baby 5 weeks very agitated each evening

[shellki]

my dd2 is increasingly agitated in the evenings, and often doesn't finally settle to sleep until 10pm after writhing about for several hours. my theory is that its some form of anxiety, maybe due to separation, or fear of the dark or something. She seems to settle better with the lights on, and needs to suck madly on a dummy (have tried to see if she's hungry, but she never takes anything). Does anyone else have experiences with this behaviour?

Ooh mine did this at about the same time! Dd was a dream the first few weeks and we got a bit blase.....milk, sleep, milk, sleep etc. All of a sudden she was terrible in the evenings. She WOULD not settle. We took it in turns to pace up and down. Feeding didn't do it. Dinners were always burnt. I thought I might go insane. I worried about colic and bought some infacol.

Got dd a nightlight and a musical mobile thing. It went on a for a while. It seemed like an eternity at the time, but it was probably a month or so.

At the end, I think I put it down to her becoming more aware of her surroundings etc. It was a few years ago so I'm sure there will be some more up to date help.

Sounds like colic - ie unexplained crying of newborns, which reaches a peak in the evening.

I think it generally improves after around 10/11 weeks, but sometimes doesn't go on this long.

DD had it - bad. Started around 4 weeks, lasted til around 10/11 weeks, would generally go on from about 8 in the evening til about 1 or 2am. With dd, nothing really helped (sorry to be so honest) - we just had to get through it. We did a LOT of swaying around with her to soft music, white noise SOMETIMES helped, and we'd take turns to wear her in a sling round the house. On really bad nights I remember us taking her out in her sling for an evening walk. As I recall, over-stimulation in the day sometimes seemed to make it worse eg once coming back from an evening with friends, it went on forever.

On a more positive note though, ds was only colicky for a week, so it can pass quickly.

Oh, and we also tried both of them with Infacol, and camomilla (a homeopathic remedy).

best of luck

I reckon she sounds colicky too.
Have you tried infacol and propping the head end of her cot up?

I have used infacol when I've thought that she has had colicky pains caused by wind etc. This doesn't seem to be the same as that, because surely the pains wouldn't just occur in the evening? From what you say its a 'phase' that will hopefully pass - as most things with babies and children! Good idea to try camomilla...

I could have written this. DD is 6wks now and tends to cry from 6pm until 10 at the earliest, 2am at the latest. She does seem to be hungry though and the breast calms her while she's feeding, but I can't feed her constantly for this long. Certainly seems to be worse when she hasn't slept as much in the day but nothing really seems to help.

We had this problem although it was a while ago now and I can't really remember how prolonged or bad it was. DD used to feed constantly from 7 - 10, which was just exhausting - I remember wondering whether I had any milk at that time of day and considering a bottle. I was shocked at how much better everything got when I started an evening routine of bath, breadfeeding, and bed at around 7. There would be another feed around 10 - 10.30, then I'd go straight to bed and be ready for the night-time feed around 2. Everything sort of slotted into place and DD was happy from that point on. Also, it gave me an evening which was a lifesaver as DH worked abroad so I had no help during the week. I am not a believer in strict routines but this fixed point of the day sorted everything else out.

My DS did this, and I'm afraid it didn't really get better until he was 12 weeks old. I remember it was really quite distressing and exhausting as nothing we did seemed to make any difference. Just try to remember it will pass, and get some sleep during the day if you can.

I have thought that using the sling might help to reduce her anxiety in the evening?

hm , my daughter is now 3 months and i remember the time when she was crying as soon as we put her to beddy god knows how long, i remember soothing her down going downstairs and coming back up again. There was not earlier time than 0000 at nite for her to fall asleep for 2 hrs! Every baby is different, At 8 weeks she or he can't soothe herself .
I will highly reccomend to everyone not giving up and keeping strict routine of how day looks like for our miracles Sounds boring? aaa baby massage is the greatest thing have you tried? every night before sleep ... at the minute our daughter sleeps thru the night

my boy had similar problems at 1 week onwards i recognise the words you use agitated and anxiety, he still has them at 8, now its adhd.... but we would feed him put him down he would screech and a pattern of less sleep would follow 3 weeks he was put on gavisgon because the hv see him puke up some of his bottle and then we changed to soya milk eventually he we was told oesophegus trouble at 5 months, more medicine, we had to lay him on his front(bad mum) and rock him layed over arms facing down this calmed him 3ft of the air, we used to walk round with himover our shoulder from 9am to 11pm with little sleep until he was exhausted. the best thing we found eventually was a baby bouncy we hung on the door frame. you could try a sling. Trouble with his sensory anxiety is now very prominent,even changing his nappy at 9 months was a prob, still wont wear pants..
its hard to say dont worry, but if you feel its not right stay with gut insticnt and dont let anyone fob you off, keep him close and reassure him, dont worry about the do's and donts' of later, patterns can always be changed.. best luck

It's really normal for little babies to be unsettled in the evenings. It's tiring, but nothing to be worried about. It's unlikely to be separation anxiety or fear of the dark at this age - babies just tend to get overstimulated and agitated by the end of the day. I wouldn't describe either of my children as colicky but neither would go to bed before 10 until they were 4 months. With ds we were happy to have him on our lap in front of the tv, or pacing a bit when we was agitated. With dd I was more desperate to get her to bed earlier (after a day with ds) and we tried much harder to put her down at 7 and to resettle her (although I never left her to cry) but she still only started sleeping reliably in the evening at 4 months. My mother said none of her children would sleep before 11 till about the same age, so I guess it is just the way we are.

The sling is probably a good idea. I was wearing dd a lot during the day but didn't want to wear her in the evening because I wanted her in bed but I now think I should haven't worried. She's 6 months now and usually goes to sleep on the breast but if she doesn't, I put her in the sling, go and clean the kitchen, make dinner and by then she's alseep and I can easily transfer her to the cot. It wasn't until about 4 or 5 months that I could transfer her easily though.