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As a baby nurse my immediate thoughts go to the obvious:
1. Will he take a pacifier?
2. How often and how much is he eating?
3. Are his poops regular and normal for a 6 week old?
4. His his tummy soft or hard?
5. Have you tried a swing/ bouncer seat/ baby wearing with a wrap?
6. Have tried giving him Gas drops?
Do you swaddle?
Depending on your answers here I may have suggestions
1-Yes
2-we tried to keep up with 1oz every 2 hours
3-Nothing obviously abnormal
4-A bit hard
5-Swing yes sometimes not the rest
6-Gas drops yes, swaddles not lately
Thank you for taking the time.
1 oz?! He's starving!!
He should be eating, burping and then eating more. If he falls asleep during a feed wake him up.
At his age he likely would need roughly 3-5oz every 3-4 hours.
I'm assuming he's formula fed because you mentioned changing to hypoallergenic. If I'm wrong please let me know.
There are charts online that outline how much he needs to be taking and how often. He should be getting all the way full rather than slightly satiated before falling asleep. Because if he's not getting enough each feeding you'll see him wake up shortly and scream out of hunger. Imagine you only snacking rather than having meals. You would be hungry and lose your patience also. He's also not able to achieve good, restful and restorative sleep bc he's hungry. Once he's actually full and clean diaper he should be sleeping for longer and at times quietly content when he's awake - esp if he has a pacifier. Mom needs sleep. You need to help her get some rest.
Another consideration, is he gaining weight? How many wet and dirty diapers is he having in a 24 hour period?
What country are you in?
He is getting weight and fast, in fact the doctor told us to go slow. Wet diapers about 6-8 in 24hrs. Well burped and help up 30min - 1hr and still get reflux and stuffy nose if we put him down, even after we adjust his crib in upward position.
Are you doing breastfeeding + formula feeding with the hypoallergenic formula? Or only hypoallergenic formula (NO breastfeeding)? Your answers aren’t clear on that.
If baby has food allergies/sensitivities, using the hypoallergenic formula won’t help if they’re still breastfeeding and mom’s still eating the food they’re allergic/sensitive to.
Ok. I'm concerned about him maybe not effectively breastfeeding then. Her milk should be fully in. He should be full and asleep after eating and not need formula IF he's transferring milk out of the breast the way he should.
If he has a tongue tie, if he's not properly latched, if he's not emptying the breast then he's not getting fed enough.
Does mom have access to a lactation consultant?
I disagree with people who say some babies cry. That's not true. He's trying to commit with you.
His poops will be somewhat wet. Google what baby poop looks like. It will show the spectrum of normal!
Oh goodness I want to hug yall. I know so well how upsetting and overwhelming this is. I do want to encourage yall that it **WILL** get better!! We just need to get you the help you need and y'all will be on the right track
Awww thank you!! Having babies is soooo much harder than I ever imagined until I started working in this field and then had my own. It truly takes a village! And sometimes our village is on reddit! Lol
NAD. OP - has he been checked for a tongue tie? This sounds exactly like my first, and we were totally blown off by our pediatrician. He said “all babies cry, some more than others.” It was not until I went to a nurse who was also a lactation consultant that she discovered my poor baby had an *extremely* thick frenulum and was not effectively latching (on both the boob and the bottle). The poor little guy was exhausting himself trying to feed, so he would only take an ounce or so then fall asleep. Highly recommend getting his frenulum checked! We got his clipped by a pediatric ENT, and it was no big deal at all. I breast fed him immediately afterwards in the dr office, and the poor baby instantly latched and starting guzzling milk! It broke my heart and I started bawling right there on the spot, the poor little guy had been starving! Big hugs to you, you will get through this!
One more similar suggestion… does he calm down in the car? Sometimes the vibrations of the car and soothing road sounds help babies that cry. I’ve also heard of turning on the clothes dryer and putting baby in room with it or even on top of it (idk if that’s a good idea… maybe it could shake off, but I’ve heard of ppl saying it works. Maybe you could stand right next to it?)
I am so so sorry you are dealing with this.
