4 Week Old Very Fussy in the Evenings

I went through the same thing, with my daughter,I tried the gas drops, switching formula's, and even a perscription gas medication from her ped. Im sorry to say but it lasted 3 months, but it does end. Try standing and walking with her. My husband would put her in the carrier that you could wear and that always did the trick! Good Luck!!!

Both of my kids went through this...try gas drops (mylicon) or Gripe water. This is pretty common-hang in there it won't last forever!!

I always put my girls under the exhaust fan in the kitchen. Worked like a charm. There is also a cd called 'for crying out loud' with vacuum sounds and heartbeat sounds etc. now both girls sleep to the sound of a vacuum. good luck!

My daughter had really bad colic also. She would start at 8pm like clock work. What we found that worked for her was to put her in her car seat and put her on top of the dryer. You need to stay with her so the seat doesn't slide off, but it worked. What we also did was go for drives and find the bumpiest road we could find...allies worked wonders.

My heart goes out to you because you are in for a rough month or two, but remember she will grow out of it.

Also remember that if it gets to much for you, it is ok to let her cry in her crib for a little bit while you collect yourself. Don't try to be super mom.

It sounds like your daughter may have colic. Did this start when she was about 2 weeks old? If it is colic, my heart goes out to you because the next couple of months will seem like years, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Most babies with colic outgrow it by 12 weeks.

I have two pieces of advice for you. First, try a vacuum cleaner. The only thing that would get my son to stop crying once he got into the screaming period was the vacuum cleaner. That didn't mean he'd fall asleep, he'd still be awake and I'd still have to be holding him, but at least he wouldn't be screaming. After we burned out a vacuum motor, I found a CD of vacuum cleaner sound at www.purewhitenoise.com. I still use that CD every night to help him sleep and he is 9 months old now. Second, get The Happiest Baby on the Block by Dr. Harvey Karp. It has great advice for soothing your baby and it really does help with colicky babies.

Keep your chin up because it WILL get better.

Good luck!
L.

Hello!! There IS light at the end of the tunnel, I promise! My daughter went through the same EXACT thing at the same EXACT time as your daughter. My husband would have to go up and down the stairs with her, over and over again. Also, the vacuum really did work. I would put her in a Baby Bjorn and vacuum the house. My house was NEVER that clean! Ha! Also, it helped to put her in her car seat on top of the washing machine or dryer. Sounds crazy, I know, but it worked. Oh, and she LOVED going for car rides!! It lasts about 3 months and then you have a brand new baby!!! It isn't easy, but you WILL get through it!

Good Luck!!!

I totally had the same experience as you. I wouldn't call it full blown colic but colicky. My son started at 6 weeks and it ended at 12. It was very scheduled also, started at 5PM everyday. It later became earlier and earlier and then went away. In the beginning he would calm if we walked the hallway and didn't sit down, then we would walk and he would keep crying, at the end of the 3rd month we could walk and he would be calm, and then it went away. It had a bell curve type pattern. My ideas are to wear him in a sling/Bjorn or go for a walk or car ride. My son liked the stroller/bjorn so everyday, at the fussy time, I would do these activities. I know it is winter but you could mall walk. I know you have twins so you may have to be creative. My advice for you is to seek help when you need it. I finally had to ask my husband to come home early to help out. This was the only thing that kept me sane. This patterned fussyness is very common, not that it makes it any less challenging. Good luck!!

Also try a pacifier too. I just thought about this but maybe a therapy ball that you can bounce on while holding baby.

I feel for you! We had the same exact experience with our daughter. Our pediatrician called it "the witching hour" as well! i had never heard that expression, but it certainly applied to what was happening. It was pretty much horrible because we were told there was nothing we could do. We were told that it was reasonably common, so we weren't too alarmed. We thought it was gas so we tried the gas drops. It didn't seem to work; all in all, these episodes lasted about 4 weeks--from about 4 weeks until 8 or 9 weeks old. Some docs say it's because of all the stimualtion around them all day long...others have no idea why this happens. My husband and I took turns rocking her and walking her around the house. There is an end in sight, so just keep your head up.

Someone once suggested gripe water? You can get it at Whole Foods...might be worth a try.

Best of luck!

Also, I was told what my daughter did was not consistant with "Colic". These fussy periods are different in that they have a later onset and last for much shorter periods of time.

Are you
swaddling her?
breastfeeding on demand?
co-sleeping?
putting her in a baby swing?
going on car rides?
wearing her in a sling or Baby Bjorn?
running a vacuum cleaner or blender for the noise?
reading "The Happiest Baby on the Block" by Dr. Harvey Karp?
reading anything by Dr. William Sears?

