Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Please or to access all these features

Postnatal health

As with all health-related issues, please seek advice from a RL health professional if you're worried about anything.

Baby screaming through the night

27 replies

Melrose86 · 24/04/2019 16:14

Hi everyone. Looking for some advice. My baby started screaming in the middle of the night for hours at about a week old. Spoke to our health visitor who advised using infacol as our baby seems to be in pain from maybe trapped wind. After trying this we had 5 nights in a row with no screams but now our baby is back to waking about 1.30am and screaming til 4am. Me and my partner take turns and have tried what feels like everything but nothing seems to stop the screams til he falls asleep again. The screams are upsetting to listen to as he sounds in so much pain plus its exhausting and we dread the nights! Anyone any ideas what could help? Or been in a similar situation? As i also find when I talk to people about it they either go on about how good a sleeper their baby is or they make us feel like we are doing something wrong. Thanks!x

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Mumofboys95 · 24/04/2019 16:20

Could it be reflux of some kind?

Melrose86 · 24/04/2019 17:24

It could be I'm not sure. It always starts at the same time in the middle of the night. He is fine during the day. Any idea what we can do if it is reflux?x

OP posts:
SoHotADragonRetired · 24/04/2019 17:26

How is baby fed?

Are you still giving infacol?

What is baby like during the day?

Does he nap easily?

Have you tried a swaddle? What are you doing to calm them during the screaming?

hospitalbagfrenzy · 24/04/2019 17:54

Check out silent reflux signs here

www.thesleeplady.co.uk/silent-reflux-tips/

Melrose86 · 24/04/2019 18:13

Baby is bottle fed. We give infacol before each feed. He naps great and during the day he sleeps a lot and feeds every 3-4 hours. He never screams during the day. We tried swaddling but he fights to get free. We try rocking/bouncing, white noise, different winding positions and a dummy but once he's screaming nothing works for more than a minute or two x

OP posts:
kikibo · 24/04/2019 21:06

DS briefly started this, but he seemed to get comfort from lying on his tummy. I discovered it by chance when I was trying to rock him to sleep and I was lying down in bed with him on top of me. Once he'd let off a good fart, he slept. It also worked during the day.
He still burps best on his tummy.

I always turned him over again though.

Sorry if you've tried this already.

Drogosnextwife · 24/04/2019 21:09

Which formula are you using? How old is he now?

JustLikeJasper · 24/04/2019 21:15

How old is he? Infacol did nothing to help my DS but gripe water worked well although think they have to be older than 3 months to have it. Also keeping a dim light on over night helped as I dont think he liked the dark

Melrose86 · 24/04/2019 21:51

He is 3 weeks old. We are using cow and gate. Health visitor did mention using gripe water when he is older.

I will try him on his tummy more :)

OP posts:
JustLikeJasper · 25/04/2019 06:18

@Melrose86 which bottles are you using? MAM bottles helped massively with wind too. X

Alienspaceship · 25/04/2019 06:27

Colief was a godsend for us when our DS was exactly how you describe.

chuttypicks · 25/04/2019 06:40

Give comfort milk a go. That helped our LO. Also, have you tried the Tiger in the Tree good? Give it a Google if you haven't. It may help.

Haz1516 · 25/04/2019 06:43

Colic. It's awful. We used to spend hours walking around singing to our baby until he'd eventually pass out. Try changing bottle brands. It will get better eventually though, hang on in there Flowers

Melrose86 · 25/04/2019 10:58

I am thinking of changing bottles to see if that helps but its just the expense of it all that puts me off if it doesnt work. But at this stage we are willing to try anything to stop the screams. Last night all that worked was bouncing him for ages then giving him the dummy once he was calm then I would maybe get 10 minutes til the screams started again. It was a good arm workout!

OP posts:
chuttypicks · 25/04/2019 12:04

Mam bottles worked for us. Good luck op.

Melrose86 · 25/04/2019 17:28

Thanks so much everyone for the advice xx

OP posts:
chewbacca83 · 25/04/2019 20:13

Have you tried tilting his cot so his head is elevated? That really helps with reflux. If it continues take him to the doctor as he might need something stronger than infacol

chuttypicks · 26/04/2019 07:19

How did you get on last night @Melrose86 ? Any improvement?

Melrose86 · 26/04/2019 09:18

Had a better night thanks. Still had some screaming but it didnt last as long and he slept more :)

OP posts:
tiredandworried123 · 26/04/2019 09:20

We switched from c&g to Hipp Organic and it made a huge difference to our baby's wind.

chuttypicks · 26/04/2019 10:57

That's great news @Melrose86 . Fingers crossed he improves night by night for you now.

Melrose86 · 26/04/2019 12:01

Everything is trial and error isnt it in terms of bottles, formula etc x

OP posts:
chuttypicks · 26/04/2019 17:40

It really is! I had to change bottles and formula and use Infacol before every feed in the end! Good luck with it. You'll get there! X

crazymare20 · 12/05/2019 01:23

Babies can have gripe water from one month I’ve just checked the bottle I have in the cupboard. I loved the stuff when my son was newborn as he had terrible colic. I also swapped to the MAM bottles which were a god send

SeaToSki · 12/05/2019 01:35

Might have a trapped burp and since he is lying down for a longer period he feels it more. If he wakes screaming, Try sitting him bolt upright with legs straight out in front (body at a right angle) support the head under the chin, lean him forward just a little so the tummy is slightly pressured and just wait like that for at least a minute. If he burps, its likely that that is the problem....so you need to wind him better after the last feed. Try feeding, laying him on his back in the crook of your thighs for a good two mins and then try the sitting burp technique