Frantic First Time Mom

Hi my name is J. and I have a daughter that is almost 5 months old...my daughter has done that a few times and I talked to her pediatrician and he said she may just be waking up scared...not really knowing where she is and sometimes when they are that young and cant craw and they have there back up they dont like it...my daughter use to fuss all of the time if she was on her stomach..she use to be on similac advance and I changed her about a month ago to infamil lipil

Hello J.,
first i will say this congradulations on your angel.My lil one is 11 months old and has never slept threw the night.She did have bad gas when she was younger we got her some gas drops and they helped.from the sounds of it it sounds not to be colic related been there aslo.If you are really concerned take the angel to the doctors office.It may get better over time.My daughter did the same she would turn over and wake up and still does but nothing is wrong with her.She now will put herself back to sleep.That is from the help of mamasource also :) thxs mamasource.some woman have all the luck and some of us just don't.Again congradulations on your bundle of joy.

Honestly, I don't think anyone really knows what colic is or isn't and apparently it has to be really extreme (whatever that means!) in order to qualify. I have 3 kids and my youngest went through the same thing. He eventually ended up on zantac for reflux... in the meantime gas drops work well and gripe water is a gift from the Gods! Good luck and don't worry about being concerned about everything... you've never had a baby before, right??? My sister still calls me about concerns she has with her first one and he's 2 1/2!

WHEN MY DAUGHTER DID THAT IT WAS BECAUSE SHE WAS CONSTIPATED, THAT WAS 16 YRS AGO, BUT I DOUBT THINGS HAVE CHANGED. LETS FACE IT WE ALL GET CRANKY WHEN THAT HAPPENS!

hi J. -

similar to other posts, my daughter also had GERD and ended up needing to be on Zantac for about 4 months until she was able to spend more time upright, keeping the acid down and less spitting up. We also tried soy formula, and ended up on Similac Alimentum, a hypoallergenic formula. It is broken down more for babies sensitive to milk-based formulas. it is more expensive, but the MD was great about giving us any samples they had. and the change in our daughter was amazing. in less than a week she went from only sleeping about 30 minutes a stretch (waking from gas and reflux) to napping for 2-3 hours at a time and sleeping through the night (8-10 hours). Also, although i know it is NOT recommended, we ended up letting her sleep on her tummy after a few weeks. it seemed to comfort her more being curled up with her knees under her.

Hope it all helps, but use your pediatrician, they are there for all the "crazy" questions and worries. Mine was so helpful.

-N.

Hi J.....my name is B., and I am 31 and just had my first baby about 2 months ago. I went through the same thing with my son. Sometimes it helped for me to just hold him on my chest while he slept, (I had to be very careful not to drop him), and I also got some Mylicon gas drops....but just like everyone told me, it will stop. My son is now 2 months old and he sleeps for 5 or 6 hours at a time!! If it was colic, my doctor told me it would happen at the same time every day/night. Otherwise, its all part of being a baby. Let me know if you have any more questions!! It gets so much better :)

Hi, J., I'm T.. You should call your pediatrician and see what she/he thinks. I had the same problem, and she suggested we switch his formula to plain Similac with Iron, however, now, it's hard to find. But the advance was too much for him (Evan, my son). I did the same thing (still do and Evan is 6 months old), drove myself and his dad CRAZY worrying about every little thing. It's just being a mom, and from what I've heard, it doesn't go away.

I thimk that the advance might be too much for him....I wish that they made a formula for each baby...LOL...I got Gripe water for my colicky baby, and let me tell u, It worked wonders....I have a 13mo old and I tell you, it doesnt get easier, but it gets alot more fun too.....

