Constant Screaming and Crying Before Bedtime...

They don't always have to spit up to have acid reflux. My second cried all day, that pain cry, and slept all night at 1 month old. He was exhausted. No spitting up, but I noticed he drank a lot of formula. Finally took him to specialist and he diagnosed him with hidden acid reflux. The spit up comes up and then goes back down which irritates the throat and leaves them in severe pain. He drank a lot of formula because it soothed his throat. He is three now and we have weaned him off all his meds, but he was on them for two years. I know that scream well, no amount of rocking or comforting helped and I had a two year old to take care of also.
Good luck. Pediatricians don't ever think of hidden acid reflux, mine didn't. We switched doctors and they didn't either.
K.

My 18 month old son was the same until I found Gripe Water that you can get at WalGreens or other pharmacys. I was about ready to pull out my hair when a friend from England told me about it and that they had used it there for years and years. It worked great and since he was a pucker that was once less thing to deal with. The Gripe Water is great for hicups also. I would give it to him out of the syringe or put it in his water bottle. I give Gripe Water with all of my baby shower gifts and everyone loves it and when they finish the gift bottle they always call and ask me where they can buy it. I also discovered if Emerson was down for bed no later than 7 p.m. he slept better and longer.

Good luck.

My Grandson did that, until we started putting him to bed to go to sleep. Strange but true he just wanted to be in "his" bed.

My youngest did the same thing and she was allergic to dairy until she turned one. Try taking all forms of dairy out of your diet. If that's it, you should see an improvement in 3-4 days. HTH. It was no fun trying to figure out what was wrong.

Sometimes, babies just cry like that, and you would be correct to assume that it's colic. My brother did it from 2 weeks to 3 months, my daughter did it from 2 weeks to 9 weeks, but we did find out with her that it was reflux. I would trying an elimination diet (you can find many on the internet) and see if that helps, but you have to do it for a minimum of two weeks. Also, you can give double the dose of mylicon without any side effects--ped said so when dd was 4 weeks old. I had to be careful about my caffeine intake and how much onion I had when nursing. Sorry I'm not any more help than that.

M.

It may be a little soon to distinguish cries, but try this. Rock her. Put her little belly up against yours and rock away. After bathing and feeding just rock her. I know it's old fashioned but it works twofold ways. Relaxes her and yo and gives you bonding time.
B.

It could be the type of formula that you give her. Her stomach may be sensitive to the "milk" based formula. It could also be something that you are eating that is in your breastmilk. Try to eliminate all of the high allergy things from your diet (i.e. dairy, peanuts, strawberries, kiwi, and such). I hope this helps...

If you mainly suppliment in the evening, is it possible that she isn't tolerating the formula as well as your breast milk?

If it is colic or "colic-type symptoms" (a certain time of the day when baby seems extremely fussy for no apparent reason) you can take comfort that she will outgrow this. Only one of my three had really fussy evenings. To get through it, I often walked her outside. Sometimes the change of scenery helped her, sometimes it just helped me. I would hold her close and walk around the neighborhood. Somehow the crying didn't seem as loud outside. The neighbors may have thought I was crazy - walking around and around the block with a crying baby, but those that had been through it definately understood.

Good luck.

Hi, I'm sorry for her AND you! The screams hurt the ears, and the crying hurts because it hurts to know they're so uncomfortable. I'm thinking it's colic, especially if you're supplementing with formula...also remember, if you eat gassy foods, the baby gets it too. My first couldn't tolerate if I ate tomato sauce, my second I had to stay away from anything vaguely related to broccoli AND cow's milk!

Hylands Colic Tablets are amazing! I used them for my second child. I was about to call the company after the first use because my daughter slept sooo long and sooo hard, but when I was looking for the phone #, I noticed that the bottle said something like: "Child may sleep an extended period of time, this product does not induce sleep, the child may be sleeping from exhaustion after screaming and being in pain" (ok, not verbatim, but that's what they meant) anyway...its FABULOUS and it's homeopathic and all natural, unlike colic drops, which are a chemical, and I refused to use on an infant...I didn't know about Hyland's with my first child, and I spent many sleepless hours pacing the floor and rubbing the li'l belly.

Good luck and I hope all is well soon.
~K.

There's no such thing as your breast milk "not satisfying" her. You could actually be doing more harm to your milk production AND her GI system by supplementing. The more you feed her, the more you will produce, but you have to eat healthy whole foods and drink PLENTY of water in order to compensate. That could be where your production and satisfaction problems are stemming from. Remember, your baby IS what you eat, and her cells are growing and multiplying at a phenomenal rate. So the more nutritious and less "altered" & additive-laden foods you eat, the healthier she'll be, for her whole lifetime. Check out this website for more tips: www.cancerproject.org
As for the screaming, a diet change may help with that as well, as most processed foods contain MSG, which works on the brain to convince you that what you're eating is "more tasty". Its highly addictive, causes your body to retain gobs of extra weight (scientists use it on rats to make them horribly fat so they can do morbid obesity tests), has been linked to most of the neurological problems in children, AND causes severe migraines. Go to this link for more info: http://www.organicconsumers.org/foodsafety/msg091405.cfm

I am a young breast cancer survivor and have done a great deal of research regarding the poor diet and cancer link. It turns out that 80% of this country's cancers are avoidable by a simple diet change, but it has to start with the children. I'm not trying to scare you (sorry), but I've made it my mission to spread this awareness. I have two young girls - 8 & 9 - mt oldest had open-heart surgery at 2yrs and my youngest has always been plagued by horrible allergies and both have attitude problems (ADD, anxiety, anger management, depression, etc.). I breastfed both, but had to cut the youngest short due to comps from a surgery (hence the allergy problems). I always thought I was feeding them well, and didnt realize how much MSG they were getting in their diet - at EVERY meal. Since I made the diet change, they have not been sick, and I was able to take my youngest off all of her allergy meds (they were so bad she even needed an inhaler everyday). We had to put her on Ritalin thru school last year to help her get thru it, but hoping she doesnt have to use it this year. My girls love their fresh fruits and veggies - we treat them as the main course, with meat and starches at significanlty lower amounts. They have their own backyard garden and love to tend it even. We were able to cut out all prepared foods containing additives - I even have recipes for the things we cant do without, like ranch dressing. We actually save money because of the switch too - and we're definitely on a pretty tight budget. I hope my story and info have helped. If you have any questions, please contact me and I'll be glad to answer them. :}

Yes it could be you are not producing enough milk, my son i almost starved to death, my aunt did the same with my cousin. ok well here is a thought my daughter is now 7 months old and did the same. her pedi said just let her scream so i did. but then about a month ago it was mothers intuition, something was wrong and so i called her pedi again. he was going out of town so he would not see her. so i just took her into the er. they found out she had a horrible ear infection, and bc of it she would have dehydrated if i would have waited 24 hrs. they gave med antibiotics. then within two days she was feeling better. so she was setting on the potty again. she had a bm and i noticed some lil white things. PIN WORMS, now that they are gone she sleeps through the night and is using her potty. so you might keeps your eyes open...

sounds like acid reflux....
see specialist and considering changing formula or not supplementing with formula that is not suspended and ready made. oh and lots of mylicon for gas too....
-been there and done that..-mb
best wishes... and yes she is in pain.. so many prayers

Hi T., most babies at this stage can have a crying fit close to bed time. What did you do when you were pregnant around this time of night that you are trying to put her to bed? trying swaddling her, let her nurse if you are breastfeeding or use a pacifier if not. hold her on her side with her face away from her and gently make shshsh noises next to her ear. every time a baby starts to do something new, they regress a litte. just like before they walk, they may start doing something they did when they were 5 months old or before they potty train, they may ask for a bottle.
dont worry, it sounds like you have tried many things are doing what any good mom would. if she still has not settled down try a warm bath. put something with white noise in her room like fan or even a sound machine. she may not like the quiet or she may not like it if her bed is flat. i used to put two towels folded slightly under the head end of my kids cradle to give them the effect of being held. just make sure it doesnt raise the matress too high otherwise she will slide down to the bottom.
good luck
M.

First, STOP THE FORMULA! Breastfeeding works on the principal of supply and demand. The more you put the baby to the breast, the more you will produce. Growth spurts will feel like the baby isn't getting enough. This is how the baby lets your body know to make more milk at each feeding. It's a little early for teething, but you can try Hyland's teething tablets. You can get them in the baby section of most pharmacies and in the vitamin aisle at Walmart next to the children's vitamins. If you qualify for WIC you can get a free assessment of the latch and positioning to see if that might be the problem. La Leche League is also a good place to go for not only mom to mom help, but the leaders also are trained in how to help moms solve breastfeeding issues. Without being there to see what is happening I can only offer best guesses. If nothing else, stop the formula, especially if you're only offering it once a day. You can also track your own diet to see if there are certain foods you're eating close to a feeding that trigger these episodes. Milk, soy, wheat and eggs are the big ones that *can* sometimes cause problems. Try eliminating things that seem to cause the baby to be fussy.

