Newborn witching hour/reflux?

[tirednewbornmom]

My newborn is one week & 2 days, absolute angel during the day, literally wakes for a feed and goes straight back down again, can barely keep her awake. However her ‘last feed’ doesn’t matter if it’s 8pm-10pm she’s practically over to sleep everytime then starts this fussiness/distress for at least 3 hours. She settles then screams on repeat.
I do think she has reflux & she’s riddled with hiccups at night when i lie her down but have been taking all the steps to help it (smaller feeds, smaller teats etc). I know this can get worse at night but can someone please help?! or shed some light?

Perhaps try not letting her sleep so much during the day? Perhaps she’s just not tired enough by that point to fall into a deep sleep.

My baby had this! Colief drops helped

we’ve tried infacol but may try this, she’s so comfortable upright until we put her on her back!

Not wanting to dismiss potential reflux issues and definitely get that looked into if you have concerns, but in general the ‘witching hour’ is a thing in those first few months, fussy baby in the evening is not unusual, especially at that age (look up Purple Crying if you haven’t already). I went through similar with my DC and it was a long old slog for those first 12 weeks but we got through it and over time, the crying lessened and eventually stopped. Have you got some support / partner who is sharing the load with this as it can be quite draining?

thank you, yes i’ve read about witching hour & do think it’s more the case as it doesn’t matter what time that last feed is. she’s just so comfortable any other way than on her back that makes me think of the reflux. did you find anything helped at all? My husband is here but it’s definitely draining

What helped was definitely 50/50 support from partner so being able to hand her over for a bit and get a breather, feeding (she was breastfed), or a drive in the car for a bit as that always got her to sleep. Or a walk in the pram with headphones in, because she was going to cry either way but being outside helped to calm her sometimes. I never got the hang of a sling but others highly recommend it if that could work for you. We also did the infacol / gripe water etc… bit which I think helped in a psychological way rather than any real therapeutic effect (made me feeling like I was ‘doing’ something).

Hi, i really feel you!
I have a 13 week old and we went/are still going through some of this.
We mentioned it at our GP 6 week appointment but wish we had gone sooner - she thought he had silent reflux looking at the symptoms (still wanting food after feeding as it soothes the burning but makes it worse in the longrun), grunting, grabbing at chest/throat. She prescribed carobel which thickens the milk and makes it lie heavier, reducing the reflux. We have found this has really helped.
We found colief drops also helpful but insanely expensive for extended use. Personally we found infacol made it worse but others say it helps.
Also we are still working out the witching hour but found feeding him much more regularly smaller amounts (like cluster feeding) helped hold off the ear splitting crying. He also now sleeps longer into the night as he is completely topped up with calories. This may make the reflux worse though. Sorry if that's not much help!