6 week old absolutely inconsolable unless he’s eating or sleeping.

[gtasoldier]

FTM here at her wits end. Around the 3 week mark my LO started crying after every feed and it’s slowly ramped up to absolute screeching now at 6 weeks… we’ve suspected all of the things- gas, reflux, etc. He’s both breast and bottle fed and we do paced bottle feeding, burp between breasts, hold him upright after feeds, etc. We’ve tried gas drops, gripe water, nothing has worked. We’ve communicated all of this to his pediatrician who has only suggested I change my diet and continue with the gripe water/gas drops…

Quite literally, if he is not actively eating or sleeping he is scream crying. And recently he’s taken to absolutely refusing to nap during the day and I can just tell he is in pain. I don’t know how to help him…

Looking for some solidarity out there. Is this “normal”? Has anyone else experienced this? Is there anything we can do to help him? Does it get better?

 

[volunteers]

@gtasoldier I have an almost 3w old but my health visitor told (warned lol) us about this, almost all babies go through a fussy/crying stage around 6weeks that then peaks at 7/8w and as quickly as it starts it tends to stop. It’s a developmental leap that they go through where they suddenly realise there’s a world around them and it’s kinda overwhelming for them. Comfort them as much as you can, whether nursing or skin to skin if you’re not breastfeeding and take solace in the fact it won’t last forever!

 

[alxlee1]

@volunteers Agreed! In fact, one of the symptoms of this type of crying is a "pain-like" face, even though they are not in pain. It gets better!
Tell yourself that your baby is loved, fed, and clean. Sometimes all you can do is just be there with them.

 

[hilarious]

@alxlee1 Agree with all of the above but also don’t ignore your motherly intuition OP! Just know that it’s probably ok and you’ll know right away if something is really wrong

 

[ronald452]

@volunteers This is so great to know! Makes the period we're in right now make sense. Glad to know it won't last forever!

Sending good vibes to everyone going through this!

 

[sega]

@gtasoldier I have an almost 6 week old baby girl and she is so fussy all the time too unless eating or sleeping. My husband and I are frustrated. I’m formula feeding but I honestly think she is just a high needs baby. Her dr said around 3 months the fussiness should get better… you’ll get through it

 

[rigogpu]

@sega currently in the same position with my 8 week old. slowly counting the days until three months

 

[theemcon]

@gtasoldier This was my baby 6-8 weeks too. We have him on famotidine 2x a day and changed his formula to alimentum. I also started tracking wake windows and rocking him to sleep before he gets overtired for his naps during the day. He sleeps well in his bassinet at night but only contact naps. It was so bad, he was screaming crying constantly. We even brought him to the ER because of it and they said nothing was wrong. It’s very scary to see your baby like that. I know they go through a growth spurt and 6-8 weeks is peak fussiness. It slowly gets better but you’re not alone. It is extremely overwhelming when that happens. He’s almost 10 weeks now and the crying has improved a lot. He still does it but nowhere’s near what it was. Hugs