Parents feel overwhelmed by baby’s constant needs

“my 11 week old sleeps for like 10-12 hrs a night of course with dream feeds and changes every 1.5-3 hrs. he might start off with a 2-4 hr stretch and then shorter stretches after midnight. i’m so sleep deprived and even though he doesn’t fully wake at night, he’s probably not getting the most amazing deep sleep and i hold him for a while before putting him back in bassinet. during the day, it seems he gets overtired so quickly. like he’s ready for another nap 20-40 min after his previous one and”

“My 12 week old baby barely takes a pacifier. We offered it starting at 4 weeks once we got bf established, then she had her ties fixed at 6 weeks, and then we’ve tried when we can since then. She especially does not want it from me. We have tried the ninni but it kept collapsing, the avent soothie was useless to her, so we got the itsy ritzy latch and soothe. She will take it sometimes. My first took to the ninni quickly and we’re slowly weaning her from it now at 2.5 (I know, it’s bad). I used”

“Boys I need some reassurances and hope, and guidance. My wife and I are in the trenches right now. My son is officially one week old and has had 3 consecutive brutal nights of cluster feeds. Wife is practically feeding for 8 hours straight and is just raw and hurting to the point where she says her nipples hurt worse than labor did (with an epidural). So she is frazzled. I spend most of the night fighting to soothe him in every way and losing 90% of the battles. I know it's only a week and t”

“Let me start off by saying I know it isn’t possible to talk to my baby “too much”, but just hear me out. My baby is 9 weeks old. Whenever he’s awake (besides when he nurses bc we nurse to sleep) I talk to him all the time. I make up little songs and tell him everything we’re doing and tell him how cute he is etc. I was doing it during our little play time window too! Back play, tummy time, side play. I’m sitting there talking to him! Usually our playtime ends up in tears no matter what and I had”

“Almost 9 months old. Has been consistently sleeping through the night. After a night where he oddly slept for 11 hours, and a subsequent night where he woke up at 3am and wouldn’t go back down, this has been our situation as of last night: 2:08am taken out of bed 2:19am helped to sleep 4:28am woke up 4:37am taken out of bed 4:56am put to bed 5:49am woke up 5:57am taken out of bed 6:44am put to bed 6:58am taken out of bed 7:14am put to bed 7:24am caregiver is helping Also he’s had multiple diaper”

“Yes, it’s another sleep question 😅 my almost 4-month old will sleep from about 8:30pm-12:30am and then nurse. For the last month he has been stirring from about 3am until 6:30am. Sometimes he’s hungry, sometimes he’s just squirming, but it happens anywhere from every 15 to 45 minutes. I usually resort to nursing him to sleep to avoid a crying baby (and mom) in the dark of the night. But it has happened every night since early September! Does anyone have any idea what it is? It seems like he’s a”

“My baby is 9.5 months old now and this past week I’ve noticed he is sleeping SO much. Maybe he’s going through a growth spurt? The first day his first nap was 3 hours and I had to wake him up! And his second nap I woke him up after an hour cause I was nervous about night sleep, but then he slept 12.5 hours with only 1 wake up to eat 🤯 the next day we were out and about and he only napped for a total of like 2 hours and that night he slept like garbage, with so many wake ups. So now we’re on the”

“My husband left milk out to freeze then fell asleep. 10+ ounces were wasted! I'm sobbing and feel so upset. For context, it took close to a week for my milk supply to come in and I had a baby in the NICU. I am technically an oversupplier but I work hard to make sure I'm pumping at regular intervals when baby won't directly breastfeed (she still struggles with breast vs bottle). I have a great freezer stash but I was also building some up to donate because my baby had to be supplement”

“Hello! So my baby is 7 weeks on Sunday and I feel like we are definitely in the 6 week trenches with him being so fussy, especially in the afternoon. Early in my breastfeeding journey I made a post about how my son would only latch with nipple shields due to my flat nipples. Thankfully I was able to wean him off of it and for the past 2-3 weeks I’ve been EBF without the nipple shields. Well yesterday, in the afternoon, on my left breast (my nipple is smaller on that side) he went psycho! He was”

