2 week old won't settle after midnight feed only

[katiegolightly]

Hi mumsnetters. Looking for tips on how to settle my 2 week old baby after her midnight feed. She's exclusively breastfeed and she's doing really well with a pattern of feeding every 2-3 hours during the day and 3-4 hours in the night and gaining weight nicely, good nappies etc.

She feeds for about 20 minutes each sitting and is getting better and staying alert and focused through most of it, I have been having to keep her awake every few minutes but she's much better at that now. She very rarely has any burps after any of the feeds, but I give her a good few minutes burping in over the shoulder / sitting up / laying on her tummy positions - all of them basically. After this she'll be asleep within minutes after every feed. Except the midnight feed. For whatever reason she is agitated after this feed and no amount of more food / fresh nappy / burping / entertaining her / leaving her to cry it out on her own settles her. She straightens her legs quite a bit after this feed and wriggles quite a bit. She grizzles in an 'I'm uncomfortable way'. This lasts for maybe an hour / hour and a half. I've tried Infacol before the evening and night feeds to see if this makes a difference, so far not.

To me this doesn't sound severe enough to be colic but maybe I'm wrong. I've not got anything particularly odd in my diet (that I know of). I wonder how long it takes my diet to get into breastmilk to see if there is something I can eliminate eating in the early evening perhaps?

Her sleeping environment in the day and night is very similar, she sleeps in the same basinet, same temperature, blankets and she has a little bit of light at night (less than the day but she's not plunged into darkness). Her day is filled with background noise, music, chat and her night is generally silent.

Once she's asleep the 3/4am and 6/7am feeds are a dream - it's just this one! We can't think of anything else to test/change that might be upsetting her.

Any ideas?

Nappy changing, burping, entertaining etc would I think tend to stimulate her and keep her awake. Have you tried just holding her close and gently rocking her, with some white noise? There are mobile phone apps, or you can use a hairdryer.

Also, try not to worry about it - she might pick up on your worry. I find that if I ignore my DD while holding her and surf mn / play Sudoku on my phone / gaze into space then she drops off more easily than if I actively try to soothe her, unless she has wind or needs feeding.

I think that foods can persist in your milk for around 48 hours although I could be wrong - heard this anecdotally from a bfing friend whose DS has food allergies.

Reading your post it cold be that she wants to stay on the breast for longer for comfort or cluster feed. It is very common for babies to do so at night. Don't worry about what you eat, the fact that babies ate sensitive to foods through breast milk is mostly myth.

Also infacol takes up to 4-5 weeks of regular use to build up in the system & take effect

katie this is well on the normal spectrum for a tiny baby - wondering about how to stop it is pointless :) Go with the flow - take her into bed with you (following safe sleeping guidelines) and get practiced at feeding when you are asleep or dozing....she's only 2 weeks, she loves being close to you and feels unhappy and insecure when she is not. In the day she tolerates it more, that's all :)

melliebobs actually research shows that Infacol doesn't have any effect at any point.

After 4 - 5 weeks the 'problem' has usually sorted itself out - not because of the Infacol but because that's the time it takes to get used to a new baby ...

True enough about infacol - there is no good evidence for it, really.

Infacol doesn't build up in the system, either - eek! That would be quite harmful, in fact. It doesn't get into the bloodstream and is not absorbed by the body - it's never been shown to be any more effective than placebo or just waiting it out.

Thanks for the ideas, everyone. Sadly I feel that tiktok may have hit the nail lol! We are being quite calm about the midnight crying - it's just frustrating not to be able to troubleshoot this one! oh well, calm and perseverance!