Unconsolable crying day after 8 week vaccinations (prem baby)

[Cheeser]

Is this normal? the nurse said he might get a high temp but didnt mention anything about unusual crying/behaviour.

he had injections at 3pm yesterday, was fine all afternoon and night, went to feed him this morn and he only took a few sucks before pullingaway and crying, i thought was wind but not much came up (through his crying/screaming) - he cried for 20 mins non stop (v unlike him)

could this be due to the jabs?

apologies for poor spelling etc, cant put DS down at the mo. hes slightly settled but screams when put down. DS is 8 weeks old but was born at 30 weeks. EBF.

My DD1 did this a couple of times neither of which was close to any jabs. One of them was the day before her christening and she screamed all day for no apparent reason (not good when you're doing the catering yourself). The next day she slept all day and was then fine.

If you can see any signs of a temp, red swelling around the injections sites or anything worries you take him to be checked over.

Follow your instincts because they are usually right.

I had the same issues when DS had his 8 week jabs. He screamed in pain whrn the needle went in, but was fine afterwards.

He had a feed and went to sleep, but whrn he woke it was awful! He's normally very calm, but he just screamed and screamed. He would only take a few sucks of his bottle before pulling away crying, and nothing would comfort him. Eventually gave him calpol & he slept it off. Was fine the next day.

We were expecting a repeat of it at his 12 week jabs but he was fine!

Trust your instincts though, if you are worried, get him seen!

Thanks both. Peazly thats exactly like DS. I have some calpol now and just debating whether to give it to him or not. He's so small still I'm worried about the calpol dose although no one seems to give me an answer about if I should give him less, he's only 6lbs still but technically two months old so I'm worried the 2.5ml will be too much. The chemist wasn't too helpful, she just said to go with the dosage on the box. I've phoned SCBU for advice but they just said to speak to GP/health visitor but they aren't specialists in prem babies so I doubt they'll be any help either.

I don't know what to do

Timandra Ive had four different readings from my supposedly high tec ear thermometer this morning. Varying from 36.4 (his normal temp) to 37.4, so nothing over the 38 degree worrying level but still higher for him. His injection sites look ok but I can't get the plasters off without him screaming merry hell, I ca see the little drop of blood through the plaster, there's no apparent swelling or bruising that I can see coming from underneath the little round plasters. He's calmed a bit now, sleeping fitfully, I don't want to wake him by pulling off the plasters

Leave the plasters to come off naturally. If there was a big reaction you'd see it around the plaster.

If you speak to the GP they should be able to give you the formula for calculating the dose of paracetamol by weight if that would help you. I think it's less critical to get one dose right than it is to go over the max amount in 25 hours but that may be different for tiny babies. He is very little isn't he?

There are natural painkillers in breastmilk so it might help if you can get him to feed.

I wonder if it might help to post in the premature births section too in case anyone has been there themselves and can help.

My DTs were born at 31 weeks and we gave calpol after their jabs - 2.5ml as they had a bit of a fever, the doc said it was fine and we went on the basis they had been on much stronger meds in hospital! IIRC they were just under 6lb when they had their jabs. Hope he's ok!

My 33weeker had his first jabs, no problem. Second lot of jabs - what you describe, exactly. It was really weird, he was totally cry-y, screamy, to a degree he never had done, or done since. Bfeeding didn't help at all.

Finally DH took him off for a long walk in the sling, about half an hour with his head up and he had a HUGE burp and fell straight to sleep. We reckon he had just cried so much at the vaccination, then strapped into car seat for 15mins that he had a whole lot of trapped wind, poor bugger.

Calpol won't do any harm. His temperature sounds fine (expect some variation around 37) but keep an eye on it anyway.

Thanks everyone, sorry I didn't get back on yesterday. He was a bit up and down all day but noticable calmer after calpol. I ended up getting through to one of the lovely home visit nurses from SCBU who I saw about three weeks after he came home (she put her number in my red book) and she said to give him a half dose of calpol (so I gave him 1.25ml) and see how he went, and that I could give another 1.25ml later if he didn't have much effect. It seemed to work, he really calmed down.

He is pretty much back to his normal self this morning. Very stressful yesterday, it was really distressing seeing him crying like that. Didn't help that DP has been really busy at work and was out last night so I felt completely on my own. I also spoke to the GP who helped me calculate how much calpol to give DS based on weight so that was really helpful and more than I expected from GP as he's usually rubbish