i considered us lucky to have such calm and sweet babies...until two days ago. Now they dont want anything. They dont want to be fed, changed, held, bounced, rocked, walked with, put in the swing...you name it, they dont want it. They just want to cry. Constantly. And it's getting on my very last nerve. It isnt a shrieking cry or an " im in pain " cry, its more of a " im mad and frustrated and life is so tragic and how dare you leave me to lay here on the floor in all my misery ". i do go and pick them up when/if it changes to the sobbing " omg youve abandoned me in my crib " cry, but even that only lasts so long and theyre back to being frustrated. They used to have bathtime and take a bottle and drop off to sleep, and now we have to let them cry themselves to sleep because it is the only thing that works. And forget about naptime. Thats history. Thats archives. Last night i was so frustrated, i had to go outside and cry myself. Is this colic? Will it end? Is there ANYTHING we can do short of buying earplugs? Kenneth and Ian are 6 weeks old
You are at the 6 week peak of fussiness. You are in survival mode. Do whatever it takes to get them to sleep. They needs naps and they need you. There are much to young to do CIO at night. How about using a sling? White noise, etc.
Not sure if you have read HSHHC? It offers that about 6weeks of age all babies become more socially aware and will probably be smilling, with this heightened fussiness occurs at it's worst at 6weeks also. It will decrease over the next couplle of weeks. I found that we hit our worst at 5weeks and the crying had all but gone about 3weeks later. However now at 5months i have 2 grouchy babies every afternoon, probably because the little minxes wont sleep through the night lol Hope it passes quickly for you, i bet you have your sweet natured boys back in no time. We just had to ride the wave, with lots of rocking, patting and swings when i had had enough. I also found all fussiness ceased every night about 10pm. Good luck and stay strong.
After reading the first sentence of your post, I thought..."I bet they are 6 weeks old". It will end, but you have a few weeks to struggle through. This is by far the toughest time and you will get your sweet babies back again! My boys cried for no reason from 6-9pm EVERY night from 6-8 weeks (both actual AND adjusted). It was not fun. Hang in there and it's okay to cry with them! I know I did many times. If you are alone, something I did that seemed to help (a little) was rock the fussier one in my arms and put the other in their infant carrier and rock it with my foot. Wheel of Fortune seemed to enthrall them as well! :lol:
A week ago my boys turned 6 weeks and my precious boys turned into hellions. They were having temper tantrums and nothing was going to help them. They were no in pain, they were clean and fed.....we were at our wits end. There are two BIG things that we did and it has made all the difference in our life. We did CIO and it has worked marvelous. As long as you can stand it. They were tag teaming the crying...but they fell asleep eventually. Another thing, I figured that my social butterfly was needing a nap in his crib because he was not napping well anywhere around the house. For the past three days, they have lunch go upstairs, lay down in their crib. They are out like lights for three hours. Both of the boys are happy and content for the rest of the day. They are even sleeping better at night. I am sure I will see more fussiness....GL, Jenn
It will sound really odd but the thing that worked well for us at that age was the vacuum cleaner! We would put them in their bouncy seats and they would still be whimpering and crying and as soon as that little vacuum got turned out it was magic - they would either just sit content or fall asleep. Of course we had to endure listening to the vacuum but I can handle that better than my babies crying! We used a little hand held dustbuster thing and just sat it between the two seats!!! We eventually got a white noise machine for their room and swaddled at bedtime and both of those were tremendous helps too but there definitely wasn't much that alleviated the all-afternoon/evening fussiness at that age. We did baby bjorns, swings, bouncy seats, strolling the neighborhood, etc. which would work for brief intervals but not long enough - we did just learn to deal with the crying and they are no worse off for it! They are happy little munchkins now (except now when ds is getting two more teeth to add to his 6 others) and fussiness is limited to about 30 minutes before bedtime when they are just plain exhausted from all of their new activity of learning to sit, crawl, etc.!
That is a really tough age. It will pass, just do what you can to soothe them. You should absolutely not be doing any kind of CIO at 6 weeks. CIO is for babies who can self-soothe or are learning to self-soothe. CIO should be used around the 6 month mark. Hang in there, we have all been in your shoes.
QUOTE(FirstTimeMom814 @ Jun 1 2009, 03:29 PM) [snapback]1336679[/snapback] That is a really tough age. It will pass, just do what you can to soothe them. You should absolutely not be doing any kind of CIO at 6 weeks. CIO is for babies who can self-soothe or are learning to self-soothe. ITA! Babies have no way to self soothe themselves at 6 weeks of age. They need help and maturity to learn those mechanisms.
