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Oh dear. You poor thing

You pretty much described my daughter at that age. For us it was largely due to food intolerances (dairy and soy) and she.was.a.different.child from 48 hours out of me giving up dairy. She was also refluxy. You could look at changing up her formula if you thought that milk intolerance could be a factor... Feel free to pick my brain on that if yu want more info - I'm all over that one
Is she in a wonder week leap? those also affected P badly. My pediatrician often told me that bright, sensitive babies are hard work. They make their presence known in the world!

Hugs. I've been there. Sad babies are the worst.

Eta: I went back and re read your diary of the day. She might need to be awake a bit longer before trying to put her down, under tired babies fight sleep and catnap as much as overtired babies. I think from memory 6 week old babies can last 1 hour - 1.5 hours. Is she being rocked/fed to sleep? If so, she might be one of those sensitive babies who works out early on that something is different and can't move between sleep cycles, get into deep sleep etc if she doesn't self settle....

And I second the suggestion of a swing. T and P both loved their swing and I gave in with P and she slept in it, naps, all night... It was a game changer. We had a rough ish transition to getting her from swing to crib but to be honest, it was still absolutely worth it for those couple of months of napping and sleeping longer stretches.
If you've got the brain space to keep work shopping sleep issues, try http://www.troublesometots.com - great sleep site.
Hang in there!!

Can you put her in a carrier and then go outside for a walk? My LO hated the carrier if I was just sitting at home, but if I popped him in and went outside for a walk, he fell asleep. I think the fresh air, plus the movement really helped!

Does swaddling help her? Have you done the 5s? The LOUD (like violently loud) shushing helped my LO.

@Cherrybee: ah oh no Honestly though, I have gone out with LO in the the rain/snow before! Unless it's really bad of course...but I just make sure he's covered up and use an umbrella. So maybe if it lets up a bit?

What about swaying with her? not gentle swaying--I mean like, fast, side to side--almost like you're doing the twist. That really helped my niece! I hope things get better!

also - I know some people say to keep daytime light and loud, night dark to help distinguish, but my LO could never nap in bright sun (though I know you just said it's raining lol). I had to keep it dark and relatively quiet.

@Cherrybee: ugh! I just read that she hates the swing. B$gger.
Hmmm, I'm still wondering if the cant sleep, miserableness is intolerance related if she was having bad tummy issues before... Is she on a hypoallergenic formula? It might be worth trying a partially hydrolised or extensively hydrolysed formula... That general irritability was Ps major indicator for intolerance after the worst of her other symptoms had resolved.
Darn, I really wish I could say "oh, no one told you about the reset button?".

@Cherrybee: We have had extremely similar experiences. It's my own crackpot theory, but I think that her traumatic birth and rough first couple weeks kind of started her off on the wrong foot in life. I think she just had a hard time adjusting to the "outside" world. She never had any medical issues or anything. She just... had a rough time of it.

I don't exaggerate at all when I saw she just woke up one morning totally changed. Thats literally how it happened. One day she was a screaming, nap-fighting monster and the next she was the happiest, smiliest baby you ever saw. Eating and sleeping like a dream and happy and playing when she was awake. It was night and day. It happened right around 3 months. You're over the hump! Just hang in there a bit longer. I know E is going to turn out to be a perfect little doll too.

I wont lie, C still hates to nap and will fight it like crazy. She does eventually give in though. lol. I have to second trying the swing. We had a big cradle swing and that thing SAVED MY LIFE for the first 4-5 months. It was the only way C would nap. It got better once we got blackout curtains for her nursery, so she could nap in total darkness. I would look into that too.

@loveisstrange: I don't think that's a crackpot theory at all. I'm convinced my sons traumatic birth and separation from me (nicu) caused his "had to be held all the freaking time 24 hours a day preferably standing up" complex. It resolved at 14 weeks.
There's still hope on the naps! My two were hideous nap fighters til around 7 months then voila, got the hang of joining up sleep cycles overnight.

