Hellobee Boards

Is my kid just a weirdo? She is *obsessed* with looking up/back. If she's lying on her back, she's almost always arching back to look behind her. If she's in a carrier or being held, she leans back so she can look up. And lately she's been pushing half off my lap to hang upside down. If I pull her back up she kicks off again. I just keep a death grip on her ankles. Earlier DH held her upside down and she cried when he put her back upright. When she was clearly just looking at lights it made sense, but now it just seems so strange!

Oh my gosh I don't know either but so cute. You do you Liliana!

@ABMamma ditto here....

WHY WILL MY BABY NOT SLEEP. Last night he slept 9:30-1am, up about an hour. Then woke up at 4:30 and was up till 6:30. I put him to bed. I fall asleep. HE WAKES UP AT 7am!!! Gah. He would not go back down until almost 9am, and slept a whopping 40 minutes. He has been awake since then, in spite of me spending 90 MINUTES rocking, shushing, patting... he gets very sleepy but then wakes up. Finally I said eff it because my back and my knees are aching from rocking a 13lb baby. Whenever he's awake he's fussy, rubs his eyes, etc. so I know he is exhausted but he won't sleep. I guess because he is overtired?!

Yesterday (in a 24 hr period) he slept a grand total of maybe 9-10 hours! Of course I'm exhausted and frazzled but I am worried about him. What can I do to help him sleep? I follow all his sleepy cues. And when he does fall asleep it's for 20-30 minutes tops! Nothing is working! I am about to jump out of a window. AAAAAUUUGH

@Torchwood: C doesn't do that so much as twist his neck around as fsr as possible to look at bright lights or the TV. He actually tries to watch TV. When I turned it off he cried!

@MrsADS: those short sleeps are so frustrating I hope he's just having a rough patch and it passes real soon!

@abmamma: isn't it just a tease how they will do a long stretch and get your hopes up about sttn but then NOPE, weird wake ups again.

So I have officially been shush patting for every sleep for 24 hours and I think it's actually improving? DH is going solo tonight so I can go to my students' graduation dinner, so hopefully it works for him! I'm so excited to have my first outing on my own, even though pumping in the bathroom will be totally weird with students around.

@abmamma: samesies on thinking we had a STTNer. Nope not anymore!

@kitty: that's awesome! Shush/pat has been working well for us too in general. But today....oy! I think I really need to nail down her awake times. It's been roughly 90 mins but I'm so confused when she has crap naps. Is she over or under tired?

@Torchwood: could it be a growth spurt? I think babies tend to sleep more after they have done the extra eating/while they are doing the actual growing. I haven't heard of a wonder week increasing sleep but who knows- all kids are so different!

@buttermilk: Was googling wonder week sleep and saw this mention of a stronger swaddle (under week 12). Maybe something to try? http://www.weebeedreaming.com/my-blog/wonder-weeks-and-sleep

Im finally on a computer and M is napping so I can catch up with all of you!!!

@Torchwood: Oh man...no clue but she sure is adorable!!!! I agree it sounds like a growth spurt and can you please send some of those sleep vibes my way! thanks!

@MrsADS: Oh yikes. Thats rough. M isn't sleeping great (again...or still...I don't know up from down anymore) I've started trying to extend his naps by going into his room and jostling him a little bit right before the 30 min mark at about 25 minutes (because thats when he usually wakes up) that "resets" his sleep cycle so he will get back into a deep sleep. Im supposed to do this a few time over the next few days and supposedly, it will start to happen naturally. Maybe that will work for your crap naps? I know its risky to possibly be waking him up but if he is going to wake up at 30 min anyways, you're only shaving off a few minutes.

M had almost ONE good week of sleep. He went 7 straight hours the first night, then 6, then two nights with 5, then 3, then 3...and continuing at 3....MAX. Im going insane. Im going to blame the 4 month sleep regression. I know he knows how to self soothe because I watch him put himself back to sleep after a feeding...he will look around for 3-5 min, babble a little, then go back to sleep. So I know he can do it.....DH said he read that around 4 months sometimes they don't eat enough during the day because their brains are too busy taking everything in, so they make up for it at night. Im trying to feed M in a dark quiet room to deter him from looking around too much. Doesn't seem to be working. Blah.

@Portboston: @buttermilk: P also wakes from naps around 45 min, and babbles and can fall back asleep. OR, she starts crying, and nap is over. She is getting better at falling asleep again, so I hope it's just a phase. Never heard of waking them early to get over the hump?

Still having 3 hour sleep blocks at night. Ugh. I miss my 6-7 hour block!

@Portboston: @Mrs. Microscope: You don't wake them, just be there for when they naturally jolt awake so you can hold them I guess. But I did also read one thing about nudging them right before they normally wake so idk. Also in MOTN If they have a habitual waking Baby whisper says to go nudge them awake an hour before it normally happens. Lol idk about that tho...

Ok so this could be a longer post but I'll keep it brief. Y'all know I've had supply issues. We have been doing 8-10 oz of formula until this week with her growth spurt I started upping it a little to 12-14 just to see. My question is...

Don't babies usually stop when they're full? She like, NEVER does that. Nursing is about 30 mins still per session and I just end it when she has come off the boob several times in a row. And then she always downs whatever formula I give her after, and we have been up to 3 oz after most feedings now. But don't babies usually stop drinking when they have had enough? And if she doesn't do that does it mean she wants more? I don't feel like I get a lot of hunger cues from her. She seems fine after nursing. Not crying for more but always takes the supplement.

I mentioned this to my mom tonight and she said to just give her as much as she wants before bed tonight to see. So I normally wouldn't have nursed again, but tonight I tried and she took 6 whole ounces after her last feed! Then we did a bath and swaddle. She fell asleep within 1 minute of being in the crib which is the first time she has fallen asleep completely on her own like that.

