Is this normal? My sad little baby :(

[Thaimoon]

I am blessed to have a six week old beautiful baby girl.

After a few weeks' struggle I think we have finally worked out breastfeeding between us and it's more often than not now a peaceful time, she's gaining weight and seems content after most feeds.

She will often fall asleep on me after a feed and if I'm lucky she will then nap for up to 3 hours in her cot at night and sling in the day.

However whenever she is awake she will only last about 1-2minutes as a max before beginning to cry. This is regardless of where she is when she's awake, if she's being held or not.

Being a FTM I wonder if this is normal? I thought that at six weeks babies have more time awake and begin to smile but she seems so sad and grumpy when awake.

Does anyone have any similar experiences or advice? Thanks in advance

@Thaimoon I'd bet a hefty amount that it's the culprit. Omeprazole (we had Losec MUPS) did seem to stop the horrid pain but obviously it doesn't stop the reflux itself - that is just down to their systems maturing. We did it for two weeks but we stopped after that. We found it was very difficult to administer (have to dissolve in a syringe then give at least 30mins before a feed both am and pm) and not nice for her - it's really gritty and most of it ended up down her front. We also felt a little uncomfortable giving her such strong medications for any lengthy period of time. If you keep on it you have to keep increasing the dose. We decided to do just two weeks so hopefully in that time allow any damage of her oesophagus to heal, then took her off. Didn't see any escalation in her symptoms so I think this was the right thing to do. I know others tried baby gaviscon first but it can cause constipation. Our GP was very familiar Witt reflux so prescribed immediately (my baby was also losing weight). You'll find it tricky to get prescriptions out of some GPs as they 'don't believe' in reflux
So maybe worth a go if she's really in pain - but also feed upright, keep them upright as much as possible, maybe try tilting their cot a little (wedgehog do foam cut to size) although this isn't recommended due to SIDS risk so we didn't do it, but others have had success (they also do this in neonatal units at hospital I understand). I really.would use a dummy if we did it all again. Seeing how much her thumb soothed her made me feel terrible

Ok so if it sounds like reflux you can do the following:

• keep upright after feeds (for 20-30 mins)
• adjust her cot so her head is slightly raised; some bedside cribs have a tilt option, or you can get a wedge to put under the mattress (we have a wedgehog), or raise the legs at one end of the cot (obviously make sure it is stable and safe)
• see GP and ask about medication; they will probably tell you to try infant Gaviscon first, be warned it's difficult to give to a breastfed baby and can cause constipation. So by all means try it but go back to GP if you're not getting on with it. The next thing to try would be omeprazole.

"this isn't recommended due to SIDS risk"

Do you have a link to back this up?
I have read the guidelines on the lullaby trust website, read books about reflux and discussed it with midwife and health visitor, and have never come across any suggestion that a tilted cot or wedge under the mattress increases SIDS risk. We are using a wedge and the HV asked if it was under the mattress (not on top) but apart from that was absolutely fine with it.

There is a strong consensus that putting babies to sleep on their front (which many babies with reflux actually find more comfortable) does increase SIDS risk, so that's not advised.

It's not SIDS which is a risk with tilted cots but positional asphyxiation.

However it's a very slight risk and minimal in a flat, clear cot. It's also considered safe if the angle is max 10 degrees.

For higher angles it's been found to be an issue, but mainly in products such as car seats or rockers (like the Fisher Price one which was banned in America) which have the issue of harnesses that babies get entangled in. And again you tend to see the issues happening at about 30 degree angle - most likely up to about 20 is OK, but they are erring on the side of caution with 10.

Thanks Bertie. I'm relieved as the wedgehog is 18 degrees.

@Bewilderbeastie thank you SO MUCH for the dummy recommendation. Game changer!

Thanks everyone for your comments, I'm reluctant to start meds - will if it doesn't improve as hate to think of her in pain- but dummy seems to equal a much happier baby tonight anyway!

@Thaimoon I'm so pleased to hear it!

Oh that's brilliant. I've been thinking of her.

Just to further update... I actually started block feeding as I had a feeling her refluxy symptoms may have had something to do with my very over generous milk supply and crazy forceful letdowns. Did this for two dats and combined with dummy for comfort it does seem to have made a big difference. I now have a much calmer and happier baby. Thanks again to all of who helped me

If she had a difficult birth you could look into craniopathy - I think it’s called

My first baby was like this for months. I tried everything - reflux meds, going dairy free, a sleep routine, infacol... Nothing worked and it drove me crazy. It might not be what you want to hear but for me I just had to ride it out. If it's any consolation, he's now a wonderfully happy 2 year old. It's so hard to have an unhappy baby though. I've just had my second and he's do chilled... It's an entirely different experience.

Make sure see getting plenty of sleep, try a dummy, try a sling/carrier... Do whatever you have to do to make life as easy as possible. I promise it will get easier!