tell me it gets easier!

[willothewisp17]

tell me that the newborn stage gets easier, tell me that the relentless crying stops and there are good, happy times to come that aren't always filled with stress and anxiety

OP I sympathise entirely. I can remember vividly being on my own in the house with screaming DS who was inconsolable and that feeling of utter helplessness and panic.

I also know exactly that feeling of desperately wanting to get away from them and then desperately missing them as soon as you do. It's the parenting paradox.

She's five months but does that mean she's only three months from due date? Three months is peak colic time - randomly screaming for no reason for a couple of hours in the evening. I don't think anyone really knows why they do that. In my experience it's a fairly short lived phase. The random evening screaming only lasted about a month with each of mine.

The rate of development is so accelerated their perceptions of the world are changing all the time. From shadows to defined shapes, from 2D to 3D, suddenly spaces open up, things are proximate, they can see all colours instead of black and white tones. It must blow their tiny minds. No wonder they're a bit overwhelmed with it all.

Do speak to your GP/HV/family. Take ALL the help offered. It's good that she can spend a night with your mum. One thing I learnt quickly was to get your baby used to a few care givers, not just one (i.e. you). Makes life a lot easier knowing you can hand them over to someone and they'll be happy.

Hang in there. It really does get easier I promise.

she's only really 10 weeks old from her due date, but has been on this earth for 19 weeks! so she's nine weeks behind on everything! not even three months yet really! at what can you expect things to get a little better! the difference in her since about a month ago is astonishing right enough, bright as a button and full of smiles and laughs at times, whereas not long ago she really didn't do much at all (didn't cry a great deal either) but recently it's like she's so so frustrated!

There's a crappy stage where they can't sit up independently, aren't content to lie out, want to stand but can't and they're frustrated as hell. Once they can move a little they can at least amuse themselves for a while and it gets easier to pass the time pushing a ball around, using a baby walker or playing at an activity table. By 6 months we at least had a few activities we could do. You sound like your doing a fab job, it's relentless some days though.

I found that things turn a significant corner at around 3.5 months. Then they start to take an interest in people and things more.

Then again at around five months when they can start to sit up on their own it gets better again because they're less frustrated and more in charge of themselves.

It's all a big crazy journey of stages and leaps. When you're in it, it feels like forever. But once you're out the other side you realise it was only a few months really.

It is hell at first, the biggest shock ever. But it does change, I promise. It gets easier then harder then easier all the time. Stages come and go and you forgot do much of the difficulties. I’m expecting number 3 - I never thought that would happened in the early stages of number one. Good luck.

Frustration is often a sign that a developmental stages is about to or is happening. And is especially bad until they can talk, as they have no other way of expressing themselves.