Parents feel overwhelmed by baby’s constant needs

“First born just turned 8 weeks. For the last ~2 weeks he has not slept more than an hour at a time, sometimes even just 30 minutes. Luckily he will go back to sleep at night, but I have to pick him up and hold him for ~20 minutes each time, so I get maybe 20 or 30 minutes of sleep at a time. Add to that he just started turning in his swaddle so he's gone arms out making sleep even more tenuous. He wont nap unless held, often unless in a carrier, and even then will randomly wake up and start”

“Up until recently I've had the perfect baby. She was born a preemie and is currently 3.5 months old, but her adjusted age is 6 weeks. Up until recently she's been the CHILLEST baby. We've been saying she's the trap baby that tricks you into having another one only to realize they're not all this easy. Sleeps 4-5 hour stretches at night, doesn't usually cry, all the great stuff. Recently though between the hours of 7pm-11pm she gets super fussy and just scream cries unless”

“Its 2am , my 9 week baby wont sleep , crying and colics , just oppened instagram and i got loaded with those fudgers saying : this is what i do to make advance my baby brain in their wake period , or this is how to put a baby to sleep or hold a baby. Man those excercises are the last thing in my mind haha submitted by /u/thattiredguy0 [link] [comments]”

“Hi everyone, I have a 4 week old and as they say sine week 3, the wake windows have gotten longer, he only prefers contact naps and hates the bassinet. We’ve noticed at night he doesn’t mind the bassinet once we can actually get him to sleep but this is where it gets hard- i am out of options, my husband and I feed him, change him, burp him, move him around, stay still, sing to him, swaddle him, lights are dim, gentle voices, just everything you can try but it’s never a consistent thing that hel”

“Just looking to get this off my chest. My oversupply is making my 4mo *unbelievably* gassy. In a wake window, we get 10 mins of smiles and the rest of the time he spends trying to fart. I actually do not understand how he keeps so much wind trapped inside his little tummy, no wonder he's so uncomfortable. It's like that scene from.Blazing Saddles, exceot its all coming from a little tummy. I have tried feeding in different positions (side lying, leaning back, etc.) But he seems to swallo”

“Hi All - looking for some advice, similar stories, some hope. Since my son was 5 weeks my husband and I do a routine where I take care of the baby all day till about 7:30/8 pm. From 7:30-11 pm I shower and get some solo sleep to prepare for night time shift. My son screams at my husband almost every time I pass him off. A majority of the nights, my son will scream cry on and off the whole time. Occasionally he will be awake and content or sleep the whole time. My husband can calm him down but it”

“What does your bedtime routine & nighttime sleep schedule look with your newborn (around 5-6 weeks)? My son is 5 weeks old and recently started sleeping longer stretches through the night (YAY!), but it has us going to bed later at night and waking up earlier in the morning, so I’m currently trying to find that balance of a reasonable bed / wake up time! I know newborns are unpredictable, but I’m still curious of what works for others! submitted by /u/krystin260 [link] [com”

“I know this will be very annoying to parents who's babies are yet to sleep through the night so feel free to scroll on 😭😭 Out baby has been sleeping 7-7 the last few weeks but I feel like my body is so used to the wake ups that no matter what I do I wake up at 3am and then 5.30am and I'm fully awake and its so hard to get back to sleep 😭😭 How long did it take u to get used to normal.adult sleeping hours again? I feel like I'm going mad submitted by /u/SuccessfulYou315”

“Baby is 7 weeks old and he’s been so difficult the whole time. Nonstop crying, impossible to put to sleep, witching hours too long, aggressive when held…etc Yesterday our midwife came to check on him because he had diarrhea two days ago and we were scared of dehydration. She said he looked fine, he’s not weak and is responsive when you interact with him and that we should try to breastfeed him more and aim for 6 wet diapers. Today he’s too sweet when I hold him he just stays there quietly. Barel”

“Hello! First post in this sub. Our daughter is 4.5 months old and we plan to start Ferber this weekend. We've been stuck in the 4 month regression for the last 4-6 weeks and we are at our wits end. Current routine is to rock her to sleep around 7PM and she usually wakes around 6-7 AM. She wakes up about every hour during the night. We recently got her out of the Snoo and into her own room/crib. Anyways, plan to start Ferber this weekend to hopefully push us through this regression.”

