14 Week Baby None Stop Screaming!!!!

[Ilovemytwins]

Hello Everyone!

I am very new to Mumsnet, and hope someone can help me! :)

My 14 week old baby screams from morning till night, she is very rarely happy and it is starting to get me down! I love her so much but she is becoming very difficult.

Background-
I have tried colief, dentinox, infacol and had her to the hospital twice to be checked over. She has reflux so they thought the acid was hurting her so they put her on Donperidone and Rinitadine to help. This made no difference to her! The doctor upped her gaviscon to 8 times a day, this helps the sickness but not the crying. Then I got told to try Crainial massage, we went to see them and they couldnt find anything to adjust. Tried baby massage and herbal tablets to calm her! I have even changed her milk to lactose free and the comfort milk but nothing has helped! (Doctor advised this).

I think she is teething, but am not sure if this could have caused the crying over the last 2 months! She is not doing it for attention as she doesnt stop when she is cuddled and picked up!

She is a twin, the youngest. And I am running out of ideas, I am knackered and I just want the screaming to be reduced! I am sure this amount of crying is not normal.

Please somebody help! :(
Xxxxxx

Oh god poor you. Does she get any better being carried? Any better being held upright? Any sleeps in day? Could well be teething- we had weeks and weeks of it before any tooth showed. Dentinox teething gel can be used earlier than other gels I think- check packet tho.
Ho

Hope someone else wise replies just wanted to extend my empathy!

Ps if you suspect teething have you done a'test dose' of Calpol to see if it makes any improvement ?

How many hours a day does she sleep?

Does she take a dummy?

Do you swaddle her?

I know I'm sounding lame here.

you mention cranial massage - was it a proper cranial osteopath you saw?

I would be inclined to go to a different Cranial Osteopath.

I swear by them.

Have you tried excluding cows milk from her diet? She could be intolerant to cows milk protein and this often has symptoms similar to reflux. Your GP would have to give you a prescription for a dairy free formula. Lactose free & comfort milks still have the milk protein in.

We had a screamer - and none of that infacol/ gaviscon/ cranial massage worked. for first 9 months it just became our mission to make her sleep so she wasn't screaming, so very long walks and very loud white noise, this may be no help if you have twins. it did wear off when she started to be able to get round on her own (similarly jumperoo was a godsend from 4 months). i think she was just really frustrated.

Oh you poor thing. I'm going to throw out some ideas just in case any help but good luck! Dummy? Swaddle? White noise app on a smart phone? Sling? reflux wedge in cot? Lower tummy massage for trapped wind?

One last thing..no bio washing powder (she might be Itchy?). God these all sound lame as already pointed out but wanted to offer something. Good luck.

Overtired? Could be just past it?

leave her for a bit and see if she stops? DS2 was like this for a few hours every evening. Turns out he was massively overstimulated and just needed leaving alone. Sometimes it is good to do nothing as opposed to doing 'something'

You have my sympathies, when we had our first daughter we felt completely at a loss as to what to do at times when she cried non stop and I understand how stressful it can be with just one, let alone twins!

After having a couple more babies I now realise I should have just put her down in her cot as she was probably over stimulated and needed a rest (she still loves her bed now she's 5 too!) She will probably cry the first few times in this situation, but stick with it and always give her a special soft toy / blanket so she understands the cues for sleep and she will get the idea. IMO the key is to stick with doing whatever you decide to try as it will soon become a familiar and comforting routine to the baby (although it will probably feel like an eternity to become a routine!).

Good luck, and if it's any help they do grow out of it quickly and become lovely little people despite their noisy start!

Second the suggestion to remove cow's milk protein from diet.

If it's reflux proper (and not cow's milk allergy) domperidone and ranitidine may not be sufficient. There are other drugs - PPIs like omeprazole - that are more effective but they do have potential side-effects so you do really need to exclude the possible cow's milk issue first.

Sympathies, it's hard: I can't imagine how hard it must be to have a screamer who is one of twins .

Hi again everyone!

Thankyou so much for all your replies. There are some good ideas from everyone! I hope my reply to you all covers everyone.

She fights sleep, and has only just started having a long morning sleep and then one in afternoon. So I thought possibly overtired too. Nighttime is not a problem, once she is asleep!

