H doesn't cry sfter every time he eats. But lately we have a crying fit about once a day, always at night, and it lasts for one to two hours, sometimes longer. He is absolutely inconsolable. It always starts after a meal, but his tummy doesn't feel gassy. It's never in the daytime either. Some days he is fine though, but it seems they are less than they used to be.

I was up until 5 am with him last night. Gave him some formula after he calmed down, and that didn't make him upset. It seems it never does. (Well, he has only had formula 3-4 times in total…) Which makes me think it's something in my milk, but it might totally be a coincidence. I don't know.
We apologized to the neighbors today, thankfully he doesn't wake the lady up, and the guy has children of his own and was very understanding. Makes me feel bad though.
His crying absolutely breaks my heart, I hate that I can't do anything for him.

I don't know what gripe water or mylicon is, or if we even have it here.
But I have heard you can get probiotics for infants in the US? Does anyone have any info on it? Is it a good idea? Any cons? Anyone know where to get quality stuff?

It may just be his "cranky time". Olivia was like that too and my mother likes to always bring up about how I would scream and scream and scream right at 7pm every night like clockwork when I was a baby for no apparent reason.

Gripe water is a herbal remedy that is supposed to help calm tummy issues. We tried this stuff but I didn't really notice a huge improvement. Mylicon sometimes seemed to help, but wasn't always a sure thing. I don't know if those would be available in a drug store where you are or not. They might be worth a shot, but may not help much if it is just a fussy time for him.

As for the probiotics, I never tried those, but I did force myself to eat yogurt (I'm not a fan of it, so I had to really force it) so that she would get some through me. Not really sure if it helped or not.

For us it just took her growing out of. She spit up terribly until about 6 months. Then it just seemed to stop and she turned into a much happier baby. I still think she had reflux, but she was gaining weight well so they would never diagnose it as that. Do you consume a lot of dairy? According to our doctor, really the only thing that I was consuming that may have been bothering her is dairy. He said that all the talk about gassy foods like broccoli and stuff has never been proven, but they do know that some babies don't tolerate dairy products well. Unfortunately (well, actually I guess it would be fortunately so I could continue to eat it, lol) taking dairy out of my diet for 2 weeks didn't really help much.

Sorry I don't have any other advice for you!

Piper would have screaming fits around 7-8pm, the witching hour I've heard it called. She'd start getting fussy right around 5pm that would slowly progress to the screaming fits. I don't really have any advice either...Piper almost never spit up so we never tried the gripe water or mylicon type stuff. It's hard to say if it started after a meal as she was almost constantly on the boob. When she was screaming during the 'witching hour' pretty much nothing would calm her down (most of the fits lasted 45 minutes, sometimes longer). What occasionally worked was spreading out a big blanket, placing her in the center, and then picking up the four corners and gently rocking her in the blanket swing. I can't remember when it was, but she did grow out of those fits--definitely the fits were gone by 12 weeks, hmmmm, I think she started the fits around 6 weeks?? So hard to remember these things now.

Ah, so maybe it's just part of his current MO.

I do eat dairy. Yoghurt with my all bran in the morning, and I'm a sucker for cheese. Maybe I'll quit dairy for a couple of weeks to try it out, like you did labby. I have nothing to lose. Cheese will be highly missed!

Do you think it could have something to do with pooping? Often he'll have a huge poop soon after his fits. But since his poop is breastmilk thin, he shouldn't have a hard time passing it right?

I am contemplating trying this though: http://www.vitacost.com/Udos-Choice-Infants-Blend-Probiotic
Seems it can't do any harm? I have heard Udos Choice to be a good brand, but I've never tried it myself.
Maybe it's just pointless and a waste of money, but SO is having a hard time dealing with the crying, and what ever I can do to ease his transition into parenthood I'm willing to try.

Thanks ladies.

Are you giving him any sort of vitamins? Our ped recommended giving Tri-Vi-Sol made by Enfamil. The stuff was AWFUL. It smelled terrible and I could only imagine what it tasted like, not to mention it stained EVERYTHING when she would spit it back out and did not come out! I decided to trash those and that made a huge difference, although we still suffered with the screaming bouts. I got some baby D drops from that vitacost site and she dealt with those MUCH better. I can't really vouch for the probiotics, but I had a good experience with vitacost!

gripe water is sort of like a diluted fennel tea. If you google it you can order it online, or maybe find a recipe to make it yourself. I have heard that babies often cry in the evening for no apparent reason, I'm glad I never had problems with Wes.

