumping around soothes the baby and brings up any wind!

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

Moos you're not alone on that one. There was a thread on here not so long ago full of MNers who had been told their Lo definitely hadn't got tt, only to find out later they had.