Vent: Going in Reverse

justkeeptrying

This is just a vent.

I feel like I'm going in reverse with DS's sleep. He's always been a great sleeper. He would go down for hour and a half to two hour long naps with no problem. Well that has gone out the window. I don't remember the last time a nap lasted more than 20 minutes unless he's in my arms.

And now his nighttime sleeping has gotten worse. He was usually in bed arohnd 10-10:30 and would wake around 3:30/4 to eat and then be up for the day around 6/6:30. Then we started doing early bedtime (7pm) which he aced for 3 days in a row with a 1:30 feed and then slept until 6. I was in heaven.

Then he no longer liked 7pm bedtime and would wake up at 8/8:30 and not go back to sleep so I'd end up feeding him and then he'd go down. Wake up at 2 and then early wake up time at 5am!!!

Now last night we trialed an 8pm bedtime. Which was a success!!! Until he woke up for his first feed at 11:45. 11:45?!?!?! You're kidding me. I almost cried when I looked at the clock.

Aghhhhh!!!!!!!!! I know he is still very young (10 weeks) and I need to be patient. But sometimes it is really hard to read on the bump about the consistency of bedtime (which I am a HUGE advocate for) and how so many LO's are sleeping through the night already. And my DS is so completely unpredictable. I just don't know anymore.

Like I said. Just a vent from a FTM at midnight

danibonello

I am right there with you!! I'm actually about to post a similar thread! These last few days I have started to feel like I don't know my LO and what she wants/needs at all!! I used to be able to get her back down at night in 20 minutes... tonight it took an hour and a half! I finally gave in and bought the Wonder weeks app ($1.99). Have you heard of it? You enter your child's due date (NOT birth date), and it calculates estimated developmental milestones. My LO is currently in the middle of a developmental leap, which I'm praying is the cause of her sudden changes in personality and predictability!

It sounds like your guy may be in the same leap! (My LO is 11 weeks but was born 2 weeks early so her leap weeks are 2 weeks behind.)

Hang in there mama! I know it's easy to blame ourselves and get frustrated... I just have to constantly remind myself of all of the crazy new things going on inside my LO, and remember that my job is just to help her through it all.

Hope you can get some rest!!

fwhittaker

I feel the same way! My LO is 10 weeks and has done the same the last week. I cannot get her to nap longer than 20 or 30 min unless I hold her. Also, she had a similar schedule to yours w one wake feed at 3:30 ish time then asleep until 7/8. This week it is only until 1:30 then 5. Ugh. Hoping this discontinues soon and se goes back to before. Good luck

justkeeptrying

Thanks ladies!

I have heard of the Wonder Weeks app but haven't gotten it yet. But I think it's time...

It's now 4:15am. It's going to be a very long day tomorrow. I am exhausted.

I am praying this is because of a wonder week or growth spurt. DS was born a week late so sometimes he hits these early. I was fortunate to not really notice his 6 week growth spurt but the 3 week was BRUTAL (it didn't help that I still had the baby blues as well).

Good luck to all you ladies! Sigh. I'm gonna need coffee...

danibonello

Coffee!!! LO woke at 2, back down at 3:30 FINALLY, woke at 4, and now again at 5:30. And if course the sleep that I did get was just one long dream about having a baby that wouldn't sleep. Thank goodness it's Friday and tonight it will be DH's turn!

TBsquared

I could have written this myself!

babyblue0501

I'm so glad I'm not the only one. My 12.5 week old DS slept like a champ through the night ( like 10 hours) until 3 nights ago. He's been up every few hours fussing. I'm exhausted. His naps are only on me, and last 45 mins at best. When I lay him down he wakes himself up by rubbing his face, and just so happens to hate being swaddled. Thank god for the wonder weeks app. I've been trying to transition from arms reach co-sleeper to crib, but I think I need to wait until this leap is over. Between baby cries, and husband snores I'm one tired mom. My Dunkin Donut chocolate glazed Donut coffee tastes like pure heaven this morning.


@danibonello I'm cracking up! I had a similar dream 2 nights ago that the baby was crying, and I was giving him a pacifier. DH woke me up to say goodbye before work, and I was confused as to why my baby was sound asleep in his bassinet. Lol.

rae430

I'm right there with you. Actually had vertigo yesterday at work because I was so tired. LO has been early on all of his leaps so far and I think he's started "smooth transitions" already. Every time I wake up to see that only an hour and a half has gone by, I just think "this too shall pass" over and over again like a mantra. We will never take sleep for granted again!

alliebsmith

I got the Wonder Weeks app and it doesn't seem to really be right. Days that my LO should be "fussy" she isn't and days she should be "happy" she will be super fussy.

