Am I really the only person finding this mummy thing sooooo difficult?
Don't get me wrong,I'm thrilled I have DS but I'm knackered. He's 4 weeks old and will not sleep on his back at all. Dr tried gaviscon as hv suspected reflux, didn't work and DS was still really unsettled (all the time). Dr is now trying lactose free milk which seems to be calming him tho he still won't settle ANYWHERE but on someone.
Doesn't even settle properly in the car or pram which he did the first week we were home, sleeps for a short time then wakes and screams. It upsets me as you see all these mums with content little babies out in the pram and there's me with mine screaming!
DH and I have been doing shifts with DS as someone has to hold him 24 hours! I'm getting worried about how I'll manage when DH goes back to work and its just me! He sleeps really well when on someone but the minute he goes down, he unsettles himself. He hates being swaddled and fights his way out!
I've lifted his crib at he head end, I've raised the mattress, I give a warm bath in bedtime routine etc
Looking back, he has always been unsettled on his back, even in hospital. I just thought it would settle but it got worse to the point where he won't go down at all. At one point he would only sleep upright-so curled up against our chest.
I tried having him in bed with me - kicked DH out, moved to middle of bed etc but just didn't feel comfortable enough to sleep myself.
I've tried letting him cry, just for a few mins (like while I boil the kettle, or nip to the loo), but it doesn't stop and I'm not comfortable with leaving him any longer than that -I just think he's too young.
I've always been really good with kids, I work with them too, so why ami finding this soooo hard. What am I doing wrong??
I'm sorry this is a bit disjointed and all over the place.
Please help and share you're experience as a new first time mum.
Oh and overnight, well between about 5-8am he seems to have really bad tummy cramps. He's on lactulose for constipation from the gaviscon but the tummy cramps also happened before the constipation too? It was like he was staining for hours to poo then when he finally managed his nappy was perfectly normal. The first time it happened I thought he was bunged up then was really surprised when his nappy was normal when it finally happened.
I feel like everyone else has these happy content little babies, and then there's me!!
Sorry it's such a long rambling!
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Soooo hard
Kafri · 17/01/2013 05:59
Sorry to hear you did not have an overwhelmingly positive experience at CO. If he came recommended by your NCT group I presume he had treated babies before/had experience with infants? FWIW,I felt the same about our CO appointment/s, but still went back 3x - clearly more money than sense 
.
DS3 did not settle through any of the session and then screamed his little heart out on the way back in the car.
As long as you are satisfied that he has been sufficiently medically looked at, then Just Keep Going. Your DS may not be a baby that 'turns a corner', but who gradually begins to calm a bit with increasing maturity.
I have been pondering your question about the cats, and I dunno... It does not sound like he has an allergy (sneezing, itching, wheezing, rash?) and I don't see how the shere pressence of cats could upset him so much. Could it just be being at home ie too cooped up or not enough to distract him from this horrible feeling of seperateness from you?? I know I sound terribly lentil-weaving here, sorry. DS1 needed constant movement and physical contact to me to stop the siren going.
Do you think you'll go back to CO?
Sorry that you didn't have a positive experience Kafri, when I first saw the CO with DD he took a full history of pregnancy and birth, and gave her a thorough, gentle examination, talking me through what he was doing and what he found, which I found reassuring. Was hoping for the same for you. 
Having a crap day, I'm afraid. I find DD soooo unpredictable. What works one day just doesn't work the next. There is just no consistency. I've been working on the same routine for 4 weeks now but not getting anywhere, just an odd day here and there (like Monday 
). It almost makes it worse - you think you are getting somewhere.
Do you have support from your parents or PILs?
Guys, you are all doing a marvellous job and just keep doing whatever you have to to survive.
But - I found I only managed to not go insane to eventually give up all ideas of a 'routine' and to submit to the total chaos that looking after DS1 was. I really found I felt better when I had NO expectation wrt to having a shower/getting anything 'done'/having time to myself/getting any sleep. When I then DID get any of those things, it felt like a real bonus . Rather than thinking "he's x number of months old now, surely he should now play/sleep/tolerate the car/not scream so much" and be frustrated/feel like a failure when he didn't.
I really hope you are still hanging in there, star and kafri 
x
I'm glad you've some success Kafri. Do you have a blow up mattress you could use? Borrow? That might make it more bearable in the long term. Looking back, I wish we had bought an 'Arms Length' co-sleeper. I will certainly buy one if we have another baby!
Today's genius advice was: stick her in front of the TV every time she screams. Dear god, she'd be watching 10+ hours a day!!!!!!!
I'm sleeping in the spare room tonight and DH is taking her out tomorrow so I can have a day to potter alone in a quiet house. I might take some Night Nurse so I'm knocked out overnight and less likely to hear her.
This was not how I imagined it would be.
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