Fussy babies

Hi. I was wondering if anyone has any advice for me on our twin girls. They will be 7 weeks tomorrow and were born 5 weeks early. We are having a hard time getting them to settle. They seem to have a lot of gas and that after they eat we are not able to get them settled at times. They are strictly on breastmilk. I have considered trying to cut out dairy to see if it helps but they are not fussy every time after they eat. Any advice would be great. They are especially fussy it seems in the evening and scream from about 8 pm til about 1 am. They are still eating every 2-3 hours at night also.

Thanks
Jen

 

Hi Jen,

My babes are only 12 weeks so I'm certainly not an authority on this but mine were also pretty fussy around the 6-8 week stretch and I know how hard it can be. I also thought it might be something that I was eating but ultimately decided just to roll with it for a bit longer and they have settled right down. They still get fussy sometimes but it almost always means they're tired. Hang in there, each week seems to get easier

Lindsay

 

Babies are super fussy at night. :hug: I highly recommend The Happiest Baby on the Block and wearing a baby (babies if you are talented!). Putting my last baby in the Moby settled her down- often to sleep- really quickly and I could still cook /do things.

They also could be going through a growth spurt- there's a ton of them in the first 6 weeks. I nursed every hour from 4-10p for a couple of days during those times.

I did give up dairy with my twins- but in addition to being very fussy they were gassy with mucousy green poop and really heavy breathing (like permanently stuffy noses).

 

It was about that age that I 'wore' DS in a Moby wrap EVERY evening. I would wear him and then i had free arms to hold DD. It was the only way i found to keep them from fussing. It was definitely a exhausting phase.. the good news, it will pass. Hang in there.

In case you have something more going on, i will give another possibility to concider.
My DS has acid reflux.. it shows up in lots of different ways. The most common indication is increased vomiting, however, DS rarely ever never vomits. For him, the only indication was fussiness at feeding time and just after. He would be fine for the first part of the bottle/nurse session then half way through he would fuss, refuse milk, even though he was still hungry.
Once we got him on meds it was much better.
(ETA - Any baby can have acid reflux, but it is more common in preemies)
I am not sure if what you described is similar but thought i would mention it just in case. With EBF babies it is harder to detect acid reflux, because they will become masters at pretending to drink. Make sure he is swallowing and you might consider getting a baby scale to monitor weight. For, many BF babies weight loss is the first signal for Dr. that it could be acid reflux and not just normal fussiness.

Also, you probably already know this, but make sure they are sitting up after feeding. Important for acid reflux babies but also gassy babies. If i wasn't holding them on my shoulder, I found they were more comfortable if i left them in the boppies for 30 minutes after feeding.

Good luck. If you think it is something more than normal fussiness keep looking. Trust your gut.

 

Definitely consider acid reflux and talk to your doctor about that possibility. My boys were super fussy and very gassy. They had reflux in addition to MSPI (milk and soy protein intolerance), and we ended up using Prevavid for reflux (Zantac didn't help) and putting them on Nutramigen formula.

 

Much as you'll hate to hear this, it's totally normal that they are eating every 2-3 hours. Adjusted age, they are only 2 weeks old, and a 2 week old is waking up that often, if not more, to nurse. That's one of the worst parts of dealing with early babies at home, IMO, because every stage and milestone seems to take longer. Have you tried feeding them more at night? Lots of babies like to cluster feed and then (hopefully) sleep a couple of hours longer.

 

Thank you all for the advice. I have cut dairy out of my diet to see if that helps. They seem to be settling better after they eat most of the times. When I called our doctor to talk to her about acid reflux her nurse just told us to try the predigested formula. I was not very happy with that response. I have worked hard to nurse them and do not want to give them formula. Last night I actually got a few hours of sleep and feel so much better!

 

I would not be ok with that nurse either.

 

^^NOPE! that is not okay.^^

You are their mom. Don't feel bad about calling again, and again, and again you get someone who is listening and until you get an answer you think makes sense. trust your gut if you feel something is not right, keep at it.

IMO switching to formula is a drastic response unless you know what problem you are actually dealing with. The benefits of breast milk are high.. i would need a lot of explanation as to why formula would be better. stopping breastfeeding is a decision that might be hard to reverse if you find that is not the problem.

NOTE: here is a site i found that has some good info on acid reflux (if you do suspect that is what is going on). Especially read #6, #7 & #8 (i found my DS was MUCH more comfortable sleeping on his left side)