Newborn screams bloody murder...

[CookAMH]

when getting changed and often right after eating. She's 2 weeks old and has been like this since birth. DS (2yo) was sooo calm, so this is new to me.  I have figured out that at least some of the time, she is tired and just wants to be swaddled and rocked back to sleep. But she has few times of calm alertness, she's usually unhappy. Seldom spits up, btw, and gas seems to move out of her ok.  I had a precipitous birth and she has a fluid filled bump on her head (from dropping into and through pelvis quickly, we believe), and she's getting chiropractic care. I know that her jaw is tight, and the chiro is working on that. The bump I'm sure is not comfortable either. We've had some improvement, and she IS somewhat more calm compared to how she was before seeing the chiro at about 9 days old.

Any insight? She'll always calm down if I hold her upright facing me, under her arms and bounce her gently.  She often gets so worked up with a diaper or clothing change (esp dealing with her arms) that she doesn't take a breath for several moments and gets awfully red and raspy sounding from crying.  Then just like that, she'll turn it off once she's picked up and comforted.

[scrandall1173]

Awww.... My first guess was gas, but then you said that doesn't seem to be the case. Maybe silent reflux? There's no spitting up but the acid still burns their throat. If you are nursing you could try giving up dairy, and possibly some of the other foods that can aggravate it-- see how it is after a few weeks and then slowly reintroduce. My firstborn had a bit of silent reflux, I suspect. With my new babe I've had to cut out dairy, caffeine and onions. It seems to helped her digestion greatly. Cruel, though, that I had to give up coffee !

Good luck, momma!

Oh one other thing that may help... Getting a baby carrier that can support her upright. Will keep her happy and aid in digestion. Just be sure to follow safe baby-wearing rules.. It's a bit trickier when they don't yet have head support. They need to keep airways clear and not bend neck too much.

Best wishes.

[PatioGardener]

My little guy loved to be worn in the moby wrap at that age - it really helped.

[mauraa629]

my dd2 cried pretty much non stop until she was just about 4 months old if she wasn't being held by me.  It was really hard.  When she was about 2 weeks I started using the baby backpack on my front and that seemed to do it for her, She would stop crying almost immediately when she was put in it, so that's how we spent our 1st 4 months.  Made it possible for me to play with dd1 and get some housework done and still be able to have her close to me and not crying. 

[neonalee]

I second the idea of a food related intolerance. I also had to give up dairy for the most part, DS did the same as you describe. I also found a few weeks after it was suggested that I had over active let down which caused him to take in a lot more of the low fat high sugar milk and made him sick to his little tummy. I didn't think that was it at first because I didn't see any other signs of it. Until one day he pulled off and got squirted all over his face LOL

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[CookAMH]

Originally Posted by neonalee 

I second the idea of a food related intolerance. I also had to give up dairy for the most part, DS did the same as you describe. I also found a few weeks after it was suggested that I had over active let down which caused him to take in a lot more of the low fat high sugar milk and made him sick to his little tummy. I didn't think that was it at first because I didn't see any other signs of it. Until one day he pulled off and got squirted all over his face LOL

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I think this could be part of it. She nurses quickly, drinking pretty fast, and then after maybe 3-4 min, she is done and screams until I get a burp out of her. Then she hardly eats any more.I don't think she is getting a complete feeding or emptying even one breast. How do I change that? Her poops are green-yellow and rarely mustardy yellow. I think starting today I'll cut out dairy...I had to do that for about 3 weeks with DS but then he was fine after that (he was maybe 5 weeks at the time and had a nasty yeast rash, was c/s).

I wasn't prepared for such discontentment while awake!  I had her in the maya wrap in an upright newborn hold which worked well this morning.  I also have some infant probiotics I have given her some, working up to a full dose. No abx in pregnancy received or after birth btw.

