10 week old personality change after 8wk immunisations

[LabradorMama]

DS (10 weeks) had his 8wk jabs last Friday. Last week I felt that I had finally got to grips with being a mum. DS was happy, almost sleeping through the night, rarely cried and was an absolute joy, despite the fact that he had a cold and was up snorting several ties in the night. He had his jabs on Friday and since then has become a complete nightmare. It's nigh on impossible to get him to go to sleep and if his eyes are open, his mouth is open. He's barely stopped crying or low level whinging and it's driving me up the wall. What has happened? For the first few days I put it down to him perhaps feeling a bit ropey after his jabs but things haven't improved at all. He's feeding more often and not finishing a full feed (ff) and his night waking has gone from once (at 4.30am) to twice (2am and 5am) I've had to resort to plonking him in front of Baby TV for 10 minutes at a time several times a day so I can leave the room and get my head together away from his noise. I'm sitting here having a good cry as he's under his baby gym in the nursery so I've got a couple of minutes peace.

Is this normal behaviour after 8wk jabs? Will I get my angelic, smiley baby back or do I need to accept that he's changed for good? Is it just a phase or a natural progression and nothing to do with the jabs at all? What should I be doing to help him?

I'm already a bit stressed as his head measured large at the 8wk appointment and I have to take him back fortnightly to have it re-measured, I'm also in the midst of my first period since giving birth (sorry tmi) so I'm tired and crampy and perhaps am overreacting but please, can anyone with experience of babies give me any advice??

TIA

Hi first of all big hugs to you

Where to start, well I'll start with a positive. It WILL GET BETTER. I had the same issue as you describe after my DS had his 12 week jabs. I noticed an almost instant change in my happy little baby. He became very upset & his routine day & night went crazy. I blamed the jabs & still do. In fact I actually blame the new rotovirus drops that they give the babies now. My DS had a bad tummy after that & became really windy & unsettled. It took weeks to get answers & medicine to help him but basically he ended up with colic which is terrible!! I blame the drops& reported it to my nurse & doctor who in turn reported it to those concerned.

My DS is 9 months now & is a happy wee boy, the colic lasted until he was 4 months old, which I know seems a lifetime away but even when your feeling like a zombie it does go in quickly. Get help where you can from your DP or whoever you can and keep making doctors appointments until you get answers and treatments.

If you think this sounds similar things which I found helped him was baby massage which I learned on you tube, making sure his bottles had the correct teat size, baths & using infacol.

Stay strong I hope things get better soon & keep posting if you want a chat. :)

It's nothing to do with the jabs, it's just developmental. The timing is coincidence. It will pass!

Honestly it will pass.

It could have something or nothing to do with the jabs - babies and young children change all the time. Just when you think you've cracked it they tear up the manual and you have to start all over again.

I don't think my DCs heads have ever been measured, but they both have massive heads (as does DH) and getting jumpers over their heads is a nightmare. I'm sure it is nothing to worry about.

I don't think that's normal. I would hold off with the vaccines if it was my baby. Was that his first set of jabs? Reactions are generally more severe the second time you receive a dose so I would be hesitant to stick to the nhs schedule personally, especially in a baby so little. jmo.

I found it strangely comforting when DS wasn't himself after his first set if jabs. Until then I wasn't really aware of what "normal" was for him, but seeing him being different gave me the reassurance that I was actually getting to know him.

Impossible to know if it's the jabs or not though. In my experience babies always change all the rules as soon as you've worked out their patterns. DS seemed to have a 4 week cycle - 1 week of sleeping through or just waking once, 2 weeks of waking a couple of times in the night, and the week from hell waking almost every hour. Babies are a puzzle - I find it best to go with the flow.

Could be a growth spurt? Don't think the change in sleep pattern at this point is too unusual, to be honest. But why not take him to GP or HV if you are worried - there may be something you are missing. Good luck!

My ds did this at 7/8 weeks, just before his jabs. It could be the jabs but a growth spurt is due around this time

Also, it could possibly be teething. My ds is very dribbly, red cheeked and grisly. Teething crystals after a feed has helped massively (I only give them if he is especially bad)

Ds is still happy and smiley but has been a lot more cuddly too, I bring him in my bed when he wakes duringthe night aand I find he tends to just comfort suck if he wakes before 3.

I've found he's much more settled if I put the top I've been wearing during the day in his cot on am evening, would that help?

I would take him to the doctors tomorrow morning just for peace of mind. Don't worry about the head thing, if it's a concern he would have other symptoms. Could the grumpiness possibly be early teeth?

I have an 11 week old boy and have found this app really helpful and insightful; the wonder weeks. It details all the mental leaps and fussy periods you can expect your baby to be experience.

I don't feel I can comment on whether the jabs are to blame for your lo change in personality but just recommend ^ as I've found it quite a comfort when times are tough. It makes things just that bit more bearable when you have some knowledge of what's going on.

I'm sure your happy little boy will be back in no time. In the meantime be kind to yourself OP xx

Thank you all for your advice and comments. I booked a GP appt for the next day but lo and behold, he woke up on the day back to his usual sunny self! We had two days of that, then a off day or two and a difficult day yesterday. I'm hoping it's just developmental rather than a side effect. I'm taking him to a cranial osteopath tomorrow (difficult, assisted birth, head still a funny shape) so I'm hoping that will have an effect on his general mood too.

Again, thanks everyone. I don't have many people in RL I can ask for advice on this type of thing

DD got reflux after each set of her infant jabs...... GP was (frankly) useless and just parrotted the NHS line that jabs don't cause reflux. Well they did! She was fine after about 6 weeks in each case, and I spaced out the jabs a little more. She was a tiny baby and I felt it was just too much for her little system to deal with effectively. DS was bigger and had no problems with the jabs at all. GOod luck, and trust your instincts!