Still fussy at 9 weeks...

Leah821

LO is still pretty fussy at 9 weeks. She has a witching two hours most evenings and needs to be soothed fairly frequently throughout the day as well, with mixed results. I wear her in a Baby Bjorn a lot which helps, but it's wreaking havoc on my back and knees and the fussing/soothing routine is getting super tedious, especially in the evenings and before bed, when it takes me a good hour or two, post feeding, to get her to stay asleep. I thought things would be turning around by now, especially given that she was born two weeks late. Anyone relate to this? Is this normal?

ElleMF728

It's totally normal. My first was a high maintenance baby, he was a lot of work. Crummy sleeper, cat napper, switching hour etc., it does slow down and get easier but 9 weeks is still very young. LO is still in her fourth trimester so everything you are describing is natural.

I also had brutal bedtimes for awhile, it took us a really long time to get that sorted out but we managed. I had to bounce DS for hours or he just constantly woke the second I laid him down. When is your bedtime? A common bedtime problem is too late or too early which can make it even more difficult. What are her naps like and when does her last nap occur in relation to your bedtime? Do you have a routine? White noise, swaddle etc? Where are you doing bedtime? Some babies just need a little extra help adjusting to their new world, LO wi

Leah821

Thanks, it's helpful to hear that it's normal I'm just getting soooo tired of the monotony of constant fussing/soothing/feeling like I'm doing a crappy job. We begin bedtime around 9pm with a simple but consistent routine: keep it dark/quiet, final feed, swaddle, song, and lots of rocking/bouncing. She has never really responded to white noise. I've been aiming for a morning nap in her bassinet which doesn't always work and she usually has a couple good stretches of sleep midday and afternoon in the baby bjorn. She will catnap on me/in the car seat if we are out and about. After dinner (7ish) she is usually fussy/doesn't really sleep much until bedtime. Maybe (probably) she is getting over tired and an earlier bedtime would be helpful....

jasmineluke

I have the same problem with my 9 weeker and can't seem to figure out a good evening nap and bedtime routine. She's fussy from 4-6ish followed by sleepiness from all the crying. She will then take a nap from 6-7ish at which I try to get her up for fear that it'll mess up her bedtime. We bath her 8pm and last feed 830 and usually try to put her down 9-930. She wakes up twice at night and not always easy to put back down ... Hoping in few more weeks things will fall into place

Krysta6

I would track the babies sleep (I use an app). I did this and found he more naps he took during the day the better he is at night. He usually gets fussy somewhere between 7-9. I usually end up swaddling him, giving a pacifier and letting him nap in my arms. Sometimes he's napping when we wake him up for his last bottle (our little man needs his sleep!) We put him down for the night somewhere between 9-11. He was consistently sleeping 6 hours straight but the last couple of nights he has slept 8 hours a night (happy mama!). He is 10 weeks today.

But I know what it's like to have a fussy one our Lo gets constipated and when that happens nothing (except pooping better) makes him feel better. He is currently going through this. It's exhausting but you are doing a great job!

jasmineluke

Krysta6 said:

I would track the babies sleep (I use an app). I did this and found he more naps he took during the day the better he is at night. He usually gets fussy somewhere between 7-9. I usually end up swaddling him, giving a pacifier and letting him nap in my arms. Sometimes he's napping when we wake him up for his last bottle (our little man needs his sleep!) We put him down for the night somewhere between 9-11. He was consistently sleeping 6 hours straight but the last couple of nights he has slept 8 hours a night (happy mama!). He is 10 weeks today.

But I know what it's like to have a fussy one our Lo gets constipated and when that happens nothing (except pooping better) makes him feel better. He is currently going through this. It's exhausting but you are doing a great job!

So your LO sleeps in the evening as well before the bedtime? And it doesn't mess with the nighttime sleep pattern? 6 hours is great!! I still have yet to see that maybe I should let her nap as she wants in the evening.... I'm always afraid it'll mess with her night sleep...
I guess babies will sleep more at night when they are good and ready I'm just trying to find ways to encourage it

MCraig1484

My LO is 9.3 weeks and still very fussy. He fusses throughout the day mostly it seems because he's tired, but refuses to nap. I'm crossing my fingers that we get through this phase in the next few weeks (3 month mark maybe?)

jasmineluke

I second pp. had a terribly fussy day .. Full of crying and screaming and fussing dear God. At one point I really felt I was back at square one and she was 4 weeks again!
I'm hoping it gets better (although I've said that at 6 weeks and then 8 weeks and now at 9.5 weeks!)
Fingers crossed for 12

tracij12

@jasmineluke I would definitely NOT worry about evening naps interfering with nighttime sleeps. Like PP said, often more naps/daytime sleeping leads to longer nighttime sleeping. Good luck!

jasmineluke

Thank you ... Will try to go with the flow and let her nap on her cues. I'm also trying to transition her to the crib so that's been tricky too she sleeps better in the R&P. I tried to incline the mattress to mimic that as she does have reflux. But her sleep is quite restless in the crib still. Will keep at it ... I know eventually it will get better at some point !!

rue:D

MCraig1484 said:

My LO is 9.3 weeks and still very fussy. He fusses throughout the day mostly it seems because he's tired, but refuses to nap. I'm crossing my fingers that we get through this phase in the next few weeks (3 month mark maybe?)

