DD never awake and settled HELP!!!

[molly2014]

I have a six week old beautiful DD who is neber awake and settled at the same time. she is either asleep or crying. I think I'm going mad or perhaps the worst mother ever as must be doing something wrong. Me and DH are at the end of our tether and although DH doesn't show it he is also in a lot of pain seeing DD cry so much our life is far from normal . Infact I don't know how long we can go on like this. DD was born normal, full term , average weight 7.2 lbs. she is combo fed on aptimil at the moment . Lot of wind and tummy issues, splits a lot of milk after feeds but thankfully is a good feeder. It takes aged for her to go to eep and it's the only time she's not crying, she is never awake and content. Cries after being fed too. Quiet during nappy changes and has a few minutes of alert edd and then when I pick her up and sit on the sofa she cries cries cries until she falls asleep whenever that happens. It breaks my heart that I can't comfort her. Only thing that calms her is putting her on the breast but I am so sore and tired of doing that 24/7. Had anyone been through this? I would be very grateful for any suggestions or help .

Do you think she may have reflux? My DS had silent reflux, he was diagnosed at six weeks. Before this time he would cry all the time and I was just exhausted with it- I too felt like I was doing something wrong. How is she at being laid flat- you say she is okay during nappy changes but I font recall DS being upset during nappy changes but wouldn't lie flat any other time. He had to be held upright.
Other than this, you say she has wind and tummy issues. Have you tried infacol before feeding?

Huge sympathy. My ds was like this and it's so so hard. He was eventually diagnosed with tongue toe and a milk allergy which I'm sure isn't the case here.

What worked for me was to introduce a dummy or he would literally have been breastfeeding 24 hrs a day.

Ds got easier at about 3 mths, honestly it does get easier

Hi jellyandjam I do give DD infacol before the formula feeds but not breatfeeds. As for lying flat she is upset flat or upright . Even now she is crying in my arms no matter how I hold her. I wish she would fall asleep for a while she has been grizzling since morning.
Melonribena why do u think its not allergy? DD doesn't like a dummy unfortunately, have tried? What were your baby's symptoms? Thanks

With DS his symptoms, apart from the constant crying and never seeming happy or settled were; arching back during feeds, he seemed like he was hungry but would take some and then start crying in pain and pushing away from it even though he still seemed hungry. His breathing always seemed quite sniffly, he would get frequent hiccups, coughing and spluttering during and after feeding, in the first couple of weeks he brought up all his feeds straight after drinking but this soon stopped (with Silent reflux milk comes up snd then goes back down and so is often harder to diagnose than if they are bring sick all the time). He would comfort feed too as drinking at first soothes the feeling for them but then he would start to arch and squirm.
I have very sympathy as I remember that feeling well. He was my second child, the first had been easy in comparison and I thought that maybe he was just a grumpy baby as I kept being told that no two were the same etc.
I hope you can get to the bottom of whatever it is soon for both of you.

I would try stopping the formula as it could be an intolerance. She sounds miserable :(

How much does she sleep in total during 24 hours?

How is her latch when breastfeeding?

Has she been checked for tongue tie?

I am thinking it could be 1) a combination of tongue tie plus overtiredness from not sleeping enough OR 2) reflux.

I would suggest 1) finding a BF counsellor who can check for tongue tie (you could ask your local NCT and La Leche league for recommendations) and 2) going to the GP and asking for Ranitidine for reflux. (don't let them fob you off with gaviscon).

good luck.

DS was like this at 6weeks. Some babies just are it seems, we tried all the techniques, tricks, tools and potions. At 3-4months he went through a sleep regression and suddenly became a happy smiley all night sleeper. Who knew?

I feel for you, try and keep your cool and battle through, it all gets better