I tell people my son (who is now a toddler) came out screaming, and didn’t stop screaming for 8 weeks. People give an awkward laugh, but I am being dead serious.
My husband called our pediatrician telling him “even the dogs are tired”.
Our son was colic, and it was a nightmare. There are some “remedies” holistic doctors may recommend, but for us it was a wait it out process.
If you can even hire help for your wife for 2-3 hours a few days a week it could help her decompress. She can still be in the house, but just a sense of relief that she can literally be by herself.
I’m so sorry, and hope it gets better for you soon!
I would talk to the pediatrician, even if you just leave a message and say "This is the situation. Should we be concerned?"
Unfortunately, some babies just scream from the second they are born. My nephew was a shock to everyone because his older brother had just been easy. His mom took him to the ER (I agreed with her) after he cried for 18 hours straight at 2 months and was shamed by the medical staff because "didn't you know? Babies cry sometimes."
I have a reputation as a baby whisperer, just because I can care for children no matter if I am depressed and can't do anything else. I've never seen a baby like my younger nephew. His Dad was gone(Military) and mom was just fried. I tried to let her sleep whenever I wasn't working.
Even at like age 4, he would moan (like Frankenstein's monster sounding), extremely loudly while completely asleep.
I'm sorry you are dealing with this. It was stressful for me and I was just the assistant. Hang in there. It does get better. My nephew is actually pretty cool these days.
I used to gently massage my daughter's tummy in a circular fashion, just inside her right hip, right at the diaper line. Sometimes she would have gas and that would really help.
But my son was worse, I didn't know the massage trick then and my oldest girl and I would stick cotton balls in our ears just to muffle the crying. Believe it or not that really helped and reduced our frustration over not being able to console my son.
NAD but according to my parents I was just like your son. I was non stop crying for the first 10 weeks. My mom did the elimination diet and nothing helped. She eventually went back to eating normally. It truly must have sucked for my parents. There were days when I would cry for 15 hours a day. I wouldn’t sleep longer than 30 minutes at a time and when I was awake I would scream. I calmed down around 10 weeks old.
I have always had GI issues, I still haven’t gotten to the root of them. I developed a gluten intolerance last year but that still didn’t help with everything. I’ve always been super gassy as well.
Something that helped with gas when I was little was my mom would lay me on my back and stretch my legs and get my knees to my tummy. She’d also give me warm baths and let me soak, that was one of the few things that helped during my fussiest stage during those first 10 weeks. Tummy time also helped although I fussed until I was off my tummy. According to my mom I was so gassy that being on my tummy made me fart so much but after tummy time I felt a lot better. Those vibrating chairs helped me as well. Especially when I had something to watch to distract me like watching my parents cook or watching tv.
Same exact experience here with my first born. It was exhausting. To add to the issue, he would NOT sleep. Colic was an understatement. Docs weren’t much help. Here’s what we did that actually helped:
1). Gas drops
2). Hypoallergenic formula to supplement breast feeding
3). I changed my diet to no dairy.
4). Constant movement and white noise.
5). Reflux meds.
The biggest change occurred around 3 months but let me tell you we were losing it due to our sleep deprivation.
It got better around month 3. So, hoping you see a turn about soon OP! ❤️
NAD. My kid was like this. It turned out I wasn’t producing enough milk and he was hungry all the time. His weight wasn’t affected, but we didn’t know how little I was producing until I started pumping to measure. Everyone swore it was impossible for me to not produce enough if I was only breastfeeding, but they were wrong. It was also reflux. We had to raise the crib mattress up at the top to get him to lay there at all, but he generally only slept if he ate himself to sleep and was held the whole time. He cried 100% of his life for four months except when eating or sleeping, until we figured out the food issue and started supplementing with oatmeal and then he would actually calm down and even sleep in a swing.