Kawaii, M is like that sometimes too. Only it is for every single feed.

I figured that milk products made after boiling milk work well (boiled milk as opposed to microwaved milk; homemade yogurt, not store bought). Skipping wheat seems to help but the jury is still out on it.

Kawaii, I heard it called witching hour, totally normal. Jasper was the worst and cried all the time!!!

No supplements yet. He is starting vit D drops and omega oil today though, on schedule as they are recommended here. I hope they won't make things worse. I'll give it to him during the day for sure.
I think I'll try the probiotics. Seems it can't hurt.

Maybe I should just start talking about it more, H was an angel last night after I brought it up in here. Fingers crossed we'll have another good night!

Oh, H slept in his bed for the first time ever on Tuesday, and had another nap in it last night. Huge yay! He has refused the bed earlier. I really hope this is the start of him being able to sleep in his bed consistently. And maybe that he'll start sleeping more during the night also. Me and SO miss sleeping in bed together, now we have to sleep in shifts.

Sorry to hear about M Hasya. It truly is heartbreaking when they are screaming like that.
Gutter, you have my sympathies. I would go crazy if H cried all the time!

Thanks for the help ladies.

I forgot to mention. He does spit up some. I don't know what qualifies as "a lot" though. But he doesn't seem to be bothered about it, so I just thought it was because he ate too quickly or something.

Olivia's spitting up was insane. I mentioned it multiple times to the dr but he always said it was "normal". I actually gave up on the burp cloths and used the flannel receiving blankets instead because they covered a bigger area. I was always covered in spit up for the first few months. I told the day care that she spits up a lot but they would still call me in the beginning because they were worried it was too much. I was so happy when the spit up stopped so I could actually wear the same cloths all day and not be changing myself as much as her!

So she's taken her first few unassisted steps! This morning we were all in the kitchen rushing around to get lunches together and she always stands next to me latched on to my leg. I had to move so I took her hands off of my leg and let go and she just kind of stood there for a minute because there was nothing for her to grab on to. I started going "look! look!" to DH and he turned around just as she took 2 or 3 steps to latch back on to my leg! She's let go of the furniture before and will stand there for a second or two, but this was by far the longest she stood with no support and the first she took some steps without holding on to anything too. I guess the fun is really beginning now. I'm tired enough chasing after her crawling everywhere. I don't want to even think about walking/running!

Kawaii, Jasper is much better now that i've stopped nursing, he's such a happy boy now.

Wow Gutter! You had a whole year of incessant crying? You are one dedicated momma! Good for you!
Do you know what was in your milk that made him cry?

We've had three good nights in a row! No crying!
And he slept almost the whole night in his bed the night before last! This is SO huge for us! Woke up for three feedings, after the last one he slept with us but that's just because I saw I would spend a looong time getting him back to sleep if I dared to move him.
Last night he slept in his bed from midnight to 4 am. I tried getting him back to sleep but gave up after an hour and a half, he was wide awake cooing and gurgling. Then SO stayed up with him. He had him for six glorious hours where I got to sleep only interrupted by feedings. It was heaven. Considering SO is still working on his attachment issues I think that was so sweet of him. H was in a great mood though, so I hope they got a little bonding done.

Sorry for going on and on. I'm sure our last two nights aren't that interesting to read about in detail. lol!

Do you guys remember when you got your first smile? H is a month old tomorrow (gosh, how did that happen??) and hasn't smiled yet. I can't wait until he does. I've heard 5-6 weeks?

Congrats on Olivias first steps! What a milestone! You must be so proud and scared at the same time? She'll be all over the place from now on, and I'm sure there will be a whole new world of bruises and booboos. lol! How cute! You will be busy for sure.

Allie, who has been (and I know how lucky I am) a very easy baby overall, did have her "witching hours" as well when she was young. Started around 5 or 6 and lasted a 2-3 hours, typically.

Moms with little ones shouldn't rule out possible reflux problems, although also shouldn't be quick to jump to that diagnosis. It's worth talking to the doc if babies are consistently upset and uncomfortable after eating, and/or spitting up a lot (I know it's hard to know what is "a lot" in a baby!).

Labby, Congrats on the first steps! We are not far behind, I think. She just started standing on her own for brief periods, and has attemped a few steps a couple times (step, step, splat!). I have had *exactly* the same kind of moments in the kitchen, LOL! Just yesterday I was cutting something, looked over to the cabinets where she was cruising, and she was just standing there examining a magent from the fridge. It sorta startled me, like I was looking at some other person who had snuck into the house! But she is still mostly cruising or crawling, but doing more crusing along flat walls where she doesn't really hold on, just touches the wall.

