Baby suddenly v unhappy - growth spurt?

[LittlePickleHead]

My DS is 3 weeks 4 days, and for the past two days has gone from very happy and rarely crying, to either constantly feeding or constantly crying in a very distressed way. Last night he cried from 5 - 10pm, and he wasn't even wanting to feed so I felt helpless to comfort him. Finally got him down with a combination of swaddling, white noise, and patting his back whilst he was on his side, but it still took a good hour for him to fall asleep.

Today he has slept loads, but when he is awake and not feeding he seems very unhappy :(

I know 3 weeks is growth spurt time, so I wondered if the crying and unhappiness is just down to that, or if it could be something else bothering him? He is possetting more but I had put that down the the fact he is eating much more. He's also pooing loads and now has nappy rash but it doesn't seem to bother him during nappy changes.

I suppose I just need reassurance this is normal and he'll return to having some happy calm time again?

Yes it's all normal :). It's horrible when you can't work out why your tiny baby is unhappy but I think if you've covered the obvious bases, assume a growth spurt around this age. Sometimes, I found it easier to not stress myself out with trying to work out a reason for anunsettled baby (obviously ruling out the usual things) and just go with it.

Things change very quickly in the early weeks and soon all this will be a dim an distant memory.

Sounds like colic to me. DD had it from about 3 weeks til about 8 weeks. She's set of crying in the evening, usually around 5-6. Sometimes for 3-4 hours, non-stop. It wasn't every night. Sometimes we'd have 1-2 nights of calmness but generally it was bang on time and relentless.

Seems to be no real explanation for it AFAIK. We tried everything. DD was ebf so I would just try feeding and feeding, more winding, cuddling, swaddling, pacing the floor, rocking, sshing etc. None really stopped it. DP and I would just take it in 20 min intervals with the other one often having to step outside to get a break from the noise.

We tried coilef (bloody expensive and did nothing although some swear by it) and infacol (seemed to work sometimes). Think both take a week or so to get into their systems and see results so maybe I didnt try long enough with the coilef - too desperate to wait! TBH I think she just grew out of it rather than any of the above working.

It will pass...

Agree sounds like the dreaded colic? Go with it, get as much sleep as you can so you dont get worn down, hope like mine it doesnt go on too long if it is. The biggest help i found was to just let dd settle and sleep in her bouncy chair. It felt wrong but she was just more comfortable and settled to sleep much better slightly up right. The Fisher Price bouncy chair had a colic soothing vibrating setting which really seemed to help.

Thanks for your responses, I think the suggestion of colic may be right. He is now pretty unhappy during the day, but today I've tried the tactic of feeding when waking, bit of awake time, then feeding back to sleep when he starts to get upset (even though he's not displaying hunger signs) and so far its reduced the crying and therefore my stress levels. I hope this stage doesn't last too long!

If he's got nappy rash try metanium, its brilliant and you will have one less thing to worry about.

Has he been checked for tongue tie? Do the symptoms sound familiar?

Have you got a sling? Sometimes they will settle in a sling for you.

Can't do links at the moment but try googling this video, its great, youtube Richard and judy happiest baby on the block. Its a video on soothing crying babies.

Thanks. Jilted - we are using metanium and it is fab, the rash has pretty much gone.

Ditto to the sling and the 5 s technique, both have some success though he's not always happy about the sling.

I don't think he had tongue tie - his tongue can come over his lip/to the roof of his mouth easily, plus his weight gain and output are fine.

I'm just trying to feel calm about it and that it will pass eventually!

Weight gain can be fine with tt, my DS certainly gained weight very well. How about going along to a local bfing support group and asking a BFC to observe a whole feed? Not that it sounds like there is anything wrong, it could just be normal baby behaviour but by doing this it would rule out several things and help you to relax