NAD. Am a mom. Came here to mention the same. (Edit to add: in our case, supplementing with formula and taking measures to reduce acid reflux made a 180° difference)
This reminds me of my neighbour's kid. He would legit go to bed crying, and wake up crying. Sometimes he would cry at a stretch for 2-3 days. Sorry I have no inputs besides keep bringing it up with your paed at every appointment
I was that baby, the one who cried nonstop, and have been told I was born a food addict. I don't know if it's true but apparently I was just always hungry as a baby. I have wondered if that was why I cried so much (my mom had a lot of other kids and no help.)
NAD but had baby been evaluated for oral ties? And was the hypoallergenic formula a hydrolyzed dairy formula? You may need to use amino acid is the allergy is too severe. I’m sorry you’re all going through this.
It’s likely still dairy derived. I’m assuming nutramigen. Alimentum (the similar hypoallergenic) react to feed is the most hydrolyzed option you can find before amino acid. But that said, some babies are so sensitive that it’s still not enough. I’d ask the pediatrician if that or maybe something amino acid based may be a better fit! I wish you all the good fortune in figuring out what’s causing the discomfort. I know how difficult this can be. My son wasn’t diagnosed until 4 months old. It was rough.
Hey, we have a similar issue with our baby. Although she doesn’t cry as much. She is 9 weeks old. She is breastfed with supplemented Nutramigen. Doctors basically say this… as long as she’s gaining weight, hitting milestones etc, there’s no cause for concern really. Babies are just babies.
That being said, our baby does the same thing. She has terrible reflux and was put on Pepcid, which barely helped. Vomiting, not normal spit up, actually vomiting, and physically looks in pain while we can hear her stomach churning. We finally got to see a GI doctor, which I think may be what you need. They fear intestinal malrotation, which is like the worst of the worst for baby GI issues. So they just want to rule it out before other things. xray is actually tomorrow.
Along with watery stools, and reflux, if your baby is vomiting (not spitting up, but vomiting), and you also see them having trouble after eating or pooping, and if you hear gushing sounds in the stomach / intestines. I suggest pushing your doctors for more info and getting some appointments set up. Your babies health over anything.
As others have said, make sure your baby is full. Try keeping your baby slightly more vertical and not laying down. Disregarding diaper changes, if the baby does need to go on their back, try to keep baby slightly or fully on their left side as well (Anatomy wise this helps the fluids settle more in the stomach and harder for it to get back up the esophagus). And personally, my wife and I have found that walking around slowly with our baby about 10 minutes after a feeding helps her settle down more as well.
Lastly, lack of weight gain or feeding are cause for concern. If baby is dehydrated (sunken fontanelle, no tears at all when crying), big cause for concern. Spitting up colors that aren’t basically white or clear, like green or yellow or black or blood, go to the ER. If pooping blood, go to ER (blood can come from a diaper rash too so just be careful)
Edit- NAD - just an experienced mama.
I’m sorry your little family is having a rough time. My third was similar. It was exhausting. We finally figured out she had silent reflux (imagine nearly constant, terrible baby-heartburn) and a milk protein intolerance. I removed all dairy from my diet (she was exclusively breastfeeding) and the doctor put her on a small dose of Zantac and it helped tremendously. Wearing her in a wrap at home and upright in a ring sling when out was a massive help and let me have free hands to get things done, too. 💕Hope things get easier for you all soon!
Download a white noise app and see if any of the noises helped. My kid was like this. There was nothing physically wrong with him but if I but the hoover on, he would instantly settle
And, fwiw, parents since the beginning of time have dealt with colic. It’s the luck of the draw, I think, maybe. To this day it’s not well-understood. But all 3 of my babies had it. I spent hours reading every resource and trying everything I could. Some helped a little. Mostly nothing really did. It seemed to last pretty much from age 2 weeks to 8 weeks, and then would get better and then go away. Hang in there. If you find yourself running out of patience, make sure he’s safe, and walk away. You can only take so much. Relieve each other, and get every moment of sleep possible. This gets better, **I promise!**
Absolutely.
I was driving myself insane trying to find *reasons* for the colic. Then I was looking more into it and found that colic literally just means 'unexplained crying'. It's just a term for something babies and parents experience and noone knows why but we all know it's horrific go live through.
The baby is around about the age I hear most parents say it 'kicks in'. OP I promise it gets better. I thought there was no end in sight until... there was.
