Very unhappy little 5 week old baby

Poor bubba - take her back to the docs if you feel ranitidine isn't working. It doesn't work for all bubs and she may need something different like losec.

With constipation we found that lactulose didn't really work but we found watered down prune juice FANTASTIC always for getting that side of things going. I'm not sure if you can give that to a 5wk old so maybe that is worth asking about. You didn't say if she was formula or breast fed. If she is formula fed you may need to try another brand as some constipate and others don't. Also if you do bicycle movements with her legs it can help get things moving but that does take some time and can be difficult with a bubba who is flinging themselves about.

Does she have wind as well? Cause that can cause alot of pain for them too

Firstly, big hugs to both you and your husband - the sleep deprivation etc with a new baby are bad enough without this sort of stress. None of us will have all the answers but you've certainly come to the right place for support. I have just a few things to say that might be helpful, but please bear with me if I'm not telling you anything you haven't thought of.

- Unfortunately poor sleep is a bad cycle. Once they get overtired it's harder to get them to sleep, and so they get more overtired, and so on So you need to make sure you're being super vigilant at looking for tired signs and putting her down as soon as she displays any, for the first sleep of the day in particular.

- It might seem obvious, but a lot of her 'symptoms' (pulling her legs up, and the fact that she only goes down for 10 mins before becoming unsettled again) sound like she is having issues with wind. There are a couple of good threads on here for clearing wind, if it's that simple. Personally the technique where you leave them lying down for 30 seconds or so after a feed while rubbing the tummy in a clockwise direction, then lift them up under the arms to stretch thm out, then sit them on your lap (supporting them by the tummy) to burp works well for us, but I know it doesn't necessarily work for everyone. You could also try a remedy for wind such as Infacol (sp?) or Colicmed.

- Has she always had problems with her bowel movements? eg did she pass meconium within the first 24 hours, that sort of thing? My nephew had a lot of the same symptoms you're describing and he was eventually diagnosed with Hirschsprung's Disease - basically as far as I understand it part of his colon was missing some nerve endings that pushed the poo through, so he only 'went' when his bowel filled right up, causing him quite some discomfort as you can imagine. It was easily fixed with surgery, although he had to have a colostomy bag for a while, and he has no problems now. I'm not saying your wee girl has this but it's possible there might be something up with her digestive system somewhere - I'd push your paediatrician to give her a full workup.

- It's a crude saying of mine, but you'll get the drift - like dogs and wild animals, babies can smell your fear! So chances are because you're tired and stressed it won't be helping her any. Whereabouts are you? Do you have family support? Is there a chance someone can come and rock the baby for a while for you to take a long bath, or a nana nap? Alternatively, are you anywhere near a Parent's Centre so you can spend a day there, and they can help you with feeding, winding and settling, and you can get some rest? If you are anywhere near Auckland please feel free to PM me and I would be happy to come and give you a break if you don't have any other support.

BIG BIG HUGS - you are not alone, others are going through this all the time, and I'm positive it won't last forever

Oh Kelly, big hugs - that post brings back so many memories of my older daughter it made me want to cry just reading your post. She started at about 3 weeks and if someone had told me that to get her better I needed to see a snake charmer, I would have been on the next plane to Bombay .

BF was not going well for us and I switched to formula, and at about the same time we went to a cranial osteopath. This combo did the trick for us. As the others have said - do you have family support? My mum just arrived one day from Auckland (I am in Welly) and that saved me!! It is so hard to ask for help sometimes as we expect ourselves to be superwomen, but do ask.

Hope you and you wee girl get some relief and help soon

Oh no, bigs hugs to your guys!

Umm, its really really sounds like she has very bad colic! thats generally what babies do when they have it, scream and scream.
My boy had, but no where near as bad as your wee girl, but we used Infacol before each breastfeed and now he is formula fed he has it in his bottle and that helped him bring up his wind SO SO well.

You could also try the Weleda colic powder, i never ended up using ours but we had it on hand just incase, you can get it from baby factory.

Also, when you are feeding her, try and stop every 5 mins or so to burp her, I found putting my son on my knee and leaning him forward was really good, and also putting him over my shoulder and patting and rubbing circles on his back gently helped a lot aswell. And lots of tummy time, as that helps push the wind up so they can burp.

Does she burp a lot when you wind her? If she doesnt, just keep trying different burping positions to see what works best, the moving them around often helps move the wind pain.

Also, my son got constipated and I gave him a little bit of warm(boiled) water with some brown sugar and that really helped. Is she breast fed or on formula? if its formula she might need a different brand as some dont agree with certain babies, if she is breastfed, then maybe try to eliminate certain "windy" foods from your diet.

I hope that helps. I know how very hard it is to look after a newborn when they are screaming and you just dont know why.

Oh no

No advice - just hugs



I hope you get to the bottom of it soon. Your poor wee babe and poor you and your DH.

Kelly

No real further advice i can offer you, but do come and say hello to us girls in the September 2008 mums and babies forum - great bunch of ladies and we are continually offering each other advice / support for all our baby related issues - always good to have more mums join in

Have you climbed into bed with her and just fed her on demand to see if that helps at all? Just spent the morning in there snuggling.

I've read on another site, that if you think it's Colic it probably isn't. I read somewhere that newborn crying increases from birth and peaks around 6 weeks. So you may just be experiencing the start of this.

For those unsettled times I recommend holding her this way.. it works, I used it with all 3 of my kids, especially Cooper he loved it when I jiggled and bounced while holding him that way.
magic hold

If all else fails, I would be going back to your GP.. Good luck.

yeah I agree with bizzy, I wouldnt supplement her with formula either as its heavier than breast milk and would make her problems worse and formula definitly does have its own challenges, I have battled it for 3 months tryinig to find one that suits my son! So stick with breastmilk if you can! You can control what goes into her by watching what you eat etc.

Im not sure what else to suggest, but yeah id google colic aswell, to me, it really does sound like thats what she has. i was exactly the same as a baby according to my parents, i scremed for hours on end and mum and dad didnt know what to do.

Oh you poor thing

The first thing that came to my mind was what a couple of other people have suggested - taking him to a cranial osteopath. Friends of mine took their babies and they said the difference was amazing.

The only thing I can add (apart from more hugs, and the knowledge that it will get better) is to be REALLY vigilant about burping.

laying your baby flat for a minute or so and then bringing her upright can help move the bubble of air to the top. I second cool boiled water - just give a teaspoon after a feed. My midwife also suggested burping after the first few minutes of feeding - it is the first lot of milk that traps the air.

I agree with the advice not to introduce formula.