2wk old waking screaming bloody murder....

Renae - posted on 07/14/2010

This behaviour is common in reflux babies, though they usually wake sooner after 20 or 30 minutes of sleep. 2 week old babies are only capable of instinctual behaviour. They cry because their instincts tell them that something is happening inside their body (emotional or physical) which needs to be alerted to a caregiver.

I wont tell you that whatever it is there will be help available and they will be able to do something, because sometimes they cant, but sometimes they can. You do need to see your doctor and describe the behaviour.

Some basics on reflux and colic:
Traditionally reflux is diagnosed in babies who power vomit almost the entire feed and frequently wake up screaming. However, doctors now recognise silent reflux which is when there is no vomiting. Reflux goes away on its own usually by 6mos, but can be up to 18mos.
Colic is usually diagnosed by long periods of screaming. Most doctors will not consider colic unless the baby screams continuously for more than 2 hours. Colic usually goes away between 12-14 weeks and clears up quite suddenly within 3-7 days. Some transitional colic can last up to 12 months, but this is more rare.

If you are unable to get a helpful answer or advice from the doctors, then you need to do whatever you need to in order to survive this until it goes away. Doctors do not put effort into diagnosing problems in babies because the baby usually gets better before they figure out what the problem was; unless the baby is a failure to thrive.

So, if you need to sleep with your baby rather than be up for half and hour out of every hour settling them back to sleep, then do it. If you need to call on relatives to come and stay and get up to the baby one night per week, do it. You basically have to figure out how to get through this until it goes away and REMEMBER it WILL go away and it WILL get better, because all babies grow up.

Louise - posted on 07/14/2010

You do not say how you are feeding this baby. My daughter went through 10 weeks of screaming constantly until she was diagnosed with acid reflux which caused severe heart burn for her. My daughter refused point blank to drink milk at 10 weeks and she was put on solids by the doctor as she associated her pain with the milk. Try a product called infacol before each meal as this did help with my other two children. A trip to the doctor would also be helpful as if it is reflux or colic it can be easily treated with gaviscon powder in the milk powder. There is nothing worse than a screaming baby when you do not know what is wrong and you are unable to help them. For your own sanity go and see a doctor there is help out there!

Nicky - posted on 07/14/2010

I would definately get her checked out. It may be reflux which is VERY painful but also very treatable. When we got this sorted out our daughter turned into a completely different baby.

Aleks - posted on 07/14/2010

hmmmm..... first thing I would say is that it is food intollerance, though it could be anything really.... I would suggest speaking to a doctor about this. Is your baby breastfed or formula? If formula, then may be the formula does not suit the baby (most formulas are not easy on little baby's undeveloped tummys) and needs to be changed. It might be "silent" reflux too, which often is caused by food intollerances (yes, these can be possible even when breastfeeding).
How are your baby's poos, if b'fed are they curd and yellow like, or greeny and mucousy? If formula, are they ok looking, or hard, or are they runny?
Poos can tell a lot about state of health (of anyone really) especially a little baby.
No matter what it is, if this crying is persisting then I would strongly suggest seeing a medical professional regarding this. Why prolong your poor baby's suffering and yours too.... especially since it may be helped.

Oh, and btw, babies under 1 yo do not scream/cry for attention!!!