My baby is completely different to other babies....

[Pennybrown86]

I have posted about my LG once before so apologies. I'm not really looking for advice, just support and maybe hope....

She is 10.5 weeks old, delivered by forceps and formula fed. We had a traumatic time with breastfeeding and despite a significant level of support, she just wouldn't do it. Since she was about 10 days old she has been very different to other babies.

She is incredibly alert and active but extremely unsettled. Even when she was 10 days old there would be hours and hours where she would be awake and crying and just wouldn't settle to sleep (worse in the day). She used to settle in the pram but not any more so i don't really go out with her as she is so incredibly loud, she screams instead of crying and it is ear piercing.

I now have longer stretches where she is happy, kicking around on her playmat but she will go from smiling to screaming within seconds and she often becomes inconsolable. I can now get her to take naps in the day but it involves either holding her or with her in the sling and walking up and down the hallway for about 20mins and she will only ever nap for 40mins at a time and I can't put her down. She often takes over an hour to get to sleep at night, she used to sleep for long stretches but she now wakes frequently and I often end up putting her in the bed next to me to get her to sleep.

She is incredibly sensitive, she screamed the house down at 5am when my husband sneezed this morning!

I have lots of friends with babies and my LG is so utterly different to theirs. I wouldn't wish for a different baby, but people keep telling me that things will get easier but they haven't at all.

Apologies for the long post - does this sound ANYTHING like anyone's baby? Did anyone have a baby like this and things actually did get easier?

[TheWeeBabySeamus1]

My son was like this from birth until around 5/6 months old. Very alert, very active (tried to kick himself off midwifes knee at 9 hours old ) but my god was he grumpy. Literally cried and grizzled every minute he was awake. And very sensitive ( I once farted and he screamed for half an hour afterwards ) as well.

As soon as he was mobile and able to crawl around it was like he had a personality transplant. Happy, laughing, sleeping loads better. I think some babies just want to be able to get around and when they can't they get frustrated.

Now he's 18mo and while generally happy he has a will of steel and won't be told what to do.

[bigbootsandshoes]

Sounds familiar. Such hard work isn't it?

Mine was intolerant to milk. Not allergic but intolerant. Caused gripey grumpy colicky crying. Eugh.

Sympathies!

[hownottofuckup]

Have you looked into cranial osteopathy, maybe give it a Google?
Or have you done that? I think I might remember reading one of your older posts.

[CodyKing]

He may habe horrendous heart burn - if he sleeps on you its because he's up right - lie down and it burns - you need to keep him upright all the time raise his head above his belly - use a cushion or towel to prop up the cot use a cushion for nappy changes - the mussel at the top of his stomach hasnt closed properly yet - it will at 6 months when they sit up - hence the posters baby improving - try it you've nothing to lose

[FlopIsMyParentingGuru]

My DD was really really upset and grumpy esp in evenings and didn't even want holding. Turned out to be silent reflux

[CodyKing]

Oh and pleas etake him out - raise the pram up and enjoy a walk while he sleeps

[QOD]

Ugh
in second the cranial.osteopathy and infacol or similar (my dd is 17 and they may not do that anymore!)
Sounds like she gets a bit trapped windyand therefore likes.to be.more upright?

[plantsitter]

She is like other babies, it's just you don't hear much from the mums of those babies 'cos they're crying in a darkened room somewhere. Good practical advice on this thread about intolerances etc but you might just have this kind of baby. Like pps said, walking/talking/a bit of independence can do wonders (not suggesting you are not giving your 10 week old enough independence just trying to say things WILL improve).

[Pennybrown86]

We tried cranial osteopathy from 3 weeks, I didn't notice any difference after 5 sessions.

Heartburn is a possibility, we have tried gaviscon and ranitidine and neither have made a difference so I don't think thats a problem. I always keep her upright after feeds and prop her Moses basket up etc.

Theweebabyseamus1 - thank you. I do think she's frustrated. She rolled from back to front the other day so I think she will be mobile early. I'm happy with a strong-willed daughter, perhaps she'll change the world! I'm really glad to know that things changed for yours-I keep pinning hopes on the 6month mark!

[ExasperatedAlmostAlways]

My cousins baby was worse than this. She screamed alll the time. Hardly slept. Couldnt be put down. Was a nightmare breastfeeding. One evening at mine my little girl slept the whole time (they were three weeks apart) and hers screamed none stop. She totally broke down and said she couldn't handle it.

Anyway she went to a cranial osteopath and done four sessions and she was a different baby after the first session. Apparently the birth had moved the bone in her nose and she also had a knot or something in her intestine and something he happened to the palate of her mouth during birth. She was honestly a different child after all the sessions and noticeably improved after only one. I'd definitely go and get a diagnosis and see if it's something they can help with.

[pomers]

My son never slept at all, never. I was a zombie. He's now 17 and doesn't sleep very much, at least he doesn't keep my awake. I think that's just the way some people are!

[Pennybrown86]

Thanks. We tried it, no change unfortunately!

