8 week old unhappy?

[NEmum]

My LO is 8 weeks old, absolutely amazing but immediately realised how tough it all is!

Exclusively BF & I can manage to pump a little which I save for when I'm not around. However when i leave LO with anyone else he pretty much screams unless he has eaten or is eventually rocked to sleep. The longest I have left him for was 3 hours, on a few occasions I have left him for up to 2 hours, usually just so I can sleep.

LO doesn't like to be put down, we co sleep which saved my sanity as I can feed in bed. I often wear him in a sling & he sleeps well in this.

He is smiling but sometimes still quite hard work to get smiles.

I'm just worried that he's unhappy & feel so nervous about leaving him with his dad or family in case he just cries the whole time...I know I'm probably being irrational & silly, I just want to do my best & im having a major crisis in confidence...any comments appreciated x

Oh he is gaining weight well & is healthy x

Why do you need to leave him?

Not sure it's relevant to my original post..?
I would like to be able to leave him for short periods so I can have a break (talking once a week to catch up on sleep/housework/shopping) and also want to be able to leave him with his father without worrying that he is inconsolable.
I'm not talking about leaving him overnight, literally for 2-3 hours once a week.

Morning...sounds totally normally to me! I'm same with 11week old baby (and was with DD1)..you're obviously doing an amazing job and have a happy, content 8 week old- you clearly have a good bond and are attending to his needs brilliantly 😀 It's always a bit of a worry leaving your baby because nobody can comfort them like you can.
Sorry I'm not much help but totally understand! I've only left baby for a few hours too so far (with dad), it gets easier with time. Does your baby take a bottle? Mine won't which makes it worse! I've been showing DH how he likes to be held/snuggled to sleep etc (diplomatically lol!!) x

Also at 8 weeks he's only developing his social smile so don't worry about that. He will start smiling and interacting more and more each week you will notice 😊

My daughter is four months and was slow to smile lots, she also needed constant jiggling, she still cries if still for too long.

Get other people to hold baby while you're there, but don't intervene too soon, we found that different things work for different people, so if I hold her the way her dad holds her she is not happy, etc. I actually found that she settled better for other people between feeds, as they didn't smell of dinner!

Have you tried the sleepyhead pod for sleeping? It's pricy but was worth every penny for us as we could put her in it once asleep without her waking up, which she would do otherwise.

Thanks Tabitha! It's just reassuring to know this all seems normal.

I've met lots of new mums but they don't have any (or share) of the worries I've had and I just worry their babies are happy and mine isn't! We have had some good smiles this morning though so that has boosted me a bit!

He will take a bottle so that really helps.

It's hard to show your partner without appearing to take over isn't it??! He's a lovely dad & I don't want to be over bearing but it is hard not to take over when he is upset, I should probably relax a bit more with that...

Anyway, thanks Tabitha l, kind of you to reply x

Yeah we have a sleepyhead, he usually just wakes up the moment he goes in...tried a dummy last night for the first time today hitch he loved sucking but guess the newness of it was stimulating so he still didn't go to sleep. It stoped him crying though! X

It's important for everyone involved for other people to be able to soothe the baby, especially Dad. Your desire to have some time to yourself is completely understandable and good for you also.
It takes practice. You need to let DH do more when you're there, but also just go and leave them to it. Everyone will get used to each other soon

Try not to worry too much, I'm pretty sure baby is happy with daddy and other family. My DS is almost a year and a half now and has strong bonds with his dad and all his grandparents. Your little one probably misses you and your smell but, once you pop out, can focus on getting to know his daddy. It's so important for you to have breaks and time for yourself, especially in those demanding early days.