My baby is completely different to other babies....

[Pennybrown86]

I have posted about my LG once before so apologies. I'm not really looking for advice, just support and maybe hope....

She is 10.5 weeks old, delivered by forceps and formula fed. We had a traumatic time with breastfeeding and despite a significant level of support, she just wouldn't do it. Since she was about 10 days old she has been very different to other babies.

She is incredibly alert and active but extremely unsettled. Even when she was 10 days old there would be hours and hours where she would be awake and crying and just wouldn't settle to sleep (worse in the day). She used to settle in the pram but not any more so i don't really go out with her as she is so incredibly loud, she screams instead of crying and it is ear piercing.

I now have longer stretches where she is happy, kicking around on her playmat but she will go from smiling to screaming within seconds and she often becomes inconsolable. I can now get her to take naps in the day but it involves either holding her or with her in the sling and walking up and down the hallway for about 20mins and she will only ever nap for 40mins at a time and I can't put her down. She often takes over an hour to get to sleep at night, she used to sleep for long stretches but she now wakes frequently and I often end up putting her in the bed next to me to get her to sleep.

She is incredibly sensitive, she screamed the house down at 5am when my husband sneezed this morning!

I have lots of friends with babies and my LG is so utterly different to theirs. I wouldn't wish for a different baby, but people keep telling me that things will get easier but they haven't at all.

Apologies for the long post - does this sound ANYTHING like anyone's baby? Did anyone have a baby like this and things actually did get easier?

My eldest dd was like this.,we had 3 cranial osteopathy sessions and she was a different child. Is now the calmest most placid child you could meet.

Cranial osteopathy did nothing for mine!!

penny sadly I'm sort of in the middle of nowhere so probably not near you...would like to stay in touch though and see how you are getting on! hopefully things will get better soon. Do you hear screaming in your ears at all times even when it's actually stopped? I do!

On Monday mornings I dream of going back to work

With the neocate, try again but slowly - mix 25% neocate with 75% regular formula. Once that's accepted, go 50:50, then gradually decrease the other formula until it's all neocate. It's slower than just a straight switch, but it helps adjust to the new flavour.

Ah-it sounds like you are doing really well. I had one like this and I promise it does get better.
Mine is still not the easiest child but nothing compares to those dark early weeks and months when I was constantly trying (and mostly failing) to get her to feed, sleep or stop crying.

I'm posting on here again just for anyone who comes across this thread when googling or anyone who was in a similar situation to me. My LG is now 20 weeks and things are SIGNIFICANTLY better than they were, there really is light at the end of the tunnel!!

I have no idea if anything that I've done has made a difference or if it has happened naturally but I'll post a list of changes I've made in recent weeks that I feel have made a difference:

• as soon as she looks tired (distant stare, yawning, face rubbing) I put her for a nap, I dont wait.
• she naps in her cot and despite what other people have suggested, this IS the best place for her because I can put the blackout blind up. When she used to nap in the living room, there was far too much to look at and she would get more and more overstimulated and more and more wired!
• I do exactly the same thing for every nap, and I use the PU/PD method but in the gentlest way possible.
• I don't have the tv on in the day when she is around - too much stimulation
• I try to keep her occupied as much as possible which is quite difficult when she can't sit or crawl yet and if in doubt I walk her down the garden
• she has an earlier bedtime so is in her room by 6:15 and usually asleep by 6:30
• I don't let her nap past 4 and at 4 every day I take her for a walk in the baby bjorn - she will only tolerate it outward facing which I believe isn't ideal but she really enjoys looking at everything and the fresh air!
• we went to a different cranial osteopath and I feel it has made a difference

We also had her on omeprazole as we're pretty sure she has silent reflux. However, we are 5 days off it now, to see if she actually needs it. The symptoms are returning but don't involve any crying/screaming as yet. I'm praying she doesn't need it.

I am very restricted on what I can do because she doesn't really nap anywhere other than her cot and doesn't like her pram. But, she is happy and I am happy. As she gets older I'm hoping her naps with lengthen (from 35mins) and she will be happier being awake longer.

For anyone else struggling, don't listen to people telling you to leave them to cry. I thought I was in some type of nightmare for months but she is an absolute delight now!

Glad you are finding something that works for you both. Figuring out how to ensure they can sleep makes such a difference. It can only get better!!

Just read the whole thread and am so glad that things are better now. Our 8mo DGS is a non-sleeper with a frequent ear-splitting scream which I find unbearable after a few minutes, so I reckon parents who cope with this for months on end are truly heroic. Here's hoping your DD settles down even more soon.

my niece was like this, shes six now and an actual bonafide genius, there is literally nothing she can't master. She was reading Roald Dahl books before my daughter (the same age) was talking in proper sentences.

My sister used to worry A Lot about her daughters behaviour , and she was not an easy child for family members to be around. She used to scream on car journeys like she was being slowly murdered.
Apparently it's a common theme for very intelligent children- to have been ,for want of a better phrase 'very hard going babies', so maybe that's where your little one is heading !
Good luck!

'For anyone else struggling, don't listen to people telling you to leave them to cry'

Did you ever try that? Not for an extended period, but a few minutes? If not, then I don't think you can comment on it's effectiveness.

IME easily over stimulated babies who have become overtired often will settle by themselves within a few minutes of being in a dark, quiet room. The patting and shushing and rocking and white noise and singing just overstimulates them and prevents them from being able to sleep and so the overtired cycle continues.

A baby who cries for hours on end anyway, will not suffer from being left to cry for less than five minutes, but if it works it could change your life!

To be very clear, before I get flamed, I am suggesting leaving them to settle themselves for a maximum of 5 minutes and only with a baby like this, who is easily stimulated and impossible to settle any other way.

(This is not in anyway relatable to studies from orphanages where babies are left to cry for hours and hours, over weeks and years.....before someone links to that research!)

Yes I did. On a day of desperation I listened to a friend who suggesting leaving to cry for 15 minutes, going back and cuddling, putting down and continuing. Although she wasn't crying continuously, this went on for 2.5hours. I can comment on it and genuinely believe that young babies should not be left to cry. That is my opinion though.

Try Gaviscon after her feeds. If she has reflux it will help her settle and sleep and stop screaming because she will no longer be in pain. It might not be reflux but is worth a go. Hyper alert can be because she is in a constant state of stress. Mine would feed, gurgle on the mat looking angelic then after about 20 minutes switch to devil child as the acid started to come back up. If reflux she will hate lying in her pram or cot. Even a lying down sling will hurt, you would need a front pack.