Hi there. I am having some major sleep deprivation so I'll try to be as clear as I can.
My 7week old DD has been doing this for about the last 4 weeks. Started out with her being nocturnal, as many babies are, but I quickly came to realize that she just screams. I think that a lot of this is gas, because I have a crazy let down that chokes her. With all the screaming she is scrunching up her face, kicking and passing a lot of gas. I have tried gas drops, colic drops, reduced dairy intake, and now block feeding (two feeds on one side before switching to other) to make sure she is getting enough hind milk. We have been to the pediatrician about this (who wasn't very helpful) and I have started speaking with a lactation consultant.
I've been having a lot of trouble getting on EASY schedule because of this. Also because my house is very noisy and active (5yo DD & 2yo DS). Sometimes she wants to sleep the whole day away and other times she is very unsettled and is having a bunch of interrupted naps. She mainly takes naps in her stroller so I can move her around the house. At night she is still in the bassinet next to me. Could the stroller and bassinet be part of the problem? I don't know. Maybe the noise in the house is starting to affect her.
So when I'm ready to put her down for the night, I feed her and bring her up. Even if she is very drowsy or even sound asleep, as soon as I get up to my bedroom she snaps awake and the crying begins. It usually takes me 1-2 hours to get her to go back to sleep. I cannot put her I. The bassinet awake so far, I have had to pace around the room with her screaming her brains out. As soon as she looks like she's out of it, I lay her down, she snaps awake, and the cycle begins again. Over and over and over.
Then she wakes up at least once in the middle of the night. Sometimes I get VERY lucky and I can feed her and she goes right back to sleep, but the vast majority of the time, I end up pacing around my bedroom with her for about 1.5-2 hours. I am delirious with exhaustion, stumbling around, tripping and off balance in the dark. She seems to only calm down if she is being walked around. Sitting and rocking or breastfeeding doesn't seems to satisfy her.
Can someone offer some words of wisdom? We're hurting real bad over here.