Baby been crying for 3 hours

[OhToBeASeahorse]

Any suggestions or virtual hugs desperately needed

Mine started with silent reflux around 6 weeks it was hell on Earth and the professionals kept telling me it was touch of colic.

Do what ever you need to survive and if it means 3 days at CM then go for it. Really hope the private appt helps.

Formula top up is a bad idea in my opinion. Will make supply iffy. Just keep feeding, I don't think there's anything necessarily wrong, babies just don't sleep through at that age. Mine cried a lot too OP but a year later things are fine. It can be digestive issues which are just because of their age and it will get better.

you have my every sympathy.
I had two really miserable babies. Both cried A LOT. I remember on DC2's due date asking DH if he remembered how awful the first months were, and making a pact that we would just get our heads down, sit it out, and not contemplate divorce for at least 12months.

the one thing that made a difference with DC2 was that accepted that she would cry a lot, and stopped killing myself trying to find the missing thing that would make her stop. I'd dim the lights, put something undemanding on TV with subtitles, and either use either earplugs or headphones. I'd just sit on the sofa holding her, knowing she was warm/dry/well fed, without beating myself about it.

Obviously do get her checked out medically in case though.

I feel for you & I remember this stage. Don't feel guilty to pop them down somewhere safe & taking a few minutes to compose yourself. I used to put my headphones in and listen to one song to drown it out for 2-3 mins & went back to try again x

How are you doing OP? Can you try formula to see if your baby settles?

I really sympathise OP. Mine was a very angry/frustrated/screaming baby for about the first 5 months. Switching to formula helped a lot but it might not be appropriate for you.

Hang in there, you're doing nothing wrong. BUT just because she's had a bad few days, doesn't mean this will continue long term.

Thanks everyone, I really.do appreciate every message.

I just seem to have got parenting wrong. It's such a rush. Feeding DD then slinging her up asap to try and get her to sleep. Everyone e else seems to have relaxing evenings watching tv while their baby naps in the moses basket.

I can't even get her to sleep by rocking her and then putting her in the sleepyhead. And my toddler just destroys everything.

I cant even have decent chocolate if I'm going dairy free.

Rant over.

Have you tried formula?

I had one high needs baby and one easy baby but neither of them allowed us relaxing evenings watching TV, honestly, not at 5 weeks.

It's exhausting but sometimes adjusting your expectations of yourself, and your baby, can help.

Are you ebf? I did and my oldest lost so much weight. He needed to combination feed. His prolonged crying was hunger and him trying to tell me x

I havent tried formula. She was born at 7lbs 7oz, by day 5 she was 7lbs 12oz and by day 18 she was 9lbs.

She isnt losing weight

I know where you’re coming from, we’ve had problems with colic, reflux, clingyness, crying at night, everything. One night my daughter did this- painfully screamed for hours (about 6) ended up taking her hospital (advised by 111) About 10 mins after arriving at hospital she did a massive poo and was so much better. Turns out she just needed an almighty poo! I was so embarrassed but glad she was ok! Not funny at the time but I can look back and laugh now. Had to give up dairy, onion and garlic too.
You’re not a bad mum and it will get better! We’re at 10 weeks now and ours is a lot better then it was!

If you have a good letdown you could always catch that instead of pumping, I have a few of those silicone hand pumps that you just put on as I dislike pumping too! Brownies and cakes have helped me get through, they won’t contain dairy if they use cocoa powder to make, or vegan chocolate!

Re formula, mine was 8llbs 9 at birth and put on weight exclusively BF. Every health visitor told me to keep going but I just couldn't. He never seemed satisfied, wasn't able to fall into a deep sleep and just cried all the time.

As I said, it might not be the answer for you. But it certainly improved things massively for me

OP if you feel like breastfeeding is going well then don't feel pressured to give formula. If she is actually CMPA that's one of the worst things you could do! My daughter is still CMPA at 2, it started around 6 weeks from memory. If you are cutting dairy make sure you supplement your diet with calcium and iodine and ask your GP for a referral to a dietician ASAP. Good luck. You sound like an amazing mum.

