20 week old DD screaming, I'm struggling

[Shmerlock]

After a bit of a hand hold and support as I'm really struggling with my little girl. For the past week she has been a hysterical, screaming terror from about 2pm onwards. From morning up until about 1pm she is so happy and chatty, but as soon as the afternoon hits she becomes miserable, clingy and constantly screaming/crying. It is exhausting and making it impossible to do anything.

To put in to context, she's currently on Omeprazole for silent reflux but this high-pitched screaming is a fairly recent development. It seems as though she is in pain and nothing I do seems to settle her once it starts.

I've just got back from trying to settle her in the pram, she screamed and started choking she was that worked up. I ended up carrying her home whilst pushing the pram, and even then she was still screaming on and off!!

She is a terrible napper, so far today she has napped for 20 minutes and that's it - I've tried following our nighttime routine, taking her in the pram, using our electric bouncer for movement and none of it has worked.

I can't tell anymore if it's reflux, wind, teething of overtiredness. She screams and sort of scrunches up her body whilst pulling on her ear. She's always messing with her ears and rubbing her eyes - last week I went to the GP who checked her over and said all was fine! We're back next week for a catch up and she has suggested she may get me to cut out dairy and see if that helps (she is EBF). Her nappies have been very smelly the last couple of weeks, and green.

I don't know what I'm looking for but I'm feeling so upset today, it's incredibly difficult and I wish I could make her better 😔 I just end up in tears with her most afternoons! Thank you for reading, and I hope this makes sense!!

The more and more I read now I'm starting to think it is teething! Can that cause smelly nappies?? The screams she makes are heartbreaking 😫

My DD nappies are HORRENDOUS when she is teething. They are usually fine when not teething . She gets nappy rash too when teething even changing as soon as it happens.
Just give calpol/nerofen when needed and it will calm down.
It does take weeks for the first teeth to come through with lots of symptoms.
It does pass OP.

Doesn't sound like CMPA to me. It sounds like teething. Calpol and teething toys (you can also freeze a wet washcloth and let them chew on it). You could also give teething powders a try.

You could also try sitting with her, holding her quite firmly and patting/rubbing her back to get her to sleep. I spent many hours like that with my nephews sleeping on me!

Smelly nappies is a classic CMPA sign too.

I would get some anbesol. If that doesn't solve it then you're left with cmpa and over tiredness..of course it could be cmpa causing over tiredness too. So after the anbesol I would try dairy free.

@Santastuckincustoms thank you, I think that's the way I'll go! Try and rule things out - it's so hard because so many of the symptoms seem to cross over one another! Makes it even harder to determine what's what!!

I would guess a combination of teething and definitely overtired. Will she let you hold her in a dark room with white noise playing? I did this with mine to get them to sleep longer than 30 mins and slowly but surely was able to put them in the cot to nap longer.

@Wantabub this sounds like my DD!!

Could you borrow a swing? I am going back 30 years, but I had an electrically powered gently rocking swing that kept Ds slightly propped up and rocked gently back and forth. He was very content and comfortable in it, being propped up does ease the congestion in their ears and nose with the swollen gums. It helps if they have reflux, earache, blocked nose.

My ds had really bad silent reflux, so make sure the omperazole is the correct dose for her weight, as soon as ds put weight on symptoms would come back, upped the dose and it settled again.
It also might be a mixture of teething to, if she's got more saliva may trigger her reflux

I’ve not read every comment so sorry if this is a repeat. If it’s the same time every day I would think it could be gas building up (supporting the dairy suggestion), or overtired ness (20 mins nap by 2pm is not much at all for a 20 week old).

I strongly suggest that if you’re going to give up dairy then you give up soy too, Can’t emphasise that enough! They’re linked to each other so she could well be allergic to both. I gave up dairy for 6 weeks and it did nothing until I then gave up soy, and saw a big change 3 weeks later. So it was a complete waste of my time and effort and 6 extra weeks of screaming than if I’d just fully committed. It’s a pain giving up stuff in your diet but it’s even more of a pain to give up dairy for it not to work and then realise you also need to give up soy!

Re: overtired ness - will baby nap in the sling? My Lo will only do a nap longer than 30 minutes if it’s on me or in the sling.

@Peaplant20 every comment is helpful for thank you for sharing your experience!

Unfortunately, she HATES the sling - when she was newborn she loved it and would sleep for hours. As soon as we hit about 2.5/3 months she would really kick off in it to the point that now I can't even lower her in it without her bursting in to tears! She'll go in the carrier as long as she faces forwards, but she doesn't tend to sleep in it as she likes to be able to see everything.

The afternoon screaming hasn't been happening all the time, it seems to be a more recent thing - I think you're right about build up of wind and she's very trumpy at night 😅 although it doesn't tend to wake her up - just us!

The overtiredness is so difficult, she sleeps pretty well at night it's just daytime she's a nightmare and it means as the day goes on she's miserable. But the last few days these screaming episodes have been horrendous!! After giving some calpol yesterday evening she settled a little more so I'm wondering if it's teething?

Going to try and whittle down everything before changing my diet, but will definitely remember to cut out soy too!! I imagine that's hard as it's in so much!

Thank you for all your comments! At the moment, daytime naps seem to only happen if she's on the boob and falls asleep. After yesterday's screaming session she ended up fast asleep after feeding for nearly 2 hours!!

‘Colic Calm’ worked wonders on our little girl when she had issues. If you look on YouTube you’ll see how babies react to it so it’s definitely worth a try. Don’t be put off by the black consistency; this is activated charcoal - the vital ingredient.

It is so tough with a young baby particularly if they’re unwell. But it is good training - my 3 year old is relentlessly ill (picking up everything in nursery), she also suffers with a viral wheeze and had been in and out of hospital with it since she was a baby. It can feel never ending especially when you throw lack of sleep into the mix. My husband and I are suffering right now, extremely tired with the numerous night wakings and ending up
In our bed.

Is there anyone who can watch your DD whilst you have a nap? It’s amazing what sleep can do to redshift your focus. Pray your little one gets well.