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5 Week old is so hard to settle during the day

10 replies

verycherry82 · 04/07/2012 07:37

DS2 is 5 weeks old and seems to be so discontented and hard to settle at all during the day. The nights are ok so far. We do bath and bottle and bed starting at 6ish so he is normally down and asleep in his basket by 7.15pm. He will usually sleep until 1am and then take 4-5oz of formula and settle well. He will then wake between 5am and 6am but willl be unsettled from then throughout the day. He will grizzle and cry on and off from that early morning feed until the next one whether he is swaddled and put back into his moses basket or left in his swing with white noise in the background. He usually goes 3 hours between feeds during the day but very rarely settles to sleep in between them unless we are out and he is in his buggy. I should add that his cries are so angry and loud and he will just keep going and going until the next feed although I don't think it is hunger that is making him cry as it starts as soon as we finish the bottle even if he doesn't want any more milk.

I don't mind him being awake but find the constant crying very wearing. I also have a very lively 18 montho old and it feels very unfair on him that the constant background noise to his day is a screaming newborn!

Any advice would be much appreciated!

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Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Magneto · 04/07/2012 07:41

Could it be colic?

verycherry82 · 04/07/2012 11:08

I thought colic was more of an evening thing? He is bringing his wind up well and isn't drawing his legs up or showing any other colic signs. I am at a loss!

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HearMyRoar · 04/07/2012 11:15

Have you tried using a sling?

My dd wouldn't nap on her own during the day until about 8 weeks. Up until then I had to hold her or carry her in the sling for her to sleep. She just wasn't ready to be put down so much at that age.

Mitsouko · 04/07/2012 12:51

Definitely use a sling if you can, he probably needs more body contact and that should settle him down well. You will have your hands free to run after toddler too. If you have a bad back try a moby wrap or mei tai. Both are very comfy and ergonomic.

lozwp · 06/07/2012 21:13

Is he sick a lot after a feed? If so, it could be reflux. My lil girl was exactly the same as your son during the night and day. Turns out, she had reflux - took a while to realise because as a a first time mum, I didn't know how much sick was 'too much sick'. Wish someone had asked me this question sooner. If you think he is sicky, there are lots of threads with advice.

AlphabetiSpaghetti · 06/07/2012 21:23

Mine had silent reflex. I just thought it was me not doing things right. Took 4 months to get of hell for a doctor to diagnose it and gaviscon sorted it almost immediately. Go to the gp and have a chat.

bessyboop · 06/07/2012 21:28

Maybe a sling would do the trick. With all mine (3DD) in the early days, I feeded on demand. Maybe try settling him with milk? Even if it's only an ounce (after a feed an hour before hand). If he settles, it's better than having a grizzly baby. HV like to hear mums saying that they feed babies every 3 to 4 hours. At 5 wks old, imo they should have milk on demand. A routine will fall into place after a while. But that's only my opinion :)

gloucestergirl · 07/07/2012 22:39

Sounds exactly like my DD at 5 weeks. It took a lot of trial and error until we found ways of getting her to go for daytime naps. I'm still really annoyed that we didn't get more help from more experienced people, but what can we do now.

Anyway there are two ways that we got her to sleep: Rocking back and forth or up and down by patting her bottom while patting her back every fourth beat (mimics the heartbeat apparently). Also shhhing and swaddling really help too. Our DD fights sleep and can really cry as she gets angry, but if we are determined, she'll go out in a couple of minutes.

Second way is walking around with her in a carrier. That annoyed me after a while, but it works.

I really wish that we had figured this out sooner as DD was very whingy when she was that age. I just kept feeding her thinking she was hungry and instead the poor sod was knackered! Now she is such a happy baby (4 months) that she has 4 naps a day.

verycherry82 · 09/07/2012 13:52

Thank you so much Gloucester! The rocking and patting seems to have worked today as he has been quiet for about 20 minutes in his Moses basket! Like your DD, he got angry and cried for a bit but seems to have gone off.

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gloucestergirl · 09/07/2012 20:22

Fingers crossed for you that it keeps on working :) Our DD actually carried on sleeping on our chests once we got her to sleep. We didn't want her to wake up again - which she would do when moved from our chests. As you have another child as well, I guess you don't have the luxury of sitting in front of the telly with a sleeping baby :)

I've started transfering her to her cot to sleep, but she will wake up after about 20 minutes. Swaddling her really helps her to get to sleep and stay asleep. Also she goes for her nap about an hour and half to two hours after waking up and this seems to start a good napping pattern for the day. (Sorry if I'm going on a bit, but it took alot to work out how to settle her and stop her crying that I could almost write a book about it!) I hope your little fella is much happier once he gets his naps.

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