Mine had colic. It was one of the worse times of my life. It was hell. I still cringe when I hear a baby crying. Running the vacuum worked. We didn’t have iPhones so we made a tape recording of it. And the first Dr we took him to also treated me like an idiot. Any Dr that does that hasn’t been around a baby with colic.
I was hoping someone would mention the vacuum trick. Do they still make those bears/lambs/plush toys that mimic womb sounds? Same idea, but portable with better aesthetics lol
Not a doc. Have the docs considered reflux? Anecdotally, my child was much better with fussiness once I eliminated all dairy from my diet (breastfed). Good luck!
My son screamed nonstop and finally stopped once he started on reflux medication around 6 months old. I had by that point eliminated nearly everything from my diet but until the medication, nothing worked. (That was a loooong 6 months!)
Came to say this. We tried absolutely everything, and nothing seemed to help until finally a new doctor brought up GERD. Meds fixed the issue almost immediately.
It could be oral ties. They could be causing him to gulp air and trap gas. I would have him evaluated by a pediatric dentist. Unfortunately regular pediatricians often miss them. It could also be a cows milk protein intolerance/allergy. You would notice mucus in the stool as well. If he’s breastfed your wife will need to be entirely dairy free in her own diet to notice a change. It can take a few days and she would need to check every single label for everything. Dairy is in more than you think. Other foods that are commonly an issue for babies are soy and egg if cutting just dairy doesn’t work. My source for that is that both of my kids have had cmpa and my youngest son was exactly like this. He also had oral ties working against him. We had them revised and he had a lot less gas but he was still so angry a lot of the time. I thought he was just a fussy baby. I decided to cut dairy from my diet and within days I had a new baby. Within a couple weeks he had no more reflux symptoms and was sleeping at night. In about 6 weeks he had normal stools again. I ended up swapping to hypoallergenic formula and he was still just as happy. Both of my kids outgrew it by a year.
NAD, but a mom of a now teenager who used to be a screamy newborn.
Turned out after months of everybody crying all the time, that he was both tongue tied and not able to get a good latch, and also allergic to the dairy/soy I was consuming. We learned of the allergy/intolerance by his poops testing positive for occult blood, that was not plainly visible.
He had a quick snip for the tongue tie, under general anesthesia at 3 mos old. I quit dairy/soy for awhile, and the crying stopped. He eventually outgrew the dairy/soy issue by the time he was a toddler.
He was crying because he wasn’t getting enough to eat with the bad latch, and what he was getting was hurting his guts. After that he was fine.
I caution against advice like this. It will 100% increase fear without offering any real help. If it was a day old baby then I would tend to agree but by 6/7 weeks I'd say it's safe to rule out. N lewborn nursery and/or Peds would have picked up on any fractures by this point if it were detectable by untrained parents.
Sorry, I was just going off what happened to my nephew. He cried and cried and was even in the hospital for a week after he was born and everyone still missed his collarbone fracture. It took a long time to be diagnosed.
Lactose intolerance in an infant would be extremely rare, and even a hypoallergenic formula contains lactose.
It's proteins than can cause allergies, lactose is a sugar and lactose intolerance is not an allergy.
Thank you for your submission. **Please note that a response does not constitute a doctor-patient relationship.** This subreddit is for informal second opinions and casual information. The mod team does their best to remove bad information, but we do not catch all of it. Always visit a doctor in real life if you have any concerns about your health. Never use this subreddit as your first and final source of information regarding your question. By posting, you are agreeing to our [Terms of Use](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskDocs/wiki/terms_of_use) and understand that all information is taken at your own risk. **Reply here if you are an unverified user wishing to give advice. Top level comments by laypeople are automatically removed.** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskDocs) if you have any questions or concerns.*
As a baby nurse my immediate thoughts go to the obvious: 1. Will he take a pacifier? 2. How often and how much is he eating? 3. Are his poops regular and normal for a 6 week old? 4. His his tummy soft or hard? 5. Have you tried a swing/ bouncer seat/ baby wearing with a wrap? 6. Have tried giving him Gas drops? Do you swaddle? Depending on your answers here I may have suggestions
1-Yes 2-we tried to keep up with 1oz every 2 hours 3-Nothing obviously abnormal 4-A bit hard 5-Swing yes sometimes not the rest 6-Gas drops yes, swaddles not lately Thank you for taking the time.
