Meg,

I know it feels like something is wrong, like you are the only one suffering torture by sleep deprivation but it is more common than you think. I was at my wits end with Marisa, she'd cry with everything too, in her car seat, pram, everything unless she was constantly held - but after some time she got sick of that too!!! I was in a mother and baby unit with her at four months of age, she fought sleep so much that after two weeks we were just told our time was up and 'failed' with a diagnosis of PND to boot. So we went home in the same mess we started with. It was then I decided to take things into my own hands and we just co-slept with her, it was the only way any of us could get any sleep. She fought sleep like anything at every opportunity, but co-sleeping worked. She still woke in the night, but that's what babies do - they don't sleep through the night for a long time unless you are one of the few that have babies that sleep early on. On average, based on a study, new babies slept for 5 hours at night - this was classed as normal.

Marisa barely slept during the day and stopped before she hit 1, and I was left wondering where the hell she actuallygot any sleep let alone me, but some babies are just like this I am sorry to say. She now sleeps like a champ and you are in for it if you wake her up before 9.30. So it doesn't last forever but the only thing you can do now is get yourself some support. Get friends, family, paid nanny or post natal doula to come in and take over for a while so you can get some sleep. I know it might be hard to think of and I was guilty of not doing this with Marisa, but it's amazing how well they take to someone else and often settle better, I think this is because as mothers, we take all that energy and let it get into us when we are standing there patting a crying baby, but others can let that energy flow over them as they don't have the emotional attachment nor sleep deprivation that we do.

Trust me sweety, I have been there, I have felt at rock bottom, beside myself and totally unprepared for the reality of babyhood and crying, but the only way you can get through this is to help yourself and get support. When you have that support, you can be a rested, better mummy. If you don't get that rest, you will be a stressed and probably short tempered mummy (thats me anyway LOL). That's the only way you can manage this time and I speak on greeeeeat experience. I could have thrown Marisa out the window if it weren't for those damn maternal hormones

I hope you can find yourself some help, be it relatives or paid help. It's so worth it. Oh and I am assuming you've had her checked out for medical issues - as you say she seems to want to poo all the time? Is she breastfed? Breastfed babies never get constipated.