Have I been starving her this whole time? Also she has been small but steadily gaining. And I think she is up to 12 pounds now which would mean she has more than doubled her percentile. So I thought we were doing good, but now I'm confused.

And wow that was long anyway. Sorry! I just don't know how to figure this out.

@Mrs. Microscope: not to discount the validity of what your friend said, but it's pretty common for EBF babies to drink bottles really quickly and then ask for more because bottle milk is easier to get than breast.
Also, you people with two/three wake ups? . Last night E went down at 8 and did her ONE 3 hour chunk. Every other sleep period was 1.5-2.5 hours. BUT her naps today were great.
She woke up from her last nap at 4, and didn't go back down till 7 (skipping her usual cat nap) it's 8:45 and she's already woken up once. She was restless, made a huge toot and then kept squirming. She's a belly sleeper so she squirmed her way right into the crib railing and woke herself up completely.
Let's hope that her next chunk is longer. I should be disciplined and go to bed now.....but I really want to watch another episode of friday night lights. Haha

@OhCaptain: yeah, I left her 8oz for 3 hours, and had left after JUST finishing nursing... P had never taken so much even from a.bottle! 2 days before she could hardly finish 3 Oz in a single sitting. I thought 2 4 oz bottles was overkill, but I guess she was starving? She is a tiny thing, so we will see if she is still growing on her curve in about 10 days!

@MrsADS: right now M is about 2 hours (he is 4 months Saturday) but it just recently got longer from 1.5 hr. I'm trying to pay more attention to his sleep sign, then look at the clock instead of the other way around. Which is what I was doing before.

Ok, what in the heck am I supposed to do when he just won't sleep? I've been trying for more than 2 hrs. When he's awake he's melting down bc he's so tired. But he won't fall asleep. WI think rocking he gets drowsy in my arms but then fights it. If I put him down he's awake 5 mins later. SO FRUSTRATING! Nursing now so maybe this will help. Although usually he spits up and cries from reflux so it will probably make him more awake. Seriously I have no idea. I am so cranky and frustrated.

@kitty thanks! He's asleep now and has been for about an hour. I don't know what the deal is. Now I wonder maybe he's sick or something?! Although he seems fine. My gut feeling is just a growth/developmental thing. I hope it improves because the last couple of days have been totally sucky!

@torchwood glad someone here is getting sleep at least L is so cute. Nice pink Preds shirt. When I lived in middle TN, we went to the Sumner county fair and the Predator (whatever the mascot is called?? idk) totally felt me up when we took a pic together!

@buttermilk that's tough about the feeding and I don't have that same issue, but have you done a weighted feed when you BF? (I'm sure you posted about this several wks ago, I just don't remember) Like when they weigh LO before nursing and then after to see how many oz she is getting. I wonder if that would give you an idea. 6 oz seems like a lot, but I would say if she took it and didn't spit up it's ok I guess! Do you do paced feeding for bottles?

Sorry for everyone's sleep issues. I am so cranky and tired and I've been horrible to DH but...yeah. I hope this gets straightened out. I can't imagine being back to work and being so tired. I'm going back Jan 4.

I am very interested in those of you who are doing this shush/pat thing to sleep. I tried it today and M just looked at me like LOLNOPE. Also the resetting of the sleep cycle - I think our problem now is what a lot of you are experiencing. He wakes up after 20-30 mins (maybe 40), and can't get back to sleep. *sometimes* I am able to rock him to get him back down, but often he is DONE and it's impossible, he starts flipping like a fish in the swaddle and crying until I get him out and then he's awake. But then after 15-20 mins of awake time he's crying and losing it because he's so tired. This is tough!

Thanks for those of you who posted your awake times. I struggle bc M doesn't really show sleepy cues... he's basically awake, happy, and then just starts crying when he's overtired. I guess I need to try to put him down before he gets to that point? So tough.

@kitty: I feel the same about the cues. She doesn't root around like she used to and even with sleep cues - she doesn't start yawning until after I swaddle her lol. I thiiink her new thing is getting very cute and vocal when she is sleepy. She talks to herself in the crib to try to soothe and go to sleep. It's so cute!

@MrsADS: yeah I've don't weighted feeds and only get 2 oz which is why we supplement. But I'm prob just overthinking it all. She is a happy lady and I don't have any reason to be concerned, at least not til our 4 month checkup. I read yesterday that if they wake up after 45 mins (aka not able to transition from one cycle to the next) it's usually bc they were overtired. Which you probably already figured out! Also the PU/PD & shush/pat thing never seem like they're gonna work until she just eventually magically stops crying and goes quiet. Sometimes I have to do it for 10-20 mins and the book says 20 mins is average for a 3-4 mo old.

@MrsADS: yeah my back was killing me the first couple of days. And I certainly could say the Same about never falling asleep on her own. Not until last night and now it's happened 3 times! Also I think we have mostly moved past the shush/pat. All today I only picked her up when she started crying and put her down the second she stopped. It's usually less than 10 times and she finally gets quiet and goes to sleep!

Night from hell. I think LO slept maybe 5 or 6 hours, I slept a lot less than that. Combined with his crappy 30 minute naps.... He's just not sleeping. My mom thinks I should take him to the pediatrician to make sure nothing is wrong. But he doesn't have a fever, it's not like he's screaming the whole time he's awake (there's fussy crying sometimes). I don't know how to "reset" him so he will sleep. This is just not sustainable. I am so tired I can't think straight and I'm basically falling apart.

@abmamma yeah that's the plan, whatever it takes. It's just me and DH and I promised him weeks ago he could go golfing and out with his friends today so he's gonna be gone like 1pm to 9pm.