“Currently cuddling my 6 week old Velcro baby and was looking for some entertainment to keep me awake! I was just thinking back to my labour with my LO, I went in at 4-1-1 only 1cm dilated so was sent home. After a couple hours the pain got so intense and I was so delusional I took a Tylenol to “help with the pain”. Well right after that my husband drove me to the hospital and I was 8cm dilated!! I look back on it and laugh now thinking a Tylenol would take the edge off. Wondering if anyone has s”

“Who would’ve known the sleep regression would be the least of my worries. Just feels like everything has gone backwards. Since our boy turned 4 months (now 5 months) I feel like we’ve had a breastfeeding regression, a burping regression, yet ANOTHER pooping regression, a carrier regression, you name it. When he breastfeeds he unlatches every few seconds, squirming constantly, arms flapping about. He swallows so much air that I can literally hear the air bubble in his stomach when I move him arou”

“My baby just became 4 month old, but I still feel like every task is a challenge. I do cook more, but that’s it, everything gets put behind because I hold the baby all day and I am exhausted from all the night wakings (which can be 2-3 or 6-7 per night). When did days become more predictable and when did you start to feel like a person again (not just the mother of your baby). submitted by /u/DiscountVirtual9523 [link] [comments]”

“Our little man will scream like he's starving until the bottle arrives sometimes. He then proceeds to drink anywhere between 70-100ML and completely stop/ fall asleep/ spit out any more. The problem with this is that he continues to be on a 3 hour cycle of 8 bottles a day, including the night. We finally got a good schedule going for the nights. But with the 3 hour intervals for a bottle feed, it remains an unpleasant experience. Especially with both of us working again very soon. Anyways, w”

“At the moment at 12 days we are in cluster feeding central. Baby is mostly formula fed with about 5-10 from breastfeeding per feed. He's unhappy gastrointestinally so won't settle to sleep for more than about 30 mins. (We've got a GP appointment today!) What schedules do you all have for dad being back at work 3 weeks in? Not sure how I'm going to handle it as I can't really sleep when baby does during the day - he's not sleeping! Dad works 8am-4pm, very little commute so”

“It’s 12:10 am, I have been in the process of trying to get the baby to fall asleep since around 8:30 pm the day prior. I just had to put her down in her bassinet so I could get some water. She’s 3 months. Who else is awake right now and how are you trying to get your baby to sleep? submitted by /u/Learnsomethingnewer [link] [comments]”

“Our baby has suddenly gone from 5-10hr stretches to now the most random stretches, hourly, 3 hourly then failed transfers, waking herself in the bassinet constantly, super active sleep, is this the regression starting early she’s only 13 weeks old? submitted by /u/Jumpy-Recognition664 [link] [comments]”

“Hello all new parents! So my little one was born early at just before 33 weeks so he is currently 6 months 3 weeks adjusted (just over 8 months chronological). He seems to be more tracking his adjusted age in terms of sleep and milestones so we have been going by that until he eventually catches up (he's a fairly chill, laidback, hate to say it but "lazy" baby lol). Ever since he was teething/ the dreaded 4 month sleep regression his sleep has been all over the place. It was really”

“First off, just to say I’m not super stressed about baby sleep. I know it’ll change over time, get better and worse, and eventually at some point baby will fairly reliably sleep through the night. Baby is almost 5 months and seems to be going through the 4 month sleep regression. For the last few nights, he’s waking after every sleep cycle and calling out to be re-settled, which just takes us putting his dummy back into his mouth (note - he does fall asleep with a dummy but spits it out a few mi”

“Really need advice because I’m starting to go crazy. My one month old has been insanely fussy lately, he’s hardly sleeping & just wants to cluster feed/comfort feed with his formula alllll day long. Today for example, he’s been awake since 9am & now it’s 3pm, he’s napped maybe 20 minutes total all day. Otherwise he’s been crying unless there’s a bottle in his mouth, he’s not even really eating a large quantity he’s just taking small amounts but wants the bottle in his mouth, if I try to”

