https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Thu, 14 May 2026 08:18:59 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/please-help-me-figure-this-out#post-868231 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 14:48:21 +0000 Mrs. Grizzly Bear 868231@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Freckles: As I mentioned, I don't mean to compare her to her brother. I know all babies are different, especially when I have these two so close in age. Their differences already are remarkable. I know they're two separate little beings because they keep reminding me of it!</p> <p>But he is my only experience with babies. I was the baby of my own family and wasn't around any other babies until H was born. So I can't help but use him as a reference. I don't expect or want her to be like him - after all, she started sleeping through the night much better than he ever did right from the get go - but still. He's all I have as knowledge.</p> <p>I don't try and keep her up. When she's acting tired, I put her in her swing, I rock her, I cuddle her and hum to her, I pat her butt and rub her back and I try to put her to sleep. Usually she's awake about like you said, an hour to an hour and a half before she wants some shut eye.</p> <p>As for the nursing, she really isn't getting much of anything if anything at all. I can't say she's cluster feeding because normally she refuses the bottle, refuses the pacifier, and I'm just a comfort suck. I know there's a sleep regression around this time but this schedule has been a constant for nearly a month and a half now.</p> <p>I try and feed her when she wakes up if she's crying/making hungry cues. It doesn't always work. Sometimes I have to nurse her, then when she's calmed down I try and switch to the bottle. Sometimes this work sometimes it doesn't. Otherwise, if she's quiet and happy, I let her be until she's acting hungry again. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/please-help-me-figure-this-out#post-868210 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 14:41:37 +0000 Freckles 868210@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Sorry to hear that you're going through a sleep-deprived period.</p> <p>I don't think you should compare her to her brother. Not all babies eat the same amount. My LO never took in more than 3.5 ounces. Do you think she's fussing because she's actually tired? How long do you keep her up between naps? I *think* around that time, she could only stay up for an hour, maybe 1.5 hours max before i had to put her back down for a nap. </p> <p>My LO nursed frequently but could not drink a lot in one sitting (otherwise she'd just spit it up). Around the 3.5-4 month mark, i fed her every 2.5-3 hours, and then had a 5 hour, 4 hour, and 3 hour stretches overnight. Do you try cluster feeding before putting her down for the night? There's also a sleep regression around this time, so perhaps that's what you're going through? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/please-help-me-figure-this-out#post-868208 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 14:40:45 +0000 Mrs. Grizzly Bear 868208@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@zippylef: Actually, G makes the bottles before bed for me and we have a bottle warmer. Bottle warmer takes us about three and a half minutes but it uses steam to heat the bottle. </p> <p>I never wanted to co-sleep! I don't like it, I don't think it's safe, but I started doing it at my wit's end! And I didn't expect to nurse her this long either considering how much trouble H had. He'd given up long before now! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/please-help-me-figure-this-out#post-868200 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 14:36:37 +0000 loveisstrange 868200@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Have you tried pre-making a couple bottles before bedtime? Then you just have to pop them in the microwave for 30s and you're good to go. Thats what we did. </p> <p>No advice about the rest. We didn't nurse or co-sleep. </p> <p>Hope things improve! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/please-help-me-figure-this-out#post-868162 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 14:22:35 +0000 Mrs. Grizzly Bear 868162@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>This is part feeding, part sleeping, and part insanity so I'm just going to file this post under infant.</p> <p>Little miss Em is driving me crazy. I realize that she's not even four months old yet and that I shouldn't compare her to her brother at this age because they're two separate little people but she is <i>killing</i> me, people. One sleepless day at a time.</p> <p>We'll start out with the morning. She's awake from seven in the morning on, usually until about the time Henry goes down for his first nap (blessed be that he still takes two naps right now). That's fine. But while she <i>should</i> be starving, the most she drinks when she wakes up/is awake/right before nap is about three ounces. By this time, H was guzzling all four ounces! (Yes, it's formula. In a bottle. Tommee Tippee to be exact). She takes a nap, inconsistently, either in the bassinet in my office or in the swing.</p> <p>Then she's up! I warm up a bottle, in the 'eat, play, sleep' routine, try to coax her to eat and there she goes again, grazing. Two to three ounces, never finishes a bottle even by this time she has to be hungry. We play, she watches big brother play, big brother plays with her, everything hunky dorey. Then she starts fussing. The rest of the bottle? Nu uh, no way. Nursing? Sure, but only if she gets to fall asleep on me, which she always does.</p> <p>This is pretty much the way it goes all day until night time. She'll get up, cry for food, eat some bottle, play a little, fuss, nurse, sleep. If she wakes up fussing because she hasn't slept enough, she won't take a bottle but she will nurse herself back to sleep. Pacifier doesn't work. The only time pacifiers work is when she's just tired and not hungry. Sometimes I can coax her to sleep with just a pacifier but that's a rare bird.</p> <p>Come night time, she's usually in bed by nine. Nine thirty at the latest. But then she's up again at eleven. At one. At four. Usually I'm so sleep deprived and groggy that instead of warming her up a bottle, I pick her up, change her diaper, and off we go to sleep-nurse/ co-sleep on the guest bed. This goes on and off all night. Usually between that eleven o'clock waking and four o'clock waking, she'll wake me three or four times, nuzzling before latching on. Whenever I wake up from that, if I catch her before she latches on I switch sides (pick her up, roll over, lay her down). We're surrounded by pillows so there's no where for either of us to go and it's warm here in the south so covers aren't necessary (although my nursing tank seems to be at half mast all night).</p> <p>At four, she'll wake and take most of a bottle - again, three ounces or so - then goes back to sleep in the cradle until six. At six, she wakes up and fusses until I take her back to bed with me (master bedroom) for some more sleep nursing. And I always cave because I am in <i>desperate</i> need of sleep by this time. The guest bed isn't comfortable and I've gotten used to basically playing 'statue' as soon as we're in the guest bed. </p> <p>Guys, this has to stop. I don't know what to do but I know the nursing isn't necessary, it's just a crutch. After all, I had breast reduction surgery so I know she's not getting a lot. I know she thinks she is because she's getting closeness and while if I squeeze, I still gets drops of milk (which means I'm still producing) and if I go for long periods between feedings my breasts do become a little engorged, it isn't enough to sustain her. I'm basically one gigantic pacifier. </p> <p>I need more sleep though. I've started getting these headaches that are probably brought on by the fact that four the past four months, my sleep has been lousy. I've been contorted into untold positions, unable to move, to make sure that Em is safe. By this time, H was already nursing weaned and on something of an eating schedule. Not sleeping consistently but he'd at least finish a bottle. </p> <p>I don't know what to do. I know I need to suck it up and just feed her a bottle in the middle of the night but I'm so tired. Anyone have any thoughts? I'm all ears! </p>