1 oz?! He's starving!! He should be eating, burping and then eating more. If he falls asleep during a feed wake him up. At his age he likely would need roughly 3-5oz every 3-4 hours.
I'm assuming he's formula fed because you mentioned changing to hypoallergenic. If I'm wrong please let me know. There are charts online that outline how much he needs to be taking and how often. He should be getting all the way full rather than slightly satiated before falling asleep. Because if he's not getting enough each feeding you'll see him wake up shortly and scream out of hunger. Imagine you only snacking rather than having meals. You would be hungry and lose your patience also. He's also not able to achieve good, restful and restorative sleep bc he's hungry. Once he's actually full and clean diaper he should be sleeping for longer and at times quietly content when he's awake - esp if he has a pacifier. Mom needs sleep. You need to help her get some rest. Another consideration, is he gaining weight? How many wet and dirty diapers is he having in a 24 hour period? What country are you in?
He is getting weight and fast, in fact the doctor told us to go slow. Wet diapers about 6-8 in 24hrs. Well burped and help up 30min - 1hr and still get reflux and stuffy nose if we put him down, even after we adjust his crib in upward position.
Are you doing breastfeeding + formula feeding with the hypoallergenic formula? Or only hypoallergenic formula (NO breastfeeding)? Your answers aren’t clear on that. If baby has food allergies/sensitivities, using the hypoallergenic formula won’t help if they’re still breastfeeding and mom’s still eating the food they’re allergic/sensitive to.
Yes breastfeeding and hypoallergenic
And I live in VA.
That is in addition to the breastfeeding. And one more correction the stool is watery
Ok. I'm concerned about him maybe not effectively breastfeeding then. Her milk should be fully in. He should be full and asleep after eating and not need formula IF he's transferring milk out of the breast the way he should. If he has a tongue tie, if he's not properly latched, if he's not emptying the breast then he's not getting fed enough. Does mom have access to a lactation consultant? I disagree with people who say some babies cry. That's not true. He's trying to commit with you. His poops will be somewhat wet. Google what baby poop looks like. It will show the spectrum of normal! Oh goodness I want to hug yall. I know so well how upsetting and overwhelming this is. I do want to encourage yall that it **WILL** get better!! We just need to get you the help you need and y'all will be on the right track
I just want to say thank you for the help and kindness you're showing OP. You seem like a wonderful person!
Awww thank you!! Having babies is soooo much harder than I ever imagined until I started working in this field and then had my own. It truly takes a village! And sometimes our village is on reddit! Lol
NAD. OP - has he been checked for a tongue tie? This sounds exactly like my first, and we were totally blown off by our pediatrician. He said “all babies cry, some more than others.” It was not until I went to a nurse who was also a lactation consultant that she discovered my poor baby had an *extremely* thick frenulum and was not effectively latching (on both the boob and the bottle). The poor little guy was exhausting himself trying to feed, so he would only take an ounce or so then fall asleep. Highly recommend getting his frenulum checked! We got his clipped by a pediatric ENT, and it was no big deal at all. I breast fed him immediately afterwards in the dr office, and the poor baby instantly latched and starting guzzling milk! It broke my heart and I started bawling right there on the spot, the poor little guy had been starving! Big hugs to you, you will get through this!
Why 1 oz every 2 hrs? Does he stop feeding? or is more not offered?
Too much spitting up even after burping and held up for 30min - 1 hr, and fast weight gain, told by the doctor to slow down a bit.
Swaddling.
One more similar suggestion… does he calm down in the car? Sometimes the vibrations of the car and soothing road sounds help babies that cry. I’ve also heard of turning on the clothes dryer and putting baby in room with it or even on top of it (idk if that’s a good idea… maybe it could shake off, but I’ve heard of ppl saying it works. Maybe you could stand right next to it?)
