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Apr 23, 2010 - 8 comments
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so baby girls slepping is getting worse and worse.
the 1st few days home from the hospital she slept great, even slept a 5 hr stretch at night. then she started needing to sleep with me at night time but would nap fine by herself during the day in the livingroom or bassinet. last week i would put her in her bassinet still awake with the vibration on and just walk around the room/clean so there woul be some noise and she would fall asleep. now (1 month old)shes gotten to the point where she will fight sleep and sit here and cry for 2 hours. then she'll be overtired so she wont let me put her down for more then 5 min which is extremely hard because im exclusively pumping breastmilk every 2-4 hrs and she wont sit by herself, not even in her boppy or vibrating chair. i let her cry in her bassinet once because she was so overtired and she fell asleep after 3 min. she slept in the carseat for an hour on and off today while i ran errands and right now she finally fell asleep in my arm for 15min(so far) im afraid to put her down.
she did this same this yesterday and ended up finally sleeping from 3-7 then kept me up from 10-1 which is usually when she sleeps the best at night.
any advice? im really dying here.
the 1st few days home from the hospital she slept great, even slept a 5 hr stretch at night. then she started needing to sleep with me at night time but would nap fine by herself during the day in the livingroom or bassinet. last week i would put her in her bassinet still awake with the vibration on and just walk around the room/clean so there woul be some noise and she would fall asleep. now (1 month old)shes gotten to the point where she will fight sleep and sit here and cry for 2 hours. then she'll be overtired so she wont let me put her down for more then 5 min which is extremely hard because im exclusively pumping breastmilk every 2-4 hrs and she wont sit by herself, not even in her boppy or vibrating chair. i let her cry in her bassinet once because she was so overtired and she fell asleep after 3 min. she slept in the carseat for an hour on and off today while i ran errands and right now she finally fell asleep in my arm for 15min(so far) im afraid to put her down.
she did this same this yesterday and ended up finally sleeping from 3-7 then kept me up from 10-1 which is usually when she sleeps the best at night.
any advice? im really dying here.
I know that it is hard for a first time mom to do, but my mom told me when my little one got tired and got so fussy you just have to let them cry it out. It is going to be hard for the first few times and then she will adjust and she will realize that she needs to be able to do it by herself. She is trying to adjust being out in to the world just like you are having her here =) She will definitely get used to it and will get herself on a schedule =) I hope that you find the strength to let her cry it out because it broke my heart the first time... PS when my first little boy was born after about a month or so we had to start putting cereal in his bottle because if we didn't he would eat every hour =) So maybe it is her belly not being as full as she wants...
I have to say that both letting her cry it out and putting cereal in the bottle are both NOT recommended by medical professionals these days, although our parent's generations will tell you to do it. I won't go into a long dissertation, but a simple internet search will provide plenty of evidence as to why it is no longer considered appropriate. The baby is waking to eat because she NEEDs the nutrition at this age. I responded to your post giving some things you can try. I loved the swaddleme blanket- if you look at the reviews on the babiesrus website you will see that I am not the only one incredibly impressed by the results. We were/are also dependent on white noise, which helps soothe the baby. She is used to the warm and sounds of the womb- both of those immitate it and help her gradually get used to her drastically new environment (as opposed to forcing her to get used to a cold hard mattress surface).
Our parents will tell us that we slept through the night by a month. What they fail to realize is that we were put on our tummies, on a soft mattress surrounded by pillows, blankets, etc... Newborns today are expected to fall asleep on their backs on a hard mattress with no blanket. Of course babies don't sleep as well.
Other things you can try- rocking, swaying, bouncing, wearing her in a carrier, placing her in a swing, going for a walk, etc... I know you are exhausted (trust me- i had a colicky baby so i know exhaustion very well) but this is a time where our baby's needs come first. They wake to eat because they need the nutrition. Their tummies are tiny and they digest quickly. Did any of us expect to be getting any rest when we decided to have kids? :)
Our parents will tell us that we slept through the night by a month. What they fail to realize is that we were put on our tummies, on a soft mattress surrounded by pillows, blankets, etc... Newborns today are expected to fall asleep on their backs on a hard mattress with no blanket. Of course babies don't sleep as well.
Other things you can try- rocking, swaying, bouncing, wearing her in a carrier, placing her in a swing, going for a walk, etc... I know you are exhausted (trust me- i had a colicky baby so i know exhaustion very well) but this is a time where our baby's needs come first. They wake to eat because they need the nutrition. Their tummies are tiny and they digest quickly. Did any of us expect to be getting any rest when we decided to have kids? :)
My son is 3 1/2 weeks old, so I know how you feel. What doctors and other moms forget to mention is the 'honeymoon' period right after a baby is born. For the first few days/week they are content to eat and sleep and are usually very calm. Then comes the storm, LOL
Tired had some great advice and the only other thing I can add is to make sure you have a very different day/night routine. My son takes all naps in the living room in the bassinet with a noisy 3 1/2 year old running around and at night he sleeps in a quiet bedroom in his crib. I won't lie or mislead you, he does NOT sleep through the night. He wakes every two/three hours or so to eat. But I found with trial and error with my first, teaching them the difference between nap and bedtime definitely helps.