Yes I remember this phase. I agree that CIO is not for 6 weeks olds. It never was intended for that. CIO is meant for sleep training of a 6 month + baby. At 6 weeks they will just cry and fall asleep from exhaustion, and never learn a thing. Thats not to say that you shouldn't let them cry for a couple minutes, while you go to the bathroom, fix food etc.. This phase will pass.
I, too, remember that phase very well. Hang in there and do what you have to to get them to sleep. I used to hold and rock mine to sleep & hum/sing to them. I found holding them close to my chest calmed them too as they could hear my heart beating. MAking a sssh ssssh sound and rocking backwards and forwards used to work wonders as it imitated being in the womb. I also used a pacifier which was a lifesaver in DD´s case. Regarding CIO, I totally agree with previous PPs when they say it´s not a good idea at this tender age. It is generally recommended at 6+ months. You can do this, hang in there, it does get better. :hug:
QUOTE(FirstTimeMom814 @ Jun 1 2009, 12:29 PM) [snapback]1336679[/snapback] That is a really tough age. It will pass, just do what you can to soothe them. You should absolutely not be doing any kind of CIO at 6 weeks. CIO is for babies who can self-soothe or are learning to self-soothe. CIO should be used around the 6 month mark. Hang in there, we have all been in your shoes. QUOTE(DATJMom @ Jun 1 2009, 12:33 PM) [snapback]1336685[/snapback] ITA! Babies have no way to self soothe themselves at 6 weeks of age. They need help and maturity to learn those mechanisms. Sorry ladies, but it does work for us. Jenn
My first thought was "they are 6 weeks old" too! Totally normally and spectacularily frustrating!! :hug: You got some great advice. Another thought tho, is they may be hungrier than normal too because they are going thru a 6 wk growth spurt. And it can last a couple weeks! Try adding a nursing session or extra bottle in, even if it seems they are constantly eating. My dd would cluster feed in the evening from about 5 pm on, she'd eat every 1-2 hours all evening until 10-11 pm. My ds wasn't as hungry but she sure was! Hang in there! It does get better! And ditto the CIO, they don't know how to soothe themselves yet, they'll just fall asleep from exhaustion. That doesn't mean if you are frustrated you can't put them in the crib (or another safe place), and let them fuss while you take a breather before trying to cope with the crying again! Try swaddling during the day when you can't hold them both at the same time! Swaddled tightly and laying them next to you on the couch with your warmth can sometimes help too! :hug:
QUOTE(DATJMom @ Jun 1 2009, 10:34 AM) [snapback]1336093[/snapback] You are at the 6 week peak of fussiness. You are in survival mode. Do whatever it takes to get them to sleep. They needs naps and they need you. There are much to young to do CIO ...at all. 6-13 weeks or so was really rough for us. One thing that did help during the evening fussiness was cluster feeding. QUOTE(Jenn Bland @ Jun 1 2009, 11:46 AM) [snapback]1336250[/snapback] They were having temper tantrums and nothing was going to help them. :huh: I'm sorry, but a 6 week old baby does not have 'temper tantrums' in the sense that you are implying. They are not able to control their emotions. Something is bothering them, so they cry. We parents may struggle to figure it out, but that does not mean whatever is bugging them doesn't exist. Crying is their way of communicating to you that something is not right in their world and they need you. To the OP, my ped explained colic to me, and it is basically baby neurological stimulation overload. Try to cut down the stimulation as much as possible. Low lights, low noise or white noise, swaddle them tight, etc. Another thought. Do you think they have any reflux going on? Do they arch scream during/after a feeding? Spit up at all? It was very wise to put them down and go out and take a breather/cry. I know it gets SO overwhelming at times. :hug:
QUOTE(Jenn Bland @ Jun 1 2009, 02:59 PM) [snapback]1336738[/snapback] Sorry ladies, but it does work for us. Jenn I encourage you to do some research on CIO methods and guidelines. The recommendations are for no younger than 4 months old, but preferably around 6 months. You may think it's working, but really they are just getting tired and giving up. You will be hard pressed to find anyone that thinks CIO for a 6 week old is a good idea. Here are a couple of good articles: Cry it out Defined Ferber Method demsystified. Of course, ultimately it's your decision, but I would definitely not recommend to another mom to follow that route.
