5 week old, writhing in agony, not sleeping, feeding all the time = one very tired, grumpy, exasperated mum....

[Jaysecond]

Ok so i know babies cry, and i know things are not easy in the first few weeks, but this is taking things to a whole new level.

He woke up this morning at 5.30 (after waking every 2ish hours all through the night) and has had about two hours (very broken) sleep since... when hes awake hes screaming his head off and writhing about, bringing his knees up , arching his back and generally looking like he has the worst case of constipations ever...now i know all about reflux and about lactose intolerance, i tried coming of dairey for a whole week and it made no difference whatso ever, i dont thikn its reflux, (although i thought it was silent reflux at first) as he has so much farty gas its unreal, not a trait of reflux. His stomach is constantly making churning gurgling nosies and sounds like hes hungry, you know your self when you have that empty feeling and the noises your tummy makes.... he can fart for about two hours, and we are not talking little biddy ones, but real MAN type ones, this seems to momentarily releve something, but within minutes hes back to square one. Nothing i do, other than feeding him consoles him, but there lies another problem, i think i am feeding too much as he never feeds for long and in my opinion isnt getting enough if any, of my hind milk, so begins the cycle of it all, screams in agony, console with feed, quick feed, gas bulid up, sleep for no more than two hrs, wakes feeling hungry and due to gas build up...... i really dont know what to do for the best, its driving me and DH mad as we are not getting any sleep whatso ever, the doctor thinks he is ' one of those' babies but i want to know what i can do to alliviate it... tried infacol, tried gripewater, and am now trying a homeopathic remedy called Colcythis, i also know that it wont go on for ever, but at this moment in time i could happily SCREAM and send him back from whence he came ( although that might be painful)

Does ANYONE have any advice, suggestions ,helpful hints or expierence in this i am at my wits end.....

• thats 'colocynthis'

I took ds to cranial, like grumpy suggested, for colic.
Totally brilliant. Stopped after two sessions.
It may be something else medical - in which case other posters will be here soon to advise , I am sure.

Do you know anything about colic, or cranial, if not come back and we will help - that may be the answer.

They have a growth spurt around this time which can have funny effects. Ds went mental for an entire weekend, had really bad wind and so I took him to a cranial osteopath. Two treatments later, and he was MUCH better. She said the tense muscles in his neck were constricting the nerve leading down to the diaphragm. I could feel the muscles the first time; completely gone the second... HTH.

could still be silent refulx - my DS had it and was also super windy so i thought it wasn't.

thanks, have already had the crainial osteopath out, or head shrink my DH calls him, apparently theres nothing wrong there.....as for the growth spurt timing, he has been like this since day one, so i cant attribute it to that....oh i just dont know........[total dispair emotion]

Well, if it is colic, I think you're over a third of the way through it... Can't think of anything more positive to say. It must be very, very difficult to deal with this day in and day out...

How are you trying to wind him? Do you find that you are getting the wind up okay?

Have you tried Colief - found it fabulous with my DS. Neutralises the lactose in milk and can be used with breastfed babies. Theory goes that alot of colic is caused by a transient lactose intolerance. Colief neutralises the lactose and hence makes the affected babies more comfy. My friend used it with her BF daughter (who sounds like your DS) and thinks it's the greatest thing ever. Can be bought in Boots. Not sure though if it's Colcythis under a trade name but should be easy to check.

colicynthis usually works really well.

Do you have lots of milk? With all the feeding you might have a bit of an over supply problem?

Try feeding him from one breast only over a six hour period - Tiktok advises on this one. It should then settle doen aover a few days.

You are right about frequent feeding making the situation worse, hence restrictint to one side. Aloow him to feed, wind him then offer him the same side again.

At baby massage classes we were taught a brilliant technique for relieving babies of wind- I still use if now on ds if he gets a tad windy (now 2.5). When your ds is lying down on his changing mat, eg, hold his ankles and gently flex his legs so that they are bent at hips and knees (basically like they are when still in the womb). With his knees together, gently push them to his chest and maybe circle them round together clockwise- obviously not too hard or too quickly- you'll be amazed at the noises coming from his bum!
We also massaged his tummy in a clockwise motion and this seemed to help move the wind through. Needs to be clockwise because of the way the intestines run.
Sorry if I haven't described this in enough detail, I'll see if I can find a weblink with pictures that explains it better than me

tatat, thanks for your post. I did baby massage with DD and have been applying that exact move on him a cpl of times a day, that and the cycling move and the circular masage round the belly button, it does work and he does give out the loudest farts, but STILL he crys...

I do tend to have a lot of milk and was wondering what was the best way to feed him, i had been doing two feeds on one boob , guess thats about a 4-5 period, no matter what i try though he onky ever feeds for approx five mins and then thats it he falls into a milk sleep or just refuses anymore, i change him, tickle his hands blow on his face, gently mind although i could happily do it harder!! - just kidding all those MW and HV reading...but to no avail he just wont take anymore, so inevitably hes hungry sooner rather than later.

I just dont know how he survives on such little sleep, i thought newborns were sup to sleep ages, and youd think that his crying would wear him out, nope not at all...

right off to bath him now, then his next (two hrly) feed is about 6 15 630.... will see how tonight goes...

I might even have to switch to bottles to save my sanity, i dont want to but am so short tempered and tired i think its getting that way.....

Perhaps yopu could try expressing some milk off before feeding him? That way he may get some more hindmilk. You could use the expresed milk for bottle feeds of EBM to give you a break.