White noise works for her, but only the Hoover and when I stop it she starts again. She hates being swaddled/ in a sling and will only take a dummy sometimes. We did see a proper Cranial Osteopath but he just said he couldn't really find anything. I have tried Calpol to see if it's pain, but it makes no difference.

I didn't realise the milk from the docs would be different to the comfort milk and others I have tried.

She doesn't Really stop what ever position you carry her in, the idea she maybe itchy is a good one. All the ideas you have all given are brill. That's why I joined, I knew I would get proper advise! :)

I think I will take her to the doctor about her milk, try massaging her tummy (she does get trapped wind) and see another Osteopath. And give her time to chill out during the day away from lights/noise etc. I am trying gripe water at the mo. Any experiences with that anyone?

I hope I covered all posts, thankyou all again!!
Xxxxx :)

Also thought she maybe frustrated and wanting to be playing etc without being in a bouncer or on the floor. I am getting a bumbo for her as soon as she controls her head!!

Xxxx

I couldn't get dd1 to swallow the gripe water without a struggle I'm afraid but I've friends who swore by it. However dd1 really did settle when being held in the colic hold (see image in link) although I understand that with twins this will be far more of a challenge to sustain for long periods!

www.breastfeedingguides.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/colic_image.jpg

If you go for the tummy massage then you can google the most effective method. Use 2 fingers to make Clockwise small circles starting just under tummy button with slightly extra pressure on lower left section (bowel ends here). Video in YouTube. Also cycling the legs and then holding them up against chest to release wind is helpful.

i saw this exact problem on baby whisper show the other week.twins one with reflux. she swaddled when baby was screaming after being fed in upright position babies head near mums cheek. the baby was screaming for about 20 minutes before he calmed down. she had a wedge in the cot with some straps. placed the baby in, swaddled and he fell asleep. the baby was screaming with the reflux and being exhausted. she said also put wedge in bath and when changing nappy. the kid was transformed. you might be able to see it again on you tube??

Have a close friend who experienced something very similar, she tried so many things and received a lot of conflicting advice from medical professionals re lactose intolerance/reflux - they couldn't even make up their minds whether or not her DD had these things!
And then she started her DD on solids as early as poss (17 weeks to the day) and within a week, DD had chilled out. Was she hungry? Did solids help reflux? We'll never know but the change was so clear she felt it couldn't be co-incidence.
Hope this helps, I know it made my chum feel really down at the time. I made sure she didn't stay home with the mixture of (unnecessary) embarrassment and (very real emotional) exhaustion. If you have some baby group friends, it's worth keeping seeing them. I just mention this as the last thing you need is to feel isolated in this.
Sending lots of sympathy and some of these:

This must be a complete nightmare for you when you simply can't hold her or try to help her all the time. Swing seats are good for refluxers-we borrowed one and it really helped. Rub, don't pat or juggle to avoid exacerbating the reflux. Do go back to the gp and ask for dairy free formula and try omeprazole from them too. Different babies get on with different ones. Cot to 40 degree angle-or as high as you can get it without baby slipping. It will get better and quite soon. You've done so well to get to this stage!

Jiggle - juggling really would be bad for reflux!!

Does she take a bottle? Even if it is not time for a feed? Apparently bottle fed babies can cluster feed too, not just breastfed babies. When my HV told me to offer a feed to my baby whenever she cried, it transformed our lives. Before that, I would be thinking she can't be hungry, she only just fed, but she was and stopped crying as soon as I offered her a feed.

Hi everyone,

Thankyou all loads for your replies.

I will have a look on you tube for the video mentioned, and will def try the tummy massage as described! I may jiggle her about too much after a feed come to think of it! Will just rub her back in future. Yes she is bottle fed, never thought of cluster feeding. I will give that a try!

I am going to take her to the doctor next week to discuss the medication mentioned, I had a thought about her milk last night, if it was her milk upsetting her she would cry at night. But she doesn't so that makes me think it's not milk. Trying solids is also I good idea, I have heard that helps colic.

I do try and keep her upright as much as possible, she is tilted up in her cot at night.

I don't go to any groups with them, because I dread her screaming the place down. :( It is a nightmare at the moment. Thankyou all for your help and encouraging words. I hope I have covered all posts and am making sense!!

Xxxx

My son slept a good solid 8 hours a night despite having a milk allergy and screaming all day long :) He also fed way better in the night.