I almost pulled out my hair for the first 2 or 3 months. With my younger one, we turned on the blender and he instantly became quiet. The other suggestions helped us, too.

This will pass. Enjoy your little angel when you can!

Amy

Kara,
There is a light at the end of the tunnel. It just seems sooooo dim and soooo far away sometimes. It sounds like colic. Our son had it and I went in for a dr's appointment at 8 weeks after not being able to get him to stop crying at all for almost two days. If he was awake, he was screaming. Well, when the doctor said it should clear up by 12 weeks. I ALMOST DIED RIGHT THERE!! 12 WEEKS?!?! That was 4 more weeks of the misery. Well, I made it, Jacob made it and my DH made it. At 12 weeks, it was a miracle. Seriously, it stopped - almost to the day.

During the bad times, we swaddled him, held him, bounced him. He did sleep a lot in his swing. He LOVED the bath, so he got a bath every single night. We tried to set a nightly routine bath, bottle, bed. Then WE went to bed right away. Many nights I fell asleep on the couch with him in my arms, if needed.

Kara, good luck and know there is an end to it. :)

Yes, it does end! I found that my daughter did a little better when I gave up citrus (I was breastfeeding)and the bouncing up and down. Except little bounces weren't enough. My hubbie and I had to do deep knee bend/lunges. It was tiring, but I strapped her in the baby bjorn and lunged as long as I could. at least I was working out. It only lasted about another 4 weeks-youy're almost there!

My daughter had her "fussy" period from about 7 - 11pm. It started at 3 weeks, peaked at 8 weeks and the evening fussiness decreased at about 3 months. Each month got significantly better.

What worked for us was to bounce her near running water and the bathroom ran. She also liked being held upright and swaddling helped her sleep. Another technique that soothed her to sleep was to hold her in a cradle position and rocking only her head back and forth.

Good luck.

My daughter went through the exact same thing and it lasted about four months. I know it is so hard to deal with and my heart goes out to you. The one thing we found that worked was putting her in the Fisher Price Aquarium Take Along Swing. It sits close the ground and has a deep cradle seat, which I think helped her to feel secure. It also plays music and has flashing lights. We had tried EVERYTHING and after a couple months of dealing with it, we found that this swing is the only thing that helped. She would calm down and eventually fall asleep. She had a regular swing as well, but it never worked like this Fisher Price one. Hope this helps and good luck to you!

Hi Kara,

Wow you have your hands full huh? My daughter is 21 months and from about 3 weeks to 3 months or so she did the exact same thing you describe above. We called it her "witching hour". It was terrible because she'd start around 6p.m. or so and wouldn't stop until about 9 or 10p.m. and that's right when my husband would get home from work so he felt like he never got the "good" times with her. All I can tell you is keep trying different soothing methods. I tried the walking, I tried the car seat, I tried the vacum cleaner. All the things you read in those parenting magazines and none of them worked. She was flat out inconsolable. But I finally found something that worked for us and it was pure accident that I found it. We had one of those big excercise balls and I had paced the floor about a 1000 times during one of her bouts and my back was killing me so I sat on the ball with her held tightly to me and slowly bounced. I was doing it so I could just sit for just a second and ease my back but lo and behold she immediately stopped crying, that is until I stopped! That worked for us and I've had a couple of friends who had a similar issue try it and it worked for them. Can't hurt to try! We also found that tight swaddling and placing her in her car seat worked wonders to soothe her so she could fall asleep. Good luck! I know some evenings of that can drive you absolutely out of your mind so don't forget to ask for help when it gets to be too much.

My daughter went through this at the same age. My saving grace was the baby bjorne. I would put her in that, and she would be fine, then eventually pass out so I could put he in her bassinet. Not to mention my legs got a good workout from doing the mommy bounce. Don't worry, it will pass...

Hi Kara,

I had the exact same thing with my youngest daughter. My DR. swore it was not colic, but it was. We had her put on Zantac and it helped her a lot. I was so against giving a baby medication, but this lasted for 3 of the longest months. The Zantac helped soothe her, and we waited about a month of this crying before we put her on the medication. I would read everything you can on colic babies and follow everything it says to do, even if your dr., friends, family says this it not it. My oldest daughter did not go through this either, so I had nothing to compare it to. This will wear heavily on your nerves too. Take deep breathes, and even try to ly her down and walk away for at least five minutes to calm down. Good luck ;-)

