Baby won't sleep and is crying often, should I see her doctor, is there something wrong? [On]
My baby is 4 weeks old, ftm, as of yesterday and this week and last week have been getting harder and harder.
In the first 3 days after she was born she slept 6 hours each night in her crib. Then 2-3 hours, the at week 2 she was sleeping 1-3 hours in the crib.
At 3.5 weeks she stopped sleeping at night most nights and will be up until 4-6am after sleeping from 9pm-11pm/12am. She won't sleep during most of the day either, she will wake up from her last nap 6/7am-10/11am and will be fussy and crying if not being fed. She will be up most of the day with off and on crying until usually 6/8pm and then passes out for a few hours.
Now at 4 weeks she's sleeping even less. Last night she slept from 6:30pm-10pm. Then fell asleep around 12am but woke up after 10 mins of sleeping in the crib. She fell asleep again at 2am and then woke up 10 mins after being in crib. She fell asleep again at 4am and I let her sleep on me so she could get some rest but at 5am I tried to transfer her to crib and she woke up after 20 mins. She was up until 930am and then finally went down in the crib and we both slept until 1:30pm today.
I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I swaddle her every night, we have tried with and without white noise, we keep the room dim with only a nightlight at night and early morning. Some days she likes the carrier other days she refuses it, today she napped in it while I cooked for 2 hours and was her only nap since waking up and it's now almost 9pm.
She refused the stroller, she used to like the car but last time we tried it she cried all the way home. She will sometimes sleep for contact naps but today only slept 10 mins in my arms.
I don't know what to do to soothe her, the only way she stops crying is in my arms, I've tried the swing and bouncer chair.
I've seen that it's normal for babies to be fussy and cry around this age but it makes me worry that she's not sleeping and is so cranky most of the day. I can usually sooth her after 5-10 mins of crying but on times I can't she starts screaming and hollering her breath and I feel so bad. A few nights ago she cried for 2 hours and was screaming until she tired herself out.
She wakes up happy and doesn't cry, I change her she's still happy, she gets impatient when I go to feed her and cries a little but usually settles, after feed she's usually calm but if she doesn't nap after the feed within 20-30 mins she's crying until I can soothe her.
I was burping after every feed but now I've only been burping if she's still awake after a feed if she's sleeping I skip the burp but I don't think it's helping. After a feed she might only sleep a few minutes and then we are back to crying. Sometimes she will start crying while breastfeeding.
She's been gaining weight and her temp is normal. I'm not sure if I should talk to her doctor or just wait this out. She does have a tounge tie but they said she latches well and if she is gaining weight to not worry about surgery but I'm not sure if this is contributing to the crying.
Any advice would be really appreciated.
Posted Dec 3, 2025, 1:51 AM UTC