Need advice for fussy babies

Our girls are almost 4 weeks old and were born at 36 weeks. Things were going pretty good but lately we're seeing Courtney cry alot more than her sister. And it's not a hunger cry, it seems like she's constipated or has an upset tummy. But here bowl movements look normal and neither of them are spitting up. And when she's really whaling the only thing that will calm her down is more food+holding her. We currently are feeding them Similac Neosure and we had planned on trying to switch to parents choice just for the cost savings. She's also not sleeping as well as her sister. Sometimes she'll go a full 3 hours but alot of the time she's up after an hour. Could it be that she's just a different baby than her sister? My wife and I are new parents so we're learning as we go. Could it be gas or heartburn? Maybe it's colic? Or could it be that babies cry and we just have to get through this time period. Any advice would be helpful and appreciated. Thanks.

Lanrik

 

Could be colic, but it sounds like gas. Have you tried mylicon or gripe water. Once we switched to sensitive formula we noticed an improvement. My boys were up frequently because of their gas. :hug: 4 weeks is a rough age IMO. My babies "woke up" and decided they were not that happy. We have several videos of screaming inconsolable babies. Are you swaddling?

 

It could definitely be that they are two different babies with two different sets of needs! Maybe she is hungry or just needing a little extra comfort.

:hug:

 

Is she arching her back at all? Refusing to eat or eating constantly? Does she swallow a lot between bottles (like she's swallowing something back)? Does she spit up what seems like a lot?

If she's doing that kind of stuff, it could be reflux. If you suspect it is then I would talk to your dr, zantac is usually the first medicine they try, but it's very weight sensitive. If you don't see good results (almost a different baby) on the zantac, ask for prevacid.

Is it more afternoon crying (around 5pm or so) until around 10 pm? Is she inconsolable? Does she sob no matter what soothing techniques you try?? (like swaddling, rocking, bouncing, snuggling...etc) That could be colic, and it's rough! Sometimes running a white noise machine, or noise from a vacuum cleaner/dishwasher/washing machine calms them. Sometimes walking around with them and bouncing them gentle (held tight in your arms of course) works, and sometimes nothing helps. We're on the tail end of colic with our dd and it's been a loooong few months!

Is she drawing her knees up tight and then throwing them back out again? Does she squirm a lot when she does this? This could be gas, mylicon drops sometimes help, or you can try different types of formula as well.

:hug: Also babies do start to "wake up" around 4-6 weeks and it's a very overwhelming time for them as they start to see the world. Bright lights, loud noises, no more snuggly womb for them to sleep in. That usually tapers off as they get used to the normal every day sounds of your household! :hug:

 

It could be colic, or gas, sometimes it's really hard to know. When I have had colicky babies in the past, the really bad screaming was always in the evenings between 5 and 10. It was like someone had just flipped a switch & it was time to cry for awhile. Nothing would work to calm them down except time. I would discuss it with your ped & if they find no medical reason (reflux or something else) then I would assume it will pass with time. Swings, bouncy seats, rides in the car, cluster feeding, sometimes will help get you through the worst of it. Most of all, if there isn't a medical reason, just keep in mind that they are fine & the crying won't hurt them and while it seems to last forever when you are in the middle of it, this too shall pass. :hug:

 

I agree all of the above! ur girls went through it and one was worse than the other. One had colick and they both ended up getting diagnosed with reflux. I would definately get your ped to rule reflux out. We rode the colick wave and it improved over a few weeks just try and support each other through the evenings when they are at there worst. Take care

 

We are swaddling, and that does seem to help sometimes but not always. They don't spit up at all really and I don't see them swallowing anything in between feedings. I do hear them swallow air sometimes and it's not always easy for them to burp. We'll try some of your suggestions and talk to the Ped. I'm also going to try and chart it out to see if there's any pattern to it. Because for the life of me I can't seem to remember when she's the most fussy, how often she burbs, etc. I miss sleep! I'll give an update after we try some things. Thanks again for the help.

Lanrik

 

Just wanted to let you know something about the Parents Choice brand...it's the same stuff as the Brand name formula--just with a Walmart label on it. The pharmacist told me this. We use the Parent's Choice brand and it is absolutely fine. You will save soooo much money and your babies will never know the difference, I promise!!

You might want to ask your pedi about Enfamil Gentle Ease formula (purple can--and yes, Parent's Choice has a version of GentleEase). Worked like a charm when Payton was having similar symptoms.

God bless you all and good luck!

 

my babies are 6 weeks now and we have had the same issues. very fussy between supper time and around 9ish. no matter what you do they cry and cannot settle (until now).

i read in one of my books (Healthy Sleep Habits) that this evening fussy time can be a result of babies not getting enough day sleep and they become overtired and cannot settle in the evening (if doc has ruled out any healthy issues/reflux/colic/etc.).

we have been trying to comfort them more during the day and they have been sleepign more...we've noticed the evening fussies taper off quite a bit. we do a nigthtime routine around 6ish (sleepers, face wash, feeding and rocking) and then put the down for the night. the last 2 nights, they have slept right through to 6am (we feed them every 3 hours and they stay asleep).

i don't know if this is just coincidence that they are growing out of the fussies OR if the sleep theory actually worked (i'm not complaining just the same).

keep us posted on your progress.

 

I just wanted to add a quick update regarding our little screamer. We ended up trying the gas drops but that didn't seem to do it. So we switched to parents choice milk based formula (we figured if that didn't work we would try the gentle) and that has made a change. She doesn't seem nearly as fussy. Now it's only been 24hrs but we'll take it. We also started a stricter routine at night including bath time with a lavender baby soap, and they actually didn't scream bloody murder. Instead they enjoyed it. One other observation was letting her sleep on her side seemed to help her sleep. So we'll see how the weekend goes. Hopefully they'll behave and give mom and dad an anniversary gift. I'll let you all know next week how things are going. Hopefully our experience can help someone else.

 

I'm just getting around to reading this and saw your update, but as I was reading through I was going to mention that our girls had a difficult time on the Neosure also. We noticed a marked improvement when switching to the regular Nestle Good Start (same as your Walmart brand basically). I'm glad you are on your way to finding a remedy!

 

Glad things seem to be better, let's hope it continues!!

Just want to mention that there is a bit of a difference between name brand good start and walmart brand, in that good start's milk protein is broken down one extra step. :good: It's more of a powder where most formula's are more of a granule. Good start can help make it easier on their tummies to digest. Unfortunately my babes do better on the expensive good start than on the walmart brand, so I hope yours continue to do better on the parents choice!! :hug:

 

mine were fussy and miserable and it was heartbreaking to watch at that age.

they had (and have) reflux/bad tummy issues and i was supplementing breastmilk. i basically had to try every single formula on the market before finding one that didn't put them in as much pain. (Alimentum RTF is where we ended up.)

miserable.

it was over christmas time and my mom actually accused me of "doing something wrong" because she'd never seen such fussy babies.

the only way to make them happy was to hold them. so we did a lot of that. a lot.

that's about all you can do.. love them until they get through it

its hard

 

We went through the same thing with DD ... everything made her grumpy and we ended up with Similac Alimentum.

And I'm sorry that your Mom felt the need to say that to you, that's just horrible. Your babies are getting big and they're healthy, I hope you told her to stuff it. *hug*