“My baby boy is 9 months. He is so loved, wanted, and was so planned for. But I am struggling with his high needs temperament. A part of me wonders if he’s just your regular baby and I’m just crappy at motherhood. While he has his happy moments, for the most part he needs a lot of affection or else he is whining. He needs to be held, engaged with, and things to happen when he wants them to. He doesn’t appear to have any coping mechanisms when upset, and he gets upset often, even if it is taking a”

“I think the answer is, "She's a baby, it'll get better" but I'm still beside myself trying to figure out why this is so hard. All day long I wish the day away until it's 8:30 and we can put her down and her father takes the night shift. She screams all day. Except during the 5 minutes she eats, every two hours on the dot. She might not scream so much if somebody is holding her, but not just holding her, holding her while walking outside , No matter the weather. God forb”

“FTM here with an almost 5 week, sweet little girl. I have basically lived on my recliner with her this whole time, which I know is expected, but I’m not sure when I should be doing more…there’s just so much info out there it’s overwhelming and I’m like “ahhhh is she developing correctly?!?” Lots of anxiety some days. We are struggling with gas and reflux, so any time I try and put her on her back to play/interact, she gets crazy hiccups or spits up. So we spend the entire day with her on my shou”

“Our seven week old has been skipping naps with huge wake windows of around three or more hours some days. When we try to catch the sleep cues early in the wake window and pick him up to rock to sleep he fusses, cries, screams. It’s the same during the evening “witching hours” any tips for getting through this? We have no idea what to do for him when he won’t let us soothe him. We’ve tried walks, dark rooms with white noise, Mylicon in case of gas, top offs of formula. Any tips are appreciated. W”

“My 10 week old is a horrible sleeper. My first who is almost 3 was too so you’d think I would be used to this by now but I’m not. Baby is inconsolable every night around bedtime for hours. I am awake all day with my toddler and baby, then bedtime comes and we get toddler to bed, attempt to put baby down and it just becomes a circus of trying anything and everything to console her. Nothing works. Not swaddling, she won’t nurse, rocking, shushing, white noise, walks, darkness. Just absolute scream”

“My LO just turned 5 months last week and last night was by far one of the worst that we've had since he was a newborn. Ive been struggling to get him to eat during the day so hes only eating between 3-5.5 oz every 3-3.5 hours when he was eating 5 oz every 3 hours just a month ago (exclusively pumping) he also isnt napping more than 30-45 min per nap 2-3 times a day, only way I have been able to get him to sleep longer is if we are driving around or if im holding him. Last night he woke up af”

“First, I couldn’t stay awake. I slept a lot and needed naps alllllll the time. Now I’m 23 weeks and I’ve been awake since 1:30 (it’s 4). My boy is moving a lot and I’m not sure if that’s keeping me up but I don’t think so. I’m not particularly stressed or have anything going on that’s major or that I’m unprepared for. Is this normal to be wide awake like this? I was hoping to be sleeping soundly until the discomfort I hear I’ll experience in the third trimester. 😭 I want to sleep while I can ya”

“FTM to a 6 week old and wow has she gotten so much more difficult this week! My husband is going out of town for the first time since she was born, and I’ll have her solo Friday - Sunday. I’m starting to feel a little anxious and overwhelmed about it. All of a sudden baby is screaming the second the bottle leaves her mouth and is extremely difficult to get settled down. She’s boycotting naps like her life depends on it and even the trusty contact nap doesn’t seem to soothe her. Nothing has chang”

“My partner goes back to work tomorrow and im trying to figure out a schedule that is realistic for both of us. Our daughter is a little over a week old and is dealing with feeding issues, we think because of the jaundice she has. My partner gets up around 630am and doesn’t get home until 6pm. We are feeding 60ml every 2-2 hour 1/2 hours but feeding her takes a long time and normally takes both of us to keep her awake and it just takes a really long time to finish it. What we have been doing is I”

8month old submitted by /u/cc070603 [link] [comments]

“I have an 8 week old, she’s my wonderful rainbow baby.. and last night has probably been the worst night since we brought her home. she’s already had probably two of those growth spurt phases at this point but last night I swear at some point I felt like she was doing it on purpose (I know thats not true) I take night shift because my husband works during the day and baby normally gets up twice to feed and immediately goes back to sleep. last night I think the two of us slept a total of maybe 1.”

“Writing this from the depths of anxiety and frustration; my 8 month old is a gorgeous baby boy but I just can’t crack him regarding naps. We’ve been on a two nap schedule for just over a month and we had a rough initial couple of weeks where night sleep got worse but then it got better. I’ve spoken to two sleep consultants who recommend the ‘short morning nap and long early afternoon nap. We do his first nap at about 9.15 for 30/40 mins and the second one has been 1.30 for the last three weeks (”

“My baby is 3 weeks old, and no matter what I do, I don’t feel like I have anymore of a grasp on how to care for him then Day 1. I look for his early hunger cues, offer to feed him at the breast which he ends up pushing away and fussing after a while, and then goes back to acting ravenous with late hunger cues. I try to bottle feed him expressed milk instead and he takes the whole bottle but again acts ravenous and if I haven’t fed him at all. When my baby is tired and showing early signs, i try”

“My baby is 3 weeks old, and no matter what I do, I don’t feel like I have anymore of a grasp on how to care for him then Day 1. I look for his early hunger cues, offer to feed him at the breast which he ends up pushing away and fussing after a while, and then goes back to acting ravenous with late hunger cues. I try to bottle feed him expressed milk instead and he takes the whole bottle but again acts ravenous and if I haven’t fed him at all. When my baby is tired and showing early signs, i try”

“My baby is 3 weeks old, and no matter what I do, I don’t feel like I have anymore of a grasp on how to care for him then Day 1. I look for his early hunger cues, offer to feed him at the breast which he ends up pushing away and fussing after a while, and then goes back to acting ravenous with late hunger cues. I try to bottle feed him expressed milk instead and he takes the whole bottle but again acts ravenous and if I haven’t fed him at all. When my baby is tired and showing early signs, i try”

“Hi. My newborn is 4 weeks old as of today. I think my husband and I are losing our fucking minds over the lack of sleep and anxiety. Our baby’s sleep and crying is so unpredictable- he goes on for hours crying and we literally can’t help him. It’s unclear what triggers these episodes, they happen so randomly. It started when he was entering third week. Usually during the day time he is very settled and he will sleep 2-3 hour stretches (sometimes even 4 hours) after he is well fed. But the evenin”

“Hi everyone, I have a 7 month old son who has previous been a fantastic sleep (I realise how lucky I am up to this point) but in the last week I've had 6 consecutive days of him refusing to sleep after his 4-5am feed. The shortest amount of time it's taken me to get him down again is an hour, but mostly that's been it for the day. If it hadn't been for my husband taking a shift 7-9am I would've had a breakdown much earlier.... While I think he is teething at the moment I don&”

“My boy is 14 weeks. I feel like this should be quicker but still each MOTN is one hour. Curious what others are doing? I’ll wake up- bring him to the nursery where my water is set up, feed in one side (~10 -12 ish min to the point where he usually falls asleep), then burp, then diaper change, then other side 10-12 minutes, burp and then rock him until he’s back to sleep. The burping wakes him up but if I don’t burp he spits up while in pack & play and it makes me sad. Do you guys change the”

“Hi everyone, I'm at my wits end with my 4 week old baby. He nurses for over an hour and would probably go on if I don't unlatch him (for my own sanity). I only do this when he is clearly asleep and is only gently suckling rather than actively feeding. When I do this after he falls asleep, he immediately cries. I try to offer him the other breast, and even after another hour of that, he continues to cry and would only be soothed after a bottle of expressed breast milk. I wanted to share a”

“Hi, Baby boy is 14 weeks old tomorrow (and over 8kgs weighted him today, my arms are tired 🫠) And the last two nights were horrendous. He was quite good in only waking up 2-3 times (with about 30-45 minutes awake for feeding) between 8 and 5/6am with a first sleep stretch of 4.5-5h most nights. But the last two nights, only 3h for the first stretch, next one 90 minutes and then every 30-60 minutes...he was impossible to put back down after 5am. Everytime wanting to feed and fussing loads. Is th”

