11week old (7weeks prem) crying in evenings. Colic?

[34PinkLadyApple]

For the last 3 days shes been crying for 2/3 hours in the evening after a feed. Im a first time mum and this is really getting me down. Shes been no trouble up to now and i cant stand it! OH is very calm and says just let her cry it out but i hate just listening to her. Tried bouncing her in her chair, picking her up, changing, feeding etc.. Thats why he says leave he as nothing is wrong. Shes now doing it thismorning (OH is at work). We changed her formula a week ago and her stools are firmer since, could it be constipation? She also has reflux. Help!

Long time lurker but wanted to share my experience to see if it helps.

I have b/g twins 7 weeks prem, they are now 14 months so have been through the evening screaming! DS had silent reflux so getting an appt at the hospital is a must as GP was useless. Ranitidene and Domperidone were a miracle and worked within two days. DD had no issues but still screamed in the evenings as well.

I worked out that they were just really tired, I hadn't thought of putting them down for naps in the day as they just dozed in the living room with me. As soon as I started putting them down for a nap in a darkened room a couple of hours after getting up then another one in the afternoon it all seemed to get better. They were just overtired.

Our baby did this, he does have reflux but also seemed to have some degree of old-fashioned colic, as the medications made no difference to his crying, but at 12 weeks corrected the crying magically lifted (though sadly not the reflux!).

I think your instincts are good - definitely don't let such a tiny baby cry it out, she needs to know that she is safe and you are there! Does she sleep during the day? Or have tricky wind? Some people have lots of luck with colief or infacol (though we didn't), or if they don't seem likely as causes it's worth looking up reflux too, especially if it comes after feeding. We found that putting DS in a soft sling was the best temporary relief, he would nap or at least cry less, and I could still do things.

For the horrible nights of crying in the meantime!

I'd add to the posts above: white noise.

DS1 had terrible colic. Screaming from 6-11 each night for weeks and then it disappeared.

I discovered the hairdryer helped calm him down. Once he was calm, he would feed and go to sleep. I downloaded an album onto my iPod with dishwasher, washing machine, hairdryer, vacuum cleaner...and DS1 liked them played really loud. I have no idea what our neighbours thought as we looped an incredibly loud washing machine all evening.

Sorry if it doesn't help. DS2 never had colic and never cried for an unknown reason, it was always logical. White noise did nothing for him. Babies are all just so different.

Another one with twins that were prem and refluxy, and one in particular v v colicky in the evenings. The Colic page of our baby health guide is where the book always opens to!
It's a fucker basically, and you just have to ride it out, and premmies make all this early baby stuff seem to go in for longer and be more scary. But she WILL grow our of it. Think it was about 15 weeks actual we started implementing a bed time routine because evenings had shifted out of survival mode.
In the meantime, can you pop her in a sling and sit in front of a quiet telly soothing her while your dp makes dinner?

Oh and premmies do go through a stage of sort of 'waking up'. This is hard work, but also really good news - she's doing well, be proud of what you've achieved so far.

Reflux. Have you been given any meds? Gaviscon? Ranitidine - low, med or high dose? Domperidone? (sp?) Omeprazole? (sp?)

Just to add - please go with your instincts and don't leave her to cry. You are entirely correct to pick your baby up and try to comfort her/do something about it. It is completely wrong to assume that just because they're warm, dry, clean and fed that 'nothing's wrong'. Nearly all babies have terrible evenings - it often calms down a bit around 12 weeks but you need to adjust that for your preemie's age. In reality she's only 4 weeks old.

Great post Zuleika

OP how is her daytime sleep? She will need a lot, DD had 4 hours+ at that age, and she wasn't a preemie. Let / get her to sleep as much as you can - sling, cosy in the pram, whatever works. Agree with McWeedie about the over tiredness (an overtired baby often will not sleep).

Evenings got a lot easier once I dropped the idea of putting DD to 'bed' and just held her while she slept or fed her, and kept her with us. She just wanted to be near me all the time. She rightly associated the cot with being left and screamed murder when she got near it. Quite impressive cognition, retrospectively.

I know that everyone says this but it will get better, soon. And congrats!

DS was 10 weeks early around. He too had long bouts of crying in the evening we found closing the curtains as dusk came helped he didn't seem to like the dark outside. They cry also reduced with an increase in his medication it's prescribed by weight so as they gain weight it needs increasing to have the same affect. He now cluster feeds and cuddles in the early evening instead if crying but we can always tell when the omeprazole's dose needs increasing.

Well i took her back to the doctors who have now prescribed ranitidine. Shes been on it for 4 days now and does seem more settled however she had her 12 week jabs on friday which seem to upset her a bit :(