Looking for advice on fussy newborn!

StarBright01

Just wondering if someone can shed some light into fussy cranky periods in newborns. I'm a FTM so haven't a clue what I'm doing. We're formula feeding.

My two week old gets very fussy and unsettled From about 11-3 each evening. She's with my other half downstairs at this time before he brings her up to me for the next shift. She cries a lot, dummy won't settle her and hard to tell if it's pain.

Once she comes upstairs to me she seems to sleep away until 7 and I have to wake her for her bottle feed.

We're giving her 3 oz every 3 hours. She dropped a lot of herbirth weight and was jaundice so we had to try tank her up.

Wonder if it's her just fussy cranky time between 11-3, if it's wind or if it's the fact that we feed her 2 oz at 7, 2 oz at 9 and 3oz at 11.

i guess my question is, is it it down to the way we are feeding her or it colic/ wind issues.

She seems settled for most other times in the day.

Any tips or advice are much appreciated!!

scarepanda

I'm breastfeeding, so no help on the feeding front. But I do remember my little one being fussy enough between 9pm-1am for the first few weeks. I used to bring her up to the room when she got like this and fed her for that period until she fell asleep and then put her into the basket. If she fell asleep before 12 she would be up within 20/30 minutes, this would go on until 12/1. I think it lasted about 3/4 weeks.
Babies have a growth spurt around 2 weeks so if she's only like the for the last day or two of could be that.

Lucuma

What does 11-3 each evening mean? Do you mean 11pm to 3am? Just seems a strange time for your other half to be going to bed at 3am.
The definition of colic is that the baby is hard to console for the same period every evening so sounds like it could be colic.
Look up things like the colic hold, techniques for a gassy baby or a windy baby. Go along to a mother and toddler group if you can (they're for mother and babies too!) and get other mothers to show you techniques for wind ing the baby. Try Doctor Brown bottles and stirring the formula with a long spoon instead of shaking it (shaking it gererates more bubbles in the bottle). Keep her upright for 20 minutes after a feed. And of course Infacol and gripe water before each feed. Also try different formulas to see if it helps.

Merkin

A lot of newborns tend to have a witching hour and it does pass so keep the faith!

My oldest boy did for the first 6-8 weeks late at night whereas my three week old doesn't really. He had a couple of fussy evenings early on and we figured he needed a bigger nighttime bottle and that worked. I'd ask why you're giving her 2oz so regularly? She could potentially be hungry for a bigger feed and this would settle her if that's the issue. My newborn is a voracious little grubber (although now I think he may have a bit of reflux!) and is a hungry bubs so he is on 5oz bottles. There are all kinds of good guidelines out there but don't be afraid of your own instinct either and if you feel she could drink some more then offer it to her. Trust me, if you overfeed her it will come up again!

It could potentially be colic so giving her some Infacol before each feed wouldn't do any harm. It's fine for newborns and is given in a dropper.

If she is pulling up her legs or is very pale/a little blueish around the mouth its normally indicative of pain/wind. Winding walking up and down stairs is good for bad trapped wind. A little bit of baby massage works wonders too. You can do a course yourself or YouTube some techniques.

Sounds like you've a happy little baby on your hands and that you're doing a great job. A lot of little ones have crinkly/fussy evenings in the first weeks but it does pass.

wuffly

Sounds like a witching hour/Colic, our little fella had this for weeks at the start, I was breast feeding at the time, feeding helped, if you think baby will take more by all means give it. I honestly felt like nothing and no one could soothe him in those hours of the first weeks, we started using a carrier/sling at 4 weeks and it did wonders. Baby is upright which helps with wind also gets the comfort and warmth of being held. Doesn't need to be you, your OH (or any warm body) can carry baby as well. They don't always instantly love it but def worth a try. Also if you can get to a mum and baby group or cuidiu meeting (they have mums meetings that aren't just for bf mams, just check before you go)
As the others have said try different winding techniques, keeping baby upright for 20mins after a feed. We used infacol for wind when our guy was very small but it made him burp so hard he vomited, found gripe water a bit easier on him but i know another mam found it the opposite. See what works for you and your little one. Different bottles can also help.

It takes time to figure them out, you are doing great!

shesty

Ah the witching hour

My first was like clockwork, she'd start to howl between 6-7pm every day and it would continue til 9pm or so.From about 2.5 weeks on til maybe 4.5 weeks or so.Just what she did.Legs up and down kicking, red in the face screaming.We tried everything.Walking,a sling, (she hated the sling but we didn't have a very good one), winding, rocking, cuddling.....it might stop for a brief period then it would start again.But like you pressed a button, it would stop around 9pm.After a couple of weeks it stopped earlier and earlier and then one day, it just stopped completely.It felt like forever but it only was a couple of weeks.