“Context: My LO is about to be 16 weeks. He’s super active, has been rolling since 11/12 weeks and constantly moving. Sometimes I swear he’s trying to crawl (or thinks he is). He gets very frustrated he can’t do more! I went back to work at 12 weeks and my husband took a few weeks off to bridge the time until he goes to daycare soon. I am struggling to find the joy in this season. I am constantly spiraling about schedules, routines, naps, and night sleep. I am constantly trying to diagnose why he”

“Hi, I'm now 2 under 2 with the youngest 6 weeks and eldest 18 months. I've been really struggling with sleep throughout pregnancy, and also after pregnancy. Dad starts work at 6.30am, so he gets up at 5.15, finishes at 4.30pm, gets back home at 5pm - when he was on paternity, he did 75% of the night shift, and even said he didn't mind as he fell back to sleep easily. I did most nappy changes, and the occasional feed. I was sleeping really well, felt really well rested. He said, &quot”

“I feel like this may be an area in which the actual science based information is that it’s all normal because newborn sleep is messy. However, social media is shoving in my face videos about baby sleep and their advice all conflicts with each other. Our almost 8 week old gives us a beautiful 6-7 hour stretch starting around 7pm or 8pm. But after that, it’s every 1-2 hours that she is waking. We have been trying to think if anything in the environment is waking her up but now I’m wondering if thi”

“I’m struggling badly with anxiety around my almost 7-month-old’s feeding and sleep and could really use perspective from other parents. My baby has had feeding issues since around 2.5 months old. She started crying/refusing bottles and developed a feeding aversion. We’ve seen GI doctors, feeding specialists, had swallow studies and an upper GI study, and thankfully everything has been normal and she continues to gain weight. We’ve tried multiple formulas, reflux medications, different bottles, f”

“Just venting. I am so sleep deprived. Horrible night last night, I couldn’t fall asleep because for some reason insomnia & by the time I did, baby woke up & needed a bottle. Husband sleeping peacefully. I tried to wake him up to help me but he wouldn’t wake up. I got up, threw a blanket at him, got a bottle prepared & sobbed while feeding baby. I was delirious & dizzy because so tired. I’m still so tired. I got angry & yelled at my husband while I fed the baby to tell him to”

“I can see the last 3 most recent posts are all about 4 month olds, so we must all be going through it! 🤍 My 4 month old who used to sleep through the night in 9-10 hour stretches, or occasionally a 6-8 hour first stretch with one night wake up, is now - of course - regressing. We are dealing with fussiness, failed crib transfers, and wake ups every 2 hours at night. His day naps are also shit. Catnaps mostly, and always contact naps or car seat, usually waking the second something moves or stop”

“Guys I don't even know what to do anymore. My first child is almost 4 and has pretty much always been a great sleeper. Slept through the night from about 4 months and still consistently goes to bed without any major issues and sleeps through. My second kid is built different. He's nearly 7 months and has never slept more than a couple hours at a time, and it's progressively gotten worse and worse to the point where now at bedtime we're lucky if he sleeps a half an hour before wak”

“At my wits end over here. Have my 4 month appointment coming up and will bring this up with doc. My baby has always had a bad cry but it’s gotten significantly worse since we entered the 4 month sleep regression. She arches her back, scream cries at the top of her lungs puts her fist in her mouth and bites down. This happens before most naps and every night at bedtime. It can last 30 mins to 1.5 hours. Picking her up doesn’t help she continues to scream. The only thing that sometimes helps is pu”

“We're in week 6 with our LO and its been the toughest week so far. Infant dyschezia, overtiredness, trouble going to and staying asleep. I usually split the nights with my husband. He takes care of baby until about 1 am so i can sleep and I try to do all the wake ups after that. Last night during his shift was particularly rough and he described it as "moms get really sad when they cant soothe baby and dad's get angry". Any other dads felt this way? submitted by /u/”

“Hi there! So I feel like I could explain 3 paragraphs worth- but basically, I have a 4 month old little man who I adore; but I’ve never had a solid routine. From the second he was born, I truly believe in following his cues. Now, I know when he’s tired and it’s time for a nap. I know when he’s hungry, overstimulated, etc. I know when he’s tired during the day- I get a bottle ready, and within 5 minutes he’s asleep for his naps. I’ve followed the same vibe with bedtime. If we’re out and about and”