Hi J., my name is Kadee and I am a first time mom too. My son was born in March and I had some similar problems. After doing a little research (I am frantic too) I found that my baby was just crying probably because he was so new to the world. Your child was born only last month, being outside of your womb is all new to him. SO keep that in mind. As far as formula goes. If you think he might be gassy or have an upset stomach try soy formula. This helped with my son a lot. Eventually you can introduce him to milk, but soy is more gentle on a baby's sensitive stomach. Also cooing and singing helps. My son Aidon will cry when I put him in the car, but if I sing "You are my Sunshine", he stops crying immediately! Eventually, you will understand your son's cries better to know if he is hungry, sleepy, hurting, bored, etc. Give it time. You are doing great. Becoming a mom for the first time is crazy isn't it? You have this little person who needs you 100% of the time. It can become overbearing and frustrating, but being a mom is always awsome! Let me know how it goes!

J.,

First, congradulations on your new baby.

Maybe he is crying because he had turned himself over and is getting scared. My oldest did that and being a new parent, I thought there might be something wrong too.

Hi Jenny,

I feel your pain! I'm definitely a worrier too. I had major anxiety and lost so much weight because of it. Don't worry, it will get better.

My daughter is now 12 weeks old and for the first 6 weeks of her life, we were going crazy as to what the reason was for her crying and cringing. I still think it was the breast milk. I was supplementing with Similac Advance with Iron also, but she was still arching her back and crying all the time (when she wasn't sleeping). I switched to Similac Advance Soy formula and she was still cranky. I was calling the pediatrician everyday and sometimes more than twice a day because I was going crazy!!! The doctor told me to switch to Nestle Good Start and we've been on that ever since. I stopped breastfeeding around the same time I switched to Good Start so I'm not sure if it was the switch or the stopping of breastfeeding that helped, but she is 98% better since then.

I know it's nerve racking, but try the switch to Good Start and give it a couple of days and see if it gets better. It's cheaper than Similac Advance at Wal-Mart. Right now Target has the special size (32.1 oz) for the price of the 25.7 oz.

Hope everything works out and you can email me personally if you have any specific questions. Good Luck!!!

Hi J., Congrats on being a first time mom which can be scarey at first. 2 of my boys had colic and I am not sure if your child has it or not but I will say that if it is colic try going to a health food store and asking them for colic pills. I swear by these things and if it wasn't for them I would have lost my mind and after a day or 2 of using them my boys didn't have a problem again. They are easy to use and totally safe.

my son was the same way...we tried all kinds of different formulas..he started on similac. we ended up with isomil, still in the same family but it's soy i think, if i remember correctly. the only bad thing about it was he was allergic to milk at first, we had to slowly mix it in with his formula when he became able to drink it. as for sleeping, both my children slept on their bellies, they slept soo much better. i slept right beside them for about a month until i felt comfortable but it worked. my daughter was also on similac and i switched her to isomil right away for fear of all the crying all over and it worked great, they both were better with isomil. and dont worry, every mother worries about everything, ur just being a good mom!

J.,
My experience w/ 8mth old son was that it was gas, the iron may be too strong for him. We actually ended up switching formula to Nestle Good Start DHA and he his been sleeping great ever since then.

GERD!!!!! acid reflux disease!! BOTH my kids had it (my daughter had it worse) they used to arch their backs and scream and cry. had some other symptoms too my son spit up and my daughter her reflux just went up and down in her esophagus and never came out (making hers worse) can't imagine a baby with that burning sensation in their little bodies. anyway, my son was checked (with an upper GI at 3 weeks old) and you could see it on the live video we watched of his insides. a lot of babies who are even full term healthy babies their sphincters are not fully developed (they eventually do!!) causing the gerd. a few things helped us were rice cereal in the bottle (at doc's request) to help keep down, we had them both sleep in their infant car seats so they were reclined, kept them upright (with no shaking/laying) for 45min or so after each feeding, and they both took Zantac (liquid form for infants) by doc's prescription (expensive but worked)... taste was yucky so we'd put it in their bottles) WOW zantac was a life saver!! they both were breastfed at first then switched to similiac (son was w/ iron and daughter was advance)

JUST a thought it could be this... check with your doctor and watch for patterns and signs. it actually got worse for my daughter as the weeks went on and now she's been off zantac for 3 months now! hope this helps.