[Cakescakescakes]

Sounds like my ds2. He had reflux and the only thing that helped was omeprazole. However even with this he was up several times a night until he was 1, cried almost constantly in the car, and only catnapped during the day (20-30 mins at a time and normally only in a sling) until he was nearly 1 as well. Some babies are just like this. He is now 2 and is incredibly stubborn and determined so I think it was partly his personality! It was horrendous though. I almost had a breakdown through sleep deprivation and dealing with my older son.

[Pennybrown86]

We've got a paediatrician appointment a week tomorrow. If she did have reflux I would've thought the ranitidine would've reduced her symptoms?

[HelpALostCause]

My son was almost exactly like this until 7 months. He's now and still needs comparatively little sleep. Buy some earplugs, makes the sling-walks up and down the corridor a little more bearable.

[TreadSoftlyOnMyDreams]

I've had one of these. It got better from about 12 weeks slowly so you might be on the cusp.

The key thing to me getting any sleep at all was to co-sleep in the spare room and I am about as far from earth mother type as you can get.
We had plenty of space, a firm mattress and it removed the stress/worry of disturbing DH all the time and made me more comfortable about the SIDS risk. DD fecking hated the moses basket too so we put her into her cot at 3 months and her "own" room. I mostly slept in with her [in the bed obviously] and she co-slept with me from about the 3am feed.

Get out of the house and stop worrying about how loud she is. Might be good to avoid churches and libraries though Lots of visual stimulation outdoors and fresh air can only help. If your pram is appropriate then I would also ditch the bassinet and put her into a more upright seat [almost lie flat but not quite] so she can see a bit more. DONT do this if your pram seat is not suitable from birth though. 10week is still v young.

[Pennybrown86]

Thank you! I will leave the house, I do leave the house, I just avoid it!!

[scallopsrgreat]

My youngest was like this. He never stopped moving. I watched a video of him the other day from when he was about 6 weeks old and his legs and arms never stopped moving. Newborn cuddles didn't exist - it was like a fight . I can laugh now - I wasn't at the time though. Didn't know what had hit me. He wouldn't be left for a second. As soon as you put him down he screamed but then you picked him up and he'd be constantly kicking and moving. Hated prams and car seat. This continued until he could walk - which was v early (9 months). As soon as he could get mobile things got easier (bizarrely). He is still very active, fidgety, full on (more than his peers - he's 4 now) but he has periods of calmer behaviour too. After food he literally ricochets off the furniture in the living room. He also barely slept for more than an hour until about 20 months old. Until he was on solids he didn't go more than an hour and a half without feeding (breastfed). And he still takes 40 minutes to wind down to sleep (eldest will be asleep as soon as his head hits the pillow - like his parents!).

It will get better .

[scallopsrgreat]

Have you tried a sling? It isn't the quick fix but it may help. They like to be close to you.

[53rdAndBird]

Mine had to be held all the time. Screamed in the pram, screamed in the Moses basket, screamed in the car seat, and I do not mean grizzling I mean full-on yelling to bring the house down. Used to get up to 8 minutes out of the bouncy seat, several times a day - all the rest she was in arms/sling/sleeping right next to me.

I used to look at other people's babies asleep in their prams or sitting happily in car seats and wonder if mine was a changeling or something. She just didn't do what I thought babies did.

It all got much easier once she got mobile!

[scallopsrgreat]

Oh yes and definitely co-sleep!

[Pennybrown86]

It's so good to know I'm not the only one, I just can't imagine it ever getting easier!

[GeoffreysGoat]

Ds1 was a ball of raging fury until he could grip a toy and roll at 4m. I couldn't even get him through a baby massage class without having to pick up my oily slippery baby for a cuddle. That thing where people warn you you'll have your work cut out once they're on their feet? Nope, best thing ever - once he could do it for himself he was fine!

[GeoffreysGoat]

53rd my mum thought she'd give me a break and walk him round john Lewis in the pram. The third time she had to stand there like a lemon with a screaming baby while I tied on the sling she finally admitted it wasn't such a great idea 😂

[Tokelau]

My eldest DD was like this. She screamed most of the time, didn't cry, just screamed. She couldn't be laid flat at all. She sometimes calmed down in the car seat, but only if the car was moving. She wouldn't breast feed, so I gave up trying after a few days, and we bottle fed, but then she suffered from projectile vomiting.

She was incredibly difficult to look after. In hindsight, I'm sure she had reflux, but this was before the internet, and I knew nothing about that then. The health visitors just said that she probably had a bit of colic.

It started changing when she was able to roll over. She would sleep on her front, on her knees actually, with her little bottom up in the air. Before she could do this, she hardly slept at all. After this, she started getting easier. She was never an easy baby, but better than the first few months.

She always had problems eating, in that she didn't want to. She just wanted milk. She has always been incredibly fussy with food, and suffered from IBS as a child. She is now 19, and in university, so we both survived!

I had younger DD a few years after elder DD, and she was a dream baby. She ate, she slept and she very rarely cried.

I think DD had lots of abdominal pain, which she associated with eating, and that has left its mark.