My LO is 10 weeks and she goes to sleep between 6-8pm and she will sleep for 8 hours straight. But then when she wakes up its hard for me to get her back to sleep for another long stretch, she will only go down for another hour or 2. She was going to bed at 8pm and waking up at 4am, feeding and sleeping til 6 which I was fine with but this past week she hasn't been able to stay up past 6:30pm and she will wake up around 2:30 and eat and then sleep til 4:30am and then wake up and will only go down for another hour so I am typically up from 2:30am!!! I really want to push her to stay awake until 8pm but she won't take an afternoon nap so by 6:30pm she is rubbing eyes and so sleepy!

Maybe she will sort herself out in the next few days? If she would go longer without eating that would work but right now she can only go 8 hours at night before she needs food again.

justkeeptrying

alliebsmith said:

I got the Wonder Weeks app and it doesn't seem to really be right. Days that my LO should be "fussy" she isn't and days she should be "happy" she will be super fussy.

My LO is 10 weeks and she goes to sleep between 6-8pm and she will sleep for 8 hours straight. But then when she wakes up its hard for me to get her back to sleep for another long stretch, she will only go down for another hour or 2. She was going to bed at 8pm and waking up at 4am, feeding and sleeping til 6 which I was fine with but this past week she hasn't been able to stay up past 6:30pm and she will wake up around 2:30 and eat and then sleep til 4:30am and then wake up and will only go down for another hour so I am typically up from 2:30am!!! I really want to push her to stay awake until 8pm but she won't take an afternoon nap so by 6:30pm she is rubbing eyes and so sleepy!

Maybe she will sort herself out in the next few days? If she would go longer without eating that would work but right now she can only go 8 hours at night before she needs food again.

She might be hitting that earlier bedtime stage. It's quite common for bedtime to be between 6-7pm for this young. Seems insanely early for us but they need 11-12 hours of sleep. You could try an earlier bedtime and she might just end up "sleeping in" until 6 or 7.

I know when my nephews would skip naps (especially when transitioning from 3 naps to 2) my sister would sometimes put them to bed at 4:45. Seems INSANELY early but it was what they needed to get the proper amount of sleep.

alliebsmith

@chambersbaby2015 thanks for the advice!!! I don't let her nap after 5pm because I've heard then they just sleep less later and so if it's after 5pm and she's super tired I just swaddle her and put her down! She used to take a long morning nap and a long afternoon nap but recently will take a long morning one and then cat nap all day for 20-30 mins! She has such a fear of missing out on anything haha if she knows we're out somewhere or I have people over she will stay awake and hang out....she goes to daycare in a few weeks and I'm hoping they can help to sort her out

ShanLou

Currently going through the same thing right now. I may have had a mini breakdown today. Also, I would like to hurt the next person who tells me to "sleep when the baby's sleeping."

justkeeptrying

ShanLou said:

Currently going through the same thing right now. I may have had a mini breakdown today. Also, I would like to hurt the next person who tells me to "sleep when the baby's sleeping."

YES!!! Do people honestly think we haven't tried this??

MIL came over today. I told her we were up so many times in the night and how tired I was. Her reaction? "Oh. Well the good news is you can sleep all day whenever he naps". Umm nope. Because if I don't hold him he wakes up. She was so shocked by this. "That must be pretty hard for you". You think?!!

ShanLou

Ahhhh advice from the grandparents. I think it's been so long since they've had babies that they don't remember any rough days. Of course, after complaining about the no napping issue, my daughter slept at my in laws house for about 3 hrs. I mean, I'm happy she got her rest... However I did scream a little inside.

danibonello

ShanLou said:

Ahhhh advice from the grandparents. I think it's been so long since they've had babies that they don't remember any rough days. Of course, after complaining about the no napping issue, my daughter slept at my in laws house for about 3 hrs. I mean, I'm happy she got her rest... However I did scream a little inside.

Boy if that happened at my MIL's house I would never hear the end of it! "She's just more comfortable at grandma's house!". I feel your pain!

ShanLou

Omg I posted a picture of her sleep smiling in my arms on Instagram, MIL's response: "she must be dreaming of grandma's house!!!" Whatever lady. If only I could take out a loan to buy the rocking chair and amazing, sleep inducing pack n play you have at your house. I am so sleep deprived and hormonal... I just wish everyone would say things like "she's so beautiful!" "You're doing a great job!" And stop there.

justkeeptrying

ShanLou said:

Ahhhh advice from the grandparents. I think it's been so long since they've had babies that they don't remember any rough days. Of course, after complaining about the no napping issue, my daughter slept at my in laws house for about 3 hrs. I mean, I'm happy she got her rest... However I did scream a little inside.