If that doesn't work there's a DVD program called Dunstan Baby Language that helps parents decipher baby's cries. A well meaning friend sent it to me for my second child, but I had already pretty much figured it out by then with my first.

I agree with others- my first instinct is the formula. Try something like GoodStart or Lactofree or something like that- it's been almost 6 years (!) since we did those formulas. Just remember that it can take a week or more for all of the current formula to clear her system. When an allergic person is eats a food to which he/she is allergic, it creates gas and creates what our pediatric gastroenterologist says is a lethargic gut. It takes a while for it to clear up. If things get better, I'd definitely seek a referral to an allergist or gastroenterologist- they both should be comfortable dealing with this issue. Testing would be done by an allergist, though.

If you have more questions and determine she has an allergy, feel free to send me a message and we can talk. My son had a milk protein allergy that he just outgrew.

Jenn

Is her poop green? Sometimes even frothy? Does she have a LOT of poops and pees every day? Could be milk oversupply - which can feel unsatisfying to a baby because she's only getting the watery foremilk and gets filled up on that but stays hungry for the more substantial hindmilk.

askdrsears.com has a great tip on how to solve it. Worked for me, and it was very easy!

And if this is not it: keep google searching all of her symptoms till you find a match - and how to solve it. Reflux (could be that it doesn't come all the way up, e.g. "silent reflux," or food allergies could also be the cause. Don't buy the "some babies don't tolerate breast miilk" theory. If more than, I don't know, .5% of all babies had this problem, we wouldn't have made it this far as a species! It's not like our ancestors had formula, LOL. Your breastmilk is all that your baby needs. You might just need to work on something, like your feeding pattern (if it's an overabundance - aka foremilk/hindmilk imbalance) or what you're eating. Cut out dairy and see if that helps, and the other major food allergens (wheat, soy, peanuts, citrus). What about caffeine? Chocolate, coffee? Cut 'em out!

Don't give up. Be an advocate for your baby. Breastfeeding is too important to give up without a big fight first, and your baby is in pain and needs you! Ask everyone, be very persistent. Call the La Leche League in your area. You can find them through a quick search. You can even have one of their volunteers come out to your house to do an assessment, and their help is always free.

I'm sure you'll find the answer soon. I was feeling pretty hopeless, myself, just a few days ago, after weeks of this (since soon after her birth!), was starting to supplement with formula - same deal - and thinking it just wasn't going to work out, but finding the right answer made all of the difference. My baby and I are really enjoying life now! You and your baby will, too.

OH, AND - DON'T MAKE HER "CRY IT OUT." It sounds like you're not doing this, but if tempted or advised, keep this in mind: never make a baby cry anything out. They need you. They're crying for a reason, even if it's "just" comfort that they need. For a baby, that is a very important need, too. Babies eventually outgrow many of their needs, or the intensity or frequency of them. Be there for her while she needs you. It will get better! For more information on "crying it out" read Dr. Sears, either at askdrsears.com or any of the Sears series books. It just makes sense.

L.

PS for any fussing, I've found that:

Running the shower water - on cold to save energy! - is very soothing. I must have walked two miles in my little bathroom already!

Also, getting into the tub helps - babies love water, you probably noticed - and helps with nursing, too when she's fussy. It can be very dangerous if you're by yourself, though, so if your husband's off on duty, and grandma's not around to help, you might want to skip this one. It's safest if you get in and someone hands you the baby, and you hand them the baby while they're holding a towel when ready to get out.

Try the "colic dance" - any set of steps that works for you, but at 60 "beats" per minute or so, and in all three planes: up and down, back and forward, and side to side. Just read that in the Sears' Baby Book, works like a CHARM.

"Bicycle" her legs; lets out lots of gas.

Also, inserting a lubricated rectal thermometer or pinky finger into the anus, lets out gas - and sometimes some poop. Just be very careful to never force anything where it doesn't seem to budge. Probably just need to wiggle the thermometer a little.

Try going "SHHHHH" really loudly in her ear. Very soothing, like in the womb.

Or swaddling. I got these last two from THe Happiest Baby on the Block - get the DVD!

Dear T.,
Congratulations on your beautiful baby girl! Could the formula be bothering your baby? Who told you that your milk was not enough? I have breastfed our nine children and have great confidence in breastmilk's sufficiency. The more you nurse, the more milk your body will make. My daughter's new son would act "colicy" often and she used something called "gripe water". It can be purchased at different pharmacies. She had good success, although not all the time, with it.

I have a six month old (today) baby girl and went through the same thing. One night my mom and I drove her around in the car for 2 hours trying to soothe her, nothing worked. The doctor told me one of his children was the same way. My mom and I called it the 6 o'clock cry off!