“FTM here, kinda been winging this whole mom thing for awhile now. Bedtime for my 7.5 month old has always taken forever. We bed share and nurse to sleep. His current final wake window is (supposed to be) 2.5-3 hours. At the end of his wake window he’ll be yawning and rubbing his eyes, but as soon as we settle into bed he’s wide awake, babbling, rolling around, climbing on me. It’s like bedtime wakes him right up and he’ll stay awake for an additional 1-2 hours on top of his usually wake window b”

“What a journey for this past 12months!! My baby turned 1 last weekend and I am overwhelmed with needed changes as a FTM 😅 She still loves her formula and bottle mostly at night, waking up 1-3x to drink while sleeping. Shes very good at eating solids too, meals 2-3x a day. Her peds wanted us to wait ‘til her 12m check before fully transitioning to whole milk due to her history of CMPA. Questions - how can I best wean my baby from formula + bottle? What sippy/straw cups can be used for night feed”

“He will make it to 37 weeks, which beats the worst case scenario of being induced today when my OB had me admitted during my scheduled appointment but I just am not ready to give up growing him, feeling his kicks and hiccups inside of me, and I am so scared forcing him out before it’s his natural time, even knowing 37 isn’t that bad. I’ve loved this process and I just hate it being taken away so soon. He is passing his NST with flying colors, I mostly physically feel great even. I have energy an”

“Hey, I might be being dramatic but what the hell is going on at 9 months!😂 my boy has gone from napping 2-2.5 hrs a day + sleeping through the night to now only doing 1-1.5 hrs of daytime sleep and is awake for two hours at night. I have no idea where I’ve gone wrong. We’re currently doing 3 / 3.5 / 4 wake windows. Should I lengthen one? Is this just a growth spurt? Sleep regression? It’s honestly giving me a headache!😂 Any advice on wake windows for this age and tips to get through this would”

“Thought this might be helpful! I read a lot about babies who sleep well or don't sleep well when my experience has been every month my baby is completely different. I track a lot so I thought this might be helpful to anyone, especially just to capture how things change so fast and often the good and the bad are both ultimately short-lived. Notes: For this I categorize "sleeping through the night" as no wake ups between 11pm and 5am. This is 6hrs uninterrupted. My baby has never sle”

“When did your baby hit their 4 month regression and how long did it last for? My son is almost 17 weeks and from what I am aware of, he has not had a 4 month regression (yet). I was looking back on his baby monitor data (it shows us when he wakes up/goes back to sleep, etc.) and I noticed he has been waking up quite a bit during the middle of the night but he always puts himself back to sleep. I only have to go in to intervene around 5 AM to feed him and then he will go back down until 8 AM. My”

“Sorry for my ramble and probably bad spelling and bad formatting, I am running on like 2 hours of sleep and no caffeine today 🫠 My son is 3.5 months (4 months on the 21st) and he seems to be going through a sleep regression or something along the sorts. It makes me happy that he’s learning something but man this is taking a toll on me. It’s making me feel super anxious and I’ve been getting between 2 & 4 hrs of sleep a night because I work at 7am. Every night around 7 or 8 (one day it start”

“My baby is 10 months old and I adore him. He's truly the best. However, we are having trouble on the eating and sleeping fronts and it's wearing me down, so I am looking for reassurance and advice. Solids: Baby has essentially refused solids for the past couple of weeks. If I'm lucky, he might pick up and eat one bite of any meal I prepare him. If Ioad a spoon for him, 99% of the time, he either drops it, smashes it on the tray so the food flies off, or turns the spoon around and put”

“My son is 1 month old. We spent the first month in the NICU. He came home about a week ago and things have been okay. He seems to cry a lot more at night and is harder to get to sleep at night than during the day. I’m already back at work, and my fiancé stays at home with baby and is technically a SAHD. This is by my request , not his. I make more money at my job, so it just made sense. We don’t do daycares and don’t have much family that can watch him as we work, so we have to do what makes sen”

“My male partner is set on this as being reasonable and healthy. I know we are both freaking out about being first time parents but this seems unreasonable to me. submitted by /u/fallen-fan [link] [comments]”

