8 week old seems frustrated and very rarely chilled

[teaandkittehs]

Hi all,
I am a first time mum with an 8 week old. She's a lovely little critter, but I must say I am losing confidence a bit as she seems frustrated frequently - she loves eating and is starting to sleep more at night which are both great, but in the day we tend to get very few short windows of her being content and/up for playing, but after 5 - 10 minutes she starts to fuss and cry. In her happy windows we do all the recommended stuff for her age (face with her, tummy time on our chests, pizza her toys, chat or sing to her etc). When she gets fussy, we try changing activities or rooms etc but it rarely works, she begins to get angry and cry and the only thing for it is more feeding or trying to get her to sleep (heavy metal or white noise help, they have similar characteristics I guess!) But it seems that this is a cop out as she feeds and sleeps so much anyway that I feel like a crap parent for just trying to get her to do more of that when surely I should be finding ways to amuse her. . . But she's so young and can't do much yet that she just won't stay amused. What do people do all day with a baby this age? She enjoys a bath and also is always calm and quiet on the daily dog walk, but I feel like in all the other spaces I must be missing something. She also does not really smile or look at faces for more than a couple of seconds yet and although the doctor was pretty good about it, the health visitor seemed VERY concerned and did Worried Face at me, and I try to engage my little lady with smiles and chat but with only a few contented periods per day I don't know how I am really meant to do this. Do other people's babies lie happily on play mats or engage cheerfully with parents for long periods? Am concerned I am doing it wrong or that she's not bonding with me. Thanks

Well, both of mine were capable of being bored, and therefore frustrated, at 8 weeks, but that doesn't seem to be quite what you're describing (they wanted lots of interaction and stimulation when awake, and were awake more and longer than they were 'supposed' to be). Was she born early at all?

Perhaps she's still finding the world a bit overwhelming? 5-10 minutes of interaction might be all she can take before it all feels too much. When you do the dog walk, is she in her pram or a sling? No harm in going out for a second walk (or to a shop, café, etc.), if she likes the pram. If she likes a sling or carrier, you can have her in one a fair bit and just go about your day – she has the comfort of being close to you and can just take in the world a bit.

Eight weeks is still so wee, I'd really try just to go with what suits her for a bit longer. She might just need a few more weeks to really be interested in faces and smiles.

Don't forget the developmental changes that happen in that particular week. I have a 10 week old and week 8 and 9 were the WORST. Love her to death but she seemed so unhappy and was crying all the time, to the point I called 111. Literally, on the day she turned 10 weeks she became so happy! As long as there aren't any other 'symptoms', it will be developmental!