Nightmare baby :(

[Pikette]

Hello everyone! New here and having a rough time of it at the mo. Our second baby is nearly 4 weeks old but seems to be suffering from reflux and/or colic. He doesn't really sleep and seems to be in pain a lot of the time. I have a 23 month old daughter as well and really struggling to cope at the moment. He hasn't slept for more than half an hour all day and I could really do with some sleep now as recovering from a sickness bug also. Thinking of putting him on to formula so other family members can help as I feel that I am useless to both of them at the moment being so tired and I can't enjoy him as its a constant battle of trying to get him to sleep so I can. Any words of advice or encouragement would be really appreciated at this stage!!

Oh bless, sounds hard. My dd cried a lot as a newborn and then we took her to a cranial osteopath after much debate about whether it would be a total waste of money. (She'd been born with help of ventouse -sorry if that's spelled wrongly and screamed non stop for hours and hours after the birth). We didn't take her until she was nearly a year old, we'd had a year of much crying and poor sleep. The osteopathy massively changed things - she instantly started sleeping better. But I'd only advise that if she had a bit of a traumatic birth as that could be the source of pain.
Otherwise does your HV have any suggestions? Really hope you start getting sleep soon.

Also are there people who can take both your babies out for a walk in their buggies for even just an hour to enable you to have a nap?

It will get better and there's nothing worse than lack of sleep. I felt like this several times my baby is now nearly 5 months and it has got better. Could you maybe express and ask others to feed for you (that's if you did want to continue bfing) but if you feel formula is the way for you do what's best for you and your family- your doing a fab job so give yourself some credit

Our lc recommended cranial osteopathy if our baby had difficulty feeding and was fussy. Another lady I know said it worked wonders on her baby regards to sleep.

Both my babies refuse(d) to sleep in their own cot. Cosleeping really works for us, but as you're very tired I would make sure you have someone watch whilst you're asleep just until you feel more refreshed. There's a theory all breastfeeding mothers adopt the same nest like position around their sleeping baby which protects the baby from being smothered basically. There's lots of info online regarding safe cosleeping and some healthcare professionals can advise as guidelines surrounding it changed. Also I find nursing lying on my side helps with tiredness too even if I don't sleep.

Have you tried cutting out all dairy from your diet. 2 friends had a complete turn around by doing this. It really sounds tough.

Thank you so much for all the replies.

Its interesting you should mention osteopathy as we were looking into that yesterday! I was induced after dilating and contractions for a week and following that he was delivered within less than 4 hours, heart rate was dropping at the end and they had to pull him out as he was stuck so i guess it was slightly traumatic!

I have a really supportive family who have been helping out with my eldest but yes that's a good idea to see if they could take both out for a walk, in my sleep deprived state I hadn't thought of that!!

Hv said to try infacol but that hasn't really helped and gp said she can't find anything wrong other than him being windy so we just have to ride it out and if not better in 2 weeks she could prescribe gaviscon as he is too young at the moment.

I have tried co sleeping which helped a little at first but now he won't sleep like that either :(

I did wonder if it could be a dairy or lactose intolerance as he is gagging all the time so if things don't improve I will give that a try also.

Thank you so much ladies, it's made me feel a million times better just to get it out and hear from other people! I know it will pass eventually but when you're in the thick of it, it feels like a lifetime!!