4 months old still cries a lot

[Herkule]

My boy is 4 months and almost 2 weeks old now. He is still crying all the time, or so it looks like.

He doesn't cry in the morning when he wakes up. During the day he sleeps / naps 4-7 times (20 minutes - 1.30 hours), but after every sleep he wakes up crying. He cries all the time if we leave him alone and often when even we are in one room with the baby, he cries, unless we pick him up an hold him.

It often seems that he should be satisfied, because he is fed and nappy is changed, but when put on bed, he starts to cry. If we leave him crying for more than 5 minutes, crying becomes horrible, like really really terrible.

I read a bit on the forum and people say that their baby cries 1-1.5 hours during the day. How do you even measure that? Won't he baby cry all the time if you leave him / her to cry? Seem that our baby will. Sometimes we leave him up to 20 minutes crying and he never stops and crying just become more tense.

Can you share your experience and knowledge about it? When can it potentially stop? I am also afraid that the baby will grow up like this, will be a very upset baby and cry on every occasion.

He's still very tiny and he needs cuddles. That's it really! He is too little to be left to cry for 20 minutes. You can leave them a short time to see if they settle, but 20 mins is too long.

Some babies are more content than others, but if you have one who needs holding you just have to do it at this age.

Once he is bigger and can sit and play and move about it should be different and if it isn't you can think about managing it a bit more.

If you need hands free time, invest in (or borrow if you can) a good sling. Do you have bouncy chair/jumperoo type things? Will he go in any of those?

My 21 week old DS wants held and walked about constantly (has done from 13 weeks). Not a fan of a sling but will sit facing out in a harness. He doesnt cry per se he tends to shout at us if hes put down and it turns to a cry after a few mins. I try not to let it get that far, you should never leave a baby that young to cry, they need comfort and to feel secure.

I found the play mat, jumperoo and foam mat on floor with toys give me a good 15/20 mins peace throughout the day. My DS was very content until he could sit up aided and is so nosey he wants to sit perched on my knee facing out or me to carry him through the house. He'll lie on his beanbag if Im interacting with him, but they dont have a huge attention span im afraid.

If lying flat seems to be the main issue, could it be silent reflux?

@NuffSaidSam

He's still very tiny and he needs cuddles. That's it really! He is too little to be left to cry for 20 minutes. You can leave them a short time to see if they settle, but 20 mins is too long.

Some babies are more content than others, but if you have one who needs holding you just have to do it at this age.

Once he is bigger and can sit and play and move about it should be different and if it isn't you can think about managing it a bit more.

If you need hands free time, invest in (or borrow if you can) a good sling. Do you have bouncy chair/jumperoo type things? Will he go in any of those?

Thanks for the reply. We are being very cautious with buying a bit more expensive things for baby. This is because first we bought a chicco next to me bed for him and he didn't sleep in it for the first month, always cried and slept on mom only. Now he only sleeps in it at night and never during the day, which is still good. We also bought crib toy, airplanes, which is attached to the crib. It plays music and airplanes fly. We just thought the baby might be distracted by the toy and like it and just will stay calm in the crib, but this toys also doesn't help, baby still cries. Also, he cries a lot in the pushchair outside, so it is very hard to go outside with the baby as well.

@aimzxd

My 21 week old DS wants held and walked about constantly (has done from 13 weeks). Not a fan of a sling but will sit facing out in a harness. He doesnt cry per se he tends to shout at us if hes put down and it turns to a cry after a few mins. I try not to let it get that far, you should never leave a baby that young to cry, they need comfort and to feel secure.

I found the play mat, jumperoo and foam mat on floor with toys give me a good 15/20 mins peace throughout the day. My DS was very content until he could sit up aided and is so nosey he wants to sit perched on my knee facing out or me to carry him through the house. He'll lie on his beanbag if Im interacting with him, but they dont have a huge attention span im afraid.

If lying flat seems to be the main issue, could it be silent reflux?

Thanks for the reply.

I will check what is silent reflux. Baby does sleep at night in his crib, sometimes up to 7 hours. And mostly after waking up in the morning he is very happy, we have time to have a breakfast and he is alright to spent extra 20-40 minutes on the back in the morning without crying and actually smiling. So not sure what happens next that mainly for the rest of the day he becomes so unsettled.

Is he getting enough naps? They need 4 to 6 hours throughout the day, with 1 to 2 hours awake time. If my son doesnt get to sleep 2 hours max after he gets up he's fusdy and cranky all evening.

Hi, I don't have any advice but just wanted to say my 3-month-old sounds exactly the same. He's happy when he wakes up for the day, like your baby, but then gets cranky for the rest of the day after his first nap. I can only think that it's due to tiredness from not getting enough sleep in that first nap...