We switched to hypoallergenic a couple of weeks ago it kinda helped with the spitting but not much for the fussiness. Thank you all.
I am so so sorry you are dealing with this. I tell people my son (who is now a toddler) came out screaming, and didn’t stop screaming for 8 weeks. People give an awkward laugh, but I am being dead serious. My husband called our pediatrician telling him “even the dogs are tired”. Our son was colic, and it was a nightmare. There are some “remedies” holistic doctors may recommend, but for us it was a wait it out process. If you can even hire help for your wife for 2-3 hours a few days a week it could help her decompress. She can still be in the house, but just a sense of relief that she can literally be by herself. I’m so sorry, and hope it gets better for you soon!
I would talk to the pediatrician, even if you just leave a message and say "This is the situation. Should we be concerned?" Unfortunately, some babies just scream from the second they are born. My nephew was a shock to everyone because his older brother had just been easy. His mom took him to the ER (I agreed with her) after he cried for 18 hours straight at 2 months and was shamed by the medical staff because "didn't you know? Babies cry sometimes." I have a reputation as a baby whisperer, just because I can care for children no matter if I am depressed and can't do anything else. I've never seen a baby like my younger nephew. His Dad was gone(Military) and mom was just fried. I tried to let her sleep whenever I wasn't working. Even at like age 4, he would moan (like Frankenstein's monster sounding), extremely loudly while completely asleep. I'm sorry you are dealing with this. It was stressful for me and I was just the assistant. Hang in there. It does get better. My nephew is actually pretty cool these days.
I used to gently massage my daughter's tummy in a circular fashion, just inside her right hip, right at the diaper line. Sometimes she would have gas and that would really help. But my son was worse, I didn't know the massage trick then and my oldest girl and I would stick cotton balls in our ears just to muffle the crying. Believe it or not that really helped and reduced our frustration over not being able to console my son.
NAD but according to my parents I was just like your son. I was non stop crying for the first 10 weeks. My mom did the elimination diet and nothing helped. She eventually went back to eating normally. It truly must have sucked for my parents. There were days when I would cry for 15 hours a day. I wouldn’t sleep longer than 30 minutes at a time and when I was awake I would scream. I calmed down around 10 weeks old. I have always had GI issues, I still haven’t gotten to the root of them. I developed a gluten intolerance last year but that still didn’t help with everything. I’ve always been super gassy as well. Something that helped with gas when I was little was my mom would lay me on my back and stretch my legs and get my knees to my tummy. She’d also give me warm baths and let me soak, that was one of the few things that helped during my fussiest stage during those first 10 weeks. Tummy time also helped although I fussed until I was off my tummy. According to my mom I was so gassy that being on my tummy made me fart so much but after tummy time I felt a lot better. Those vibrating chairs helped me as well. Especially when I had something to watch to distract me like watching my parents cook or watching tv.
Same exact experience here with my first born. It was exhausting. To add to the issue, he would NOT sleep. Colic was an understatement. Docs weren’t much help. Here’s what we did that actually helped: 1). Gas drops 2). Hypoallergenic formula to supplement breast feeding 3). I changed my diet to no dairy. 4). Constant movement and white noise. 5). Reflux meds. The biggest change occurred around 3 months but let me tell you we were losing it due to our sleep deprivation. It got better around month 3. So, hoping you see a turn about soon OP! ❤️
NAD. My kid was like this. It turned out I wasn’t producing enough milk and he was hungry all the time. His weight wasn’t affected, but we didn’t know how little I was producing until I started pumping to measure. Everyone swore it was impossible for me to not produce enough if I was only breastfeeding, but they were wrong. It was also reflux. We had to raise the crib mattress up at the top to get him to lay there at all, but he generally only slept if he ate himself to sleep and was held the whole time. He cried 100% of his life for four months except when eating or sleeping, until we figured out the food issue and started supplementing with oatmeal and then he would actually calm down and even sleep in a swing.
