Babies: 0 - 3 Months
dalzien
member
How do you soothe an overtired baby?
dalzien
member
Our LO has the tendency to go past her "tired" state and into an overtired one at night where she fusses and refuses to go to sleep. We know she's tired because she will constantly yawn, always wants to suck (she is EBF and we don't use a soother), and just has an overall attitude change when she gets this way. Does anyone have advice to help soothe her when she gets this way? She is almost 8 weeks. I've never let her cry it out because DH is a shift worker and he really needs his sleep (he operates heavy machinery), and because I feel she is too young to cry it out. We do have a bedtime routine where we wipe her down, bathe her, feed her, and then quiet time. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
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Re: How do you soothe an overtired baby?
I FF, so I don't know what is appropriate with pacifiers, but since you've EBF for a while now, would it be appropriate to introduce a pacifier during sleep times?
It's a girl!
We no longer swaddle, but it is worth a shot to help calm baby. We EBF but use a paci at bedtime. At 8 weeks you might consider trying a couple out to,see if LO takes to,it. He spits it out when he falls asleep and doesn't need it again for the most part. I also use the swing or have DH stand and sway or Rock him for a long long time.
Have you read Happiest Baby on the Block by Harvey Karp? The 5 "S"s work great for tired and fussy babies. They are Swaddle, Swing (rock, jiggle, etc), Shush (making a shhhhhhhhhh sound, or white noise), Side or Stomach position, and Sucking.
Only super fussy or colicky babies will often need all 5 of those. The degree of fussing determines how many of those Ss I need with him. When my little guy is really overtired, he will be almost instantly calmed by being swaddled nice and tight, being held sideways against my tummy, and bounced on the yoga ball. If he is still fussing a little bit or needs an extra push into dream land, I make the shushing noise. Rarely if he is in a super meltdown, I swaddle and nurse him and he passes out.
Thistry the Happiest Baby techniques. You can rent the video on Netflix for the quick and dirty version. LO is way too little to cry it out. I also recommend Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Weissbluth. It helped a lot when we were trying to figure out sleep issues for our DS.
All this! My lo would calm down with this method every time!!!
We EBF too but do use a soothie pacifier. The AAP actually recommends putting them to sleep with one as a SIDS risk reduction. The need to suck is highest around 8 weeks, I would have lost my mind without it. She is already using it less on her own at 12 weeks. If you are not totally opposed to that it is worth a try.
The few times my dd has been inconsolable I have stripped her down to a diaper and done skin to skin and nursed. She usually falls sleep.
We also swaddle for sleep at night and most naps.
The most important thing is to watch for cues and put them down right away, but of course that is not always possible. At 8 weeks my dd got tired after being wake for about 1.5-2 hours max.
Good luck!
We are so thankful that our second daughter, Lillian Elizabeth "Lily", was born healthy and happy on February 11, 2013. We love her to pieces.
We lost our first daughter, Hannah Grace on May 4, 2011. She was buried on May 14 during a beautiful service at my home church. We are grateful that if she could not be here with us, that she is healed and whole with the Lord. We look forward to the day when we will get to meet her. We love her so much.
move bedtime up 10-15 minutes. that might be the problem. or notice when she starts to hit her tired phase (is it 45 min? 60 min?) and start bedtime routine before that point. I start LO's bed time routine 20-30 minutes after her last nap, because 45 minutes tends to be when she gets tired around that time at night. i try to start the routine around 6:45-7:00 and she is bed between 7:45-8:00
she is definitely too long for CIO. One thing that would happen in the beginning with her is that we wouldn't make her take a nap after she got up around 4/5, so she would always be up too long. now, even if it's 6 or 630, i put her in the sling to sleep for one sleep cycle, so that she doesn't hit her over tired phase during bed time.
as far as soothing her...skin to skin, swaddling and rocking/swaying all will help. At this point for nighttime, I swaddle her, sit in a rocking chair, and put something on my phone to watch while i rock and pat her back.
You're best bet is to try and prevent it from happening because she may sleep worse because she IS so overtired....
Baby #2!