Oh and she has been eating a lot more frequently this week too. I figure its her six week growth spurt. I've just given in and accepted hourly feedings in the evenings, but I do know its a little different with formula.

@Cherrybee: Babies are usually intolerant to milk protein (as opposed to lactose which is what most adults who can't have dairy are intolerant to). If she's this fussy all the time I really think food intolerances should be looked at more closely. I would consider switching to a Hypoallergenic formula. I would suggest Nutramigen in the US, hopefully there is a similar replacement in the UK.

@Cherrybee: hmmm, yep if she showed such an improvement switching from regular to partially hydrolysed, she may need an extensively hydrolysed formula like Neocate or Elecare. Her system is clearly sensitive if you saw such a dramatic improvement already... P could tolerate a partially hydrolysed formula for 2 weeks before breaking out in rash etc - the dose of the milk protein builds up (in my understanding, I'm no dr!) and so whilst it seems like the baby is tolerating something, it's just taking more to provoke a reaction...
Both those formulas do not use cows milk protein at all and the fats, carbs and proteins are all broken down into their short chain components. (The partial formulas just break down the protein). If it were me, I'd be ringing for that appt. you've got nothing to lose trying the extensively hydrolysed formula.

If she doesn't like Neocate, try Elecare. T loved Neocate and never looked back. P wouldn't have drunk it if she was dying. But she's gulping down Elecare happily.

What's her poop like? And her skin? P got a distinctive "dairy" rash - rough skin, little pin prick bumps on her face. Watery, mucuousy poops, green poops or even blood in poop can be a symptom of MSPI (milk soy protein intolerance).

More hugs! Just take today one little step at a time. I wish I could come over and hold that baby while you napped or similar!!

Oh my, t used to hate it if I tried to get comfy while holding him! Even risking sitting down was a tough call.

@Cherrybee: I know, tell me about it. I felt the same way until we started bringing in some post-partum doulas to help so I could eat.. shower... while someone else held the screaming kid. They all said "this is A LOT OF BABY for one person to handle!!!" So it's definitely not you

Do you and I have the same baby? I read your post just nodding my head. Nothing anyone told me babies like to do, worked. She hated all her toys, hated to sit in a bounce chair, wouldn't sit in her swing while awake, didn't want to interact with me, wouldn't do a stroller, car seat, wouldn't baby-wear. I'd feed her, change her, get maybe 5 minutes of not crying (not happy, but not crying) and then the misery and fussing would start. Would fuss and cry until she got tired, then maybe take a (much too short) nap and the cycle started again. It was so thankless and miserable. On the worst days, she was awake all day crying. I couldn't go anywhere and I hated every time I was somewhere and saw a mom say, shopping with a baby contently sitting in his/her car seat. I'd be jogging through the store throwing necessities in my cart while my child screamed and people would be all "have you tried taking her for a drive?" OMG. I am lucky I didn't kill anyone during my maternity leave. The idea of a baby being awake and not crying was so foreign to me and I was deeply jealous of anyone whose baby was - even pics I'd see on instagram. People would be all "don't you just love spending time with your baby?" Meanwhile I'd be drinking wine at 11 am and staring at the clock counting the hours till DH would come home from work and I could get AWAY from my little screaming monster for a little bit.

But now? She is much better. She got gradually better around 10 weeks...now is 15 weeks. Part of the problem was colic, but it was not the whole problem.. She is just not a happy go lucky child like so many people seem to have. She rarely smiles even now, and goes from fine to screaming in no time at all. She scowls at most things you do and is just very hard to please/not content with just chilling out. But it is better. I'm sorry you're going through this.

The worst was that so many people were all "oh, just try ____! My baby loved ____!" I was like "My baby hates EVERYTHING."

I offer you hugs, and hope you can enjoy a glass of wine. It really, really sucks to have a crabby baby.