Crying baby

[DuckWaddle]

In tge last week my dd started crying all tge time. She is 5 weeks and prior to this was a fussy baby but there were calm moments. Now, with the exception of when she is feeding or sleeping, she cries alll day. I'm so upset by it and feel like a bad mum as she seems so unhappy. I'm not sure if it's colic. She certainly doesn't get enough sleep in the day as she resists it at all costs. Thankfully at the moment she sleeps well at night. Any ideas greatly appreciated as I'm feeling so low?

Sorry to hear this. It's what many small babies do unfortunately! - I remember it well. Does she like being in a sling or in the buggy going places? And are you getting much help with her?

YY to trying a sling. And while it may not feel like it, this won't last forever

Have you tried swaddling? I do this with my 7w old when he gets himself into a tizz and its too late to take him out. Slings are also brill unless like me your'e back is knacked!

What about a dummy or white noise?

Hope you'll both be ok

My baby was the same around 4 or 5 weeks, he screamed whenever I tried to feed him, it was awful. Took him to the doctor who suggested reflux, I tried the medicine for a while but he got better around 8 weeks. Now he is a lovely happy baby!

It may just be a phase your LO is going through, it is nothing you are doing wrong. You can always speak to the dr if you want to rule out anything serious and put your mind at rest. Feel for you though I know how awful it is.

Hang in there, it will get better. A baby swing and carrying in the sling sometimes helped with mine. Good luck!

Thanks all for the lovely messages. Yes, she's definitely happy on a sling. Do you think it's ok to use it alot? I'm using it about once a day at the mo. She didn't seem to like swaddling but perhaps I'll give it another go. We use White noise at night which works a treat but I'm trying to keep that for nights in case it helps with the night routine (thankfully nights are fine). I got her to take a dummy for the first time today. Do you know how much we should use it? Thanks for all your support. She just smiled at me (my third smile ever!) which makes it all wonderful again!

New baby smiles- how wonderful!
Oh yes, use the sling as much as you like to get through this stage. Just don't knacker your back! A soft sling like a moby is perfect for this stage as baby can be wrapped up cosy not dangling for long periods as in eg a Baby Bjorn. She wants to be close to you- totally natural and great if she likes it.
As for the dummy, yes again, as much as soothes her if she is bottle fed or if breastfeeding is going well and she doesn't seem confused. Plenty of time to wean her off it later- or she may just decide to give it up herself at a few months old like my DD2 (she discovered her fingers!).
Sounds like you're doing well if you're finding things to soothe her- brilliant! Keep posting if we can help at all. I remember sobbing and sobbing at my six week check as my first baby wouldn't stop crying and I thought I was a failure... Do draw on MN experience!

Duck - habits are easy to break.

You use whatever you need to help and as often as you feel us right.

I did forget to mention what had just beeb said about either breast/bottle feeding and the dummy. My 6w old spits his out when hes had enough! Ds2 in the other hand.......

Good luck and let us know how you get on!!

You're not doing anything wrong - I remember the relentless crying in the early days! I read that newborn fussiness peaks at around 6-8 weeks, and that was certainly true for my DD :)

Everyone told me at the time that it was just a phase and it'd pass, but it was hard to really believe that at the time! Now (she's 17mo) we've been through lots of ups and downs and I really do know that the downs (and the ups) are phases.

I found the best thing was to take her out for a walk in the sling, even if she was screaming it was easier to handle outside in the park than cooped up inside. Good luck :)

Thanks for your posts, it makes me feel less isolated with it all. Good tp hear the fussiness peaks around this time wandering . Hopefully it'll ease soon!

These posts are very reassuring. My 8 week old crys a lot too-- she finds it really hard to nap in the day and gets overtired. What works is letting her nap in the sling, she loves it. I'ma bit worried that I'm over-reliant on it and need to try snd get her to sleep somewhere else but that always involves crying so I give in and within minutes of being in the sling she's calm and asleep. I am also using a white noise app..brilliant results.. But worry this is another crux that won't help her self soothe in the long run??

Hey chaos, on the sleep crux thing, my view is that anything that can be done that I can just switch on and walk away from is fine! My two are still sleeping with white noise at 6 months and it's actually quite helpful in that it masks the sounds of the TV, us getting up in the morning etc.

Personally I think it's fine with such a young baby to have her having all her naps in the sling if that's convenient - it's more important that she gets her rest, at this stage, and also 5-8 weeks is the major fussy phase so any means necessary, really. Does she sleep in the pram? How does she go to sleep at night? The baby sleep books say that under 4 months you can encourage good sleep habits by putting them down for a sleep sometimes when they're sleepy but not asleep. We never really managed that!
I found the Millpond clinic sleep book really helpful - it sets out all the stuff about sleep associations and how babies sleep and all that. It really spelled things out so I was able to be sure we were doing the right thing even in my sleep-deprived state!

Chaos: you cannot do serious sleep training until about 1 year, by which stage there will be a lot more understanding from the DC. For now do whatever gets ask of you the most, happiest sleep. Ds is still a pram-napper at nearly 6 months because I encourage him to do so a couple if times a day.

Its only a rod if its causing you problems.