DD has become a nightmare - help!

eileenm21

so all she does all day is cry.  I think its an attention thing and she wants to be played with and carried around all day, but I am not sure.  I am at my wits end.  She is fed (on allementum so i don't think I can get gentler than that) dry, poops, pees, passes gas, amused etc.   I am sure she is tired but no matter what I do she will not sleep.  I don't want to let her CIO cause I think its early, but I am at my wits end.  I can't carry her around all day, I have stuff to do and poor DS gets little attention. DS is a dream and is happy all day.  I am thankful they aren't both miserable lol but I can't take it anymore. he is chatty and cute and I can't engage him because I am always attending to her.  Am I missing something?    She isn't just carrying on, she alternates with screaming. I have tried the paci, the swing, etc.  At night now I have to rock her and give her a paci to get to sleep which is new, I used to just put her in awake and she put herself out.  Any thoghts?  anyone go through this?  is it a phase?  if so how long will it last lol?   

ethansbride2b

I could have written this entire post.  My daughter Emily is the same way...also on Alimentum.  Last night it took almost 3 hours to get her to sleep.  I'm axious to see what others comments are to your post. Good luck, I hope it gets better. 

robinsokj

I have 2 that cry all day long and I'm about to lose it.  If you figure anything out let me knwo

sunnybrook.

Bedtime with my one DD is like you've described.  It is 2-3 hours of constant screaming, BFing and rocking to get her to sleep. I've tried everything....mylicon drops, warm bath, massage, nightlight, music, no music, rocking, bouncing swaying, swaddling, no swaddle, etc. Nothing worked. We are still struggling with it. This week we started sleep training but don't let her cry more than 10 minutes. This was discussed with her pediatrician before starting. I wouldn't feel comfortable starting at 3 months either. 

Since your DD is crying all day, have you spoken with her pedi? It could be reflux (some babies swallow it so don't spit up excessively), gas, growing pains, etc. Maybe try giving her tylenol to see if there is an improvement. Maybe baby wearing would help. At the very least it would free your hands to do other stuff and to play with DS. We have the Baby K'tan and I love it...its comfortable for me and the babies and they love it too. We ordered fit from target. Hang in there, momma! GL!

kimarino13

Same thing happened to us at around 2.5 months!  Sophia would stop screaming if we walked her around and held her just right, so it was an attention thing.  Things seem to just now be getting better, just before 4 months.

CER+MEL

My DD (only 6 weeks old) gets like this when she is overtired, so I try to start soothing her to sleep as soon as she seems a little drowsy.  Maybe try to get your DD to sleep or put her in a swing a little sooner to prevent the breakdown?  We also discovered this week that, although she hates to be swaddled when just drowsy, our DD pretty much goes right to sleep if we swaddle her once she's reached the point of screaming fussiness.  It really calms her down.  Your DD might be past the point of swaddling, but it's a thought.

finallyreilly

Although my DS is still the needier of the two, we had periods that each went through where they were just miserable and weren't happy unless they were held.  I really thought we were terrible parents because all they did was cry.   I use to carry one or the other around in my bjorn all day just to get stuff done.  I wasn't ever sure if they were unhappy or just bored.

 You are doing everything right it sounds like, but I think when they go through growth spurts, they just become miserable.  You'll get the same joy when they start teething.  Hopefully like colic, it is something they go through and then come out great on the other side.

We started CIO when they were about 3 months and I was going back to work.  It was not fun, but I am glad we did.   Knock on wood, bedtime these days are a dream for us and I think it was really that early training that made a difference.  We started with 5 min of crying and then going in to reassure them and increasing the amount of time in between each time.  Don't get me wrong, it was so awful, but it worked.  One night they were up for 2 full hours before they fell asleep. 

Swaddling did work for us during the early days but I don't think after 3 months we used it.  They could move around too much and break free.  Mine hated the swing so that was never an option for us.  When they were miserable they even hated going for a walk. 

I don't think I was much help, but hopefully you can get something good out of my post.