6 week old bellows after bath - am I doing something wrong?

[daern]

Hi all,
(I'm the father, BTW. Not sure if I'm allowed to post in mumsnet, but here we go...)
I'm having a small (well, huge really) problem with my 6 week old DD. She's driving us up the wall and I think I need some advice (to add to the masses of conflicting advice that we already have )...
We've been following a routine since she was 2 weeks old. Every evening at around 7pm we go upstairs, undress her and have a bath. She spends around 10 or 15 minutes in the bath, happily floundering around, blowing bubbles and, at least once, showing us what a wee fountain looks like. I then remove her from the bath, carefully dry her with a nice warm towel, slap a nappy back on (because "fountains" aren't as funny in the bedroom ) and head for the nursery to get her dressed and ready for bed...
We put her into her vest and sleepsuit and she has her last feed of the night and then...
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!
She explodes! It's like someone has stuck a timebomb under her. Often she'll start while I dress her, but we have never managed to get her to go down to sleep at this time and she usually takes at least another 2-3 hours before she's burnt out and ready for sleep. And even then, she fights it every step of the way...
We're finding it harder and harder to cope with the endless screaming in the evening. It's the only time I get to spend time with her during the week (I'm at work) and it's such a shame when she bellows so much. We've had lots of suggestions, but today our health visitor recommended that we put her down and if she starts crying, go in and calm her every 5 minutes or so, leaving her to bellow in between.
I was under the impression that you shouldn't do this on such a young baby, but Mrs Daern thinks that we should give it a go...
So, the question for the group is: Should I try it? And if so, how long should I try it for? A week, a month, 3 months?
Any advice would be really appreciated!
Thanks,
Daern

I think swaddling's an excellent suggestion - sorry I didn't make it yesterday in fact! We found this very helpful with ds when he was tiny.

I seem to remember DS being like this at 6 weeks - didn't settle 'til quite late, but since we brought bath time forward to 5.45/6pm, or sometimes earlier if he's had a cranky day and not napped well - really I just go with his signs and follow bath with low lights getting dressed (short while, like a couple of mins, under mobile, while I get cushions, phones, etc to settle in for feeding - my DH works 4 or 5 eves a week so I'm on my own for evening settling) and then settle in to feed until he's had enough and wind (sometimes, I have to feed, wind, feed, wind, feed wind, until he's ready to sleep) and he is pretty good at going down to sleep by 7pm most evenings. However, I would say it wasn't until at least 8 weeks until he settled into this (of course he also has bad reflux and the medication has helped loads).

Sorry for ramble - would just way a good routine, with quiet, low lighting after bath definitely helps and also I would say that 10-15 mins in bath is quite long, even if she is enjoying it - DS is usually in bath for only 5-7 mins (after face and bum washing on change mat). I'm sure she'll settle down soon though. Would wholeheartedly recommend feeding in bed if Mrs Daern is knackered though - I have found this a godsend.

Do you put her in the crib or your wife? I'm assuming your wife is with her all day. From an early age ds didn't get to spend much time with my dh, when they are together ds just wants/wanted dh to hold him and be with him (he's now 16 mo) Even now if dh puts ds in his crib ds will scream bloody murder, but when I do it he's fine.
She may just want to be with you. I don't know if that's the case, but even at that age, they know what they want.

This rings a bell! Ds was exactly the same. We tried Colief (Infacol didn't work) which seemed to help a little. I felt really sorry for dh because, like you, the evening was the only time he spent with ds and he would literally scream for about 4hrs . Other things to consider would be baby massage - ds really benefited from this and he would sleep really well afterwards. Also, I know a couple of babies who have been to see a cranial osteopath, sometimes the trauma of birth can knock vertebrae out of line - admittedly their babies seemed quite distressed for most of the day too but it might be worth having a chat to your HV/doc about it?

ooh dd was exactly the same! you aren't alone...colief helped a bit...but tbh i think she just grew out of it.
I remember how hard it was to listen to that though..hang in there ...it'll get better

I'd say Colic too. Isn't 6 weeks a common age for it to start? And I also agree with the swaddling and cranial osteopath. I've done both and I think they can really help. I know 3 babies who's evening crying has been helped by an osteopath. xxxxxx

get a miracle blanket!!! couldnt agree more hayles 78. (Its the only thing I seem to post about on MN since it changed my life a week ago). My ds was same- screamed at night, wasnt sleeping so was overtired. Suffered from what seemed to be colic. Since miracle blanket sleeps so much better, is avlot calmer, cries loads less and colic seems to have gone. Get on the web and order one! Good luck.

Miracle Blanket sounds good. I will investigate...

dd finally went down at about 10.30pm after, oooo, 3 1/2 hours of cajoling, carrying, sssshing, rocking and, eventually, 30 minutes in the industrial baby swing - never fails :-)

Oh well, it was hard work but one small win was her putting herself to sleep after she woke up while being transferred to the cot. I think that's a first!

If, ultimately, the answer is "they do that, but not for ever" I can certainly manage. I do hope she grows out of it by 3 months like the books say... :-S

daern

I really am sure she will grow out of it. I bought 'The Baby Whisperer' book during this phase and there are loads of helpful tips and hints in there, it really helped me and I know a lot of others on here swear by her methods too. There's a thread on it at the moment I think.

At the end of the day though, the main thing at the moment is to do whatever makes life easier for you and it sounds like your dd is already making small steps - getting herself off to sleep is a huge achievement.