6 month old intense crying all the time

[Lmama]

Apologies in advance for the long post, I'm just in desperate need of some reassurance.

My DS is 6 months old, and although he can be smiley and jolly (he likes meeting other people for example) he has really intense bouts of incredibly loud crying. This happens all throughout the day - every day. It can be caused by anything from being bored to his food finishing (because wants more, rather than discomfort). The reaction is totally disproportionate, he doesn't escalate, he just goes from 0-100 and seems distraught.

I'm really struggling with the constant crying/him being so easily upset. Its making me incredibly anxious and sad. The only plus side is he sleeps well, but other than that I can no longer enjoy motherhood, which fills me with guilt and sadness.

I never meet any other babies who are like this (the other day, one friend said her baby was 'going mad' and it was a low-level whinge at most. I'd take that any day!) So I'm also really panicking something is wrong with him.

Has anyone else experienced this? I would love some reassurance/to know there might be light at the end of the tunnel :-S

You're not alone OP. My baby boy is the same (6 months), has a very intense crying. And he's been like this since birth. He goes bright red as well. I think it's just a personality thing.

At least your baby sleeps at night, mine is fidgeting all night and still waking up every 3 hours for milk. And is extremely clingy and won't settle with my DH.

Thanks @Mamaprima and I'm sorry to hear about the sleep. I think mines just because he's on formula.

Is your LO easily upset? I feel like I'm not going more than 10 minutes at the moment without inconsolable crying (him, not me - although I'm close to tears too!)

He would stay alone and play let's say for 10 min, but if he's bored he starts screaming. And his crying is very high pitched and so dramatic.

I wouldn't worry too much about your LO, some babies cry more than others. Deffinetly my older son didn't cry as much, however this baby is either happy or upset there's no middle ground for him 😁.

So sorry as I know this thread is 6 months old now but I’m going through this with my 17 week old - I literally could have written this post. Did yours grow out of it? I’m so hoping for some light at the end of the tunnel .

@CDLmum Do not apologise - your comment has just made me re-read my original post and feel quite emotional as it has reminded me how I felt and what I was going through. I am SO sorry to hear you’re going through it, I know from experience that it can be really lonely. Four to seven months were my least favourite time, for sure.
So: on to the good part! We now have a gorgeous, wonderful one year old. Don’t get me wrong, he is still be quick to cry and he’s definitely more ‘dramatic’ than a lot of friends’ babies - but he is also more jolly, more smiley and more fun. We love his personality and my attitude has 100% (ok, 99%!) changed.
We spent loads of time and stress looking into diet etc, even though deep down I knew that wasn’t the cause - and sure enough it wasn’t.
It’s just his personality. I now breathe through his tears and remind myself that it’s my job to regulate him — and that the crying sounds worse than it is!
Please let me know if you have any questions or want to get anything else off your chest. You’ve got this mama.

Thank you so much for replying to me. This has made me smile. I’m really in the thick of it at the moment - my husband has covid and is isolating and so I’m doing it all alone for a couple weeks and it has been HARD!

I think one of the hardest things is being around other babies and being the ‘odd’ one out. Like your post he sleeps which is amazing but otherwise I struggle to find the joy in motherhood when it seems like all his awake time is red in the face meltdowns and for that I feel incredible guilt.

I just hope that as time goes on he’s able to be a happier little boy - I know he’s in there somewhere. I think it’s so hard when the only people around you don’t understand because their babies are quite content and as you said they think a meltdown is their baby reaching 10% of what mine can do. I’ve even had to leave baby groups because of it.

Again thank you for taking the time to reply to me - I’m so glad to hear that things are much better now!