[Marissamom]

the feeding thing sounds like you have an overactive let-down, which can cause lots of air to be swallowed. you might try letting her pull off during the first let-down of a feeding and catch it with a cloth and then put her back on. 

[CookAMH]

Originally Posted by Marissamom 

the feeding thing sounds like you have an overactive let-down, which can cause lots of air to be swallowed. you might try letting her pull off during the first let-down of a feeding and catch it with a cloth and then put her back on. 

nak

you knowwhat i did that earlier today and there were no screams!

[Virginia884]

This sounds like our new babe. What worked for us was cutting out some dairy, using the techniques from the book 'happiest baby on the block', and time. Now at 5 weeks she is much less fussy than she was at 2!


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[Marissamom]

Originally Posted by CookAMH 

nak

you knowwhat i did that earlier today and there were no screams!

your let-down will calm down over the next couple of months, both of my kids had a hard time with the first let-down as newborns, they just couldn't swallow as fast as the milk was pouring into their mouths. 

also, both of mine screamed through diaper changes as a newborn, they just didn't like them. 

[PatioGardener]

http://www.kellymom.com/bf/supply/fast-letdown.html

nak

that link talks about things to help.

[CookAMH]

I had this with DS too so I shouldn't be surprised this time. Though it's not spraying out of my breast like it was with DS (and he choked a good bit, I had to pump or express milk off, and sit him upright to nurse for a while), the flow might be such that she doesn't choke but fills up uncomfortably fast. We really have to get burps out of her or she cries a lot.  With DS, this resulted in the slower side being neglected and DS eventually being exclusively one-sided.

I also cut out dairy, on day two now. I had chocolate last night and she's fussy again today so I'm wondering if it's that. I also had Thai food. Not having any coffee, just had a few sips of decaf today.

She had a couple yellow poops since yesterday so that's a change from green. They're not too seedy, and they seems to fully absorb into diaper. So maybe the color change is in response to my cutting out dairy.

Re: diaper changes...I'm wondering if it's the mix of the newborn hate of getting fiddled with and maybe a bit of her personality (maybe a drama queen in the making....who knows). She turns it off as soon as she's picked up.  She REALLY gets erratic when her arms are involved, like getting a new shirt on.

[neonalee]

Originally Posted by Marissamom 

your let-down will calm down over the next couple of months, both of my kids had a hard time with the first let-down as newborns, they just couldn't swallow as fast as the milk was pouring into their mouths. 

also, both of mine screamed through diaper changes as a newborn, they just didn't like them. 

Just in case - wanted to mention, mine didn't go down until recently (when my supply also took a hit due to one illness after the other).  But DS just learned to deal with it.  And I try to remember when nursing to have a receiving blanket or something under his mouth for the times when he lets the milk flwo out. 

[Llyra]

Some newborns just really hate like poison to be undressed. The feeling of all that empty space around them must be scary, I guess. Plus being stuck on your back-- I think I would hate that, too. My DS was like that-- he screamed every time I undressed him, for any reason, unless he was up to his neck in warm water-- he always liked being in the tub.

It's funny, too-- he's four now, and he still hates being undressed. He insists on sleeping in long pjs year-round, with socks on, and his pants tucked into his socks, and rolled up in his covers like a burrito.

Hang in there! The peak of fussy crying arrives at about six weeks old, and for non-colicky babies it subsides quickly after that. That's also about the time that your milk supply becomes more regulated, and a lot (not all) mamas find that the overactive letdown eases up a lot.

[indigosky]

It could also be worth trying some of the Happiest Baby on the Block techniques if you haven't already -- they were miracles for us. The video is the best way to learn them. You can probably get it from your local library, or maybe Netflix. Even if some of the issues are the other ones people have been suggesting here, it could be worth it even if it only made a 20% difference.

[CookAMH]

Update - she's doing a lot better. Mainly only cries now if she wants to go right back to sleep but be re-swaddled first. I think most of it was let down, which has normalized some (she's 4 weeks now).