Congrats on the steps!

Labby, were you mentioning Olivia was in 18 month clothes? Piper was wearing 18 month clothes at 9 months, and I just now am putting that size away. It definitely lasted the longest out of any other size. I found P's growth really slowed down from 9-10 months till now (and she's still in at least the 95th percentile for height), so hopefully you'll find the same.

Oh, and I sorta found walking easier than crawling, especially for a baby that likes the outside. It's been much easier with a walking baby than a crawling baby during camping trips.

One final note to MW and Labby--we took the 28 year old pop up camper out last weekend...rattled most of it off on the dirt road to our campsite so we think it's officially retired except for paved road camping, like to some nearby lakes with designated campsites. Eventually dh is going to rip the thing apart and just use it as a tow trailer.

It wasn't a whole year , only until he was 4.5 months, but he was still a fussy boy and seems to have gotten loads better since I stopped nursing

I am really sad to have stopped

Hi ladies...
I have missed you guys....
1- so i stooped bf zeze at 4 mths... bummer but i am fine now. I did soo much research on doula's n natural birth and where i wanted to give birth that i did not even pay ne attn to breastfeeding and to complexity of it. i just thought.." ooh i'll pop my boob in his mouth and thats it..." well i was wrong and I will be more prepare din 3 yrs when I have my 2nd ( by God's grace...) so bye bye ticker counter.

2- on the bathing issue... when zeze was born, we bathe him every 2 days. as soon as he turned 1 mths...it turned daily and still is now. I think culture plays a huge part. In my culture, bathing a baby is a huge deal that grandma's take pride in and i kinda inherited the fever of it. Now, that I work, it is a nightly ritual that Isaiah and DH go through; its a bonding session of sorts and it is quite beautiful...

3- still no AF....yay!!

4) ohh my gosh i wanna get pregnant again so bad....i see a pregnant woman and i get some weird envy cuz i remember how much i enjoyed being pregnant ( minus the last 2 weeks where i was practically being threatened everyday with a c-section...)

Hi Ambrosia, welcome back!

Kawaii, M smiled in response to mine at about 4w. But would give a few random smiles for no apparent reason a week or 10 days before that. Of course, she also came out 11 days late. We thought that she was trying to catch up :-).

Kawaii--sounds like pretty classic colic to me. Altho its suspected colic is gas related theres no real proof of a cause. Glad to hear its already getting better--hopefully it stays that way!

Labby--congrats on the steps! I agree with desert- in a lot of ways walking is easier than crawling...even in stores n such they can get down n explore a little without making you want to gag at their lil hands on the floor! lol.

Im getting soooo excited to have a newborn again! Its a blast to watch my boys grow but I still think the newborn/baby stage is so easy and wonderful! I hope this lil mans as easy as his brothers were!

So I'm totally freaking out. When I picked Olivia up from day care yesterday, they told me that when she woke up from her nap she seemed to have a "croup-like cough". I haven't noticed any sort of cough and they said it was really only when she woke up and then she was fine the rest of the day. So we got home and she went down for another nap. When she woke up, her cheek was all red, but I just figured it was from her laying on that side of her face and that it would go away in a few minutes. Well it didn't really go away. Then when we were eating dinner I noticed her chin and upper lip/nose were getting very red too. So after dinner we did her bath and it seemed to be going away slowly. She then went to bed and slept all night.

She woke up this morning and seemed fine, no redness, still no cough. I nursed her and then got her dressed and then I got in the shower and she was with DH. When I got out of the shower, her face had red blotches all over it! It almost looked like when they cry really hard, but she hadn't been crying. She was really rubbing at her eyes, especially the left one, but she was also yawning so I don't know if she was just tired or if something was irritating her. So now I'm super stressing because I'm having this big surprise bday party for DH on Saturday and will have around 50 people at our house. I'm taking tomorrow off of work to go shopping and get things ready, so I really don't need a sick baby right now! I called DH to see how it went with dropping her off at day care and he said by the time he got there the blotches were gone, but her eye was still a bit red and puffy. I'm hoping maybe she just got a piece of dust or something in her eye, but it still doesn't explain this blotchiness that seems to come and go. I'm wondering if it is an allergy to something, but I have no idea what. Nothing has really changed. I'm crossing my fingers I don't get a call from the day care today and have to take her to the doctor. Why do these things happen at the most in opportune times?!?!