2 week old baby suddenly crying a lot - mainly at night.

[TiredAllDay]

For the first 2 weeks, it felt like we had a bit of a routine. Baby would have milk, nappy change cuddles and rocking, then would fall asleep for about 3 hours. Then it would all happen again.

Now, baby is crying and crying. We can rock for ages, do nappy, give milk, she's still crying.
She'll settle then for 5 mins or so then start crying again. It's taking a good while to settle her. This morning it took 5 hours!
Tried everything - all what I've said above. Then Ewan the sheep, YouTube videos of baby music and sounds for sleep. But those things worked for just a few mins.

What's going on....?!
I've looked online and it says about a growth spurt at 2 weeks which can last until they're 4 months old.

Any other ideas? This is our first baby.

I hate to tell you this…. But she’s just being a baby. Very often they are really chilled newborns and then they wake up a bit and it disrupts everything. Get used to it, this will regularly happen throughout babyhood and childhood!

if you’ve worked through everything else (clean nappy etc) then it’s likely she’s hungry and having a growth spurt. Feed on demand, make sure you’re eating loads to get your supply up, take it in turns to sleep in a spare room and get rest.

it does get easier but doesn’t always feel like it!

Also you haven’t mentioned burping her, make sure she doesn’t have any trapped wind before laying her down

They sort of "come round" around 2 weeks old and aren't the sleepy easy babies they seem to start off as! They realise they're not in the comfy womb any more. Mine did anyway, I think it's quite normal.

Honestly, just go with the flow now. First few months are about survival. Babies do all kind of mad things, this is nothing to worry about. You just have to keep going through the checklist - hungry? Nappy needs changing? Got wind? Tired? Overtired?

You also can't spoil a baby so hold her as much as you want, the contact and skin to skin calms and regulates them.

Congrats on the newest member of your family!

I'm sorry, it's tough! It's probably just that they've now properly woken up, and they're now doing what babies do.

My one tip is to try to stick with a set of techniques (whatever works for you - rocking/ feeding/ music/ whatever), and preserver till they're calmer. If you chop and change too much it can be unsettling.

Congratulations on your beautiful new baby. I empathise totally as both of ours went through this and it is so tough! I hope you have support around you - take any offers of help and try to get rest at any opportunity. This stage is all about survival!

I would suggest you look up the Period of Purple Crying. It really helped us to know this was normal and there was nothing ‘wrong’ with our baby. I had been driving myself demented before I read about this - googling endlessly, trying every colic remedy under the sun…. We did lots of waking around the kitchen with the extractor fab going for white noise. It’s extra helpful to have someone to share this with and be able to take breaks now and again as it doesn’t do anyone any good listening to a baby screaming for hours on end!
purplecrying.info/what-is-the-period-of-purple-crying.php

*walking around the kitchen with the extractor fan going. Sorry for typos! Would agree with PP that it’s a good idea to find one technique that helps settles baby and stick with it.

Wind or reflux. X

Normal I would say, they are pretty sleepy for first 2 weeks, I remember the midwife warning me of this!

^this. They're just being a baby, sorry. You didn't really have a routine before, they were just in the sleepy first few weeks. Newborns "wake up" around 2-3 weeks and get a lot more aware of their environment.

Give plenty of milk, wind well, watch for overstimulation which often makes it harder and harder for them to fall asleep.

My baby was like this and it turned out to be a cow's milk protein allergy.
It looked exactly like colic but was more extreme because the crying just didn't stop.

Sounds really normal - sorry

but remember that “this too shall pass”

Doesn't sound normal to me. At that age mine were eating, sleeping, being changed or staring at something. Only crying when they needed something.

That something may not be obvious, my guess would be trapped wind, reflux or allergy

I followed a routine with mine so they were pretty chilled out. I don't think crying is ever for no reason - there's usually something that is upsetting the baby. It's just a question of working out what it is.

You'll learn to recognise their cries too, they're different, for different reasons. Hungry crying is usually relentless, with big fat tears and a sort of square-shaped mouth. They can also stick their tongue out and "root" their head round for food. Is it like that?

Are you breastfeeding or bottle feeding? If bottle, how much are they having?

Thank you for all your replies.

Think it's trapped wind. She hasn't had a poo since yesterday early afternoon.
We winded her for a good while and she burped a couple of times but still cried. Looked online and tips to help release the wind - the bicycle movement etc. she still hasn't done a poo. But seems a bit better. She slept a lot better last night.

It's horrible hearing her cry like that or thinking she's in pain. Going to boots pharmacy today to see if there's anything she can have to help with it.

No, you followed a routine and your babies happened, by chance, to be pretty chilled out. A lot of babies have no chill. That's just their personalities. A lot of babies just... cry, for no obviously discernable reason. That's why there are multiple names for and descriptions of the phenomenon. My babies are much older now and have routine coming out of their ears and they still both have zero chill. Fuck I hate this whole "my baby was so chill because I did things right" thing.

It's normal and not harmful for babies to cry and sometimes you never work out why. Maybe there never was a "why".

Yours were pretty chilled out so you were able to follow a routine - big difference 😁

Experiencing something similar to the OP so I’m also interested in the responses. It may be a coincidence but ours seems to settle better in a swaddle bag. I’m using the 0.2 tog one from Love to Dream since our house it quite warm.

Just to increase the hate - I'll admit I actually followed the 😱 Gina Ford 😱 routine, with both babies, and they truly were contented. I 100% believe it's down to that routine because all my friends who followed the GF routine had calm babies. It works.

They're not chilled out people now they're older. DS2 has absolutely zero chill.

I think new parents need to know there are options - you can follow a routine or you can go with your instincts. Either way is fine. Personally I had no instincts so I preferred to follow advice.

I also knew that my own life was chaotic and disorganised and I always felt stressed, so a routine would probably be calming for me too, and it was.

Anyway, glad you've sorted it, OP.

I remember with our first, my husband and I were verging on smug for the first two weeks. We were thinking this is so easy, why do people make such a song and dance out of this?! And then she woke up and never slept again!!
Unfortunately it is just normal, they’re just more awake after the first two weeks and it’s hard, don’t underestimate how exhausting it is and try to support one another and factor in breaks for each other.
Your baby will soon smile and start to interact a bit more and then this slog starts to feel worth it!

This is the rule of babies. Every time you think you have got the hang of something they completely change their habits.
I would say that wake windows are more important than routines at that age.

Firstly, it is perfectly normal.

I used to lie in bed with DD on my chest to get her to sleep. Also, I highly recommend a sling, it just gives you freedom to use your hands. My DD is 8 months and going through a stage of refusing naps - stick her in the sling and she falls asleep.

Normal! Look up the crying curve.
They find their voices at 2 weeks. The amount of time spent crying in a 24 hour period gradually increases form 2 weeks and peaks at 6-8 weeks then slowly decreases again.

Research can't identify why this happens, just that it peaks, they're currently putting it down to a normal stage of baby brain development.

If you feel you aren't coping with baby's crying and have no one to pass baby to, pop them down somewhere safe and give yourself a break... this is the safest thing to do for baby.

Good luck op.