Yes!!! MIL completely forgets the rough days. She has told me hundreds of times how DH was the perfect child. She only remembers him getting into trouble once. ONCE. In his ENTIRE childhood. I love my husband. But he is not that perfect!!

And of course LO is perfect at someone else's house. "He just needed to see nana" and everything is okay. Great! Problem solved. I'll just drive to your house anytime he cries.

This thread has definitely turned into a family/in laws vent haha!! Oops!

lilyg+lullabydoula

More than likely a growth spurt. It's about growth spurt time for our little ones.

justkeeptrying

Anyone else's LO becoming distracted easily while feeding? I'm wondering if this is why my LO is now getting up more at night. We EBF and the last few days he has been constantly pulling off the breast to look around. In one feed he might latch on and off 7 or 8 times per breast because he won't stay on for more than 30 seconds. I think he's waking up at night more now to make up on lost calories. Extremely frustrating. Anyone have any suggestions? We nurse in the same spot every day. So there isn't a different environment that he's looking at each time. Not sure what to do to keep him focused.

danibonello

chambersbaby2015 said:

Anyone else's LO becoming distracted easily while feeding? I'm wondering if this is why my LO is now getting up more at night. We EBF and the last few days he has been constantly pulling off the breast to look around. In one feed he might latch on and off 7 or 8 times per breast because he won't stay on for more than 30 seconds. I think he's waking up at night more now to make up on lost calories. Extremely frustrating. Anyone have any suggestions? We nurse in the same spot every day. So there isn't a different environment that he's looking at each time. Not sure what to do to keep him focused.

I remember reading a thread on this a month or so ago and there was a suggestion to try nursing with a cover on? That way they can't see anything to be distracted by.

justkeeptrying

danibonello said:

chambersbaby2015 said:

Anyone else's LO becoming distracted easily while feeding? I'm wondering if this is why my LO is now getting up more at night. We EBF and the last few days he has been constantly pulling off the breast to look around. In one feed he might latch on and off 7 or 8 times per breast because he won't stay on for more than 30 seconds. I think he's waking up at night more now to make up on lost calories. Extremely frustrating. Anyone have any suggestions? We nurse in the same spot every day. So there isn't a different environment that he's looking at each time. Not sure what to do to keep him focused.

I remember reading a thread on this a month or so ago and there was a suggestion to try nursing with a cover on? That way they can't see anything to be distracted by.

Thanks! I remember that now too. DS usually gets so hot when we use the nursing cover that I hate it. I get hot too. I find using the cover extremely awkward and uncomfortable. There's no winning!

danibonello

I agree... the couple of times I attempted to use it (back when I was still hoping BF was a possibiliy), I found it to be a hassle.

HeatherC21

chambersbaby2015 said:

Anyone else's LO becoming distracted easily while feeding? I'm wondering if this is why my LO is now getting up more at night. We EBF and the last few days he has been constantly pulling off the breast to look around. In one feed he might latch on and off 7 or 8 times per breast because he won't stay on for more than 30 seconds. I think he's waking up at night more now to make up on lost calories. Extremely frustrating. Anyone have any suggestions? We nurse in the same spot every day. So there isn't a different environment that he's looking at each time. Not sure what to do to keep him focused.

Have you tried nursing in a dark room? Sorry I'm not much help my LO only gets fussy/distracted at the breast when she has to burp or poop...

justkeeptrying

HeatherC21 said:

chambersbaby2015 said:

Anyone else's LO becoming distracted easily while feeding? I'm wondering if this is why my LO is now getting up more at night. We EBF and the last few days he has been constantly pulling off the breast to look around. In one feed he might latch on and off 7 or 8 times per breast because he won't stay on for more than 30 seconds. I think he's waking up at night more now to make up on lost calories. Extremely frustrating. Anyone have any suggestions? We nurse in the same spot every day. So there isn't a different environment that he's looking at each time. Not sure what to do to keep him focused.

Have you tried nursing in a dark room? Sorry I'm not much help my LO only gets fussy/distracted at the breast when she has to burp or poop...

I haven't done that. The lights are off in the nursery and the blinds are closed. But it's south facing so it still gets quite a bit of light in. At night time the lights are off other than one dim light so I can see what I'm doing. He still does it at night but not as frequently.

I started to wonder if I'm nursing him when he isn't super hungry and that's the problem. DS has always opened his mouth for the boob even when he just finished eating so he never signals when he's done. I try to nurse on demand but he doesn't tell me when he's hungry. He has his hand in his mouth all the time because he's discovered his tongue and hand. So I have to nurse more by the clock. I'm going to try to spread the feeds out just a bit and see what happens.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions!