Cranky 4 month old

[CeeCee123]

Hi,

I swear that my 4 month old seems to be crankier now than when he was at the supposed "peak" of crying. He has happy times, for sure, and can be very smiley and giggly. Then he'll just get grumpy and cry and cry. Some of it is from being overtired so I'll try and get him to nap which works some days and not others. I guess I'm being a little oversensitive because I kind of had it in my mind that once he reached that 3 month milestone that was the light at the end of my tunnel during the first weeks kwim. He also used to quite happily spend time on his activity mat for extended periods, keeping himself happy swatting at his toys. Now he gets frustrated very quickly and I struggle to find what it is that he wants to make him happy. I do wonder about teeth as he certainly drools a lot, but it seems so early....

Anyway, any ideas are welcome but I also just needed to vent after spending a rainy day mostly stuck inside with a cranky baby

[veganone]

DD is 4 months too and is also crankier now than she has been for a month or so. VERY frustrating - she also decided that bedtime was going to be 11 or midnight after several fussy hours for a few days there. It's hard, because they do tell you it goes away at 3 months!

With the drooling, I'd guess teething. We saw the ped for her WB visit on Wed and he said that's his guess too. He said that the teeth are moving in the jaw bone WAY before they actually come through the gums and that it causes bone pain in the jaw, which makes perfect sense and no one had mentioned before. DD is drooling and chewing her hands a lot...

It is hard, I know. I also just went back to work last week, which makes me feel extra guilty for leaving her, even though she's with my dad who dotes on her and is super patient and loving.

Hang in there - we'll both get through this!

[mercyrus]

Same here too..he's almost 19 weeks and he just is soooo cranky. I've just been buying him things to keep him occupied. I just bought an exersaucer (coming tomorrow). I think he's bored. Night time is great because we have a routine. 7:30 is bath time, massage, feeding and rocking and then sleep. He loves the bath - he just gets in there and splashes around. Even if you don't believe in bathing everyday - warm water bath is fine (helps with BM's too).

[leanbh]

i'm on this train with y'all!

dd is four and a half months and way cranky. she still laughs and smiles and all that good stuff... but she spends more of her day cranky than she used to.

we give her camilia or hylands if she brings her hands to her ears or her jaw or if the drool is mighty. usually, that lets her sleep for a while.

it's definitely the over-stimulated, over-tired sort of thing. it seems as though a blank piece of paper can over-stimulate her now that she's aware of EVERYTHING. haha, poor bit.

[veganone]

I think with DD a lot of it is that she's suddenly really aware of the world around her and a) fights sleep to keep seeing what's going on, and b) gets overstimulated by everything and then melts down...

Oh, here's a great resource on babe's fussy periods. So far DD's been pretty much right on: http://www.livingcontrolsystems.com/...t_ww.html#ch06

[Sage_SS]

Is it possible that (s)he's teething? My daughter started teething at 3 months. She had her first tooth by 4 months.

[riomidwife]

Originally Posted by veganone

I think with DD a lot of it is that she's suddenly really aware of the world around her and a) fights sleep to keep seeing what's going on, and b) gets overstimulated by everything and then melts down...
]

yes, that and the teething made ds very fussy around 4 months. it seemed though like everyone else had a less fussy baby than i, and i felt doomed that we missed the 3 month-chill-out train. it does get better though, especially after their teeth come in.

[lmk1]

Did it get better?

I just found this thread because this is exactly what's happening with my son! I stopped having dairy, soy, nuts, and there were a couple of weeks, when he was the easiest baby...then he started getting cranky and it seemed to be his teething, but he just had his 4 month visit, and the Dr. said she didn't think so...I had just a little milk in my tea and he's been so cranky and straining all the time for almost a week. I thought it was the milk, but how could so little affect him for so long? I swear it seems worse than before I went off dairy. He did get a couple of vaccs at his 4 month visit, but he didn't react at all to them at his 2 month visit? Just tell me it's going to get better!!!! I have the flu too, and have been having dh spend more time with the baby, to avoid getting him sick...and although dh is wonderful, no one is like Mom, kwim? I'm just frustrated and worried that something is wrong!!!

[cornpicker]

Month #4 was mega-cranky in our house, too! Hang in there, the good moods will return.

[Mama_Meme]

So, my four month old also is getting rather cranky. My mom said that it's a phase babies go through called "being strange" as in, they want to be held by their moms all the time, are only happy at the breast and get frustrated at everything else easily. I *talked* to my sweetie about it (strong proponent of the psychic communication with babies) and she expressed that it's a phase when she's coming into her body and realising that she's pretty small and helpless, and needing the trust of someone she knows, always, to make her feel secure, more so than the first three months, because now she has a greater awareness of her position in the world.
anyways, that made a lot of sense to me.
So, since we've been spending a lot less time in stimulus and a lot more time in on mommy's body, she's calmed down considerably. she still has some belly time and toy time, but only with me really close by.

[cherubess]

my DD is Little Miss Cranky in the late afternoon/early evening.

this started about three weeks ago.

I put this down to being the end of the day and being very tired.

also she gets cranky if I don't hold her. I do have to do other things like get lunch for DS, go to the toilet, change DS's diapers or get DS to bed.

I'm okay with it as I know that its just a phase and once she gets mobile things will change again.

[BlueEyedLady]

My DS is 4 months tomorrow and we've taken to calling him Mr. Crankypants. We never had the first three month crying thing - he was a super easy baby. I think his issue now is just that he's so much more aware of things that he gets overstimulated/overtired, plus I think he's working on teething too.

Just a phase. It'll go away eventually and the happy boy will be back.

[vivianstcloud]

I'm yet another one who has a cranky 4 mos old. She's been so easy, and still is most of the time, but that 3-6 in the afternoon stretch is just terrible for her, poor thing. I try to make sure she takes a nice long nap from @ 1-3, which helps, and she's definitely teething, so I have the natural drops for that and her favorite chew toys. And lots and lots of mama time, of course.