Help! Anyone out there? I need some advice NOW.

[newmomma]

My DD is 3 weeks old and has cried for three days solid.

And I'm not exaggerating. Everyone muscle and bone in my body hurts and I'm desperate for sleep.

I got three hours 2 nights ago and one hour last night, with no napping in the day as DS (17mo) is keeping me busy.

I am getting desperate. I literally can't quieten her and at th emoment can't even sit in the same room. I've put her in her moses basket in the dining room so that she doesn't wake my son up and I'm hoping she'll tire herself out - but I'm hating myself for it.

But I literally can't even hold her anymore.

I'm sure its 'just' colic but I don't know what to do. Its only been a few days and I can't bear the thought of this happening until she is 4 months old potentially.

PLEASE is anyone out there who can give me some advice as to WHY she won't sleep and if she does why she'll only sleep for 15/20 mins before screaming.

She's exclusively bf and had her tongue tie snipped last Thursday.

I Had a hellish first six weeks with my ds until we tried formula. I wasn't producing enough milk and the poor wee thing was really hungry. We really wanted to ebf so once we'd both had a chance to rest I concentrated on increasing my supply expressing In the morning to top him up at night. It's been a struggle with weight gain since but we are getting there!

newmomma, the amby is a Moses basket/cot alternative rather than a carry around sling. The carry around ones are v popular and apparently the babies love them. Having said that I found them claustrophobic on top of continuous feeding etc and also that the toddler appreciated occasionally seeing it's mum without the baby physically between them. Your toddler could help swing the hammock in a v closely supervised situation if you wanted to involve him. I also used to swing it with my foot in the wee hours...

I don't think milk supply is my problem, probably the opposite - I seem to have too much which is causing part of the problem with her poor feeding/breathing co-ordination.

Thanks kisa I bought a kari me in the end - not sure we have the space or money for the amby, it looks so gorgeous but not sure it would help - we've tried all sorts of chairs/swings so far and they don't seem to help.

I'm not against ff at all, but am a stubborn (probably to the detriment of my sanity) breast-feeder. I managed it with DS until he was 9 months old and would feel uncomfortable treating DD differently. Mainly as I am already struggling with with feelings of guilt about having had another LO so soon after DS (16 month gap).

I am going to try a bottle of EBM in the hope that maybe she copes better with a bottle than the breast, however the new latch position seems to be helping. She is much less windy and I am managing to get her to go to sleep in the day a little more. She's still cries 90% of the time when she is awake though...

My DD was like this, and it was the way I was feeding her - I ended up not breast feeding at all, but expressing everything and bottle feeding my expressed milk - she changed in a day to a completely different baby.

At the breast she would make a squelchy sound (I have small boobs but loads of milk) I could express 10oz off each boob at a time...

Nothing more to add to the great advice you've already had, I hope thing improve soon.

Just wanted to say that your comment about guilt at your small age gap - your feelings are quite normal but don't beat yourself up about it. I had a 15 month age gap and really felt guilty about dd1. I also felt I should treat them the same (bf'ing the same amount of time, etc) but over time you will realise that they are completely different individuals and you cannot always replicate exactly what you did with dc1. My younger dd is now 2.1 and they love each other, first thing they ask for in the morning and htey call each other "best friend". I'm sorry you're having a hard time just now but it will get better and your ds will be so happy to have a sibling.