6 week old constant crying

[Firsttimer16]

My 6 week old cries almost constantly whenever he's awake and not feeding. I am losing my mind it's absolutely relentless.
He just seems so miserable and unhappy all the time - whether lying down, being held. He wriggles and squirms constantly. I feel like it might be his tummy causing him problems as it sometimes comes in waves, and he does dozens of dirty nappies a day, and at night wakes grunting and straining before passing wind. However having taken him to the doctor they couldn't see an issue. He was breech so the osteopath suggested maybe his insides had been very squished and need time to relax. However it's hard not to take it personally and think I'm just not doing the right thing ever.
Has anyone got any tips on how to cope? Or just anyone who has been through and come out the other side?!
It's so hard to try and stay positive and upbeat when it's so relentless and not knowing if there's an end in sight is killing me!!

[Snoodleberry]

We had a similar experience at six weeks following DD1 emcs birth, was recommended cranial osteopathy, had three sessions and the change was remarkable.

[Thinkingblonde]

Is he breast fed or formula fed?
He sounds like he has symptoms like my granddaughter had, she had cmpi (cows milk protein intolerance)
It took weeks and weeks before she was finally diagnosed with cmpi and prescribed prescription only formula.
The results were amazing, she was different baby after just one day

[Firsttimer16]

He's breast fed but we've just started one lactose free formula bottle a day to see if hunger was the issue. If I gave up dairy to you think that would help at all? Or at least if it slight improved it would help show if that might be the reason?

[Eminado]

If it's wind, have you tried infacol?

Iirc it takes 2 weeks for being dairy free to filter through to baby.

We also found cranial osteopathy helpful, albeit expensive.

[ElsieBobo]

Sounds like lo is struggling with wind/ trapped wind, which may be cmpa if explosive nappies, green, mucousy etc in which case you going dairy free and soya free would be worth trying but takes 3 weeks to leave your system. Try tummy massage too, my little boy need quite firm massage and pushing his legs up to press his tum for a good 30 min at a time due to trapped wind. He was like yours, always crying, squirming, arching back etc

[Thinkingblonde]

You could try going dairy free to see if that helps.

[Oysterbabe]

My DD was like this. She was slightly preterm, 35+5, and I think that maybe her disgestive system was just a bit immature. It resolved itself after a couple of months but I remember how hard it was.

[CelticPromise]

6 weeks is a hard time for lots of babies. Is he any better upright, maybe in a wrap sling? Why have you chosen lactose free formula? There is lactose in breast milk.

I would go to a feeding support group/specialist HV. It's worth having a feed observed in case there is anything they can suggest to tweak. They often have a route to specialist support as well if they think it's a dietary issue. If you think it might be dairy (cows' milk protein rather than lactose being the issue) I think you'd have to give it a good while, two weeks plus, to leave your system.

I hope you get some answers. It sounds very hard.

[Dinky1992]

My daughter was like this turns out she has refluxes after seeing the doctors, she wasn't sick only couple times but in pain with her tummy my lg is on gaviscon infant,gripe water and also uses a reflux pillow and they all have worked wonders. Maybe worth a try Hun

[seven201]

My dd has cow's milk protein allergy. If it is that lactose formula won't help. I suggest you go dairy free. Can take up to 6 weeks to be fully out of you both. Took about 3 weeks for us to see an improvement. My dd also has silent reflux, which is common to have if you also have cmpa.

[drLu]

My daughter was the same and had milk and egg allergies (we found out later) From the day she was born she hated being laid flat, never slept in her pram and was so unsettled. Her nappies were like green mucus and she was dropping down the centiles. I completely cut out diary (I was bfing) and by day two her nappies had improved. We still had off days but at that point I didn't realise the egg made her ill too. It's defo worth giving up diary for a week. Lots of substitutes: almond milk, vitalite marg, moo free chocolate!

Also the cocoonababy from John Lewis was bloody amazing. She actually slept in that as wasn't laid flat. It was a game changer! Good luck xx