DD will be 3 months old next week and for a good chunk of her life, she's been extremely fussy. At 4 weeks, I cut dairy and saw an improvement but she's back to screaming almost all day long. She's exhausted because she doesn't sleep AT ALL during the day. My mom watched the kids today and feels I need to get her into the doctor. Anyone have any pointers?
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A doctor visit seems reasonable, there are other possible things that could be contributing to the fussiness that it sounds like haven't been explored yet - other food sensitivities, reflux, etc. I found that keeping a little journal of LO's behavior for a few days helped me feel prepared for the appointment, as well as a list of concerns so I didn't forget anything I wanted to ask about.
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I'd get her checked for reflux.
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I would definitely bring her in to the doctor. Could be reflux or lots of different reasons, but better to be safe than sorry.
My friend's daughter is 3 now, but when she was a newborn she was constantly crying - my friend just thought it was colic or she just had a fussy/difficult personality. Turns out she had a hernia and needed surgery at 2 months old
She felt horrible, because the whole time she was crying because she was in a lot of pain.
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I would bring her into the Dr for sure
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At the doctor's appointment, try to have data written down so you don't forget any details. Have how much she cries and for how long, what you have tried as a remedy, etc. written down. If you're worried the doctor may not take you seriously, you don't want to forget anything and then wonder after the appointment if the doctor would have reacted differentlý if he knew the forgotten tidbit.
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I'd bring her in and I second writing down any patterns, etc. Hope she is happier soon!
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Do you do "Happiest Baby on the Block?" It helped us through colic and tons of crying. It also helped to set a routine up for LO too. My LO #2 is 3.5 months old. He's on a routine of 2 hours awake, down for a nap. It's helped him immensely with sleep and banking some naps.
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@MrsKoala: I've been thinking it's reflux and I wanted to get her into our ds' gi but every time I think it's time to get her in, she has a good day and I reconsider.
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Thanks girls. I'll call tomorrow.
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@cascademom: no I haven't. I've heard of it but I haven't tried it. I'll look into it! Thanks!
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@Ash: It's a lifesaver with the swaddling, shushing, bouncing (can't remember the S), and the other two. It may help to calm your LO.
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We definitely had our peak crying around 5-7 weeks as is typical, but things were pretty good around 3 months. I agree with above that you want to make sure you aren't missing anything medical, but of course more times than not the baby is just fussy! I agree with the 5Ss although they were more useful to us in the first 2 months. Will she calm down in a carrier? In a swing? Bouncing on a yoga ball? at peak fussy I would swaddle LO, hold her abdomen to abdomen, bounce her in the kitchen with the oven fan running (loudest white noise in the house). It usually did the trick pretty quickly. I think patterns are important too - is she more fussy in the evening? After eating? During eating? How is her nighttime sleep? All of these can be clues.
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@sapphire: she's usually pretty good in a carrier and she's okay in the swing (that's hit or miss). When I thought it was colic, we used the yoga ball all the time and it would put her to sleep... but she's fussy all the time! Right now she's happy (it's 7am) and she sleeps all night long (maybe one wake up). My mom cried from not being able to console her yesterday. It's just become our norm.
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I just want to empathize and say that constant fussiness and crying is so difficult
We had similar issues, and while our doctor had told us that DS had some reflux, it seemed to be getting worse and reached a severe peak by about 4 months. At that point, it was bad enough that we decided to put him on Zantac, which helped a lot. Interestingly, DS's sleep had been pretty good like you are describing until about 3-4 months when it started going downhill. The Zantac also helped with that. It's worth seeing your doctor to at least rule out worsening reflux symptoms.
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I'm sorry, I've been there and it is so tough. If she's still crying all the time at 3 months I would definitely see a doctor. I was fobbed off for months with 'oh it's just colic', and finally discovered at 5.5 months that LO had an undiagnosed tongue tie which was making his life miserable - up to that point he had basically cried the entire time he was awake for his whole life. Not saying that's the case for your LO, but stuff does get missed! Hope you can all get some relief soon.
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@Ash: I just wanted to commiserate. LO1 had horrible colic for the first 4 months of his life. I didn't know what to do with myself. My mom would also insist that I take him to the doctor because there must be something wrong with him. They couldn't find anything and just let me know he was a gassy, colicky baby. I really felt like I would go out of my mind with how much he cried.
Finally, at around 3-4 months, he started to take a little bit of a turn and got better. We started to have more good days than bad, and by 6 months, he was the happiest baby in the world.
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@Ash: interesting that you say she sleeps all night! Maybe she's just a bad napper and it's making her overtired during the day - does it sound like cranky crying or in pain crying? My daughter (almost 2 months) is a horrible napper and so spends most of the day screaming. I have to jump through all kinds of hoops to get her to take a couple of small naps, but nowhere near how much sleep she needs to be in a good mood. At night though, she's an amazing sleeper and that kind of makes up for the crummy days.
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@Ash: Take LO to a doctor to rule out anything medical and to get advice. There is a lot of great advice in this thread - especially keeping a journal to pinpoint what is going on when LO is fussy..
I had the same thought at @Mama Bird: if LO isn't sleeping all day she's likely overtired and exhausted. My first LO was a terrible napper (but slept great during the day). The Sleep Lady book really helped us. It talks about how to recognize LO's sleep cues and put them down for a nap based on their cues. As it turned out, LO would sleep all night, but would need to go down for a nap with in 1 hour of waking up. I was keeping her up because she just slept all night and I didn't think she needed to nap again so soon.
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So sorry you're dealing with this. I'd definitely get her tested for reflux, and also check her for MSPI. Cutting dairy is good, but may not be enough if soy is an issue (it's in everything these days). Do you have a swing that you could use? 3 months is a little old to start but a swing helped my fussy MSPI baby get some sleep in during the day when nothing else would help.
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Maybe its just colic, no?
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I second checking reflux, sounds exactly how my oldest acted. cried all day and was so exhausted at night she'd sleep all night. I think it's worth a doctor visit, but for sure have a journal for a few days. eat, sleep, cry times around the clock, might help doc pinpoint it and also what you eat! I had to do this and it helped a lot.
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@Pumpkin Pie: I'm one of those crazy people that doesn't believe in colic... there's a reason babies cry. And this is painful crying.
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@catlady: I do use the swing but it's not always a guarantee.
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I would really look into probiotics. Those have been really helpful in colic babies and soothing any gut issues they are having to cause them to be so uncomfortable. I am so sorry, that has to be so rough. Hang in there!
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@Mrs.Pinecone316: any recommendations?
Thank you! I'm not gonna lie, a lot of my day is spent crying with her. -
@Ash: i'm really sorry.
any word from the pediatrician?
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@ldh112: I'm taking her in on Monday.
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@Ash: have you tried the gas relief and probiotic? Those were the first things our ped told us to try when I said it seemed like my LO was fussy all the time.
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@ash: is your baby liking the car any better? I am still fighting that battle but wondered if she was doing better on that front for you.
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@Pumpkin Pie: I'll ask for a dairy free rec on Monday. I used gripe water for my ds but I'm not sure if her tummy would react to it.
@ldh112: we started taking her to the chiropractor and actually it's gotten better - not 100% but tolerable! Gosh, I hope it gets better for you guys soon! It's miserable!
She felt horrible, because the whole time she was crying because she was in a lot of pain.
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