Non stop crying!!! Dummy or not?

[ButtonMoon]

DS is 6 weeks and cries whenever I put him down anywhere...only happy when i carry or hold him. I have aDD who needs attention and time from me and it isn't fair on her as there are limits to what u can do one handed! So i am thinking of intro ing a dummy......dd had one til `12 months and i got fed up of night wakenoingd to put it back in but she cried lots too and it kept me sane! just wondering if u didnt give your lo a dummy...did threy cry a lot and how did you cope?! Any tips gratfullly recived and tested!

If yo do want to carry him, have yo tried a sling? I sed dummies for my two - weaned ds off them at 3m becase he had found his fingers, and weaned dd off at 6m because (as you have found) the night wakings were hideous. Also suspected, and turned out to be right, that she was able to dleep through but that it was the dummy that was causing more problems than it was solving.

Your ds could have a touch of colic, for which a dummy is very helpful. Don't worry about going either route (sling or dummy). You can combine or change as feels right. And giving him one or the other doesn't mean that that's it for the next year, either.

Bump

6 weeks is the worst time for crying though, isn't it?

ds was a bit like this when small - he was my first though, so I could just pick him up. I would prob get a sling if I had another like that - but I generally try to have the attitude of giving babies what they seem to need, rather than trying to make them need it less iyswim, so if he likes being held I would hold him.

we didn't use a dummy with ds, so can't help with that, sorry.

Hi Buttonmoon - all the moons are here eh? Sympathy to you, both my boys had colic despite me cutting out virtually all fruit, acidic things, spices etc. and cried a lot for the first 6 weeks. It may be that your ds is coming to an end of this phase soon.
But both my boys were very 'sucky' babies, felt like I was being used as a human dummy. So eventually, both times I 'succombed'to the dummy. Best bloomin decision I ever made! DS 2 was also the sort of child who cried all day unless I was carrying him - for the first 5 months. I invested in an easy-to-use, very very comfy (for me) sling and got on with it. Did everything with him in it. As long as he was being held upright, he was happy. I developed wonderful biceps too . Hope you find a solution soon.

i left mine to cry if there wasn;t any thing wrong with them and i had stuff to do.

ditto, dd found her thumb pretty quickly once left to it, in fact she even belted a dummy out, when offered one!

I used a sling when mine was very small, but had to stop due to back problems. After that I learnt to live with it; went out alot( doesn't sound as bad outside and as long as I kept moving she did settle), took big one to toddler groups - other mums took baby for cuddles and I got to play with DD1, who was 15 months and needed me too!
When all else failed, I learnt to ignore, not easy but it helped if the hoover was on.
I did try a dummy but after a week of having to hold it in her mouth, I gave up. She started sucking her thumb, eventually, and all has been peaceful ever since.

DS had colic. Dummy was the only thing that saved our sanity. He stopped taking the dummy of his own accord at 7mo (this was a couple of weeks after his colic had cleared up). If he hadn't I'd have stopped around then anyway as he didn't need it anymore.

We have a new ds. Tried giving her a dummy, and she is not having a bar of it! Try the dummy and if your ds spits it, then at least you know it is not for you

We've bought a basinett that hangs inside the cot. When they move around it rocks and is supposed to soothe them. Our dd (8weeks) is much more settled since we started using this. I pop her in it during the day when she looks tired, give her a bit of a rock, and leave her to it. Sometimes she sleeps, sometimes she plays, sometimes she screams. But most often she'll sleep/play by herself. She usually only yells if she has wind or something (Before we used this basinett she also cried every time we put her down)

Good luck

I mean we have a new dd (not ds)
[sleep deprived icon ...]

Had a thought - do you ever put him down on his tummy or on his side? (I know we're supposed to put them down to sleep on their backs, but I'm sure it must be fine to put them down on their tummies when you're around.) Wind moves through the gut more easily if the baby is not lying flat on its back.

Also, many babies are still easily startled at this age, and if they startle they do the Morro reflex (arms flung out), which rocks them and startles them even more. I remember seeing ds do this and get into a cycle of startle-reflex-jolt-startle-reflex-jolt-startle- and so on until he got throughly worked up and distressed. If they're lying on their tummies they don't rock and so don't startle as badly. Rolling up a bath towel into a sausage and wrapping it round the babies upper half, like a horseshoe on the bed, will hold them steadier so that they don't startle as badly.

DS used to startle himself with his flayling arms when he was about this age. We used to swaddle him and that helped. But I also remember that about 6/8 wks things suddenly got a little bit easier.

hang in there and hope it gets sorted out soon for all your sakes.

h x

Also, lightly swaddling can help with the Morro reflex. They can still move about, but not enough to jolt awake/get too worked up

my dd sreams and goes mad when over tired cant hold her or put here down ive found that if i put her blanket on a cushon on the settee and lay her on there she gets her self asleep it might be over tired

I've succombed to the dummy - it's MARVELLOUS.

My dd1 stopped using it on her own initiative at 3 months - after the colic ended I think. Definitely helps buying time now though.

Button: if he is breastfed his tongue-thrust reflex makes it harder to learn to suck a dummy - I just gently put it in dd's mouth and stroke her head and tell her that sucking it will help her to relax - she takes it after a few attempts to reject it and instantly her whole body relaxes.

I remove it once she's fallen asleep so she doesn't get into the sleep=dummy cycle too much. (Unless I REALLY need some time to cook etc. - it sometimes wakes her!)

Tried the dummy, but dd is not having it!!! She just wants carried!! I can sometimes get her to go down if I swaddle her up and put her on her side. I know this is against advice but I keep my eye on her.

However after reading this thread I may be a bit more inclined to leave her crying for a wee while.......maybe

redtartanlass. we slept our ds on his tummy. he hated sleeping on his back. we had one of those monitors that can tell if they stop breathing. ironically it went off one day when he was sleeping on his back!!!!