“I’m a FTM to a beautiful 12 week old boy. I love him so much but life just seems to be relentless at the moment. We’ve been dealing with colic for almost 8 weeks now, which has improved except today he screamed the whole day. I was hoping it would resolve before I return to work tomorrow but that doesn’t seem to be happening. He used to sleep a 5 hour stretch the first part of the night, but the past two weeks it’s 3 to 4 if we’re lucky. (I know it could be worse, but the fact that I knew I coul”

“We have a 4.5 month old LO who, since birth, has been an objectively extremely difficult baby. She’s incredibly fussy, cries constantly, and just seems unhappy so much of the time. At 7.5 weeks, we discovered she has CMPA/MSPI and potentially other unidentified allergies. Despite elimination diets and trying different formulas, we deal with bloody/mucusy diapers episodes time to time still, but overall she seems to be in less pain than when she was younger. On top of that, she HATES being held b”

“My baby is 1 week old today. She poops and pees appropriately, 2-3 poops a day and 5-6+ pees. but I feel like she sleeps so much. I’m exclusively breastfeeding and she feeds every 2/3 hours. But other wise she is sleeping. The last few days she would be awake for about an hour in the morning and then sleep all day. She will wake herself and cry for feeds but sometimes I have to wake her. And sometimes it’s hard to wake her, I will usually have to undress her and tickle her feet or change her dia”

“I would love to spend a bit more time writing this and think about it properly and kind of clarify on my questions, so I am sure I will be leaving out a lot of context. My LO is 4.5 months old, he is sweet and curious and gorgeous. But I am struggling to find a ways in which to get things done or find some sort of stability, I suppose. Our day usually looks like a wake up at 07:30 followed by a feed. The day goes on with 5 naps, he only contact naps in the baby carrier and with my or my partner”

“Im so exhausted. It's been a month of this. We've tried earlier bedtimes. Later bedtimes. Longer wake windows. Shorter wake windows. Nothing helps. I don't mind being up 2-3 hours in the middle of the night but he's so so cranky the next day. Tonight he'll get 6 hours of night sleep. He's 9 months old. His wake windows are 2 hours, 3 hours and 4 hours. He generally naps 1.5 hours each time. We keep wake windows boring but nothing helps. submitted by /u/Economy”

“My LO is 10 weeks 2days old and I am just unsure how much fussiness is normal and if I can expect it to get better or of that is just his temperament. He never sleeps more than 3h at night which according to some threads I've read is rough but its just kind of our normal and in not so upset about that but it's during the day which gets me... He'll wake up I'll feed him, change him and everything and then he's maybe happy for 10-20min and then he just gets super fussy. He'”

“FTM. The baby is very much aware of his surroundings, major FOMO so daytime naps are only 30 minutes if I’m lucky. He can’t sit up on his own yet, screams during tummy time because he wants to move but can’t. A baby can only do so much for play at this age. Does not enjoy being put down for any amount of time. I feel like my days are spent constantly trying to keep him entertained and content during wake windows. As a newborn he was the BEST sleeper. I’d have to wake him for feeds during the nig”

“Hoping to get some encouragement from this kind community that my baby’s sleep still has a chance to get better. FTM to a beautiful 6 month old boy. He’s wonderful but his sleep has been… up and down. He was sleep trained at around 4.5 months and it went well for a few weeks before I started to “backslide” into co-sleeping, nursing to sleep, etc. However, he did still have some nights he could go to sleep independently. I am scared even that is screwed up now due to the below. I’m currently with”

“Hey everyone, I’m looking for some sympathy and support. I have a two-month-old baby and he’s the light of my life! I’ve never felt so happy and marvled by life since he arrived here. I’ve been struggling a lot with something since the very first day: letting other people (besides me and Dad) hold him without feeling like someone is pulling my teeth. This is particularly true with family members like my parents or my in-laws. I don’t have these feelings with our friends or family members like co”

“Hi guys! My baby will be four months old in about six days and the poor girl is sick;( Her ped said it’s an upper respiratory infection that has thankfully not reached her lungs. Lately she’s been sleeping a lot through the day, partially because of a growth spurt and also due to not feeling good. I took her to the ER last night and a Ped today so her nighttime sleep was interrupted by about six hours and she has crazy fomo and didn’t wanna nap during the day when we were out. That being said, b”