Every child is different, but it does sound like your daughter has a classic case of Colic as my firstborn did...her fussy period was every evening fro, about 6 to 8 PM. Don't stop trying the things you have already because it can be a combination of factors, but what works best is rotating your foods(one serving per three to four days of everything you eat if possible, to determine which foods bother her), if you breast feed, or giving her more glucose water and not too much formula per feeding while trying motion soothing techniques like holding her in a football position (with her facing away from you to support her tummy)and walking through the house(which is just as much for your colic as hers)and also keeping from sitting still and being tense can do wonders. When you really want to sit, turn her upside down on your lap with the bowel part of her tummy on your knees or upper thighs and rock from left to right in a swinging motion to simulate a boat or rocking chair. This is sooo soothing and helps work out any gas that could be trapped and causing pain.
If you can afford a vibrating bouncy seat, by all means, get one!! Winter is the hardest, because getting out is so hard, but the important thing is to not stay tensed up trying to find an instantaneous cure, then you will miss whatever works best. Just keep moving and mellow out until wisdom tells you what is working for her, and believe me, that is your motherly right to be given that divine knowing that it is the answer that works best for your child. Try to adjust yours and her schedule around that period to minimize frustration and dissappointed scheduled activities, and don't forget that she will one day very soon just outgrow it and be fine and you'll wonder why you had to experience the nightmare, but you'll love her all the more because you suffered with her.

PS. I second trying the Nutramagen, expensive, but easy on the digestion.

This happened to us until our daughter was 8 weeks. We thought it was gas, tried different formulas but I was still nursing as well. At the suggestion of a relative/chiropractor, he suggested using Enfamil Nutramigen, which I did. The first night I still nursed and she was screaming within an hour again. I stopped nursing altogether and just had her on the formula and that was it, no more crying, screaming or inconsolability. If nursing is important, you can pump for a day or two and just put her on the formula just to see if that is what is causing the fussiness. Every baby is different. This just happened to work for me. I wish I would have known to try it at 4 weeks rather than have her miserable until 8 weeks.
Good luck!

If you have a bouncy seat try it. If you are nursing try to cut out dairy products and sweets. As I stopped eating dairy products and sweets she did get better and the bouncy seat worked wonders, I would not have survived.
If you are formula feeding, it could be the high amount of iron that she is getting which in return could be causing gas and constipation. I have only nursed my daughter but I was formula fed and my problem was iron and I was allergic to the formula my mother fed me. They do have some alternatives to formula that might be easier on her stomach but they are pricey.
Good luck it does get better.

Try and keep the baby up more during the day. This will help make the evenings and nights much easier to bare.

My daughter did the same thing. The only thing that helped, and only sometimes, was giving her a bath. I think sometimes newborns just get into a rut and cry and can't stop. The bath seemed to shock her out of the crying rut. It didn't always work but when it did, it was paradise. Rest assured, your daughter will grow out of this. I can't remember how long it lasted but it was only a couple of months. And now, our daugher is the best behaved little girl you will ever meet. Hang in there.

Ahhh..lovely colic!!! I am so sorry, I know how hard that is. My daughter actually just passed through that phase in the last couple of months and is an absolute del;ight now, and a wonderful sleeper. She started in with a similiar pattern at about two weeks old and it seemed to crescendo at 2 months. It was so bad that I was afraid I was not going to be able to leave her in daycare for fear that someone may hurt her...as I was thinking this we had the worst night ever, she cried for about ten hours...and then something miraculous happened, she slept through the night for 6 hours :), and the crying jags at night continued to lessen and lessen. She isnow almost 5 months old, and she goes to bed around 7 at night and wakes up between 6am and 7am. She is so sweet now I cannot tell you...like night and day. You probably have a "do" baby. I know mine is, she wants to keep up with her big brother, and as she is able to do more and more she is happier and happier. I hope this helps, because I know how terribly hard that is to deal with, but it will get better. Walk away for a few minutes if you have to, or take a car ride. Goood luck..it will pass, usually by four months.

Hi Kara,

My first born went through this. Nothing comforts them so don't even bother giving the gas drops. There is light at the end of the tunnel it all depends on the child. My little guy went through it for a few weeks maybe a month. So it will end just not soon enough right?
Take Care and good luck
K.

Hang in there. There is light at the end of the tunnel. I have three kids - 4 years old, 2 and a half, and almost 3 months. When the 4-year old was your daughter's age, she basically screamed like that all day long until she was six weeks old. It was really tough. The other two were much easier. But all three of them only had the fussiness like you describe until about 6 weeks. With the older two I just focused on them and tried everything I could think of. With this new one I can't do that as I'm on my own in the evenings, so I have to take care of my other two kids as well. Instead, I just went about the night holding my screaming baby! And believe it or not, it was MUCH easier with her. She would end up falling asleep while I was holding her and doing dishes or picking up the house. The hardest part was if I was trying to read stories to the older kids, but sometimes we just sat through screaming while we did that, too. I guess I just learned that she's fine. She's not in any pain, she just needs to cry. Best of luck to you in getting through this. Two weeks doesn't sound like a long time unless you're going through what you're going through. And with 20 month old twins, too! But it sounds like your husband is a big help. That's great.

