5 week old that cries unless held

[Edelweiss6529]

Hi just after peoples experiences with newborns/babies who would cry unless held.

She is 5 weeks old, she has cows milk protein allergy which we are now controlling using a prescription formula.

at first I thought it was her cows milk allergy causing her to be like this, but it’s not stopping.

basically unless she’s asleep or being pushed in the pram she just cries. As soon as we pick her up, she stops. She doesn’t want anything or need anything, she just wants to be held. This can go on throughout the night if she’s not tired. Resulting in no sleep for me.

I know this is normal in some babies as they like the comfort, but just wondered from experience of others how long it lasted. Will she settle down? My first born was so different to her (boy) barely woke for a bottle and was sleeping through from 9 weeks.

thanks

Yep multiple allergies plus severe silent reflux was the reason. It got to the point that needing to be held was one of her early markers for a reaction - I was breastfeeding and she was reacting to food in my diet
What milk are they on? The first line of treatment is extensively hydrolysed cows milk which can still cause sensitive babies to react to them. Some of the formulas have soya in and half of cmpa are allergic to both. Awkwardly my daughter was allergic to coconut and there was only 1 formula that was dairy, soya and coconut free. Unfortunately it's not quite as simple as cmpa here's a formula all is great again.
Reflux can be caused by allergies, caused by allergy formulas (they are quite thin) and independent of allergies so it might be worth exploring silent reflux too.

Yes. DS1 was the ultimate velcro baby.
Invest in a sling, and consider safely co-sleeping would be my suggestion.

Thanks. We’ve been through so much trial and error over these 5 weeks. Went on aptimal pepti and it wasn’t right for her so now on neocate. All of her allergy symptoms have gone.

Sneezing
coughing
runny poos
rash
hiccups
dry skin

they’ve all settled apart from now she’s obviously struggling with her tummy but neocate have mentioned this on their website and said it’s normal and it takes a while for their gut to adapt to it.

we used a thickener agent carobel which she seemed to react to on infant gavisvon now which so far hasn’t constipated her, so all good.

She definitely has reflux so maybe that’s the main culprit

Thank you. I have a carrier but I’ll get a sling too. Co sleeping definitely isn’t for us, my partner smokes and is a very deep sleeper, we only have the one bed and a very uncomfortable sofa so can’t ask him to go anywhere. Shes in a next to me crib, I’ve started putting the side down so I can place my hand on her to reassure her.

My daughter is allergic to carobel so we had to use infant gaviscon with lactulose for the constipation. It can take 4-6 weeks for the gut to heal and settle on a formula. If it doesn't settle down ask to try alfamino. It's another amino acid formula sometimes a baby can settle better on alfamino when neocate isn't quite right and vice versa. It's a baby thing rather than a product thing

I'd ask about omperazole to see if that helps. My daughter has been on omperazole since about 8 weeks and she's now 4! She's in the minority of children that hasn't outgrown her reflux. Silent reflux can make them really want to be held and be more upright. Even now at 4 if my daughters reflux is playing up she only sleeps in my arms with us both sat upright.

There's another things I read when in the thick of it and that's babies settle better when you are holding them and pacing as they feel they can relax because stood up your are more prepared to run from predators. Evolutionarily they developed an unease about a sitting mother they just haven't caught up with the lack of tigers on the prowl in the UK! I found my ironing board was a good table so I had everything at standing height when spending months pacing with her! She was 17 weeks when her allergies were diagnosed and her reflux adequately treated - she needed the highest dose of omperazole which the GP wasn't moving her on to.

I understand that cosleeping overnight would be tricky in those circumstances but if you do find yourself in need of sleep it might be worth trying the odd cosleeping nap during the day just to get some more rest.