Baby making ripping motion across chest when upset - what does it mean?

[MinimogMum]

My little one is just over 3 months old and for the last month or so she has become increasingly fussy for apparently no reason. It happens most in the evening, but she can be like that most of the day sometimes, but it ALWAYS starts from around 6pm.

I don't know what is making her so agitated, she keeps doing a motion across her chest that is like ripping or tearing and will do it across your hands if you are holding her there (scraping her little nails across the dry skin on my knuckles) but I have no idea what she is trying to communicate with this.

She gets upset when you get her ready to feed (put her in position, get the bib on) but after a few minutes of crying she starts feeding and is fine after that until she finishes when she starts grizzling again. She has a bath and absolutely loves it, so she is happy during it, but gets upset once again once it is over and is dressed again.

Could she be suffering from Acid Reflux or Colic? Is that what the ripping motion is trying to say? Does anyone else's baby do this?

Mine is 6 months. Loves his bath at night and then is an utter horror afterwards. He's just tired. I wrestle him dry and get him dressed as fast as possible and sling him to his dad who is a wonder at calming him down with a story before he comes back to me for his feed and bed.

I think the grabbing is just tiredness. Mine grabs and pulls his face and ears. At three months they're tired a lot. She'll be needing to sleep every hour and a half to two hours max if I recall correctly.

As soon as I see any face grabbing or pulling I whip the boobs out. He either wants fed or a nap.

I remember this stage with my DD who is now 9 months

For us it was simply because she was tired. She'd become hysterical in the evenings and wouldn't settle in the lounge etc with us
At 12 weeks we started putting her to bed at 6-7pm and she started to sleep through the night mostly and we no longer had the evening screaming then.
She was in her cot for a couple hours alone before I went to bed. It's not for everyone to do it like this but she was just so upset

Thanks for all your replies, much appreciated.

It makes sense that it is tiredness, since she doesn't sleep much during the day. I try to put her to bed as soon as she shows signs of being sleepy or whenever she falls asleep feeding, but half the time she wakes back up the moment I put her down and is wide-eyed smiling and kicking and cannot be soothed to sleep.

When she does sleep, it's normally only for 30 minutes to an hour if I'm lucky, often not even that. I can pay her to sleep repeatedly because she will keep startling herself awake (she hates being swaddled or restricted) and when she does drop off it may only last 10 minutes.

I have tried moving her bedtime earlier with disastrous results, no matter how early you start the routine, she will only fall asleep around 8 or 9pm, then will sleep through until 4am for a feed.

@MinimogMum

Thanks for all your replies, much appreciated. It makes sense that it is tiredness, since she doesn't sleep much during the day. I try to put her to bed as soon as she shows signs of being sleepy or whenever she falls asleep feeding, but half the time she wakes back up the moment I put her down and is wide-eyed smiling and kicking and cannot be soothed to sleep.

When she does sleep, it's normally only for 30 minutes to an hour if I'm lucky, often not even that. I can pay her to sleep repeatedly because she will keep startling herself awake (she hates being swaddled or restricted) and when she does drop off it may only last 10 minutes.

I have tried moving her bedtime earlier with disastrous results, no matter how early you start the routine, she will only fall asleep around 8 or 9pm, then will sleep through until 4am for a feed.

It does sound like she needs more daytime sleep. She should be sleeping every two hours max. For me, at 3 months, this meant lots of sleeping on me. Only by 5 months was I able to start putting him down for naps in his crib. I still often have the most success with timing his naps to be on walks in his pram or sling, in the car, or just napping on me at home.

8 or 9 was also bedtime for mine at that age. I didn't fight it. Over the next few months he naturally pulled bedtime forward himself until at 6 months he now goes down around 6 and no later than 7.

My HV called it the witching hour, their digestive systems are working after a day of milk and their trying to process all that they've seen in the day! It does get better!

The main issue I have is when she sleeps on me, I am unable to pump milk. It would make things much easier if she breastfed, but the combined efforts of several HV's and nursery nurses could not get her to latch on. I am trying to reintroduce breastfeeding now, but she still gives up if she doesn't get milk straight away when she socks.

I have found she sleeps in her pram and pushchair, and now the weather has improved I can start taking her for walks, but I am in the UK and the weather is very unreliable so won't be possible all the time.
My mum (who is a retired nursery nurse) has worked out today how to get her to sleep in her rocker chair by very gently rocking her and singing gently when she starts to fuss. Seems to be working so far, I'll keep that up as a way to get her sleeping during the day until she is ready for the cot.

I used to use the sling to hold the baby and pump the milk at the same time. You can put the baby off to the side and tuck them in to sleep then pump on the other side, did this for several weeks and when the baby woke up I’d feed them off the full side. I always got more milk when I pumped with the baby on me too

Why can’t you take her for walks in any weather? I took mine out for almost two hours every afternoon to get him to sleep and me some exercise - rain, wind or snow. In a good pram with a rain cover there’s no problem. Get yourself some decent walking clothes and you’re off.

She is sleeping really well OP. Short naps can still be restorative. My baby can't go longer than 2 hours at a time overnight at 8 months. Naps are always under an hour.

Have you had baby checked for tongue tie? Your feeding issues sound like mine. I also suspect silent reflux, worse in the evenings just like adult heartburn.

Your baby sounds just like mine op! Baby boy here is 10 weeks. Does the same! I think he is very very tired by the evening as he sleeps short naps in the day- he definitely needs more nap time in the day in my opinion- baby boy has been taking short naps for about a week, before this he was napping 60m-2hrs at a time and was far less grizzly in the evenings. I would try and put down for more naps and for as long as you can. You can definitely go out for more walks in any weather in the Uk! Just wrap up warm and go. Xx

She has been checked for tongue tie and she doesn't have one. I think the main problem is she doesn't stay still for long, always moving her head to see everything and she gives up too quickly if milk doesn't come immediately.

It could be reflux as it is common in my family, but the doctor won't do anything about that unless it causes serious issues.

If it's a problem for baby, not for the parents, then silent reflux should be treated...crying whilst refusing milk or back arching, leg kicking etc and constantly comfort sucking whilst grizzling are all signs baby is in distress. Faffing about on and off the boob doesn't need treatment no, just patience!

It's just a neurological quirk because her brain is underdeveloped (due to her age!) so doesn't mean anything specific. She is not indicating pain in her chest for example - babies this age can't do that yet. She is probably feeling uncomfortable in general. It sounds like three month colic. (ie unexplained crying in the evening time!)

These daytime naps sound fine - it's common for babies to have 30-45 minute naps in the day. That's really normal and good.

Are you doing paced feeding with her bottles? This can slow down the speed of her taking in milk and help reduce wind.

Mine used to only nap in pram or sling at that age. If it was torrential rain I just rocked or pushed pram around the kitchen and hallway. Maybe similar would work

She generally eats quite well, so she isn't just sucking for comfort. She is only grizzly initially when I'm getting her ready feeding, usually because she wants It NOW.

I had her on the slow flow bottles until recently, but kept getting frustrated because it wasn't fast enough and was nearly pulling the teat out of the lid tryto speed it up. She us on the no.2 teats now.

How often does she feed? Maybe by that point she’s getting over hungry? Could you try moving feeds 30 mins closer?

Most of the day I'm feeding her every 1-2 hours, as she demands.

Do you have a dummy/ teether/ soft small toy she can chew for those few minutes whilst your sorting milk?

Ds wouldn’t take a dummy but liked the matchstick monkey teether

She always hated her dummy and simply isn't interested in toys or teethers at that point. She mostly chews on her hands instead of teethers even when she is happy.