# Newborn won't settle between feeds...



## babybichon

...my lo is barely 2 weeks old, and the past week have felt like an eternity. When he wakes he automatically is rooting for his feed and when he doesn't get it right. that. minute he kicks up a fuss, when he's finished he's calm for a little while, but then his arms start flailing about, he starts making noises and rooting around again, but he's literally only been fed a little while previously (he takes on average a 100ml bottle) so I try and comfort him with a dummy, but that only works so often. I have however tonight changed his formula to Cow & Gate comfort milk to see if this makes any difference (as I'm sure his is constipated at the moment), and very rarely burps after his feeds...

I just get the feeling he doesn't know what to do with himself during feed/wake-up times and thinks if I'm not eating I should be sleeping, and anything inbetween is frustration for him, bless him. 

Last night especially was the worse, and tried to settle him after he had his feed at 7pm, but he couldn't sleep until 10pm, as managed to feed and settle him, but he awoke a couple of hours later and failed to settle really on and off until 4am :wacko: until we ended up having to have him in our bed, with him lying on my chest to get him to sleep, which is the only thing that seems to work and which I didn't want to do (I know he was overtired by this point), he doesn't seem to get on in his moses basket, he may settle in there for a few minutes, but then he starts to grunt and then starts to moan and then cry out :nope:

I'm so nervous about what tonight will bring :shrug: and in a haze of not being able to sleep properly in the past 24-48hrs I can't see the wood from the trees on how to get him to settle, and forsee this happening for a good while yet.

I can understand he is a needy baby, and as much as I love to comfort him I am trying to understand why he can't quite settle inbetween. I feel so helpless as he's still very much just nearly a couple of weeks old, but I can't remember how my ds1 was - talking seven years ago now, and my haziness can't think that far back!

Sorry for the long post, just needed to rant as been tearful today :cry:


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## jenniferttc1

Sorry I have real advice. My newborn was needy. He slept alot in the first 1-2 weeks but I had to be holding him all the time for him to sleep so I was very sleep deprived. Only way I figured out how to solve it was nursing him in bed and we slept so Im not sure a way for a baby thats formula fed. Have you tried swaddling him? I feel for you! I went 6 weeks before bedsharring of no sleep except 2-4 hours a day of sleep and it was so hard! He hated his swing, bouncer, bassinet, paci. Still doesnt like them except the swing occassionally. I cant put him to sleep unless I lay down beside him and nurse him to sleep.


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## mrsrof

I ended up giving my LO a dummy as I figured out she was looking for comfort when she seemed to be looking for food around the clock...she calmed down significantly when she got her thumb into her mouth but she can only find it very occasionally, so the dummy, as much as i was loath to give it to her, was actually a godsend for us.


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## Lully2011

Sounds like your having a rough time at the moment :( Could it be possible he has trouble wind? I would keep going with the dummy and see if he'll eventually settle with this. 

Is he a really hungry baby, do you think the feeds are not satifying him? If you offered more food would he take it?

If he is having trouble going to the toilet that could be bugging him too. Poor little dote!!


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## lozzy21

Look up how to co sleep safely, if it's the only thing thats going to settle him then do it. Have you tried swaddling him too? They go from being tucked up in your tummy to having all this space and it can scare them.


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## kwood

I could be wrong on this but you said you were trying comfort milk but think he is constipated, it is my understanding that the comfort milk is thicker (so ideal for babies that bring their milk up as it will settle in their stomach better) but have seen loads of ladies post that it backs the baby up. So the comfort milk might make him feel worse. You also said he doesn't wind well, have you tried infacol? My LO was getting bad trapped wind so the HV suggested infacol and it has helped loads.


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## robinator

From your ticker, it looks like it could be time for the 6 week growth spurt. My lo had the same behavior and that's what it turned out to be. I thought there is no way she could POSSIBLY still be hungry, but she was!


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## babybichon

Lully2011 said:


> Sounds like your having a rough time at the moment :( Could it be possible he has trouble wind? I would keep going with the dummy and see if he'll eventually settle with this.
> 
> Is he a really hungry baby, do you think the feeds are not satifying him? If you offered more food would he take it?
> 
> If he is having trouble going to the toilet that could be bugging him too. Poor little dote!!

