Intro and daytime fussiness

Kdoy705

Hi ladies! I am a first-time mom to Riley Sophia - born 4 weeks and 1 day ago. The first three weeks she generally spent sleeping most of the day and waking up to eat every 2 - 3 hours. At night she is pretty good...already sleeping at least 1 if not 2 stretches of 4 or 5 hours at night.

However, during the day for the past few days she has been extremely fussy during the day. She's eating and having the right number of wet/poopy diapers, but the time she spends fussing during the day has increased considerably at 4 weeks, while the time spent napping has decreased. I'd say on and off she was fussing for at least 3- 4 hours yesterday, with a good part being loud, all-out crying. The time spent fussing was not continuous - I was able to get her to calm down in between fussy periods but these fussy periods just kept coming!

Question for other moms with babies the same age- how often does your baby fuss during the day? On and off during the day? One longer period at a certain point during the day?

 I called her pediatrician's office and the nurse there said that if your baby cries for more than an hour, and you've tried all your normal soothing tricks without success, it warrants a trip to the emergency room. This seemed to be pretty extreme to me. Has anyone else ever heard this? I did take her temp and she had a normal temp yesterday.

 I am hoping that this is just a fussy week / stage and that over the next few days / weeks she will outgrow this phase. Any advice or thoughts welcome!

ericamanuela

This exact same thing just happened with me and my son. He's 4 weeks and 3 days and just started his increased fussiness. I do think it's partly due to age. I've read that crying increases around this time and peaks around 6-8 weeks. I also noticed other strange things going on with my son and according to his doctor his many symptoms match GERD (acid reflux). I've made a lot of changes (more burping, smaller more frequent feedings, keeping him upright and added 1/2 tsp of liquid mylanta into is bottle of pumped milk 4 times a day) and his crying has decreased significantly. It could just be an age thing but it doesn't hurt to talk with your pediatrician. I've never heard of bringing a newborn to the ER for crying for more than an hour. Colicky babies can cry for up to 3 hours straight but I'm not a doctor smwho knows. Good luck!

k8edgerton

Could be gas... you could try putting your baby in a bouncy seat w/ vibration to alleviate an upset tummy. Also, burp often and you can pump LO's legs to let any farts out.

It also could be a growth spurt... For me weeks 4-6 was one constant growth spurt of a fussy crying baby. It wasn't fun. 

I've never heard the cry for more than an hour take to the ER... That sounds quite extreme. My DD went through a "fussy" stage in the evenings for 1-2 hours around 4 weeks. I called the doctors office and the nurse told me that sometimes babies just have a "fussy time of day". I think that's true. 

You can try the 4 S's from Happiest baby (didn't work for me but some mom's on here swear by it). I personally found keeping my DD in motion during her fussy time was best. We would go on walks, swing in the swing, go into the Moby or walk around the house.

GideonsMommy

I hear ya, I am going through this too. My baby is a week older than yours but the fussiness you're describing started around that time for us.

 He usually has two real fussy times, once in the morning and once early evening/late afternoon. It usually lasts a couple of hours until he goes to sleep. Sometimes I can get him to calm down for a short while, similar to what you described with your LO.

I also think the emergency thing could be a little extreme, but I'm no expert so I would hate to say DONT when maybe the pediatrician is right? I took our boy to the pediatrician for the fussiness and she thought it was gas as the previous person suggested.

A couple things we found that worked for us were going outside (our babe likes being outside for some reason) and the so-called "colic hold", with one hand supporting his chin and the other under his belly for pressure. We make it even more fun by "flying" him around the room in this position. Try it!  : )

I hope this phase gets over soon, too. It can get frustrating really fast. Good luck!