My son also went through the fussy phase and it started around 5 weeks and lasted until about 15 weeks. It was really really hard, but it WILL get better.

I second the Happiest Baby on the Block recommendation, although we got the DVD, which was very helpful to be able to see the techniques he uses. It was the best $20 I spent in those first few months and saved us (literally) hundreds of hours of crying. I let all of my pregnant friends borrow it before they have their babies.

I hope things get better for you soon!

Sounds like colic to me... My son was the same way. If you try any of the other moms' advice and it doesn't work, talk to your pediatrician. The Dr. should be able to help you pin-point what's wrong and then lead you down the right path. There is medicine (like drops, I believe, and are totally safe!) that you can give the baby if you know it's colic. Good Luck

Hi
My daughter did the same and I was like oh no I have a colicky baby, but then she was happy too and I heard collicky was all the time so I was confused but then it ended about 3-4 months old thank goodness. Do you breastfeed or give a pacifier. I chose not to do the pacifier and just get through it but you might want to consider that too.

Take comfort in that this will end and some people say you only get one screamer in life so your little girl will (hopefully) be it!

We had what seemed to be a similar experience with our little guy and it suddenly ended one day. We tried swaddling, pacifiers and everything else we could think of. The vacuum cleaner was a temporary fix and he'd stop screaming and just stare at it -- but the second it stopped, he'd be back to screaming.

What worked for us was the vibrating bouncy chair (when he was tired of being held) and other times, my husband would hold him in the rocking chair, baby back to husband's chest with baby upright, but leaning back on daddy and daddy's hands on baby's stomach applying gentle but firm pressure and daddy's hands moving up and down to sort of jiggle baby by the stomach while they rocked. It's a gentle motion that if you don't look closely, you'd never know he was moving his hands, but it seemed to help our little guy most times. Othertimes, he'd scream so much, he'd just pass out.

I tried switching from bfeeding to different kinds of formula, but it didn't work for us.

Good luck, you'll get thorugh it and have a completely different baby on the other side--one who coos and smiles and is so much fun. You'll get there!!

I recommend turning on the dryer and setting her next to it in the car seat. The vibrations and the heat from the dryer worked like a charm for my son. Put her on top only if you can stay by her but on the floor worked just as well. Have you thought about having them check her ears? It probably isn't an ear infection but my son had them alot and did not have the typical signs of red ears, pulling on ears but he did get cranky. Just a thought. Good Luck!!

Hi There-

Congrats on the new arrival!

She might be allergic or sensitive to something- are you breastfeeding? Try eliminating certain foods in your diet to see if that helps- common allergens are iron, wheat, dairy and soy. If she's on formula, try switching, or check with your pediatrician.

My daughter went through some fussiness at this age- it's the first big growth spurt physically and emotionally, and it's still a very big world. My daughter responded to security and attachment- I carried her in a sling/snugli all the time; we also swaddled her when she was napping/sleeping and also in the swing. See if that helps as well.

Some babies do have a "witching hour" where all they will do is fuss- the best thing is to be calm about it, trade off with someone every 20 minutes to give your nerves a rest, listen to some calm music (try anything you listened to when you were pregnant- also baby bach and baby einstein are great). Humming and singing can also help with this- if you don't like singing, just talk quietly in a soothing voice. Leaving the house on a short walk too is good- somehow they don't cry as loud when you're not in the house. :)

Best of luck- it's a phase! :) :)

I HIGHLY recommend getting "The Happiest Baby on the Block". It describes a very specific way to calm your colicky baby. It's a quick, easy read and very easy to implement. It helped us immediately. Unfortunately, we didn't find it until the colicky stage was almost over anyway. I give this book to all my pregnant friends. It's a life saver. Good Luck.

My son was also very fussy same age, same time. My trick was what I now call the "Magic Sling". Placing him in a sling immediately calmed him. I swear I wore him for 4 weeks straight during that fussy time. I used the Ultimate baby wrap sold at Babies R Us for like $40. The best 40 bucks I ever spent. I placed him in facing me. As soon as he got in that thing it was like he just melted into me and became relaxed. Someone else mentioned the Happiest Baby on the Block book and that book's theory goes along with the sling. Good luck and hang in there!