My daughter is currently 5 weeks, coming up to 6. From day one she hasn't been a great sleeper, but I did have quite a traumatic labour which ended in forceps and a 5 day hospital stay so she was quite distressed in the first few days of life.
Recently though my partner and I are at our wits end trying to figure out what's causing our girl discomfort. All the symptoms she's showing could be any of the three I've mentioned in the subject!!
She is EBF and from about 3 weeks she has had what look like little whitehead spots on her cheeks, chin, chest and a few in her elbow creases. They don't seem to bother her, no itching or scratching so I had put them down to baby acne. Also, in the last week she has developed a very dry forehead which is in her eyebrows too - again, I put this down to cradle cap (something I suffered terribly from as a baby).
However, at night she has become very tearful and fussy. She screams for the boob but then cries and refuses to latch. Once on she sometimes wails during the feed, at times chokes on the milk and does this thing where she sort of shakes her head rapidly from side to side, mouthing my nipple making a snorting sound!? This generally starts in the evening and continues in the night. She then is very difficult to settle, she goes red in the face arching her back and kicking her legs - waving arms and crying lots. It's horrible to see and hear as we desperately want to make her feel better, but nothing seems to work other than offering the boob again. She spits up often after feeding, but doesn't seem distressed by this.
She is also very mucousy, as if she has lots of phlegm on her chest. She sounds particularly bad at night, and lying flat seems to be very uncomfortable for her. We've tried steamy showers and holding her in the bathroom, bought a humidifier, used saline drops in her nose but nothing seems to clear it.
We've tried infacol but it hasn't made much difference! I guess we just don't know if this is reflux, colic or a sign of CMPA!?! Or is this just normal baby stuff and we're overthinking it as first time parents? Any experience or advice is appreciated!!