5 month old constantly crying don’t know what to do

[Stardust127]

Evening.

my baby girl is 5 months old. She cries 90% of her waking hours. Up until about a month ago it was 100% so we have seen some small progress. Now she really struggles to go to sleep at night, whereas before that was the only time she’d be calm; last night she was up crying until 1:30am. We are doing everything - nappy change, feed before bed, burping after feed, calm music/sounds, darkness, calm lighting, everything. Nothing works. She does eventually fall asleep but only after hours of crying. She sleeps approx 2 hours during the day only. She will not sleep more than that no matter what we do. At night she will sleep approx 10 hrs with a few wake ups. She doesn’t have an allergy nor does she have reflux. She does get gas pain but because that was so bad before we know that is not the issue right now.

it’s relentless. It’s all day, every day, and a lot at night now too. She is my 3rd child, none of my others were like this so it’s a bit of a shock tbh.

has anyone else had a baby like this? Where there is seemingly nothing wrong? I just really don’t know what to do

I'm reluctant to suggest this, because to me it's like homeopathy - but a friend had great success with a cranial osteopath. You'd need to be very sure they knew what they were doing ofc. I would try it if nothing else worked.
The only other thing I've heard might cause this is cow's milk protein allergy- is she formula fed? Any chance at all it could be that? I know you said no allergies but maybe a change of formula might make a difference. (Apologies if I'm just repeating things you've already tried.)
Sympathy - it's absolutely soul destroying because the sound is designed to get your attention, so it's very difficult to live with.

Are you sure she isn't hungry, we found that with outlr last twins they were twice as hungry as all the other children we had and after a handful of crying nights I upped there milk and we had happy babies again

Teething? Tried calpol at bedtime?

Too cold? That would keep them awake.

Thanks all for the replies, @AmIrightAmIright im a bit cautious about things like that but I’ll definitely at least have a read into it - thank you for the suggestion. I honestly don’t think it’s CMPA - my son had that as a baby and she has absolutely no symptoms of it at all. I know if I go to the doctor they will say no way. I mean they were reluctant to even diagnose my son and he was vomiting and pooping every time he had cows milk formula.

@ToThePoint2026 we did this, we started giving her more milk each feed and she’d be so sick. So we have gradually increased it and it unfortunately did not stop the crying. We also started giving her a bottle right before bedtime but to no avail. I’m actually thinking maybe we can put her on a comfort milk - am I correct in thinking that she can have the same amount of milk as usual but it’s just more filling / calorie dense?

@SowWhatNow we give her calpol sometimes thinking it’s her teeth, alongside teething powder and teething gel. Again, it does nothing to stop the crying and moaning unfortunately so although I do think she has got some sort of teething pain there’s nothing more we can really do.

she has been with a cold for the past day which she caught from her brother so I do blame that for the extra fussiness for the past day and two nights but it’s not the reason for her usual fussiness

I sometimes got relief at this age if I propped mine up with a towel in the high chair in the kitchen for short periods, so baby was upright and able to play with blocks and watch what I was doing. I also had a Baby Einstein mat with toys/sounds that baby liked to play with when I was in the kitchen, so baby could see me but didn't have to be held.

I think it's worth seeing the health visitor too. Ear ache can be a persistent problem and makes babies miserable, especially when lying down.

I also had really good ear defenders - the kind people wear if they work at airports - so I could respond to the crying but only had to listen to it at 10% volume.

I don't have any advice but just want to offer some solidarity. Having a baby that cries all the time is so hard. My first had reflux and I cant imagine having to deal with that with 2 other kids as well. You must be very strong. Make sure you are drawing support from your community around you and that you are able to take breaks. It is important to look after yourself 💐

Definitely record the crying and show your HV/GP. There must be something causing her pain or upset. Keep going though- you’re doing an amazing job!!

Does she cry if you're out the house? At that age mine was awful at home but absolutely fine out and about, I think she just needed a lot of external stimulation. Same now she's a toddler, we are out many hours a day, being at home is just so boring for her.

Thank you all for your messages of kindness, support and advice. And solidarity too. It means a lot. Sorry I have only just checked mumsnet notifications, I'd have replied sooner otherwise.

My mother in law is visiting (lives 3 hours away) and my baby is very happy about it - she is full of smiles. Might be a coincidence but the past two days she has been on Kendal Comfort and she's like a different baby. Not much crying at all. it's really weird but a real relief, I can't believe the contrast. She does love her Nanny so we'll have to wait and see after she's gone back home to see if the milk change has had an impact I think

It could very well be the milk and that she may have mild CMPA.

Sorry just wanted to add that if you think she may be teething Ibruprofen is much more effective for dental pain. Are you using a teething gel as well?

Teething?

thank you @ExplodingSmittens that is really, really helpful to know because even with her being my third child I had no idea about that! I will buy some today because I am starting to think that teething might be the real culprit as yesterday she was gnawing away at anything she could reach.

@ThePoetsWife love the username! and yes, as mentioned above I do think that teething might be the issue...

I second this my second had a CMPA and silent reflux and it was genuine hell, cried non stop for about 14 months. health visitor caught CMPA quite quickly and switched to CMPA milk, but silent reflux was not caught. Those months were brutal. What I thought was baby acne was in fact a reaction and I was watching for an intolerance but CMPA presents differently. My girl was crying and not sleeping as she was so hungry but food hurt her and she could only stomach some and then could only find a little peace upright as laying down burnt her throat, poor little thing. Age 4.5 and golden now, did the milk ladder etc.

I don't think it's CMPA if I'm honest. Our son had that and it took 6 doctors including one ignorant paediatrician to diagnose him and put him on prescription formula (had an awful time trying to breastfeed him) and he had symptoms. So I don't think it's that because other than the crying she has zero symptoms of the allergy and seems okay after feeds. So not only that, I doubt we would even manage to get a diagnosis because of her having no symptoms.

It sounds as if you had a really hard time getting help for your DS. CMPA does seem to run in families though and the only way it can be diagnosed if it’s non-IGE is through elimination.

I would have a read of the link I put in and talk to Allergy UK. I think CMPA affects around one in ten babies so it’s not really a wild suggestion