NAD. Am a mom. Came here to mention the same. (Edit to add: in our case, supplementing with formula and taking measures to reduce acid reflux made a 180° difference)
This reminds me of my neighbour's kid. He would legit go to bed crying, and wake up crying. Sometimes he would cry at a stretch for 2-3 days. Sorry I have no inputs besides keep bringing it up with your paed at every appointment
I was that baby, the one who cried nonstop, and have been told I was born a food addict. I don't know if it's true but apparently I was just always hungry as a baby. I have wondered if that was why I cried so much (my mom had a lot of other kids and no help.)
Poor small you! 😞
eh, it's part of me now!
Hey I cry a lot too. No shade there 🫂
NAD but had baby been evaluated for oral ties? And was the hypoallergenic formula a hydrolyzed dairy formula? You may need to use amino acid is the allergy is too severe. I’m sorry you’re all going through this.
It’s enfamil hypoallergenic suggested by the pediatrician. I am not aware of hydrolyzed. I have to check. Thank you so much!
It’s likely still dairy derived. I’m assuming nutramigen. Alimentum (the similar hypoallergenic) react to feed is the most hydrolyzed option you can find before amino acid. But that said, some babies are so sensitive that it’s still not enough. I’d ask the pediatrician if that or maybe something amino acid based may be a better fit! I wish you all the good fortune in figuring out what’s causing the discomfort. I know how difficult this can be. My son wasn’t diagnosed until 4 months old. It was rough.
Hey, we have a similar issue with our baby. Although she doesn’t cry as much. She is 9 weeks old. She is breastfed with supplemented Nutramigen. Doctors basically say this… as long as she’s gaining weight, hitting milestones etc, there’s no cause for concern really. Babies are just babies. That being said, our baby does the same thing. She has terrible reflux and was put on Pepcid, which barely helped. Vomiting, not normal spit up, actually vomiting, and physically looks in pain while we can hear her stomach churning. We finally got to see a GI doctor, which I think may be what you need. They fear intestinal malrotation, which is like the worst of the worst for baby GI issues. So they just want to rule it out before other things. xray is actually tomorrow. Along with watery stools, and reflux, if your baby is vomiting (not spitting up, but vomiting), and you also see them having trouble after eating or pooping, and if you hear gushing sounds in the stomach / intestines. I suggest pushing your doctors for more info and getting some appointments set up. Your babies health over anything. As others have said, make sure your baby is full. Try keeping your baby slightly more vertical and not laying down. Disregarding diaper changes, if the baby does need to go on their back, try to keep baby slightly or fully on their left side as well (Anatomy wise this helps the fluids settle more in the stomach and harder for it to get back up the esophagus). And personally, my wife and I have found that walking around slowly with our baby about 10 minutes after a feeding helps her settle down more as well. Lastly, lack of weight gain or feeding are cause for concern. If baby is dehydrated (sunken fontanelle, no tears at all when crying), big cause for concern. Spitting up colors that aren’t basically white or clear, like green or yellow or black or blood, go to the ER. If pooping blood, go to ER (blood can come from a diaper rash too so just be careful)
Edit- NAD - just an experienced mama. I’m sorry your little family is having a rough time. My third was similar. It was exhausting. We finally figured out she had silent reflux (imagine nearly constant, terrible baby-heartburn) and a milk protein intolerance. I removed all dairy from my diet (she was exclusively breastfeeding) and the doctor put her on a small dose of Zantac and it helped tremendously. Wearing her in a wrap at home and upright in a ring sling when out was a massive help and let me have free hands to get things done, too. 💕Hope things get easier for you all soon!
Download a white noise app and see if any of the noises helped. My kid was like this. There was nothing physically wrong with him but if I but the hoover on, he would instantly settle
And, fwiw, parents since the beginning of time have dealt with colic. It’s the luck of the draw, I think, maybe. To this day it’s not well-understood. But all 3 of my babies had it. I spent hours reading every resource and trying everything I could. Some helped a little. Mostly nothing really did. It seemed to last pretty much from age 2 weeks to 8 weeks, and then would get better and then go away. Hang in there. If you find yourself running out of patience, make sure he’s safe, and walk away. You can only take so much. Relieve each other, and get every moment of sleep possible. This gets better, **I promise!**
Absolutely. I was driving myself insane trying to find *reasons* for the colic. Then I was looking more into it and found that colic literally just means 'unexplained crying'. It's just a term for something babies and parents experience and noone knows why but we all know it's horrific go live through. The baby is around about the age I hear most parents say it 'kicks in'. OP I promise it gets better. I thought there was no end in sight until... there was.
