Constant crying is making me lose my shit

[FriedBrainFood]

LO 6months just wont leave me alone. Hes always on the breast or just wants me to hold him. I cannot get anything done. I swear the crying is making me lose it. I dont have family around, do works nights and is pretty useless when it comes to taking care of LO. He works nights and uses that as an excuse to sleep if I ask for help. And usually all I ask for is that he holds the baby while I get things done.

Lo, just wants me to hold him or him to sit on my lap and talk/play with him. I do this, I also take him out and about, baby groups but hes just so clingy.

Please tell me this crap gets better because my brain will just pop. It's been over 45min and hes still crying I'm here next to him, talking to him but he just wont stop

*DP works nights

Yes it will get better OP. But in the meantime your DP needs to step up!

Pop baby in sling or pram and walk. Mine would never just sit next to me at that age without screaming. Sling around house or garden, or in sing or pram and walk until they calm down. Screaming isn’t so loud on your ears outside.

Is he overtired? Or teething? I’d try some
nurofen to see if that helps, look up nap schedules/ wake windows etc and try and get good naps in. Even if that means feeding to sleep/ contact nap on the breast, it might mean he is less grumpy in between. Takes a few days to work

My DS was a proper Velcro baby at that age. It gets better don’t worry. But don’t let your DP get away with this

Sounds like your baby might be either hungry or overtired. Has he started on solids yet? How are naps and sleeping at night?

Hes been chewing and dribbling for a whole fo I think he is teething.

I'll be totally honest, he has no sleep or feeding routine. When he was born I tried to but was told newborns have no routine but when I did eventually try to but him in the moses basket he didnt settle, I was so sleep deprived that in the end we started co sleeping. This way everyone got sleep. Now I just dont know what to do anymore, he just doesn't sleep unless hes on the breast. Dp is absolutely useless. He expects me to do everything as I'm 'his mum'. He doesn't help the situation, tends to make everything worse in all honesty

Babies cry for a reason have you checked nappy, fed, napped him? If you go for pram walk he should snooze off at least you get a break from carrying him

Have you tried a dummy?

do you baby wear? My DC was like yours (cosleeping / always wanted to be on breast or held) and the only thing that allowed me to get anything done was a carrier. I had two - a structured one for longer periods / walks and a fabric one for indoors. Kept hands free and meant I could actually get stuff done as they usually slept well in it.

Solidarity OP. I had a grade A clinger - I was agog at pics and videos of her peers sat playing with toys or trying to crawl. She hated all of it, just wanted to be on me. She also hated the pram AND the sling.

DP needs to step up. Presumably working nights isnt a new thing and he should have adjusted now. Hes being a lazy bastard.

I was in a similar position with my DD, who cried almost constantly from 8 weeks to 6 months old. It was awful. She had colic, and nothing really helped at all, she just grew out of it. She stopped at 6 months and was very content, like a different child.

I agree with the tip to get out and walk with the pram, I did this a LOT. Sometimes I'd stick earphones in just to drown out the noise for a while.

I also used a sling a lot in the house, I know they're still very attached to you but I found having my hands free meant I could do some stuff.

It is awful, but often these things can just be a phase, sadly they give no indication how long these phases might last, but I always found it comforting to know it had to end sometime.

I completely understand, it is so so hard. My first child had colic and cried pretty much constantly for the first 4 months and my second child had silent reflux and was attached to me for the first 6 months.
BUT at around 9 months it gets soooo much easier. They can usually sit up confidently, are more engaged in toys and can eat solids... that was a huge turning point.
Not a popular choice, but I breastfed my first for 6 months abd she was using me as a dummy so I actually gave her a dummy and a bottle and that worked... I never thought she would be able to sleep in her cot. With routines, I started mine on a routine at around 6 months... they had three day time naps and bed time at 7... it didn't always go that way but by about 9 months they regularly gell asleep at 7ish :)
Like I said, it is tough and you are on survival mode for the first few months... I would have another in a heartbeat if I could birth a one year old 😅😅

Agree that getting baby in a routine will really help. Look up wake windows for the age and really stick to naps. Once baby is napping regularly they should be more contented.

Working nights is a crap excuse. He can survive on 6 hours sleep surely. He needs to get up and parent. You cannot be the sole parent 24 hours. It's impossible.

Routine wise I agree to get into routine and stick to wake windows. Maybe about 2 hours at first. I used huckleberry app at first which although you pay for £8 a month it helped me get a routine established. Something along the lines of

6.30 wake
7am feed
8am breakfast if weaning
9am nap
10am wake
11am feed
12am lunch if weaning
12.30pm nap
2pm wake
3pm feed
4pm nap if needed
4.45pm wake
5.30pm tea if weaning
6.30pm bath/story
7pm feed
7.30pm bed
Night - variable but always at least one feed.

Parenting is exhausting! I also think this age is so tricky. Peak separation anxiety frustration over wanting to crawl etc but not being able too. Needing lots of entertainment! Hang in there

Mine is a bit younger but I feel exactly the same about the noise in particular. It’s like a constant soundtrack throughout the day of various intensities of moaning/ crying/ screaming noises that ring through my brain, and sometimes it makes me feel almost physically sick. I try so many things to entertain him but nothing works for long, and for us the sling/baby carrier hasn’t been the solution it seems to be for others. He is no better in the pram, just builds up from a moaning sound to crying if he isn’t lifted out and held facing outwards. I’m a bit luckier in that my husband helps as much as he can around working FT, so when he appears I pretty much hand the baby over and focus on my older child. You defo need to get your partner to step up! I don’t think there are any medical issues with mine or anything, seems like he just gets bored very easily. And when I have to do things, for his older sibling for example, I do unfortunately have to let him cry at times (like I say the sling isn’t always the answer for us), which adds a lot of chaos and stress to everything. Just praying it’s going to get easier as he gets older! Solidarity!