5 month old back arching has me in tears!

[Apples6544]

Hi everyone, looking for advice or maybe similar experiences.. my little girl is just 5 months, for the last 3 weeks or so she’s been arching her back really frequently throughout the day- quite violently, chin on chest, sort of straining until she’s red/ blue in the face, back right off the surface. She’s doing it occasionally when being held/ lying down but most often in her pram and the bath is terrible. Bath times are bringing me to tears because I can barely hang on to her and we used to have such a lovely time playing and splashing before bedtime and now it’s just stressful with us both crying! Has anyone experienced similar or any ideas why she’s started doing this?! 😔 spoke to GP when it first started, he said she’s just doing it because she’s learnt she can but I really don’t think she would ruin bath time/ being in the pram when she’s never shown signs she didn’t like them before. Today I met my friend for a walk, baby was in pram for 5/10 minutes before she was constantly arching her back then started crying so I picked her up and then I tried to put her back in the pram every 10 minutes and she would just be hysterical/ arching back again. Bath time she was on the support and splashing then started again, crying, arching her back until she slides off the support and I end up cutting it short because I can barely hold onto her. I’m going to call HV tomorrow and see what they think but it’s really getting to me now!

@premiumhob I am struggling to actually wash her and hold onto her. Maybe I need less water.

I feel so frustrated, I have spoken to multiple HCP about the possibility of her having reflux but all I get is ‘is this your first baby?’ 🤯 hate the thought of her being in discomfort

Could she have silence reflux? Did you check the list of the symptoms to see if she has got any other symptoms?

@Lilice just had a look, seems she has 2 of the suggested: gagging and being sick/ posseting.

For the bath, you can put a rubber mat at the bottom of the mat to stop her from slipping all over the place.

As for the pushchair, some babies really don't like it. How is she in a car seat? I used to be a childminder and I can say that some babies love a pushchair ride, some hate it. You will probably find that sitting upright in a buggy that faces you could be more comfortable for her.

Dirty nappies doesn’t mean constipated is ruled out either op.

Does she have a hard tummy or anything?

Try and make a couple of videos of her doing it to show to your GP. My son had a condition that everyone dismissed as sounding normal but when they saw a video of him doing it he got sent to see a specialist. It might be nothing to worry about but if you’re worried, having a health professional see it rather than just explaining it will help you feel reassured.

@Apples6544 sounds like it could be reflux then.
I think it might be worth asking your gp for some infant gaviscon and see if it makes any difference. All my 3 children had silent reflux, it's really sore and makes them cry a lot. Have you started weaning yet? Does her breath smell acidic?

Milk allergy? mine had it, had to massage her tummy everyday and use poop medicine and went on dairy free formula

When DS started to arch his back at 4 months we had to go upright with him - he just wanted to sit up all the time. The only thing that fixed the back arching was propping him up supported for a few hours in a seated position so he got sick of it

@QueenBlueberries great idea with the rubber mat thank you!
@Onadifferentuniverse true, doesn’t seem to be hard but she does strain quite a lot to go.
@BrummyMum1 was just saying to my partner we need to do this, I did have a video last time but it wasn’t the best.
@Lilice not weaning yet, I haven’t noticed especially although I did notice it smelt a little earlier today.

OP, is she over tired? Throwing themselves backwards and arching back can be over tiredness. What's her sleep like? She should be getting around 11/12 hours per night and either three or four good naps each day?

Could you get in the bath with her? My DS is 5 1/2 months and recently hates lying still on his back - I was finding bath time hard work because he was squirming around so much and trying to roll over - I was nervous about loosing my grip. Last week I started popping in the bath with him so he can sit on my lap - he squirms less because he's not lying and it's much easier to hold him and play with him. A bit of a faff getting us both sorted and in and out, but makes the bath bit less stressful.

@linerforlife sometimes definitely, I’m going to try an earlier bath time. Have been using huckleberry recently to track sleep just for reference and she has around 10/11 hours at night with a couple of brief wakes and then around 2/2.5 hours a day in naps. Sometimes the back arching is so violent that I wouldn’t think it’s solely down to being overtired.

@ClammedupClam yeah can definitely try that too thank you, I find it so hard to hold onto her but that sounds like it may work out easier.

We did rubber mat in the bath. A couple of inches of water and they entertained themselves for 30 mins or so splashing while I washed them gradually. Best moment of the day. Meant a great sleep to the first part of the night.

If she can already sit upright you need to strap her in the pram/pushchair or she may dive headfirst onto the ground.

My 2 also did this at a similar age. They would arch back and almost fling themselves out of my arms, jam their feet on the arm of the chair and shove off while feeding etc.

They hated being in the pram carrycot at this age and were much happier in the seat so they could see out. I also laid them directly on the bottom of a very shallow bath.
I also wondered if they became a bit achey from sitting up but being unable to change position independently. They also are developing so much mentally at this age and seem to get a bit frustrated as well.

My now 8 month old did exactly this in his pram at 5 months. After 10 minutes he'd start arching his back and wriggling and eventually cry hysterically until I took him out. Many journeys spent with me pushing the pram while trying to carry him home... as a test I turned him to be outward facing and did a couple of walks with DH or my mum so someone else could keep an eye on him because I felt like he was too young to not face me. He was fine, and has been great in his pram ever since. He occasionally gets grumpy now if we've been out too long or if we're walking somewhere "boring". He likes roads, footpaths with lots of people. I think he was just bored and couldn't see enough always looking at me. Maybe try turning the around and see if she's happier?

My baby did this - it turned out she had undiagnosed CMPA. No weight loss, a lot of tummy problems and constipation - she would go regularly but she would strain and life her legs up and slam them down too - it only got diagnosed because she had blood in her nappy from straining so hard when we were doing dairy week during weaning. GP ran some trials of special formula and normal and the difference was amazing. Other signs we didn't even notice was lots of redness around face (assumed it was teething rash and rosy cheeks), eczema on her legs and her tummy troubles really evened out.

Sounds like reflux. My son used to arch his back but we already knew he has bad reflux) as soon as you laid him down milk would start coming up out of his mouth again.

It’s perfectly normal development. The baby has learnt a bit more about her body and what it’s capable of but is then frustrated she can’t yet manage to do what she wants it to. I assume she’s rolling already? Now she wants to go the next step and move more. Your GP is right.

She’s probably also picking up on your stressing and reacting to that, making her crying worse. She doesn’t need anything apart from a few weeks and plenty of opportunities to roll around unrestricted on the floor.

Honestly think she's doing it because she can.
She has no concept of wanting to ruin something, but she's probably bored in the pram or bath and wants to sit or get out. What you've described sounds like she's agitated, rather than in pain. If she was in pain she would be screaming/crying more than just pushing herself up. I am inclined to think the gp is correct on this one

My baby does this. He has reflux and had to be investigated for milk allergy but it was just reflux.

We used gripe water and it helped that movement. Also check out hipp organic anti reflux formula. It worked so well for us as he wasn't bad enough that he really needed gaviscon etc but bad enough we needed to do something. So the formula was a solution that solved it without medication.

Health visitors aren't allowed to recommend it but my friend is a paeds consultant and says its just normal formula with thickener and to try it first.