There are a million reasons to be honest.Everyone said 'colic' to us, but we just didn't think so.It was such a defined period of time and so exact in starting and finishing whereas general information on colic suggested much longer periods of crying throughout the day.It was probably wind, working it's way through and also just....tiredness.The newness of being in the world, at the end of a long, over stimulating day (EVERYTHING over stimulates new babies )

I can be casual about it now because my second has since arrived and she did not do this.She had fussy periods every day, but never defined like that. But with my first, I was horrified by it.But then, I had some idea of what I was doing with my second, she was in a sling more, I knew how often she should be napping during the day and I just went with her rhythm a lot more than on my first.But I also know so many people who had babies with witching hours.It's extremely common.You can certainly try all of the suggestions here and they will help, maybe not straight away but over a longer period of weeks.She will probably stop herself though, hopefully on or before the six week mark.Switch in and out with your husband, take it in turns to deal with her because it's tough going.Avoid inviting people or visiting at these hours (it's very stressful) and maybe consider getting a good sling if you haven't got one-it serves a double purpose of comforting them and also winding them.It may reach it's worst around the 5-6 week mark, but hold on in there, she'll come round and you are doing everything right.It seems to just be nature for a lot of babies.

Mostly though keep telling yourself it will not last forever.Because it really won't

ChewChew

Lucuma wrote: »

What does 11-3 each evening mean? Do you mean 11pm to 3am? Just seems a strange time for your other half to be going to bed at 3am.

why? not everyone goes to bed at 10!! That's a bit silly to say when you don't actually know if or why he/she goes to bed at 3am!

Op, my daughter was the same as a new born. Very fussy during that time, and my partner used to do the same - keep her downstairs with him and then brought her up to me. So we also formula fed and the best thing we did was move to the Dr Browns bottles. They helped massively with wind and I found stopping and winding after every 1/2 ounce helped a lot too. She ended up with reflux but the above definitely helped along the journey.

DollyB

Each baby is so different! My eldest from 9:30pm till on average quarter past 10 was unbelievably fussy!! For about 8weeks! He wasn't reflux, colic, constipated, hungry or dirty or tired he just fussed and whinged!! But then it just stopped.
Really if you have a good public health nurse or gp you could ask them just incase it is colic or anything of the likes. Maybe try changing "shifts" with your hubby? I know my youngest when first born would not settle for my husband so I just done it all untill I was on medication and was very weak with it baby had no other choice for about 3 nights and now the get on great!
Sometimes there really is no reason at all why they act like this!
Hope your little one settles for you soon

StarBright01

StarBright01 wrote: »

We're giving her 3 oz every 3 hours. ....

...or if it's the fact that we feed her 2 oz at 7, 2 oz at 9 and 3oz at 11.

Not sure what youre doing here but that doesnt look like 3oz every 3 hrs to me... and is it a coincidence that she gets cranky after the largest feed... and at a 2hr interval as well....

Have you tried giving her 3oz at 10 instead of the 2oz at 9 and then another feed when she wakes (assuming she goes to sleep after....)

DollyB

Each baby is so different! My eldest from 9:30pm till on average quarter past 10 was unbelievably fussy!! For about 8weeks! He wasn't reflux, colic, constipated, hungry or dirty or tired he just fussed and whinged!! But then it just stopped.
Really if you have a good public health nurse or gp you could ask them just incase it is colic or anything of the likes. Maybe try changing "shifts" with your hubby? I know my youngest when first born would not settle for my husband so I just done it all untill I was on medication and was very weak with it baby had no other choice for about 3 nights and now the get on great!
Sometimes there really is no reason at all why they act like this!
Hope your little one settles for you soon

StarBright01

Thanks a million for all the responses and tips will definitely give some of these a shot. I guess it's to be expected when she's only two weeks old. I was following the feeding times guideline from the Baby Whisperer book so that's where the 2 oz at 7, 2 oz at 9, and 3 oz at 11 came from.

Lucuma don't think it's strange to do a spilt shift for feeding which is why my other half brings up to me at 3pm. It works for us while he's off work.

Anne_cordelia

StarBright01 wrote: »

Thanks a million for all the responses and tips will definitely give some of these a shot. I guess it's to be expected when she's only two weeks old. I was following the feeding times guideline from the Baby Whisperer book so that's where the 2 oz at 7, 2 oz at 9, and 3 oz at 11 came from.

Lucuma don't think it's strange to do a spilt shift for feeding which is why my other half brings up to me at 3pm. It works for us while he's off work.

