screaming baby

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my baby is coming up for 5 weeks old and when he is not asleep he is screaming most of the time, even in his sleep he seems to be fighting any advice would be very welcome

did you have a difficult birth? maybe he needs some cranial osteopathy. i've heard many people say it worked wonders.

my sympathies. My dd was the same... she had reflux.

it´s very common, and is very uncomfortable for babies.

Have you talked to gp/hv?

Agree about cranial osteopathy.

no birth was very good but i suppose you dont know how it has affected the baby. do you know what the massage is supposed to do?

the one h/v i spoke to basically said thats what babies do

My boy fought at the breast for the first few weeks because I wasn't producing enough milk. Eventually this settled down. He also used to (and still does sometimes) thrash his arms about and attack his own face in his sleep. He'd drop off to sleep and then wake himself up by thrashing about and then scream because he was tired. I found swaddling him to get him off to sleep helped. I've also since read a lot about carrying babies in a sling during the day and wish I'd found out about it earlier. There's some good advice here: www.slingmeet.co.uk/forums/index.php

thank you snippety that sounds alot like my son, we had to go back into hospital because i wasn't producing enough milk and he was losing too much weight. now i do breast and bottle but he still fights at the breast. Also he definately gets worse when tired

Have you tried your local breast feeding network or La Leche League ? I found a lot of help, support and friendship at mine. I think my milk supply was slow to build up because I was so wound up about it. A home visit from a local breastfeeding counsellor, who showed me how to feed lying down, and going to LLL meetings were invaluable. Also I'd say feed him all the time, whenever he wants. I was worried about doing so because sometimes it was every 10 minutes ! MIL and others thought it was strange because the norm is four hourly or whatever. Eventually I just stopped worrying and spent the whole day just feeding and cuddling if I wanted to. I found it really hard not to take the fighting at the breast personally. I remember weeping to my Dh "He hates me !" He also preferred one boob to the other - I had "good boob" and "bad boob" for weeks ! Once he settled down and my milk supply increased it was a whole different experience

He's still a really restless baby though. He improved once he was able to sit up - seemed a lot happier in himself and a lot more relaxed. now I'm having trouble with teething ! If it's not one thing it's another

Carrying worked for me. Plus cutting out dairy products and baby massage.

DC2 (also) had colic - don't know if it's this, could be? Carrying him about in a sling really worked - specially when out in fresh air. I know it can be tiring, but I found it less tiring than having my ears bashed. Supermarket trolleys are just the right height to balance a bottom on when using conventional front sling with bubs snuggled against you. Also if outside, sound does seem to be less intense.

Baby massage was lovely because it helped me feel closer and have a lovely time with my very noisy baby! Plus did DC2's tummy every nappy change during the day as it seemed to help and I saw other mums coping with noisy babies at the sessions, so didn't feel quite so in the minority.

Is he burping ok after a feed - had to walk up and down stairs lots with dc1 before burps came out and if dc1 was laid down with wind she was really wrestless.

Could you pump to increase supply, and ru drinking lots of water / soft drinks, that can help get thru flow?

I agree with snippety about demand feeding, though it can be tiring (to say the least!) - so glad to find out I'm not the only mum with a good and bad boob at the beginning. Once flow was good I used to feed off one side for an hour and then move over to the other side is dc2 was snacky as I used to get so engorged with dc1 if I swapped sides too much and IMO it means bubs gets to the hind milk if they're only snacking.

Good Luck - it soon passes!

My boy was the same at the breast for about 10 weeks. Kept pulling away and crying most of the time he was awake. Health visitor kept saying it was wind or colic. He's still a fussy, irritable baby now at six months but it will pass. The feeding got a lot better once I introduced a formula twice a day to fill him up. I just wasn't making enough milk at the beginning as ds was very hungry and a big baby. He prefered my right boob but thinking about it, he usually liked to lay that way round too so maybe it is just how they are comfy or something! Keep hanging on to the fact that they are babies for a very short period of time. It has to improve!