4pm Screaming sessions every day......Help!

[slippeddisc]

Our DD is 15 weeks old, she is feeding well and will settle at 6pm, sleep through until midnight, have a top-up feed of 7oz and then sleep through until 7am...bliss!

However, at 4pm ish every day she starts to create, she will scream non stop until she either makes herself sick/wears herself out. She is not hungry, we have tried all sorts of tactics in case its trapped wind...to no avail.

She has three good naps a day...but will fight sleep and unless put in cot/pram will have a max of 1 hour sleep a day. However on a good day when she's had over three hours in nap time during the day she still starts the screaming fit at fourish. These fits go on through bath time and she will eventually stop at about sixish for her last feed.

Any suggestions please?

[tiredemma]

Sounds like colic.

You can get something called colief to help relieve it.

[whomovedmychocolate]

She could be overstimulated. DD went through a stage where the events of the day just got too much and she'd have a tissy. I just used to stick her in the pram and take her for a walk and she'd calm down in just a few minutes (and then conk out.)

BTW she has never napped like babies are 'supposed to' some babies just don't. You are lucky she sleeps as much as she does. She's 17 months now and still has never slept through (and I'm 22 weeks pregnant with number two).

[tiredemma]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_colic

[slippeddisc]

Hi tiredemma, she's been on Colief for the past two months

[tiredemma]

oh no!

sorry.

[whomovedmychocolate]

Colief was useless for DD - we took her to a cranial osteopath.

I don't suppose something happens at 4pm that either you or her could be stressed out about?

[slippeddisc]

Well WMMC...I'm now stressed about the ruddy 4pm screaming before it actually happens
TBH I am trying to remain as calm as possible, it's just so distressing to see her so upset.

[slippeddisc]

WMMC...did the cranial osteopath work?

[whomovedmychocolate]

Okay, try this - at 3:30 - go out - put her in a buggy and just go out, break the routine. Walk fast but breathe properly and perhaps you'll forget that it's nearly screamy time.

Oh and yes the osteopath seemed to make a difference. What we thought was colic was her inability to open her mouth properly to nurse (common with cs babies apparently) which meant she was not getting enough milk but was ingesting lots of air

[costagirl]

Hello, really feel for you as my baby boy screamed like this for 4-5 months, v stressful. I remember the daily attempt to cook dinner with him over my shoulder screaming. He had v bad colic and milk protein allergy (grew out of it at a year.) Things that helped were:

• bumbo seat (so he could sit up and see everything)
• cranial osteopath
• copious amounts of G & T for me.

It WILL pass, believe me, and you will feel more normal. I know how horrid it is, and just knowing that other people have experienced it helps a bit. Make sure you get a break - leave baby with someone and have a long coffee in town, or a swim, at least twice a week. Things will get better, honest!

[barking]

"What we thought was colic was her inability to open her mouth properly to nurse (common with cs babies apparently) which meant she was not getting enough milk but was ingesting lots of air".

Whomovedmychocolate - that really rings bells with me, my dc3 was a very fractious baby, cs and a tiny mouth, he nursed constantly, still does to a certain extent, preferring me to food. I had taken my dc's to a cranial osteopath before but never thought to with dc3. He is 2 and I have never seen him yawn.

What else did your cranial osteopath say Whomovedmychocolate?

[meep]

I used to call 4pm the witching hour as dd would meltdown at that time every day - I think it was just coming to the end of her day and she'd had enough. Agree with whomovedmychocolate - stick her in the pram and walk (though I was lucky as it was summer when dd was at that stage)
She did grow out of it though.

[whomovedmychocolate]

Barking - basically that for some babies the plates in the head are not aligned and that the caesarian birth can make it worse as often the babies heads get a bit of a direct squodge from the surgeon (rather than a rounding from the vaginal muscles). He correct it in one session. You could see the tension though behind her ears when she tried to latch on, it was really tight. Sounds weird now, but it just went almost instantly when he stroked her head.

May still be worth taking you ds (dc3) for a word with the osteopath. Can he sing? If you can watch him sing, see if he does open his mouth and if his ears move when he does. If he looks like he's had a bad facelift (everything too tight and moving in lines) he could well have the same problem.

[JamInMyWellies]

Big sympathies. MY DS did this too we used to call it suicide hour between 5-6 . It does pass I agree with all try the co DS saw one fortnightly for a couple of months and it helped tremendously.

Good Luck

[barking]

Thanks Whomovedmychocolate - that's really interesting. I will be finding some suitable sounds to try and encourage him to sing. I took my other 2 to a music group, when I had little one I got so tired I didn't bother