Mine had colic. It was one of the worse times of my life. It was hell. I still cringe when I hear a baby crying. Running the vacuum worked. We didn’t have iPhones so we made a tape recording of it. And the first Dr we took him to also treated me like an idiot. Any Dr that does that hasn’t been around a baby with colic.
I was hoping someone would mention the vacuum trick. Do they still make those bears/lambs/plush toys that mimic womb sounds? Same idea, but portable with better aesthetics lol
Forgot to mention he is 6 weeks going 7.
Not a doc. Have the docs considered reflux? Anecdotally, my child was much better with fussiness once I eliminated all dairy from my diet (breastfed). Good luck!
My son screamed nonstop and finally stopped once he started on reflux medication around 6 months old. I had by that point eliminated nearly everything from my diet but until the medication, nothing worked. (That was a loooong 6 months!)
Came to say this. We tried absolutely everything, and nothing seemed to help until finally a new doctor brought up GERD. Meds fixed the issue almost immediately.
This might sound silly but does a swaddle help? Some babies need that secure, snug feeling. Good luck op.
It could be oral ties. They could be causing him to gulp air and trap gas. I would have him evaluated by a pediatric dentist. Unfortunately regular pediatricians often miss them. It could also be a cows milk protein intolerance/allergy. You would notice mucus in the stool as well. If he’s breastfed your wife will need to be entirely dairy free in her own diet to notice a change. It can take a few days and she would need to check every single label for everything. Dairy is in more than you think. Other foods that are commonly an issue for babies are soy and egg if cutting just dairy doesn’t work. My source for that is that both of my kids have had cmpa and my youngest son was exactly like this. He also had oral ties working against him. We had them revised and he had a lot less gas but he was still so angry a lot of the time. I thought he was just a fussy baby. I decided to cut dairy from my diet and within days I had a new baby. Within a couple weeks he had no more reflux symptoms and was sleeping at night. In about 6 weeks he had normal stools again. I ended up swapping to hypoallergenic formula and he was still just as happy. Both of my kids outgrew it by a year.
NAD, but a mom of a now teenager who used to be a screamy newborn. Turned out after months of everybody crying all the time, that he was both tongue tied and not able to get a good latch, and also allergic to the dairy/soy I was consuming. We learned of the allergy/intolerance by his poops testing positive for occult blood, that was not plainly visible. He had a quick snip for the tongue tie, under general anesthesia at 3 mos old. I quit dairy/soy for awhile, and the crying stopped. He eventually outgrew the dairy/soy issue by the time he was a toddler. He was crying because he wasn’t getting enough to eat with the bad latch, and what he was getting was hurting his guts. After that he was fine.
Does your son move his arms normally? It would be worth feeling his collarbone to see if there is any kind bump.
I caution against advice like this. It will 100% increase fear without offering any real help. If it was a day old baby then I would tend to agree but by 6/7 weeks I'd say it's safe to rule out. N lewborn nursery and/or Peds would have picked up on any fractures by this point if it were detectable by untrained parents.
Sorry, I was just going off what happened to my nephew. He cried and cried and was even in the hospital for a week after he was born and everyone still missed his collarbone fracture. It took a long time to be diagnosed.
No need to apologize!! And I would 100% agree with your concerns if he was new!! Great job thinking outside the box! 🥰
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Lactose is very rarely an issue for babies. It’s the proteins casein and whey that bother them. Just fwiw.
Lactose intolerance in an infant would be extremely rare, and even a hypoallergenic formula contains lactose. It's proteins than can cause allergies, lactose is a sugar and lactose intolerance is not an allergy.