The doctor said that it is a sign of intelligence! The baby is so curious that she overstimulates herself during the day and then can't wind down during the evening. Trust me it does get better, though it may take a few months, she does not cry all evening anymore but if she is overtired she will start again. She is still breastfeeding at night (she's at childcare during the day) and that seems to help her.

Believe me I understand and it makes you want to cry too because it just doesn't seem that there is anything you can do to help her. After the doctor told me it means they are smart, I just let myself remember everytime time someone told me thier baby was so good the sleep great that it was ok mine was fussy because it just meant she is extremely smart!

T.,

Giving your baby a bottle of formula at night does not help your milk production any. Breastfeeding is all about supply and demand, the more you pump or feed the more milk you will produce. You might try pumping and giving her a bottle of breast milk at night instead of formula. If that does not work it could possibly be acid reflux. My baby did this and we found that as long as we let her sleep in her bouncy she was okay, that's what helped us figure out it was acid reflux. Hope this helps.

Try putting her to bed earlier. Our baby was fussy in the evenings and I read that most babies are ready for night sleep between 6 and 8 pm. We moved his bedtime to 630pm and ever since then he's MUCH happier and not fussy in the evening before his bedtime. Also, try warm baths prior to bedtime. It soothes wonderfully.

Hi T.,

Try reading the book, "The Happiest Baby on the Block" by Harvey Karp. It is about colic and the facts and myths. It discusses how to help calm your baby. I always thought colic was stomach pain, but once you read the book, you realize how wrong we all are. Good luck to you!

T.,
Hello. So sorry that you're going trough this issue. My best friend's daughter did what your daughter is doing and they thought it was colic; however, come to find out it was massive ear infections, her daughter's ears ruptured a few times even. Once she received tubes around 8 mos (which is really young, but it was a special situation), she was a different and happy child. It might be the type of formula you're using, it might be colic, it could be acid reflex, but it might be the ears. I would have the doctor really check her ears (even if it's to rule it out as the issue).

I know when my daughter was really upset (due to possible acid reflux) we gave her Hyland's Colic Tablets (I got ours at Walgreens), they are all natural. They did wonders, my daughter didn't have colic, but we called them Baby Tums, because it seemed to help settle her stomach issues. Just something else to consider trying. Best of luck to you and your daughter.
~ J.

My daughter also did that for months until we discovered she had reflux. Does your baby spit/puke alot??? When they have that they don't want to eat because it burns. You may want to voice your concerns to your dr.

I know my youngest daughter was the same way come to find out she had ear infections. Surprisingly, after she was done with the antibiotics she was more her peaceful norm again. I know the cries can be stressful for a new mom but hang in there and I recommend calling her doctor.

Bless her lil heart! I know it has to tear you up to hear her like that not to mention the frustration that it's ok to have. =) My son is 8 but when he was a baby his belly hurt from every formula out there except soy. I did the 'bicycle', w/his legs, for hours to relieve gas. He screamed too-more so at night as well. So hopefully once you cut out the formula or switch-this will be over-for both of your sakes. I was thinking that maybe a nightly bath would be good for her. It relieves stomach pressure & establishes a routine as well. We'll be thinking of you all & praying. Let us know. Also, I too am a PROUD Army wife who just started staying home when my 1yr old was born. 32 as well. =) like to talk more if you want. take care!! ~L. C.

Ohhhhh yes. I remember that. Without any fondness at all... :)

My daughter was also very allergic to dairy (still is, for that matter). I had to cut dairy out of my diet for several months (until she was about 6 months), and she didn't really get any dairy until she was about 4 or 5. She's outgrown a lot of the "allergy" and it has faded into a sensitivity, but it can still bother her stomach (one brand of frozen pizza ALWAYS makes her throw up... in the middle of the night...)

It could be the formula. If you're afraid she's not getting enough breastmilk, just nurse her more often. Seriously, that's how you'll make more for her. Don't worry too much about "not enough breastmilk" as long as the baby is peeing to a wet diaper when she goes and pooping yellow, wet stuff (at this age, with breastmilk alone she might keep having one or several a day, or even one a week or LESS!).

Overall, I'd say it's probably mostly a stage. Colicky bedtime baby routine is NOT FUN, but it passes. When it's over, it hasn't lasted very long, but in the middle, it feels like it's FOREVER.

You're not alone, if nothing else. There are plenty of other two-month-olds' mothers out there walking the floor with you with screaming babies. :)

Take care!