I don't want to be rude but I think you should throw away the books. Routines and books have no place for a 2 week old. Watch the baby and take your feeding cues from her. Feed on demand and go with the flow. The next 4-6 weeks will be a whirlwind and is about getting through it. You are not creating habits for the future, either good or bad at this early stage. Sleep when you can.

During the day let baby nap in the bright and with normal noise around. At night time keep things dark and calm to allow her to differentiate between day and night.

shesty

I second this.Ditch the books.Take your cue from her.She may feed every three hours, but sometimes she may want it every 2 hours for an afternoon.It's hard to judge but go with your gut.Personally both of mine had their full feed every 2.5 to 3 hours from birth (both breast and bottle feeders), I don't see a point in changing the amounts you're giving her.The book probably has logic, but there's no baby that fits a book perfectly. She won't be any worse off if she has an extra feed or two, or a few ounces more.

I'm still a bit confused though is it 11am or 11pm that she starts getting fussy at??

Also agree with dark and bright comments.All she needs to be 'learning' in these first six weeks is the difference between night and day, dark and bright.Anything else, just go with your gut.I know you worry about everything at this stage, I remember it well-but I can tell you with the benefit of hindsight that you will get the swing of it and find your own routine for her, and she'll be ok

mirrorwall14

First step for our lad was up the ounces and feed earlier when he was getting grumpy. To be honest our lad was on more than 2-3oz within a couple of days!

We just fed on demand with bottles for the first two months and he found his own routine

StarBright01

shesty wrote: »

I'm still a bit confused though is it 11am or 11pm that she starts getting fussy at??[\quote]

It's 11pm till 3am. Think we'll try to quieten things down at these times for her with dim lights, low tv sound etc to differentiate between day and night more.

We'll ditch the feeding guidelines in the book and go by her more. As ye say these few weeks will just be all over the place so we'll just have to go with it!

Thanks s million all for taking the time to respond, I'm an anxious person anyway so overanalysing whether we are doing things right or not doesn't help!

Anne_cordelia

StarBright01 wrote: »

It's 11pm till 3am. Think we'll try to quieten things down at these times for her with dim lights, low tv sound etc to differentiate between day and night more.

We'll ditch the feeding guidelines in the book and go by her more. As ye say these few weeks will just be all over the place so we'll just have to go with it!

Thanks s million all for taking the time to respond, I'm an anxious person anyway so overanalysing whether we are doing things right or not doesn't help!

I totally understand. I didn't enjoy the newborn stage. From about 8 weeks it gets better and better in my experience. Please trust your gut! I wish I trusted mine more. We had 3-4 hour witching hours for weeks. I used to dread the evenings but they passed.

mirrorwall14

It's so hard not to be anxious but do try and relax. I used to have a mantra 'wind? 'nappy?, bottle? Tired? And just keep cycling through it

shesty

Oh gosh yes do.I wouldn't have tv on at all, how is the baby supposed to know that's nighttime?The one thing I took from the one chapter of one book that I read was to have lights off or very low at night, no real conversation or anything, just change, feed and sleep.Both of ours came up to bed with us at 9 or 10 ( or whatever) , had their 'bedtime' feed (such as it is at two weeks :-) ), then lights out and everyone into bed.Now don't get me wrong, they didn't go to sleep straight away necessarily but lights were very low in the bedroom til they did, and then they went into their bed once asleep (that was our choice obviously, you put the baby wherever works for you).

There's no right way to do it, and at two weeks they're all over the place anyway, but at nighttime it helps establish a good night/day pattern to change pace completely, tv off, lights low, upstairs etc.If she's down in front of tv she may actually be getting overtired and trying to go to sleep but unable to switch off.See if it helps to just feed her her full feed when its due round 9/10pm, then let her sleep til she wakes for next full feed a few hours later?? Upstairs in bedroom with lights low.might take a while to kick in, but she'll get it.

You question everything the first few weeks, totally normal :-)

StarBright01

So I ditched the books and upped the oz she's definitely taking more oz no bother but think it's definitely a case of "witching hour" as last night she was very fussy between 10pm - 3am again.

Hubbie feeds her downstairs at 11 and brings her up to me to sleep in the co sleeper.

Room is dark and I've white noise on in the background. Hopefully it will settle as some one said in a previous post try to cycle through it!

appledrop

Starbright throw out those books + go with your baby. All newborns are different so go with them + look for advice/help from your doctor/Phn if you need it. Don't listen to people who say oh our baby didn't do that etc etc. Our little guy had reflux as a baby + we had a tough time with him at the start. Now he was never a cryer but he did take 11 bottles a day at the start. At the beginning we just thought that was the way he was but then over time realised he needed help with the reflux + once we got it sorted he was a much happier more settled baby.