HELP! Hysterical 4 week old

[PebbleTTC]

Hi all, I have a 4 week old and is refusing breast and crying hysterically. As soon as I put nipple in his mouth he just cries and cries. I took him to GP and he said it might be reflux and gave him zantac which I gave him but he is still refusing and crying.

I expressed and gave him bottle which he took and I tried to breastfeed again when bottle was finished and he started crying again.

Can anyone offer any advice?

Help anyone?

Gosh, it's hard isn't it, when you don't know why they're crying?
My LO had so much wind, more than I ever thought possible!
Good luck. Hope he's stopped crying now.

Hugs, can be so hard. It's really common and can be a number of things.

Growth spurts, fussy stage (Google wonder weeks), cows milk protein intolerance, reflux, tongue tie and sometimes, often, just the way small babies can be.

For us, me cutting out dairy helped, and using a sling, and sometimes a swing for soothing. Also, we did have a tongue tie issue.

Some people recommend cranial osteopathy and some people think it's a waste of time. For us, we found it soothing and reassuring.

Hang in there, it will pass I promise.

kellymom.com/hot-topics/fussy-while-nursing/

It has been many years since I bf a new born but I do still remember the crying.

You may not feel lucky right now but taking the odd bottle will be helpful in the future.

How are you latching on, have you tried lying on your side?

winding may be a key, my MW was a lot more robust at it than I was in the early days and she had much better results, circles and up pumps.

Take heart that you are doing your best and it will get better

Tongue tie is my first thought, colic second.

Yy to cuffs advice about cranial osteopathy. My DS was very upset at the breast but one session calmed him right down - we saw a chiropractor rather than an osteopath but same principle.

I hope your DC calms soon op

Do you think your letdown is fast? Is he being overwhelmed? If so, would he cope better if you expressed first? You can also try putting him above or uphill from the breast iykwim. Look at Kellymom's website, she has lots of advice, or see if this link rings any bells: www.normalfed.com/continuing/gulping/
I suppose if he is okay with the bottle, you can at least feed him that way for a few feeds while you figure out what to do next. I hope you have an okay night. We are battling here a bit too.

Maybe the bottle is just easier. Have you had help with latching on? Even with my third, I needed support latching on. Contact your local breast feeding support clinc. But honestly, if the bottle works, great. You need peace and sanity first and foremost! My DD preferred bottle over breast so I pumped.

He finally settled, my husband gave him a little bottle of formula milk and he was still upset so I tried sprinkling sugar water on nipples and that didn't make him latch on either but he got calm as I rocked him and I just put him down in crib just there.

When I put my nipple in his mouth he won't close his mouth he just leaves it sit there and he keeps mouth open. I love breastfeeding and up to a few days ago he loved feeding, he would go straight on and feed away then last weekend he stopped latching and served in pain so GP said it was thrush so we treated that this week took him back to GP-different one on and he said no thrush it's reflux.

Would reflux stop him closing mouth on nipple and cry hysterically? I really don't want to stop breastfeeding as I really love it

Forgot to say thank you all for the replies!

Pebble, I don't know any more than you but also have a 4 week old boy who, like your little fella, was feeding happily until a few days ago.

I have no intention of giving up but have been struggling the last few days with something v similar to what you describe.
I reckon it can't be tongue tie or we would have problems all along.
Surely if it was reflux it would occur equally with the bottle and also probably be more so as the feed went on and afterwards.
Is he the same on both breasts? Often we have quicker let down on one side than the other.
Also if he has any neck pain or similar it might well feel better on one side than on the other whereas colic or reflux should be the same on both sides.

In our case it seems to me to be related to oversupply and we have lots of wind at both ends of the baby and in the tummy too. I found the link above matched our situation and I'm doing the milkshake thing where I give the breast a good old deep massage before feeding to mix the thin milk with the stomach settling, hunger satiating cream. I'm giving infant Buscopan as required, feeding often and letting him sleep on me since that's what he appears to prefer.

I'm finding it better in the day but we have had a few miserable nights. I haven't tried the bottle yet though I intended to soon anyway just to allow my husband to give the odd feed.

I reckon that you might do better with a breastfeeding consultant than the average GP.
Also remember that it could take days for effect of the ranitidine to become apparent. And that if you use ranitidine or any acid-reducing drug, you must be very scrupulous with hygiene as the baby's first line of defence is now much reduced (or at least, that would certainly apply to a foal on ranitidine - I'm a vet ).

We were back at GP this morning and he advised to try baby gaviscon as well as zantac so tried gaviscon before the feed and that seemed to help a little but he only slept for 20 mins then I gave zantac and waited about half an hour and fed again and did deep massage like suggested above and i put him down to sleep just there hopefully we will both sleep for an hour or 2 as I'm wrecked!!

Hopefully this gaviscon end zantac fixed the problem

Keeping him upright after feeding may also help. I wish you both sleep!