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Has anyone "survived" a VERY difficult baby ?

... And if so, when did things get easier?



DS is now 7 months old and is still an extremely challenging baby. He does not sleep through the night and getting him to sleep in the day is a battle every time.



A great deal of his awake time is spent crying, meaning it is almost impossible to go out anywhere with him, as he just screams.



He demands constant attention in the day and all the toys we have got to try and entertain him i.e. jumperoo, swing, bouncer, walker etc, he shows no interest in. He's also not rolling, sitting up or anything. He just seems like a very unhappy baby and it doesn't seems like he's every going to get better.

Replies

  • I don't have any useful advice I'm afraid but I just wanted to say that I really feel for you. It must be so difficult having to deal with a baby that cries so much and I really hope things get better for you soon.



    Would it be worth going to the Dr's and demanding they find out if there's something wrong with him, on the basis that he's crying so much all the time? I'm not suggesting there is anything wrong, but they might be able to help too. xx
  • My ds1 was a bit like that until about 6 months. As someone else has said, once he was able to crawl he was a different boy - he had been so frustrated that he couldn't get about, as soon as he was able to he was much much happier. Sorry that's not much help, but I felt desperate for a while and didn't really enjoy his first 6 months but it did get 100 times better eventually.
  • I'm not an expert at all but just wondering if he's so upset coz he's tired. I know when I don't get good sleep then I'm emotional lol. My lo is the same. She sleeps through but if she has short naps she gets so unhappy. Is there anything that helps him sleep- pick up/put down, car ride, walk etc?! Mayb trying to get him to sleep more will make him happier?!
  • I really do understand how you're feeling. My first child, DD, was a the most miserable baby. And i don't mean she whinged all day, she screamed all day from the minute she woke up until she went to sleep at night. NOTHING would console her and we didn't know what to do. We were reluctant to take her anywhere as she screamed all the time and we just felt embarrassed and guilty. She was referred to a paediatrician at 4months but they found nothing wrong so things just continued this way. Our only saving grace was that she slept at night, think we may have gone completely mad otherwise!

    As i recall she started to have some good days from around 6months old and by a year old was a completely different baby! She's now 3 and an absolute treasure!

    As the others have said i think part of it was frustration as she seemed to get a bit happier everytime she learnt to do something new i.e sitting, crawling, walking.

    It seemed never ending at the time and i remember feeling so desperate for an answer but we never found one-it was just time. I think she was born wired this way.

    I know being told things will improve doesn't help because you just want to know 'when' but all i can say is there is light at the end of the tunnel and you will get to enjoy your baby-just hang on in there.

    I did post about this when she was a baby so you'll find a thread on it somewhere in 'my topics'-i read through them recently and can't believe we got through those times.

    I wish you all the best and hope for an improvement for you soon.

  • I was just going to second what cp781 said. My lo was exactly the same: really grumpy, crying all the time, waking in the night and not sleeping in the day. Turned out she was just really tired.



    My mum suggested putting her to bed earlier, so I started the bedtime routine of 8pm bath, baby massage, story, rocking to sleep (i know this isn't always advised, but she was really little at the time and now self settles, so not so bad). She then started sleeping about 9-10hours a night, so then i started working on the sleeping in the day.



    I researched it on the internet and it said she should have been having about 5-6hours sleep during the day, so i again did the cuddle to sleep thing and put her in her bouncy chair near the tumble drier, washing machine, tv or extractor fan (the monotonous noise really helped). She now settles herself in it (with the help of her hippo!), but i did need to cuddle at the start as she wasn't sleeping in the day before and it just helped to settle.



    Now she sleeps fine and is so much happier. I found out later that the reason she wasn't sleeping was cos she was so tired that she just couldn't sleep (sounds weird, but i totally believe it now). The routine was really the thing that worked.



    Don't get disheartened about it. Loads of people have the same problem, you're not alone and you've done amazingly to get to 7 months before asking for help ( i couldn't have lasted that long).



    I hope this helps and stay strong.
  • my 10 week old is the same and was wondering if he will get better. He cries most the time if not sleeping or eating.

    I wouldnt b able to go to any clubs coz it would just be embarrassing.



    He has to be held to go to sleep in the day and he cries before he goes to sleep. Nothing u do consoles him really. When he finally goes i let him sleep on tummy in the day. He wont sleep any other way unless like this or on his tummy on us.



    At night it takes me an hr to get him to go down he sleeps on his side tho. Think he goes down at night coz it dark.



    I do feel envious slightly of mothers who have easy babies.

    My son has only started smiling this week and cooing at same time. He is slightly better in the last few days i think???



    ur not alone

    xx
  • Hi,



    I just wanted to add it will get easier, like others have said, we found once we got our LO in a routine with plenty of sleep it made a huge difference. Easier said than done I know, we tried everything as our LO would fight sleep and then get so overtired, she didn't really during the day...just 20mins maybe. We first got her night sleep sorted (sort of!) which i'm sure was down to the routine - bath, bottle, bed by 7.30, then during the day put her down for a nap at 9am and 1pm and now sometimes 4pm if she hasn't had a decent lunchtime nap. One day something just clicked and she sleeps 1-2hours at each of those naps, this was at about 7-8months. I tried getting her into a routine before (well I tried just about everything to get her to sleep during the day!!), but maybe she wasn't ready or I didn't persist...i'm not sure but all I can say is she is sooo much happier with regular decent naps and is a joy to be with

    image



    Oh and like others have said it also made a difference when she started crawling as I think she got very frustrated.



    Hope this helps and that it won't be long before your LO settles down x
  • Thanks all for your comments. I think sleep is a key issue for him, but getting him to sleep more is easier said than done. We do have a routine, he always gets put down for naps at 9.30, 12.00 and 3.30, but trying him to get a decent amount of sleep is a nightmare. On good days I can get him to have an hour, but most days it's 30-40mons, and I just can't get him to extend it.



    He's been really bad today. He was up every hour last night (he has a good bedtime routine of bath, bottle and then bed for 6.30-7.00pm) and I just could not get him to go down for a nap. I've been out walking for hours with the pram but he just wouldn't go off.



    Sometimes I just want to run away.
  • Is there'd anyone who would maybe take him for a few hours or even overnight? You need to take care of yourself too hun, and you sound exhausted.



    My little girl has days where she is just such hard work. She is a demanding little thing, and it's so exhausting.



    Please please please speak to someone and see if someone can take him for a little while, just to give yourself a break. Thinking of you xxx
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