Doctor Keller,
We need your help and we thank you so much for your time. My name is Josh and my wife is Anna. we have a 7 month old baby named Noah. When he was born he had colic and and acid reflux. He finally grew out of colic but still has acid reflux, although he does take medicine for it. Now of course with colic it was 4 months of up all night and no sleep and I understand that is normal. But he is 7 months old now and still as fussy as he was when he had colic. Its every single day he is fussy and not content. From the time he wakes up till he goes to sleep its fuss fuss lol.
He is never content with anything we do. Now granted he will play for thirty minutes sometimes by his self or with us but for the most part he is fussy all day. I would say out of 100 he is fussy 88% of the time. We feed him and change him and do everything we know to do and he just fusses. Its hard to do anything but hold him and most of the time he fusses when you hold him. Really when he hit 4 months old he was the happiest he ever has been. But as soon as he got his four month old shots he went right back down hill.
So from five months till now its fuss fuss again just like when he had colic. We bought him a play set tonight and he sit in it for ten minutes and then got fussy again. He also will get over stimulated a lot and its an act of congress to calm him down. But the strangest thing is he want sleep. He may take a small nap during the day but that is it. At night he will fuss from seven to ten. Then finally go to bed at ten and get up at six or seven. He was sleeping through the night but now is getting up two or three times a night to eat. He looks so sleepy but he want sleep.
So three things I have noticed about my son. Every since he got his 6 month old shots he has been fussy. He want sleep although he is gets very sleepy, so its almost like he has insomnia. Also he has been cutting teeth so that may be some of it also. But my wife said she has never seen such a fussy baby before and has been around many babies.
Help!
Josh
Dear Josh,
As your baby has acid reflux I would strongly encourage you to check with his doctor. You can also do infant massage with him nightly before he goes to sleep. Infant massage is good for both the baby and for you. Remember that a baby’s stomach is only as big as their fist. That is how much food his stomach holds. It is not unusual for babies to wake throughout the night for the first year.
Best,
M Kay Keller, PhD
