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?

My first DS was like this. I echo what pp have said. Over tiredness seemed to be the worst trigger, once he had been awake an hour I would start trying to get him back to sleep. He will grow out of it.

This website helped me make sense of it and no it is normal (but still bloody hard!)

purplecrying.info

My baby does the boob scream thing. With him it is either:

a) too tired to feed, too hungry to sleep
b) over-tired or over-stimulated
c) gas (mid or end feed)

For a and b dark room, LOUD white noise, lying down to feed or rocking. Then going forward, being extra alert for early signs of hunger and tiredness. Babies really do just wake, feed, nappy change, 10 minutes playing/talking to you and back to sleep again. It takes some getting used to how little they should be awake for. Good luck. Hope the screaming stops and you both get some respite.

My DD had reflux and gas issues. I read somewhere that changing sides too often or too quickly during a breastfeed can cause gas due to the baby getting more foremilk than they can digest. Not sure if it's actually true, but I tried just feeding mine one side a feed and then giving her a break before offering the other one and she was much happier within a few hours of changing her feeding habits.

We tilted the head end of her moses basket as well, which made a huge difference as being flat didn't agree with her at all.

Disco light bulbs in a dark room calmed her and lulled her to sleep if she was overtired. They still work now she's older, too. :)

Could be let down try pumping or hand expressing some of your milk into a towel,or bottle and laying down to feed...good luck x

I think you should run through a list of medical things first. So tongue tie. Then silent reflux. Gaviscon may not help and your baby may need stronger medication like ranitidine or omeprazole. Some form of intolerance. Lactose or CMPA.
I would eliminate those before assuming it was over tiredness etc.

Could it be that your child isnt getting any milk?

Either tongue tie or problems latching.

My niece was doing all the right things, sucking seemed to be swallowing. 3 midwifes said she had a good latch and was feeding well...

She wasnt, one morning, my sister couldnt wake her. She wasnt taking any milk, we dont know for how long. She was ok but spend a couple of days in the hospital on expressed milk in a bottle

Try leaning backwards instead of forwards.

Your baby might be adjusting to your milk flow and sometimes you might have the flow be too fast for his gulp and it takes him by surprise

Read in kellymum about forceful letdown..

So lean backwards and hold him towards you as opposed to leaning downwards towards him.

Or it could be something else. Took me a while to figure my baby out. By 12 weeks it should be all smooth

Ds2 cried and cried. Bought me to my knees. People and HCP's underestimate how awful it is.

If my 4th had been my first born he would have been an only child- yes it was that bad- I never knew a baby could cry that much - I can only promise it does get better - always worth checking with GP to exclude a problem - mine had none -just cried A LOT!

If you are in London or the southeast I can fully recommend Feeding First to get your tongue tie checked properly. It will make the world of difference if it is found to be the problem. Please please get it checked. Good luck.

DS had colic and would cry from 5pm-midnight every single night nonstop. It was horrific.
We tried Colief and it was like flicking a switch from the first time we used it - absolute miracle cure!

Is he feeding at all if he's only sucks for 30 seconds? As PP have suggested he could be hungry and/ or tongue tie.

My dc1cried constantly the first week he was home, turns out although he was on my boob for ages hardly any milk was coming out, I found out when I tried to pump a week in. I eventually gave him a bottle of formula that he inhaled, I felt awful I starved him and had failed at breast feeding (did get better) but the (hunger) crying stopped and he's now a healthy 12 year old.

Jesus have formula reps taken over the thread? Pumping is NOT indication of how much milk you are producing (for the millionth time). If your baby isn’t gaining weight and isn’t having wet and dirty nappies then yes I would consider a feeding issue but the op hasn’t mentioned this which would be a pretty big omission from the op. Babies cry in the evenings, sometimes they don’t need to be medicated for this/ have allergies and it’s normal baby behaviour. I’ve had two very well breastfed fed babies without bad reflux that have both gone through periods of constant crying in the evenings in particular. To the pps suggesting it, Why would you even think about ranitidine at 7 weeks when in all likelyhood a baby will grow out of reflux/digestive issues as the mature? Ranitidine should only be prescribed by a consultant (words of my gp).I would suggest if you feel your babies behaviour is far enough from the realms of normal then go to your gp and be asked to get referred to a consultant.

To all those suggesting that obviously the baby is hungry and she should just give formula and it will fix it all- where in any of the OPs posts have you found anything that suggests hunger other than the crying (which we all know isn’t only a thing that happens when they’re hungry!). OP says baby is gaining well and presumably is therefore having plenty of wet and dirty nappies. Not gaining weight and poor nappy output would indicate that baby wasn’t getting enough milk, not just the crying.

You have my sympathies OP. My daughter was very similar at tha age and nothing at all could be found that made any difference. She didn’t have reflux, me being dairy free made no difference, slings and walking and white noise made sod all difference. It was so hard and I wish I could give you some magic bullet that would fix it. I used to spend hours switching from one side to the other over and over and over again whilst she just cried at my boob after a couple of sucks. It did pass though, I can’t tell you when, but it did. Although that said she is not screaming at me because I won’t let her bite me to feed....!

see a cranial pesto path - have you also looked at whether he is tongue tied? you could do a mix of formula and breast milk. he needs nutrition.

same

Another vote for tongue tie. Here is info of symptoms and assessment.
www.tongue-tie.org.uk/Mobile/m-tongue-tie-information.html

Hi OP, my first baby had silent reflux. It was 3 months until the doctor and I worked that out and those three months were just horrendous. I thought she hated me. I was breastfeeding but because she was struggling to feed for so long, I didn't manage to produce enough milk and ended up using thicker baby formula with infant gaviscon.

I am NOT suggesting you do the same, I'm saying that I agree with Previous posters about cancelling out any medical reasons as soon as possible so your milk supply doesn't end up suffering.

I had to feed my DD almost upright, keep her upright for about half an hour after a feed and even prop up her cot at one end.

She used to be so hungry she would gulp the first ounce or two of formula, then she was just start screaming and screaming. I am actually welling up thinking about it, it really was such an awful time.

I also agree about overtired ness, with all my four I found that in the first three months if they were awake for any longer than about two hours, they would become impossible to settle and grouchy.

I would also add, just incase, that with my first and her silent reflux, using the likes of infacol or gripe water made her worse.

It will get easier OP.

I second whoever said tongue tie.

My daughter screamed almost continually when she was awake. She napped OK, but was up crying at night. She would try and feed from my breast but scream and cry, would take a tiny 1oz drink of milk and scream. We tried her with lactose free formula, colief, basically everything.

When she started on solids she was like a different child so much happier.