“My 13 week old started sleeping 8-9 hour stretches last week and I immediately knew what was to come. Tonight LO woke up every hour after days of stirring and needing a pat on the butt to not fully wake up. Hoping for my sanity this doesn't last long submitted by /u/Apprehensive-Ant5305 [link] [comments]”

“STM here. Baby surpassed magic weight by 5 weeks old and has slept 5+ hour stretches ever since, with the exception of three assumed growth spurts or regressions that lasted a little over a week each. At around 7mo, he suddenly started waking for MOTN feeds again. At first I thought it was just another spurt or regression and figured whatever, just deal with it for a week. It’s been over two fuckin months, the worst night was 2 weeks ago. He woke to nurse at 1am, 2:30am, and 5am. At his 9mo visi”

“My baby is almost 4 months but was born at 35 weeks so he’s closer to 3 months. He’s exclusively breastfed during the day and takes bottles of pumped breastmilk at night. It’s been that way basically since he was born. During the day, his wake windows are about 1-1.5 hours and then he nurses and falls asleep on me for anywhere from 30 mins-1.5 hours. His typical nap times are somewhere around 10-11, 1-2, 4-5. He is tired and fussy again around 7, so when he was around 2.5 months old, we started”

“Can’t stand to be put down/has to be held constantly. Screams the moment I’m out of sight or leave the room. I even have to sit beside him during naps most of the time or contact nap while I work at my desk bc he KNOWS when I walk away and will wake up and start crying. I think he gets mad that he can’t do more — like that he can’t put a hanging toy in his mouth and can’t always or forgets to roll over or that he can’t sit up or stand. He needs LOTS of face to face interaction, even if he’s look”

“My 12 week baby has been overtired since day 1. The first few weeks I didn’t properly track his sleep and distinguishing his cues has been difficult so I think I got him in a cycle of never ending overtiredness. He already has a high needs temperament so it’s been rough with all the crying during most of his wake time but boy does he need a lot of sleep. He takes 1-3 hr naps daily and he seems to wanna go back to sleep even less than half an hr after waking from a nap. His bedtime has even been”

“4 weeks old and I feel like I'm losing my mind submitted by /u/criscodesigns [link] [comments]”

“My baby the last 2 days has been so fussy. Puking. Doesn’t want to be put down. Restless even when I’m holding him. When I do hold him I have to have him up on my chest. Won’t sleep more than an hour at night. He seems uncomfortable. He’s 3.5 weeks old and was an “average” newborn until these last couple of days. He is exclusively nursing right now but I do want to start him on a bottle. Could it be something I ate? Is this normal? My toddler never puked when he was a baby so I’m scared I’m doin”

“Baby just turned 4 months and for the last week has been waking up crying every hour in bassinet. Previously baby would sleep 6 hour stretches at night. This week she started rolling both front to back and back to front. She wears a sleep sac. I know there's a regression around this time but I'm wondering if sleep needs also change? She used to get sleepy after 1.5 hours but now will be up for 4-5 hours before giving any sleep cues for naps. she used to do 3-4 naps a day but now it's”

“I’m familiar with the concept of witching hour(s), but thought that was more like crying inconsolably, nonstop fussiness, etc. My baby is 7.5 weeks old and generally a really happy, chill baby. I think we’re dealing with CMPA (mucus and blood specks in her poop) so I’m cutting out cow’s milk products. That being said, she doesn’t show other symptoms besides the poop; no discomfort, etc. That all being said, around 7/8pm every night, when she’s nursing, she’ll turn red, scrunch up, unlatch, and s”

“Hi. I have a 4 month old that just turned 4 months yesterday. This last week she’s been a mess just so cranky it seems like she’ll wake up from her nap be fine for 20-30 mins and then until her next nap she’s literally crying non stop nothing will calm her down. It seems like she barely eats I try and feed her but the only way I can force feed her will be by getting up walking around while I nurse her. I’ve tried everything I don’t understand what to do. I don’t want to pump but I also don’t wan”

