Time baby is awake > 4 hours, help

[DDS]

Hi
My girl is 4 weeks old, and for the last few days she just won't settle or go to sleep.
She will wake,i will feed, change etc, which all about hour and a half. After that she is constantly niggling, and crying on and off for up to another 2-3 hours.
Me and my husband don't have a clue why?
She is not hungry, nappy is clean etc. I will hold her and she will just cry almost hyserically, stop for 10 mins then go again. It is not colic i have sorted that problem out, and would be able to tell the difference.
I read this: For the first six to eight weeks, your baby won't be able to stay up much more than two hours at a time. If you wait much longer than that to put him down, he'll be overtired. I can't get her to go down.
HELP!

 

[daftscotslass]

The thing about newborns sleeping all the time is nonsense - whoever wrote it never had a wakeful baby! My DD was never asleep in bursts longer than about 40 minutes during the day and NOTHING I did could have put her to sleep, I just kept her occupied. However, she didn't cry, she was just "awake".

About the colic... it can happen at any time but we had problems with it in the evening. The main definition of colic is "unexplained crying" so it's not necessarily tummy troubles though trying to help with wind and stuff can help it a lot. To be honest what you're describing really does sound like our experience of colic. Becky used to cry solidly from 6pm - 10pm every night without fail until she was 11 weeks old. She wasn't tired, hungry or needing changed, she just cried. She did grow out of it, though, and there's a good possibility that when your LO hits around the 12 week mark that the crying thing will stop literally overnight. Doing a routine of bath, feed, bed really helped us (around 7-8pm).

 

[Sandi4Paul]

Logan used to cry a lot, i found offereing more food (regardless of when he last fed) worked. Other problem we had was that Logie Bear was/ is clingy so just wanted held and to hear my heart beat. In hind sight i wished i had used a baby carrier a lot more.

Sandi

 

[Leese]

Totally agree with DSL re wakeful babies! when I read how much sleep average babies have when they are little I was stunned cos James had nothing like it! His naps settled down when he did (he was colicky until about 14 weeks) and he seemed much happier and more relaxed after that. Would agree that keeping your LO occupied may be what she needs, some babies are just like that and it helped with James. ditto re bedtime routine from an early age - think we started about 4 weeks with James.

 

[BabyMagic]

My LO used to cry a lot as well. Carrying her in a sling helped a lot - she literally lived in it for about two months.

My baby used to be awake a lot during the day too. All babies are different. I am still jealous of those babies who nap for more then 40 minutes at the time