It does seem as though he is hungry, but however much he takes in his bottle (averages between 80-100ml) then he's fine, but give it a few minutes later and he's literally showing signs of sucking but doesn't want the bottle again, so have had to resort to the dummy, but that doesn't always satisfy his needs, bless him.

I know with bf babies they don't always pass stools, but he has had a couple of days or so that he hasn't passed any stools, so I have had to change his formula to C&G Comfort Milk yesterday evening to see if that will make any difference and also Infacol.


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## babybichon

kwood said:


> I could be wrong on this but you said you were trying comfort milk but think he is constipated, it is my understanding that the comfort milk is thicker (so ideal for babies that bring their milk up as it will settle in their stomach better) but have seen loads of ladies post that it backs the baby up. So the comfort milk might make him feel worse. You also said he doesn't wind well, have you tried infacol? My LO was getting bad trapped wind so the HV suggested infacol and it has helped loads.

The comfort milk is for babies with colic and constipation, they have less lactose in this formula as opposed to the first milk formula. It is a thicker consistency, only started with the comfort milk as of yesterday, so we shall see if it does make a difference, if at all! And also started using Infacol also yesterday.

I think it's a case of trial and error, my firstborn was totally different, no two babies are the same, so it's a case of learning as you go!


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## babybichon

lozzy21 said:


> Look up how to co sleep safely, if it's the only thing thats going to settle him then do it. Have you tried swaddling him too? They go from being tucked up in your tummy to having all this space and it can scare them.

I've read up on a couple of things to make sure I'm following guidelines, and have been swaddling too, although at the start he puts up a bit of resistance as he likes to flail his arms about! We swaddled our firstborn too and it is the best thing especially when they have a strong arm reflex.


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## Mrsmitch80

Hi, your baby might have silent reflux. My lo is 6 weeks and has just been diagnosed, she's on gaviscon now and is like a different child. She didn't scream but was unsettled after each feed, if I lay her down flat she would grunt and wriggle before crying to be picked up, only settling upwright over my shoulder. I'm aware of reflux as my niece suffered so I elevated one end of her cot which helped until she started taking bigger feeds at 6 weeks, so I took her to the docs.

Babies with reflux grunt and tend to repeatedly stick their tongue out as though rooting also they graze when it comes to feeding because it is uncomfortable for them to have an empty stomach.

Might be worth asking your hv about. I've had much more sleep since she went on gaviscon but elevating one end of the cot worked wonders too xx


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## babybichon

Mrsmitch80 said:


> Hi, your baby might have silent reflux. My lo is 6 weeks and has just been diagnosed, she's on gaviscon now and is like a different child. She didn't scream but was unsettled after each feed, if I lay her down flat she would grunt and wriggle before crying to be picked up, only settling upwright over my shoulder. I'm aware of reflux as my niece suffered so I elevated one end of her cot which helped until she started taking bigger feeds at 6 weeks, so I took her to the docs.
> 
> Babies with reflux grunt and tend to repeatedly stick their tongue out as though rooting also they graze when it comes to feeding because it is uncomfortable for them to have an empty stomach.
> 
> Might be worth asking your hv about. I've had much more sleep since she went on gaviscon but elevating one end of the cot worked wonders too xx

I am keeping an eye out for this, trying to eliminate all possibilities, I have elevated where he co-sleeps and trying to distinguish other issues that might be making him uncomfortable, again just trial and error. The HV is coming tomorrow so will discuss with her then.


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## Mrsmitch80

Hope you get the answers soon. 

Xx


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## jacs

As far as I know there are no medical issues with my DD, and I absolutely could have written this (she is now 5 and a bit weeks).
She also seemed to be asleep or wanting to feed - nothing else in between. A couple of things have helped. 

I read that newborns can only really manage about 45-60 of awake time before they're overtired. I started checking the time when she woke, fed/changed her, talked, let DS have cuddles with her, then got her into our darkened room after about 40mins for the last little bit of her bottle to settle her for nap time. We found that she instantly went from half hour little cat naps in the living room to 2-3hr sleeps in the dark, quiet room (we have a monitor). We repeat this throughout the day if we're in the house. When she is awake it is only for short lengths of time, and so looking for more milk/comfort isn't an issue. I do sometimes feel like she never sees the light of day, but she was obviously overtired before and her night sleeps haven't been affected.

Jx


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