My baby won't stop crying.

[Marteena]

I know. Every mum goes through this. But I'm on the verge of tears. My baby is 7 weeks old and has been crying for two hours. He does this every day. He's rooting and hungry. I put him on my boob and he sucks for 30 seconds like he's incredibly hungry, then just gets wound up and starts screaming at my boob.

I don't know what to do. He's already on baby gaviscon. He's so unhappy. My heart breaks for him. I just want to cuddle him and for him to stop crying.

I've tried the bath but he hates it. I've tried a dummy, white noise, a finger to suck, a bouncer. Everything!

Is there ANYTHING else I can try?

Hi Marteena.

Some of us are going through/ have been through similar with our babies on this thread-

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/parenting/3398261-Parents-of-Criers-Support-Thread-Respite-from-the-Screaming?msgid=83242855#83242855

Feel free to join.

Also just to add. DD screamed, and I mean to the point I couldn’t take it anymore. We almost called ambulances several times. Doctors said colic..

I gave up dairy/ soy completely which helped massively (she’s 5 months and I still won’t eat it), things got loads better at 3.5 months and now she is a lovely happy baby (except when overtired!).

Also, if it's getting too much, you can put her down in a safe space, and shut the door for a couple of minutes. Get your head together and breathe. It doesn't stop the screaming, but it can be helpful for you.

We had this until DS was nine months and it was a tough, tough time. Looking back I think he was tired and overstimulated and I should have tried to implement some kind of bedtime routine away from us eating dinner and the TV being on. He used to scream 6-10 pm religiously whatever we did with him.

It did pass though, it's just too depressing when it feels like it's going on forever. I think most babies do this for a while in the evening though and we were just very unlucky with our second baby that it went on for so long.

He's 18 months now and has never been able to tolerate cow's milk, it makes him very upset and constipated so maybe that was also an issue, but who knows.

Sounds like what we experienced with our dead. Pretty sure it was colic and two sessions with a cranial osteopath cured it (despite both our reservations!)

Colic (more than 3 hours of crying a day) suuuuuucks, but it will be a short phase. In the meantime, share duties where possible and get some time to yourself, wear bubba in a sling as much as you're prepared to, and try ranitedine as opposed to gaviscon if possible and definitely also infacol before every feed (remember both of these are cumulative and not an overnight fix). This will pass and you'll soon forget it and be able to enjoy your baby.

I'm also dairy free, use a sling regularly (he's in one screaming at me now). I've tried taking him out in the car, for walks in the pram. Nothing.

@PerfectPeony @WTFdidwedo thank you so much. I didn't know this thread existed!

Hi is he putting on weight OK?

Hang in there. You are doing an amazing job. Could you breastfeed him lying down in bed as a different position to try? You could get some rest then too 🙏🏼

It's so tough in those early weeks. My DD was just like, she screamed for hours every evening and was an extremely unsettled baby in general. 7 weeks is prime colic time, but with every passing week you are a step closer to the end of it.

For us, nothing really worked. Sling, white noise, going for a walk, going dairy free etc. made little difference. Sounds so unhelpful but they DO grow out of it. DD is now a toddler and we still have our struggles but life is so, so much better. Truthfully I hated every minute of the baby stage.

It will pass, probably quicker than you think. Try to get some time for yourself away from the crying if you can

@Marteena you're welcome, it's a nice place to vent mine is also a sling/pram/car seat hater so everyone's suggestions of trying to get out are all useless unfortunately. We are also dairy free (4 months now) and it has made a difference but she's still an unhappy baby. It's taken me 8 months to just accept that she hates being a baby. I'm sure she'll get better one day!

It will pass. My baby is 9 months and at 7 weeks I felt like she was going to be screaming at me forever. It turned out she had an undiagnosed tongue tie which meant she had constant wind because of how she was feeding and she also had a touch of reflux. I used to walk miles round and round the house with her in the tiger in the tree hold, it was the only thing that worked. I did also find that doing squats and lunges whilst holding her sometimes helped. The screaming got less and less from about 10/11 weeks onwards until one day I realised the evening screaming wasn’t happening anymore. Co-sleeping also helped and saved my sanity.

Google the 5 s's by Harvey Karp, baby calming techniques. I would do those in a dark room, to shut out stimulation. The tiger in the tree hold is also very calming for babies. Again, best in a dark room.

I had a screamer. Nightmare. She did have cmpa as it happens, but was also just very prone to overstimulation and overtiredness. She did the boob-screaming thing if I misinterpreted that as hunger.

If this is a trend, I would seriously consider setting a bedtime for a little before all this starts to kick off in the evening.

You’re welcome! I know it feels like it but you are not alone. I remember getting so annoyed at baby groups as everyone else seemed to have easy perfect babies!

I agree about overtiredness. DD is my first baby and no one ever really told be that newborns can’t stay awake very long. I think she would have been better napping 45mins- 1 hour after being awake. But oh well! Babies don’t come with a manual unfortunately so it’s trial and error- it will get better though. I promise

@AmIRightOrAMeringue he is. He is only 9lbs though at 7 weeks old as he was small when he was born (even at 38 weeks!) so he's stlll newborn size.

10 week old DS is exactly the same, I’ve found if I stand up and bounce & rock him while he feeds he mostly settls down... think he just wants to make sure I can’t sit with a cup of tea while he feeds! Good luck & just keep repeating that it can’t last forever

He sounds hungry. Genuinely I'd try formula. Breast is only best if baby is content and happy. Just my opinion before I get flamed! Poor little mite.

Get yourself to a cranial osteopath who specialises in babies - they can work wonders for non-stop crying babies.

They go through a growth spurt at about 6 weeks which makes babies feed more and be generally unsettled. If he is putting on weight ok presumably he is getting enough milk from you. Have you tried formula or do you not want to do that? If it is a high pitched scream though it sounds like he could be in pain so reflux maybe which eventually they grow out of. Tough to cope with though. My DD2 and my DGD1 were both unsettled babies in the early weeks. Walking them about on our shoulders helped. Maybe persist with the soothers as he might just want the comfort of sucking. How much is he sleeping?

OP there really is nothing you have said here yet to suggest your little baby is hungry. Use formula if you want to feed that way but not because of what you have posted. If his weight is not dropping across the centiles then he should be getting enough.

Sorry to poster above but high pitched scream doesn’t tell anything specific other than how pissed off the baby is. Very tired, hungry or over stimulated babies can have high pitched screams. As do those in pain. It’s not specific.

My daughter was like this and it went on for weeks . It was a tongue tie.

My eldest dd had colic from 6 weeks and would cry almost non stop from 5pm until midnight. It was torture. Walking/being in a car definitely helped but as soon as we stopped she would start again. In the end my mil taught me that it was ok to let her cry. Obviously, go through and check for dirty nappy etc, but try not to get completely obsessed with being able to settle him. I just cuddled her and tried to remain calm and after 10 mins she was asleep. It seemed like longer but it worked .

@Marteena please please please get checked for Tongue Tie. Properly. They need to put their fibger in and check for posterior (gets missed easily and sometimes cant even be seen)
I put up with it for 14 weeks. Rooting. Suckling..loss of suckling and endless tears. DD was born at nearly 42 weeks and was only 5lbs14 by 9 weeks she was still straddling 7lbs just about. She dropped 3 centiles. It was TT. Our life changed completely once it was cut. (Cut at 12 weeks, at 14 weeks she started to feed properly and cry much much less)

Another shout for getting a professional tongue tie check