Can't cope with baby's constant screaming

[Flatwhite32]

I love my six week old DD so much, but for the last 2 weeks she has screamed pretty much constantly and I'm on the verge of a breakdown over it. She barely sleeps during the day so is very overtired, and I don't know how to improve this. I have tried everything, including buying 2 books and trying their suggestions, but absolutely nothing is working. I'm convinced she has reflux as she has every symptom of it, so I'll speak to the GP about that at her 6 week check this week. Was prescribed infant Gaviscon a few weeks ago, but it hasn't worked. The evenings are the worst. We get 5 hours of non stop screaming every night, and she won't sleep before 11pm. Thankfully her sleep during the night isn't too bad, possibly because she's so tired from screaming and not sleeping. I'm breastfeeding her and expressing, and she has recently started being really fussy during feeds. She was such a placid baby when we brought her home and fed really well, but she has completely changed recently. She is currently screaming the place down and DH and I are at a complete loss as to what to do. She has been fed, she's clean, her nappy is clean, and her environment is calm. She sounds so so upset and I can't bear it any more.

I had one like this. Screaming, sleepless, bad skin, poor weight gain.

I asked for advice and was told to cut out foods - i did and spent two months on a total exclusion diet. It wasnt allergy or intolerance, which I found out after a miserable six weeks of existing on nothing which did zero :/ reflux meds didn’t work either. 

Looking back I think he was hungry. I BF and I never felt like I had much milk but was sort of swayed by the whole pressure to BF and people’s insistence that everyone has enough milk (which I now don’t believe). He cluster fed for eight hours a day and screamed constantly for months and months and months. Never slept. It was awful and I was suicidal. I got no more than one hours sleep in a row for 18m.

I’m mix feeding my second and it’s made me realise how much they actually eat. I feel so guilty for not giving ds1 a bottle :(

There’s so much pressure to bf- I feel quite angry I didn’t just top him up. I’m a terrible mum :(

You aren't a bad mum. I agree that there is almost no consideration these days that some women have issues with breastmilk supply.

How are you doing op?

Hi everyone! Thankfully since I cut dairy out, she has really improved. Don't get me wrong, she still screams at some point in the day (often the evening) but it's often due to being hungry, windy or overtired, and the screaming fits aren't as long. I am now going out to baby groups, as she's more settled. Really hoping it continues! Thank you so much for all the supportive comments.

Glad to hear it OP

That's great, my dd is 6 months and we've only just started going to baby groups but it does help to meet other people and even if I don't feel like going I try and focus on the fact my baby loves seeing the other babies. Glad you've turned a corner!

My son is 6 Weeks too and I had the exact same problem. My baby was the most chilled boy on earth. Never even cried when he got his heel pricks or vitamin K injection. But after about the 3 week mark he started crying and screaming constantly, even when he was trying to feed. He kept pulling his legs to his chest and acting as if he had a lot of trapped wind. I was breast feeding too at this point.
I later decided to try and give him a bottle of formula to see if it would help ( he also didn't put on much weight so I thought it might bulk him up abit) and what a difference. After the first bottle he never screamed again, turns out I wasn't making enough milk. Hence why he would come off my breast screaming. Poor thing was just starving.
I use Sma organic and I highly recommend it. Xx