Is it really 'normal' for an 8 week old to cry for up to 8 hours a day??

[frazzledfairy]

aaaarrrggghhhh! 8 1/2 weeld old ds2 just seems to cry and cry and cry bless him. he started to cry within 30 mins of his birth (which was extremely quick) and it feels like he hasn't stopped since! he crys for between 4-8 hours a day, normally for 3-4 in the evening. tis bloody hard work indeed. have tried colief and infacol with little effect. have also booked an appointment with a craniel osteopath but it isn't for another 2 weeks which feels like a v long way away.

help!

our baby cried more and more at that age until he was only ever sleeping for 20 mins then waking up screaming. our GP also said all babies cry. As a last ditch why not try this (we, and he, were knackered) we put two books under the head of his cot (standard treatment for reflux in adults...) and held him upright for 30mins after every feed...and the problem went away immediately, back to 4 hours sleep after night feeds. So much for all babies crying. After some months we tried sleeping him flat again and all remained well but he did sick back about a third of each feed from 3 months onwards until solids started (oddly enough he wasn't puking that much at the time of the screaming).
good luck
whatever it is will probably go away eventually

i found this useful

how to calm your baby

Here is the definition of gastric reflux from a good web site called cryingoverspiltmilk.co.nz

Reflux occurs when the stomach contents come back up the oesophagus often because of an immature sphincter at the top of the stomach. It is therefore common in infants but not necessarily a problem unless they fail to gain weight adequately or are in pain. Common symptoms in a baby include wriggling and pulling off frequently during feeds or crying, arching of their backs, always seeming hungry and/or not wanting to feed, poor weight gain, spilling and/or vomiting and inconsolable screaming or being difficult to settle. Congestion in the airways and middle ear infections can also be associated with reflux.

My dd was like this and it fely like hell on earth. I felt so useless that I couldn't pacify her. Do something about it- I wish I had. It wasn't until dd was admitted to hospital at 10 months old that renal reflux was diagnosed. You have my sympathy xx

I'm confused about whether ds has colic or gastric reflux or both. He wails and screams through his feeds, shakes his head as though not hungry, but then does feed when you can calm him down and screams in hunger again two to three hours later. I'm giving him colief and gaviscon and he has seemed more settled in the day since I started him on those. But I'm not sure which is working and wonder if they should be used together. Any ideas?

have you been to the GP?

dd was like this - and she too screamed from the moment she was born till I reckon, around 4ish months when she started calming down a little bit. EVERYONE told me it was normal. Nobody believed she had a problem.

Turned out she had reflux, milk/soya/egg allergies and a hernia (which really wasn't surprising given how much she cried). Took me a long time to get to the bottom of it all though.

The reflux was fairly obvious (as she was sick alot) but the allergies only became apparent when I had to go back to work and tried to get her onto formula. Don't be fobbed off - keep asking for help and if you/they suspect reflux, consider the medication they offer!

The GP tells me he is 'absolutely fine' but it is clear to me that he is in real pain during and for a while after his feeds. I am using trial and error with colief, gaviscon, invacol etc to try to work out what might help him. Cranial osteopath says reflux (diaphragm not working effectively so the acid from his food comes back up which hurts a lot) but no improvement after 5 - 6 sessions with him. Do I just wait for him to grow out of it, ie two years?

go the the gp AGAIN. ask for losec/omeprazole (2 names for one thing) or domperidone.

feed in a bolt upright position and keep upright for 30 mins after feed (i normally put ds in his car seat) also raise cot.

are you ff?if so what milk are you using? i tried all the thickening stay down milks to no avail - what did help was switching to cow and gate organic formula.

Quick birth rang some bells for me - I would go for the cranial osteopath route because of this. yes it could be reflux, but worth seeing if it settles after CO.