Growth Spurts....

I have been hearing all the talk about growth spurts and i am curious as to what typical behaviours a baby exhibits when going through a spurt and how long does it last?

DD was on a role - feeding, burping and settling well, - sleeping 4-5 hours at a time over night. BUt the past 3 days (since 6 weeks milestone) she screams a lot more.

Some times screams for up to 3-4 hours at a time and if she is exhausted and falls asleep inbetween it only last for about 5 minutes before she is awake again.

I havent done anything different. NOt eating different foods nor changed her routine.

She will feed and i check to see if she is screaming cause she is still hungry , but she will just toss her head side to side on my nipple and scream - so i take that as a no. I wouldnt say she is feeding anymore often than usual - still probably 2 hourly during the day.

I am wondering if this is what the growth spurts are like? ANd need reassurance that there is nothing i can do until it passes? NOt that i know how long that takes.

Last night DH had to sit her upright in his hand (wouldnt be held close) for an hour until she would fall asleep... never had to do this before - she would often fall asleep in the sling or over our shoulder post burping.

We give her infants friend and infacol for the wind - and she is having great burps so i doubt it is wind from that end. ALthough she fusses and shreeks until she does a big poo (and i mean big- enough to fill 2 nappies) then will settle. So i assume the pains in gas (poor little thing). I bought some panadol infant drops but are yet to use them as i dont want to just jump on the pharmacy bandwagon - i would prefer to take things naturally if i can , and for this reason have cut infacol down to twice overnight only and using the infants friend during the day...

ANy suggestions or insight appreciated

:)


PM

It could be wind, but then again, I'm no doctor.
Try massaging her gut/bladder region in a downward motion to help things pass. If she's feeling better being upright, wedge some pillows under her cot mattress so she's not lying flat. Maybe she's experiencing a bit of acid reflux that's uncomforatble on her eospophegus?

It doesn't sounds like a growth spurt to me though.

Just moving this to Baby & Toddler general discussion

sounds very similar to my DD, who at six weeks 'turned' into an unhappy baby with crying as if in pain, and the same thing with doing a pooh, would seem to feel a bit better after that.... doctor diagnosed as reflux, and i do think she may have slight reflux, but i actually think it was more to do with her digestive system maturing... as when she hit about 10 or 11 weeks things improved dramatically....

hang in there, i am sure it will pass. you may want to check the symptoms for reflux just in case....

and my DD is a lovely happy baby now who rarely gets pains, unless it is wind... i honestly think sometimes they need to get used to all the strange feelings in their tummies and once their digestive systems mature a bit, it starts to feel a bit better, if that makes any sense.