Also, do NOT put cereal in the bottle. It's not good for them and they do not need it. You could try giving a little more milk, but I do know that breastfed babies do wake and eat more often than formula fed babies. Just try and hang in there, it does get easier. =)
Tired had some great advice and the only other thing I can add is to make sure you have a very different day/night routine. My son takes all naps in the living room in the bassinet with a noisy 3 1/2 year old running around and at night he sleeps in a quiet bedroom in his crib. I won't lie or mislead you, he does NOT sleep through the night. He wakes every two/three hours or so to eat. But I found with trial and error with my first, teaching them the difference between nap and bedtime definitely helps.
Also, do NOT put cereal in the bottle. It's not good for them and they do not need it. You could try giving a little more milk, but I do know that breastfed babies do wake and eat more often than formula fed babies. Just try and hang in there, it does get easier. =)
i have no problem with sher waking up to eat at night or during the day, its just that she will not go to sleep even when she is tired.. i did swaddle her for a while but now she hates it and likes to have her arms free
I never actually had to let my boys cry themselves to sleep and they both slept through the night at a month old (thank goodness) I did have to give them baby gas drops and that seemed to help when they got fussy and wouldn't sleep =)
I agree 100 % with tiredbuthappy. 1 month old is far too young to expect to have a baby with a routine of sleeping through or for long periods. The comfort I can offer lies ahead - when your baby is 3-4 months old, she will have formed some kind of routine anyway. Mine did. As you get to know your baby more - the things she likes, and the things that settle her, she will become easier to settle, she will become more settled. As an exclusive pumper for the last 6 months, I can relate - my lo fed often because breastmilk digests so fast, so regular feeding is normal in a baby on breastmilk. Try to hang in there, even though it's tough. Sounds like you like to get your errands done when she naps? You could try napping when she naps and have a break from errands... you deserve that after having a baby :) Is there anyone who can help you out with your errands so you can rest? Things can feel a lot worse, seem alot harder when you're tired.
I would 100% avoid adding anything to her bottle to 'fill her up'. It is bad for her tiny digestive system to have to breakdown the extra unnessessary calories etc, it is actually considered dangerous by health professionals here in the UK. I would feel so guilty if an adverse reaction occurred if I added something to my baby's bottle just so I could get more sleep. I'm only saying that because it is such a risky thing to do, not to frighten you.
It will get easier, I can promise you that. :)
I would 100% avoid adding anything to her bottle to 'fill her up'. It is bad for her tiny digestive system to have to breakdown the extra unnessessary calories etc, it is actually considered dangerous by health professionals here in the UK. I would feel so guilty if an adverse reaction occurred if I added something to my baby's bottle just so I could get more sleep. I'm only saying that because it is such a risky thing to do, not to frighten you.
It will get easier, I can promise you that. :)
i saw you update your mood...
i'm beginning to suspect she may be colicky. While it's normal for infants to be fussy and fight sleep, crying for that long with no apparent reason indicates possible colic. is she doing this every day? Around the same time? Seems to be getting worse as time goes on?
i'm beginning to suspect she may be colicky. While it's normal for infants to be fussy and fight sleep, crying for that long with no apparent reason indicates possible colic. is she doing this every day? Around the same time? Seems to be getting worse as time goes on?
im thinking im just not putting her down to sleep fast enough and she gets overtired and needy,crying. last night my hubby woke me up after having her crying for an hour (530( because he couldnt take it anymore. i thought it was gas so i started moving her legs like she was riding a bike (i read it helps) and she calmed right down but she never ended up passing gas. she was just wide awake and was getting mad at dad because he was trying to get her to go to sleep! lol she ended up eating after 15min of playtime and then going to bed until 10 :) again last night she slept really good from 3-5pm and then went right back to sleep after eating til 7pm. so its just her schedule a little off and maybe because of me being a new mommy i dont know a lot of her cues yet. i have a feeling im going to be learning a lot the next couple of days.
oh and i read about this EASY method, eat, activity, sleep, and you(time for me) and i think as long as we go in this order she will be happy haha. its just hard to watch her and catching whether shes tired or not while im pumping 6x a day.
oh and i read about this EASY method, eat, activity, sleep, and you(time for me) and i think as long as we go in this order she will be happy haha. its just hard to watch her and catching whether shes tired or not while im pumping 6x a day.
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