I am also a first time mother going through the same thing with our 6 wk son. His screaming starts around 6:30p.m.-10:00p.m. I also breast feed. Our M.D. encouraged us to give Mylicon at each feeding for prevention. He okayed us to give .6 mL (I would ask your M.D. first). When he becomes fussy, my husband will "ride the horse" and put him high on his shoulder to get any burps out. Then I will put him at my breast and he will calm down. I find the suckling is the one thing that will soothe him to sleep. Many times, when he is fussy at the breast, I sense that his pain is gas and it takes a while to get a burp out. Then he settles down enough to go back to the breast and soothe. I know that there are no straight forward answers. I have tried to bottle feed thinking that formula would work better than my milk. He always ends up wanting to suckle. Good luck. My prayers are with you and your family.

I know it seems a little early for teething, but my first son started teething at this age and had his first two teeth by 4 months. Take your pinky and run it all along her gums to see if you feel any hard things trying to push through, or you can see if she will let you look in her mouth, the teeth trying to push through will make the gums white. I would massage the gums with one of those finger tip gum cleaners that comes with the Orajel Baby Toothpaste (really just clear gel to clean gums) and that helped, but I know lots of women swear by the teething tablets, but I never tried them so I couldn't tell you how well they work.

Oh, I forgot, when he would act "colicy" and I couldn't get him to burp with the normal patting, rubbing, bouncing etc. I would use the Infant Gas Relief drops and they worked magically!!!

Unfortunately,
Some babies just do this and eventually they do grow out of it. My son did this to some extent, though not quite as bad as you are expressing. Make sure if you are getting worn out by it to give yourself breaks and let someone else have a turn if you have someone available. Is your husband home?

I would talk to her doctor about it though too. Like some of the other responses said, it could be painful reflux and if so, you will find that medicine may do wonders for that.

I hope that it improves soon. I know just from my short experience with it that it is very wearing and not fun at all.

M.

T., You don't say if your baby spits up. If she does and it is quite abit that could be what is bothering her. My 7wk old daughter has reflux and before she was put on meds she did that alot and nothing would really comfort her. After I took her to the doctor he said it was because her throat hurt from the reflux. Now she is on meds and has to have cereal in her bottles. It cut back on her spitting up but occasionally when she does she still cries. And sometimes it can be hours after a bottle before she spits up. So watch for her spitting up and my ped. said if the spit up 1/4 of what they eat they need to be checked out. She also has to be on soy formula. She threw up all of a bottle of milk based formula. The best soy formula I've found is Enfamil Prosobee Lipil, it seems to help with gas to. COngrats on the new baby and good luck

Mandy

She does sound like she has colic, have you tried giving her gas drops? These will not hurt her and you just give them to her typically before she eats and it should help. Also put her in a vibrating bouncy seat, swing, or anything that moves. Also when you give her a bottle either use the kind that take the bag liners, or the Dr. Brown's bottles, they are both "proven" to help with colic. I hope this helps you I know how frustrating it is to have a little one screaming at night for hours on end.

I went through this too wih my first child. She would scream non stop and I got more and more uptight and the more uptight I got the worse she got. I decided to try a car ride so we would ride to my moms house and as soon as my mom held her she stopped. This was very hard for me to understan but my mom felt that she could sense all my tension and that she knew as soon as grandma held her there was no tension just calm and love. Now I don't know for sure that it is the same for you but I do know that the breast did not work for her and also I had a hard time with formula until we used a soybased product. Her tummy was a lot of the problem and once we got that all settled I calmed down and so did she. She was the first grandchild so I think that is why the grandma thing worked so well. She is 26 years old now and still Grandmas favorite and still has digestive trouble. I think it is just the way it is with some babies.

I breastfeed too. My little boy is 6 month old I know all about low breast milk my little girl who is 5 now almost starved to death by the time I found out it was too late to try and get my milk up so I gave her a bottle. I now take Fenugreek 4 caplets 2 times a day to keep my supply up. At 2 months my little one was under weight. He is fine now, also at two months we found out he had acid reflux he takes his meds 2 times a day. I used soy formula for my kids it is the only thing they could take after being breastfeed, I had to pump and supplement till I got my supply up for my little boy. My little boy will not go to sleep for at all when I hold him all he wants is to eat so I found out I feed and Daddy gets him to sleep!!!!He would scream so loud it would make your ears bleed so one night daddy took him and he fell right to sleep so when he will not sleep I say daddy put him in the sleeper hold which is funny it puts daddy to sleep to. So there they sleep in the blue chair and I just enjoy the bonding between daddy and baby. If you want to try the Fenugreek I get mine at GNC. Good luck!