9 week old increased crying and fussiness… at my wits end

[Rosiebun]

Hi everyone,

im a FTM to a 9 week old baby girl. Up until a week ago she was relatively chilled and only really cried when she was hungry, she did have some problems with infant dyschezia and difficulty pooing, but other than that she’s been ok.

she had her vaccinations at 8 weeks, and since then has been a completely different baby. I’m not saying it’s due to the vaccines, more probably just a coincidence but she’s gone from being quite chilled to more or less screaming the entire time she’s awake, unless she’s feeding (she’s formula fed if that makes a difference)

she’s also barely sleeping through the day, but is doing 7 hour stretches at night. Nothing that used to settle her works anymore. She used to like being in the pram and car, the motion would put her to sleep. Now she just screams. She screams if I put her down, but I’m on my own through the day so I physically need to put her down to go for a wee or make a bottle up. Walking round the house cuddling and rocking her used to work. Now she just screams. She has a dummy but she still cries with it in her mouth, or just spits it out. Previously, people have commented on how chilled she is but now it’s like she’s completely different. It’s breaking my heart because I just want to help her but I don’t feel like I can. I’ve been diagnosed with PND aswell so that isn’t helping, I don’t feel like I’m doing a good enough job for her and that’s why she’s upset all the time. I also feel like I can’t go anywhere or do anything with her because I’m scared she’s going to scream and feel embarrassed of what people might think or say in public. So I just feel trapped in the house with a screaming baby, and it is exhausting. Please tell me this is just a phase and will end soon?

Is she hungry? I remember mine had a growth spurt then and I stopped being able to keep up from my supply I had to add some formula after each feed. Previously she’d only ever cried when hungry and it did help. Was able to drop the bottle a week or so later, though have supplemented intermittently as needed.

Where (ish) are you?
Is she hot?

Could it be the weather being so hot at the minute?

Could there be a problem with the milk you are feeding her? (Any intolerance symptoms as you said previous problems with bowel movements) is there any signs of pain or discomfort when feeding or immediately after?

How is her weight gain?

Near Leeds. Yes I think she could be hot! It did start before it got really warm though, but I don’t think it is helping

7 hour stretches at night you are living the dream

I don’t think it’s because of the heat, but I don’t think the heat is helping if that makes sense. She doesn’t seem uncomfortable after feeding, but during she can sometimes writhe around and turns her head away from the bottle, even though I know she is hungry? I’m wondering now if it could be trapped wind, she’s not very good at burping or passing wind, it takes a while to get it out of her. She is gaining weight though

Could it be the rotavirus vaccine? Mine were always very grumpy after that one. I think it stays in the system for a couple of weeks

I think it could be :(

It takes 10-14 days for the rota vaccine to work through their system. Mine just had continuous runny nappies, but it didn't seem to bother him. I could imagine it could make another baby quite uncomfortable though. She could also be hungry and maybe drinking more milk in one go than her system can handle if she's sleeping that long. She must be ravenous when she wakes up!

Hang in there. You are doing a wonderful job. My son is 8 now but I still remember how hard it was especially those first few weeks. We had similar issues. For him it was an issue with the formula. He had digestive issues, reflux, trapped wind, constipation. Changing the formula to one in the same range but specifically for digestive issues helped. The constipation was due to us using the pre made formula and changing to a powdered one helped - it was also one specifically for reflux. After vaccinations he was always worse for a while and heat also didn’t help. It will get easier. These are the hardest weeks. Any concerns though, go to your GP as well. We had a hernia issue that also needed correcting.

Rotavirus vaccine really fucked us. It made my poor baby so sick. Completely threw his sleep out the window, gave him awful reflux and diarrhea, for weeks. He reacted the same way at this second dose. Part of me thinks should I have not given him the second dose? But then, if this is how the vaccine hits him, it means the actual illness is 100 times worse.

I offer her 5oz when she wakes up but she usually only has 3! It seems odd, she’ll eat every 2 hours through the day but then go for a really long stretch at night?

Hi
writhing head around whilst having bottle is a classic sign of reflux babies. I work with little ones and have cared for over 35 now and seen it a few times, including my own little ones. I had PND with my first and just wanted to say it does get better. I had some very dark days and know how relentless the low moods can feel. Please do try and take any help you can get with baby so that you can take some you time, although you may not feel like doing much, even a bath in peace can help.
best of luck