It is most likely that this will improve around the 12 weeks mark.

You just keep having to remind yourself of the benefits of breastmilk - he is getting antibodies and protection from infection which he will not get from formula.

Worse case scenario would be changing to formual and the problem getting worse.

Is te colicynth helping? Remember you keep giving it every 5 mins till the baby settles. Also, have you tried a dummy? My sis put the granules on it.

do you give it every 5 mins till he settles then? i only got it yeterday, the pharmacist said to give two - 6 drops before or after each feed? Do you have experience with this homeopathic remedy?

I know all about the breast v bottle and i dont want to stop if i can help it, but i feel that i have no choice, especially when i have literally had about three hours sleep a night since he came along....mind you i have said to myself, ' i will give it six weeks' and thats nearly upon us, perhaps i will take it a week at a time

I tried everything when my little one had colic and eventually found the one thing that really worked was Gripe Water!

Oops! I obviously didn't read your original message fully... just noticed you have already tried gripe water... hope you manage to settle your baby very soon.

thanks caro, i guess you have to try everything till something works, either that or else by the time you have found sometihng that works , they have 'outgrown' the colic stage!!! I have gripe water and while it does bring up a burp, it does nothing for the abdominal cramps or screaming. Although , and i say this very quietly, i bathed and fed DS and lay him in his moses basket upstairs tonight, he was nearly asleep, and i havnt heard from him since.... its been about an hour and a half...luxury for me, i have been able to eat a hot dinner!

I will keep my fingers crossed for you! I know you have probably heard this so many times, but it does suddenly get better. My little one had it really bad for the first 5 weeks of her life and then suddenly we turned a corner. If its any consolation shes now 11 months and such an angel. She sleeps very well and is a happy contented little baby. sometimes its hard to believe shes the same baby that just wouldnt stop howling as shes always laughing now and rarely cries!

I have experience of the granules. You pop a few in the babies mouth every 5 minutes till there is relief. Don't know about the drops.

Have you tried to settle him on his stomch BTW? Really colicky babies are ebetter like that. You could do that during the day when you are able to keep an eye on him.

Have you tried a dummy?

dummy and tummy already tried....... tummy is great for about ten minutes then he just starts up again, he loves his dummy, but i have a feeling he is taking in more air as he is such a ferocious sucker,when hes finished doing his sucking thing he spits it out and starts crying!

I hope he turns his corner soon..

Can anyone help by taking him away for a long walk in the pram to give you a break?

Arching back is a sign of reflux - DS had it and was arching back a lot. He also had terrible farts and they would really smell!!! I stopped b/feeding after about 6weeks and put him on SMA. This made him worse so swtiched to Aptamil, changed bottles to Dr Browns and saw the Dr who prescribed Infant Gaviscon. Obv the formula/bottle advice wouldn't apply as you are b/feeding but Infant Gaviscon worth a try? DS was a different baby after he had a few days of it!

Sounds just like my ds1!! He is now 20 weeks old and was the same as yours. At 6 weeks doctor was pretty sure it was reflux and prescribed gaviscon, which helped a bit but not a great deal. Then prescribed ranitdine which has helped loads. I also have a fast let down which makes wind much worse but over time ds1 has learned to such slower at first and harder later on.

At 6 weeks I was exactly the same and not sure how I was coping with almost no sleep (have 4 other kids too!) but took it week by week and at 20 weeks am still here brestfeeding. It DOES get better I promise!! Go to the gp, try treating for reflux, also make sure his cot/moses basket is raised slighly at the head end which can help with reflux.

Ds1 is still a 2-3 hour feeder but goes 4 hours at least once in the night so not too bad. Try ebm for your partner to give or even someone else in the day if you need a break. It can help just to know you will have a couple of hours undisturbed

Mears, Mum had offered to have him overnight, if i can express enough milk, one night of bottles isnt going to hurt is it?

Thanks Niki and magnolia, i am going to give the gaviscon a go, i mean it can only give me peace of mind that i have tried everything, think i might just get it OTC first of, if it works i can go back to GP and TELL him rather than ask him for further perscriptions.

Last night was a bad one, started off good, he went down in moses basket in our room at 7 30 ish, after having a feed at 6, and me spending all that time winding and keeping him upright , then he woke at 10, when i fed him again and he was back down by 10 45, but then he was up then at 12, 130, 3 then 5 and 7 when i got up... i didnt feed him all those times, just tried to get him back to sleep, but it only seemed to work for brief spells as you can see. so anyway i fed him last at 9 and hes now fast asleep in his basket, am wondering for how long tho!

I would let him go overnight. Obviously you will need to express while he is away. Don't be surprised if he settles for your mum though - that is really common. I looked after my sisters DD who would not sleep at night (she was 9 months though and wouldn't take solids). My sister was really upset that she slept but it was just tthe change in surroundings. Also your mum will enjoy cuddling and fussing with him on this one occasion, where you have had it up to here!!

yeah i think i will, am going to do more expressing tonight so i have got a stock up. Have three bags of 4 ozs already frozen so i guess other three should do it, bit strange though as i am only guessinghow much he will need, i dont want to not do enough!

Bought gaviscon today and have administered it twice, he hates it and screws up his face, not sure its settled him though, as we had screaming fits after each time!

Still am persevering with a bedtime routine, and hes had his bath and is now in moses basket up stairs, touch wood he went down at 7 30 ish with only half an hrs worth of crying, and is now still asleep.......