He won't stop crying, please help!

[crazymuseummumtobe]

Please help us! DS1 is 11 days old today. Exclusively formula fed for about 3 days now, as no latch and my milk wasn't coming in (forceps delivery and blood loss in theatre).

He's been grissly all day, and has now been awake and crying for almost three hours. He's had infacol and, since 5pm, feeds of 90ml, 40ml, 50ml, 30ml and now he's on the bottle (!) again. Rejecting a pacifier. Saw the GP this morning for a gooey eye and heart rate and temperature were fine.

Please help. We're at the end of our tether - already! How can we stop him crying and help him sleep? He must be exhausted.

Thanks.

Take baby out in the car

Go out for a walk with baby in sling

Go out for a walk with baby in the pram

Turn the hoover or hairdryer on for white noise

Good luck

This will get better :)

A midwife friend said to me to lie baby on your knees and write “I love you” on his tummy gently. Then gently bend knees up to tummy(babies not yours!). It sounds like there might be a bit of wind and sometimes it’s tricky to release and can last for HOURS. Can guarantee if it is once blockage has gone he’ll be out like a light!

I would take him out in the pram or the car, or a great habit to get into but noise doesn't sound is as bad outside! Failing that a warm bath, followed by skin to skin.

Poor baby. I also had a forceps baby who was very unsettled too. My HN put the pacifier in DC’s mouth and held it there until started sucking. Can you lie him in a dark room on your chest and hold him until he gets to sleep? He is probably over tired at the stage. Also we found white noise a god send. Good luck.

Possibly the start of colic? Keep him upright as much as possible, especially after feeds, also get a wedge for his moses basket/cot to elevate his head.

Google baby massage for colic and bicycle his legs gentle go try to get the wind out.

White noise also, there are apps or you can just leave the hoover or hairdryer running till he calms down

Take him out for a walk. With mine it was a sign they were massively over tired and over stimulated and couldn’t switch off. So DH used to go walking with ds at all hours. It did calm down

iPhone app - sound sleeper - the vacuum noise

I. Swore. By. It

With my second we didn’t have these periods of crying - possibly because I just held her or had in the sling pretty much all day for the first three months.

Right, back to basics - nappy change, temperature check, make sure he hasn’t got any tiny hairs wrapped round his fingers or toes (can make them cry inconsolably), swaddle him up and get him in your arms on his left side (to help relieve wind) with some sort of rhythmic motion going (mine always liked being patted) alongside some white noise. Not sure what weight he is (?) but after 200 ish mls of milk since 5pm he shouldn’t be crying from hunger so personally I wldn’t give him more at this stage. Assuming no signs of illness my guess would be wind / discomfort and general overstimulation.

Deep breath, you can do this.

Gripe water with, and infacol before, EVERY feed. Keep both of those up for 24 hours and I'd be gobsmacked if you didn't see a difference.
Stay strong... picture a calm baby in 24 hours.

Every single feed. Gripe water in the milk. Infacol before the milk.

And when you get a moment (!) google Dr Harvey Karp and the 5 s’s of baby soothing.

Sounds like colic...gripe water in every feed ..it really does work . Bounce on ball to calm down first before feed !! Good luck .

Try an osteopath in case he had some birth injuries?

What Kellyhall says, and also lots of skin to skin contact from both parents. Sleep in shifts and make sure the off duty parent blocks out noise if possible.

Remember you are doing an amazing job. Babies can cry for a looooong time but it doesn't mean you have done anything wrong. A personal opinion is keep an eye on the reaction to formula. Once I started formula feeding I noticed my daughter had a cows milk allergy and that was why she was crying.

You've got this, stay with it.

My DS wouldn't latch so I ended up FF. Turns out he has reflux, he was 5 weeks before it was diagnosed as he'd actually started throwing up. Prior to that it was just making him uncomfortable and he was crying a lot.

White noise app helped us a lot

Hope you got some sleep and got him settled OP

My ds is now 5 weeks and cries most of the time. Gp has checked him over no obvious signs of illness. I honestly am starting to think we dont make him feel safe. He will only sleep on me or dh and that's after a battle and long bouts of purple crying. My only advice to you op is white noise, it sometimes help soothe a bit. I've cut out all milk from my diet which has stopped the tummy problems. But he still cries most the time he is awake. I'm so tired. Keep on here for moral support.

Different movements the strip him off and get some skin to skin together making "shushing" noises holding him upright and stroking his back.

@fluffyjumper is he gaining wait? Does comfort sucking help? Very normal for a baby to want to be on their caregiver all the time. They've left a warm, safe womb to very scary reality!

Also is he too cold/hot?

He is definitely gaining weight. He is 5 weeks and 0-3 clothing is becoming snug on him. I just worry so much. He is currently laid snuggle into me asleep in bed. He did settle a bit quicker last night. Dh slept in with him last night and used my expressed milk. I took over at 5am. I think I may have just needed unbroken sleep to clear my head. Mn does keep me going.