As I'm sure you know OP it's pretty normal in the early weeks for them to seem unsatisfied and feed a lot whilst they up your supply. I'm not sure you need formula by the sounds of it (but if you feel you need to use some for a break or just because you want to, don't feel guilty! It doesn't have to be the end of breastfeeding).

I've fed both of mine for 18 months plus (DS2 still going) and sometimes I thought I would literally shrivel up they fed so much! It did pass though!

I wonder if it would be worth getting her medically checked out at this stage? A sudden change three days ago suggests something might have changed or she might be under the weather maybe? It's so incredibly hard, I really do feel for you. You will get through this, it will be different.

Hi OP, I really feel your pain. We had one of these and a few things helped - one was BIG white noise in a dark room (in our case the kitchen extractor fan, like a plane taking off - it was like the shock stopped the crying), with swaddle and in our case dummy, plus rocking/pacing - useful in emergencies. The main game changer for us was the sling- like you we never mastered the art of extracting her still asleep (how is that ever possible??) but found that if we could get her to sleep in there around 6-7/7.30 it got her through the witching hour. I'd then gently take her out in a pitch dark room, swaddle and bf her back to sleep. She would just about tolerate that because she had had the sleep- otherwise she would refuse to sleep from 4pm onwards and become hysterically overtired, EXACTLY like your description with the heavy eyes pinging open etc. The sling nap in the witching hour removed just the right amount of tiredness to stop overtired hell, but not so much she'd refuse to resettle on exit from the sling. Please know you are not doing anything wrong- I am convinced it is just the baby's temperament, ours is and always has been super alert which is great but in the early days meant overtiredness was a KILLER. The colic eased at around 12 weeks and she began sleeping through fairly reliably around 7/8 months. I know you need it to be better right now and I'm so sorry it isn't yet - really hope you can find something which will help you guys to just survive until things ease. You are doing brilliantly just putting one foot in front of another, keep going.

Also, I just wanted to say that until about 16-18 weeks my DH regularly fed me my dinner whilst I sat under the baby feeding/baby in sling etc. Definitely no relaxed evenings watching Netflix whilst baby slept in Moses basket here! In fact neither of my DS would ever countenance a Moses basket ever, day or night!

I remember my DH feeding me dominoes on our anniversary whilst DS2 was 7 weeks as a particular high point!

I don’t have any advice really, just lots of love and sympathy. It’s truly shit when you’re so exhausted.

My 11 week old is endlessly screaming too. Feel free to dm me if you want someone to text in the night.

My DC were both like this, both cmpa. The chocolate has got better! Galaxy now do dairy free.

DH took the baby, she was ok for a while drifting in and out of sleep but is now quite cry-y.

She's basically been awake since 4.

Oh poor you, I remember those times.
I used to 'reset' my kids with a nice warm bath.
All strength to you x

You're doing great, OP. Send toddler to childminder as much as you can afford. If anyone can take the baby for you for even an hour take them up on it. It's all about survival.

Another vote here for the sling. Until my dd3 was about 4/5 months old, I would put her in the sling at 'bedtime' after a feed and then go about my evening as normal - have dinner, watch tv, etc. Then when I went to bed, I would take her out of the sling, feed her and put her in the crib. If she sleeps in the sling, don't fight it! Go with it!

It's hard. She's so tiny. You've got this.

Sending you lots of hugs. The jump from one child to two is hard, especially when you feel like you’re never able to rest and the baby cries a lot.
Up the childminder days to 3, give yourself a chance to just ‘be’ with youngest without worrying about having eyes in the back of your head with your older child and tbh give yourself a break from the almost constant entertaining and feeding you’re doing.
If breastfeeding isn’t working for you don’t feel guilty at all! Switch to formula, give yourself a pat on the back for taking care of yourself. You daughter will be fine on it.