“There's probably a lot of these posts on here, but I'd like to share mine anyway. I have a 4.5week old and I'm really struggling to even do the bare minimum. We were in and out of hospital with her in her first two weeks because she's a very sleepy baby and her oxygen sats were low. Her oxygen is good now and she's a bit less sleepy, but my breastfeeding journey has been one of trial and error, because she's not and efficient feeder on the breast I have to pump and bottle”

“Moms with babies who were born 4 weeks early, when did you start noticing longer sleep stretches? I’ve been anxious ever since my sleep seminar yesterday. Another EBF mom in attendance is still waking up her 7 month old every hour. On the other hand, my EBF son has been eating every 60-90 minutes since birth, which is his normal for catch-up growth. He’s gaining about 1.5 ounces per day, never dropped below his birth weight, and is now 2 pounds 9 ounces heavier than he was at birth. My pediatric”

“Hi friends. I’m looking to establish more structure for my 3 month old. Now that I’m going back to work, working 12:30-6 I would love some help. I’m so bad at making schedules. If any of you have time and would like to write me a rough schedule that would be good for me to follow with my 3 month old from 6 am-bed time that would be incredible. I keep looking some up on Pinterest but there very vague. submitted by /u/AHeavy-HeartedCowboy [link] [comments]”

“For the longest time my baby was the easiest baby ever. Only cried when she was hungry or tired, slept for 8 hrs straight, could just hold her and she’d be content all day. I swear as soon as she turned 4 months old she turned into a different person. Nights are HELL. If she’s not excited and wanting to play up until 2 am, she’s crying and screaming while fighting sleep. During the day she demands to be entertained 24/7 and she’ll randomly start screaming 2 minutes into playing with a toy I give”

“My 3 week old likes to be attracted to my breast for like 3 hours straight during this time. He drinks me totally dry. He’s doing non nutritive sucking half the time in during these long feedings. Does this mean he’s not getting enough during this time? He is 1 pound above his birth weight so so immediate concerns there. submitted by /u/Particular-Step5278 [link] [comments]”

“My baby boy is nine months old. Since he turned eight months old he is only getting two hour stretches of sleep and it’s rough. From 6-8 months he slept eleven hours at night and went down on his own in his crib. Now even when he sleeps with me he is waking every two hours. He doesn’t make it one hour in his crib. He’s only on two one hour naps a day with three solid meals and 28oz of milk. Please help me get my sleep back. submitted by /u/M426fdn [link] [comments]”

“Baby boy turned 12 weeks today and things have gotten harder for us! He was a medium hard newborn I'd say, he is exclusively breastfeed with good latching, had witching hours but we could calm him by nursing and rocking. He never had purple crying or colic, but we've struggled with some reflux and gas which we managed by holding him up right after feeds, burping, and using gas drops and sometimes gripe water. The last 4 days he has started SCREAM crying, this is not "fussing" -”

“It’s never ending. LO just recovered from terrible diarrhea, caused by antibiotics intolerance, such meds needed for a strep infection, which caused his fever. Before that, he had a few days of good sleep; but prior to that he was teething. And then prior to teething he was learning to crawl. And so on… so it’s been mostly crappy nights. But I never thought his sleep could get any worse than his 4m regression where he woke up literally every hour. This time, at almost 12m, he would wake up cryin”

“Our son has had the same bedtime routine since he was 4 weeks old. Around 4 months, he started this habit of where he refuses his bedtime bottle for the first 10ish minutes we try to feed him. He opens his mouth for the bottle, takes a few sips and then starts arching his back, thrashing, slapping it out of my hand, and then eventually will hysterically cry. It’s like clockwork and lasts the same amount of time every night. I always stop offering him the bottle when he gets to the thrashing stag”

“We are all tired, we all want to enjoy those cuddles with our baby. We all want to make sure they are fed and have a good supply. I try my best to pump every 3 hours, I’m happy if I’m at 4, but sometimes my body can’t help it, and I go to 5-6 hours. When that happens, I feel the stress and maybe even depression kick in. Afraid after 6 weeks that it will just go downhill or dry-up and it’ll be my fault. I don’t think people who aren’t breastfeeding/pumping understand the immense amount of stress”