What's wrong with my 3 week old?

[thewanderingjew]

My three week old has days when he is totally cranky from the moment he wakes up. Won't really settle without a fight, sleeps more briefly and shallowly, feeds probably slightly more than usual - every two hours, not 2-3 - which seems to make his wind even more, him cry even more, his overtiredness even worse...and so the cycle continues

It's been a really challenging day. He's been good as gold all weekend and a lot of last week. Is it a growth spurt? Is it personality? Am I missing a cue?

Thanks

It could be a growth spurt. Or he maybe is just becoming more aware of himself and wants to be close to you all the time. Do you have a sling you could use to carry him and give him reassurance? If you feel he's crying because he's unwell in some way then you obviously need to get a medical opinion.

Hi OP, this all does sound like very normal behaviour for a three week old. If you are responding to his feeding cues quickly, there is no reason why 2 hourly feeds should make him feel unhappy or unwell.

I think stickers idea about a sling is a really good one, this is often a brilliant way to settle a young baby. At this age they mostly like to be close to you at all times and some will barely sleep at all if you keep trying to put them down. Again, thoroughly normal ... and nothing to worry about in itself, because it will pass naturally as they get older.

Do take care of yourself, I know these tough days can feel like years but it will all pass!

I think people have gone off the idea of 'colic' these days but I think babies at 2 weeks can start to have a lot of trouble with wind/digstion pain. This makes them cranky, disrupts their sleep, and makes them want to suck more as it relaxes them and then they can sometimes get rid of the wind, but its a little bit of a chicken and egg thing!

Have you taken a look at what you are eating as some schools of thought say that your diet can affect wind - stuff like onions, root vegetables. Not sure if the science really backs this tbh but I have a mythological belief that broccoli, onion and tomato affected my first child. However, my 4th didn't mind anything right down to chilli!

If things get really bad you could get HV or GP to check your baby out, but mostly this kind of stuff passes by about 12 (sadly loooong) weeks.

Every baby has good days and bad days! There's nothing wrong with your baby and there's nothing you're doing wrong.

When my ds was very little we also had occasional days where he wouldn't sleep well, so he was tired, so fell asleep as soon as he started feeding, so was hungry, so didn't sleep long enough - round and round in more frantic cycles til bedtime! Those days have become less and less frequent though.

Hmm hobbgoblin ... I think the whole 'wind thing' is not what it's cracked up to be. We British parents are often very quick to blame grumpiness on wind, but they used to say that early smiles were wind too! And certainly there is no good evidence backing up a restricted 'breastfeeding diet'.

But there is strong scientific evidence that babies who are held a great deal and fed on cue cry less - so I would think this is first port of call when exploring ways to comfort a grumpy baby.

Thanks all. We've been holding him allllll day - he's too small for the sling we have and we're waiting for another sling to arrive - and he hasn't really improved. I think it is a cycle of hunger, wind, overtiredness and lack of sleep, all feeding into each other...hopefully tomorrow will be a better day....x