Screeching/Crying 4-month old that never

[toddransdell]

I have a 4-month old son, Liam. Since birth, he has had difficulty sleeping. For example, the longest period he has ever slept in one go is 5 hours – once. Other than that he usually sleeps about 2-3 hours when he goes to bed at night (the first sleep session, then he sleeps 45 minutes to an hour at a time the rest of the night. When he wakes up, he doesn’t gradually get upset, he launches directly into full scale screeching. We have tried co-sleeping, Dr. Sears methods, and crying it out (but only once, he never slowed down from screeching for 30 straight minutes – we couldn’t take it anymore).
During the day, he rarely sleeps. Usually 20-45 minutes at a time; maybe 2-4 times a day. He’s a pretty intense little guy, always making direct eye contact, extremely sociable with us, other adults, and particularly other babies.
Things are getting worse lately. In addition to the sleep issues, he now launches into screeching/crying every time there is a transition (getting diaper changed, getting into and out of his car seat, getting out of bath, getting into sling, getting out of sling, etc.) He more or less has stopped warming up to a full-scale screech/cry and generally suddenly starts screeching/crying at the top of his lungs 20-30 times a day. The only thing that seems to calm him is nursing and he is usually happy for a little while afterwards.
I am at my wit’s end, my wife is catching the brunt of this (as she stays at home while I work) and she is having a very hard time. PLEASE HELP.

[haleymom07]

Have you gotten him checked for acid reflux? my daughter would get really fussy like that and didnt sleep and everything you said so i took her to her pediatrician and he checked her for many different things and then said first everytime after she ate to sit her up for a half hour. then he gave us a prescription for acid reflux medicine and it worked she now sleeps for hours on end. i hope this helped that is all i can think of. Good luck to you and your wife.

[myboysmom]

Why is acid reflux and GER now the answer for every fussy baby? I'm not trying to imply that your dd doesn't have anything wrong with her, or that she is misdiagnosed. But it's a serious question. It seems to me that all of a sudden if your baby cries or is fussy, you should try a "special" (aka "expensive") formula and put them on meds. They're just babies, it's not like they're eating chinese or extry spicy chicken wings, you know? It's just milk. Again, I'm not trying to be sarcastic or rude, but where did all this come from?

[haleymom07]

ok i kind of feel attacked. not that you meant it that way. but if his son is that fussy all the time it may very well be acid reflux. i know a lot of times doctors say that a baby has colic which is a catch all for "i dont know what is wrong with your baby" but acid reflux they actually have a test for. and if that is what is wrong with the baby and you can get some sleep then the "expensive" formula and the medicine are money well spent. im not trying to be mean at all but sometimes the doctors are right and they are definately a godsend because if you get a non-sleeping baby to sleep thats the most amazing thing ever.

[myboysmom]

No, if that is what is wrong with your baby, then yes you should fix it and absolutely get some sleep! I just mean that it seems like every baby has it, you know what I mean? 5 years ago GERD was a new term, and mostly for adults, and now you hear about all these babies being diagnosed with it. I'm not saying it's not real, by any means; it's just strange to me that it's all over the place all of a sudden. I'm sorry if I offended you; not my intention!

[ra11en]

Have you talked to your pediatrician about it?

My DD was exactly the same way as a newborn. I was BF and went on the total elimination diet to try and help her colic. I was lucky if she slept for 45 minutes in one stretch, and she spit up ALL THE TIME. By 6 weeks, I was down to 100 lbs (had cut pretty much everything out of my diet to try and help her digest my milk better) so the pediatrician recommended that I stop BF due to my own health. She ran some tests on DD and also diagnosed her with acid reflux as well as a cows milk allergy. So, we put her on the 'special' formula that myboysmom was kind of insulting (only kind of) as well as zantac for her acid reflux. It was not GERD - not projectile vommiting. We were instructed to keep her upright for 20 minutes after every feeding.

Within 24 hours we had a totally different baby! She started sleeping in 8hr stretches within 2 weeks - 5 hour stretches the first night we implemented the pediatricians recommendation.

I would suggest you talk to your pediatrician. Yes, the formula my DD was put on was extremely expensive (ran aobut $400 / month) but she flourished on it and we got some sleep.

I think the reason it is more common today than yesteryear is because we have more knowledge and education than we did a generation ago. That is true in medicine as well as many other areas (think technology, diets, etc). And it isn't 'all of a sudden' either - 1/2 of my husbands cousins (all now in their 30's) were diagnosed with reflux / GERD when they were infants, it runs in their family. One of our cousin's daughters had such a bad case of GERD (projectile vommitting like you wouldn't believe) that she almost had to be hospitalized for a feeding tube because nothing would stay down. Our cousin pretty much slept upright in a chair with her for the first 4 months, it was a nightmare. It isn't all of a sudden; possibly its just that mymomsboy is paying more attention to those kinds of things once she became a mom herself?

At 4mo, your son should be sleeping through the night and much more calm than what you described. I have no doubt your wife is about to pull her hair out! I would definitely speak to your pediatrician. Even if the ped says nothing is wrong with him, at least that in itself would give you peace of mind.

[myboysmom]

That's probably true. As with anything, you don't pay too much attention to it until it affects you personally. Again, I wasn't trying to be rude.

[emaliesmama]

my baby was that way too. babies r us has hylands colic tablets. they are awesome. not just 4 colic...herbal, so u r not drugging your baby. they dissolve under tongue. helped me get some sleep.

[mamaof3boys]

mine had acid reflu too

[shadygrove]

My daughter had colic/acid reflux for about 6 months and those were honestly the worst 6 months I had ever gone through. I had no help and a baby who cried and cried and cried. For a first time mom, with little experience with children it was a rough intro into parenthood. The reason people tend to say acid reflux or colic is because I think its common. Babies spit up a lot because of an immature digestive system and some are worse than others. Why let your baby suffer or yourself suffer if there is something that can help? New moms feel utterly helpless sometimes as it is, there is no need to make it worse.