“Tomorrow my baby will be two weeks old. He already loves to look around with his cute eyes and he loves when you talk to him. However my situation is a little difficult since my husband broke his knee the day I gave birth and I had a c-section. So it's a bit hard on me to take care of my baby, my husband and myself right now. A few days ago my mother in law (don't get me wrong, I love her and we don't have a strained relationship) said I need to offer him more to look at and that I s”

“My baby is three weeks old and has been baffling the hell out of me today. I pumped 5oz (a new record!) after a 4-hour sleep, nursed for like 4-5 hours on and off while my husband slept, then slept for another couple hours. Before I could pump, we nursed again for a bit, I pumped 2oz, and then we went out for like two or three hours. This is where it gets intense. We got home, I fed him the 2oz, and was planning to pump some more, but he was still hungry, so we nursed. And nursed. He napped for”

“I know this is the 4 month sleep regression, but it's still hitting me hard. It used to be easy. In the cradle hold with his pacifier, he'd be out like a light pretty quickly. Now he absolutely wails the second we put him in that position. He knows it's time for bed, but he protests. We now put him on our shoulders, go into his dark nursery, turn on the white noise, and hum Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. He still fights it so hard. We follow his cues and wake windows, and we use Huckle”

“Our now 1 month old has been experiencing super long wake windows for the last three weeks. She will frequently (1-2x per day) have 4 hour wake windows. She will be super alert for the first hour or two but then be in distress for the next two to three. We try feeding her throughout (she refuses the breast many times during these windows despite showing early and late cues). She intermittently has gas pains during these but not the entire time. She is hitting all of her feed targets and diaper t”

“How on earth do I keep working until baby arrives? I have maybe 2 functioning brain cells. After 12pm I am absolute mush. submitted by /u/gringottsbanks [link] [comments]”

“Hello, We have a 3 week old who is honestly the most perfect thing we could’ve asked for. Recently at night, after putting her down, she will start squirming in her swaddle like a fish out of water, then eventually will start spitting up. Amounts have varied to a little bit at a time or full on shooting up out of her mouth and nose. This has only been an issue the past week or so, before that she was still as a rock until she wanted to feed. We know it’s not vomit, we don’t suspect a dairy aller”

“I get it now, the whole “4 month sleep regression” is very real. As I’m writing this she is 19 weeks and 4 days old. It’s been about a month now, it’s been pretty hard on me and I feel very sleep deprived most days. I want to help her sleep longer throughout the night like she was before this. She was typically sleeping from around 9 or 10 pm to around 5 am, I’m desperate to get back to this. I know it’s different for everyone but how long did this last for you? Was there anything you tried in p”

“4 week old and during the day feedinga are pretty normal but at night we do the same things. During feeding we often pause to burp and let his tummy settle and he just flails wildly and makes it so hard to burp and hold him, then we'll start feeding again and the devil baby settles down. Basically cycle and repeat. During the day no flailing demon baby submitted by /u/criscodesigns [link] [comments]”

“My husband and I have no idea what to do anymore. Baby has slept great at night the past week which has been a pleasant, welcome change, but in exchange we now have an angry, crying, screaming baby for the entire day. He might be okay for his first wake window but all goes down the drain after that. His naps have gone to shit, he fights all naps and if he does fall asleep its for 30-45 mins. Nothing helps. He is changed, fed, bathed, hes pooped and peed, he is doing everything necessary and we d”

“I really need guidance, I've never been so close to throwing in the towel with breastfeeding my 4.5 month old. She's suddenly so distracted. Her dad, her brother, phone notification, loud noise outside, someone sneezing in China, her head wips around to see what it is, often with me still firmly in her mouth. I've more nipple trauma now than when we first started. It's so painful trying to feed now. I've yelped a few times, had to unlatch her in a hurry, I dread certain feeds”

“My baby is 3.5 months (will be 4 months 10/18). I think we are hitting his "4 month sleep Regression". He has always been a great sleeper and has slept thru the night since 2mo (8pm-7/7:30am with a 10p dream feed.) Now he's doing odd things, some nights this week randomly waking up fussing/crying (1time a night usually) or waking up very early (4-5am). He's taking short naps 30-45 min naps during most naptimes. And is SO fussy, especially when it's time for a later day nap”

“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”