This is exactly where we are at. LO napped yesterday for maybe an hour total during the day between 8:30am and 10pm. She has currently been sleeping since 10:30pm and it's 7am now. Which wouldn't bother me if she wasn't so fussy during the day because she's overtired - she cries if she's being held, she cries if we put her down, she'll take the pacifier for five seconds and spit it out and then cry because she wants it back and then won't take it and will cry about that...it's driving me crazy. I'd rather she wake up a couple of times at night and nap during the day so she isn't crying for stupid reasons all day long. I have no idea how to actually get her to nap. She has the same sleep associations for naps she's always had and that seems to be the only suggestion the Internet has.

koriemo

Our little guy also has trouble getting over tired. We've begun putting him down to bed at 6-6:30. I go to bed around 8:30. DH will stay up until LO wakes up around 10:30 and give him a bottle then. LO wakes up again around 2 and I get up to feed him. He goes back down until 5, and there he and I both get up for the day. DH sleeps until 6:30 then gets up for work and leaves at 7. LO does so well going to bed that early. Otherwise, he's just fussy. He also takes a nap from 2-4 every day (in the carrier while I make dinner and clean up).

rms924

koriemo said:

Our little guy also has trouble getting over tired. We've begun putting him down to bed at 6-6:30. I go to bed around 8:30. DH will stay up until LO wakes up around 10:30 and give him a bottle then. LO wakes up again around 2 and I get up to feed him. He goes back down until 5, and there he and I both get up for the day. DH sleeps until 6:30 then gets up for work and leaves at 7. LO does so well going to bed that early. Otherwise, he's just fussy. He also takes a nap from 2-4 every day (in the carrier while I make dinner and clean up).

This sounds like the schedule we are heading towards. I def have a huge fusser on my hands. He gets overtired and will refuse to sleep. So now I'm learning his cues (finally at 7w!) so that I get him settled before he's in the redzone.

Like pp said I'd rather wake up at night than deal w all day fussing. Takes a toll on us both!

MCraig1484

@rue
Omg I feel your pain because that is exactly what I'm going through and how I feel! How old is your LO? I mistyped earlier, mine is just now 9 weeks...after talking about how good he is at night, last night was horrible! He woke up every 1 1/2 to 2 hours from 11:30pm to 6am when my husband relieved me and was able to get our LO to sleep until 8:50. Of course he still struggled to nap today

cararie

I can't even tell you how much I needed this thread today. LO is 7 weeks (8 on Thursday) and I just started to try and get her on a regular napping schedule. She has always done pretty well for us getting to sleep at night and would generally sleep about 5-6 hours at a stretch but this week she began fighting us tooth and nail at bedtime. It's been taking us about two hours to get her to sleep. Granted we put her to bed rather late usually around 11 or 12 mostly because DH works retail and with Christmas hours he doesn't get home until 9 or 10 and he likes to have at least a little time with her before bed.

During the day I never really had a set schedule for her. I fed her on demand and she would nap pretty much whenever. However, she has always been rather fussy during the day, especially with extended family. She spends mods of her days wanting to nurse or fussing/crying, so I began thinking that she might be over tired and have been trying to get her on a napping schedule. So far I've had no luck as she fights naps just as much as she fights sleep at night. Usually by the time I get her settled enough for a nap its pretty much time for her to eat again. The only way I've been successful getting her to sleep either for a nap or at night is by nursing to sleep, which I know is not a good habit to get into. Even then, as soon as I put her down she starts crying unless I hold her until she is deeply asleep. Any suggestions on what I'm doing wrong and how to fix it? I'm coming to my wits end!

MCraig1484

@LaTeteRouge I'm in a similar boat...I felt the same way re: nap schedule and breaking bad habits like nursing and rocking to sleep. What I have come to realize is that my LO is still too young and not able to self sooth yet, after all they are still in their 4th trimester, though I know some babies are already able to. For the time being, I'm doing whatever I can to get him to nap and will try every once in awhile to break some of my habits and put him down awake. I'm reading the Happy Sleeper, it's put my mind at rest about our current situation.

rue:D

MCraig1484 said:

@rue
Omg I feel your pain because that is exactly what I'm going through and how I feel! How old is your LO? I mistyped earlier, mine is just now 9 weeks...after talking about how good he is at night, last night was horrible! He woke up every 1 1/2 to 2 hours from 11:30pm to 6am when my husband relieved me and was able to get our LO to sleep until 8:50. Of course he still struggled to nap today

She was about 9.5 weeks when I wrote that post. We're still getting good long stretches at night, but she won't nap during the day and is super fussy in the evening.

zetlopez

I guess there's no advice on how to make the fussiness better other than not letting baby get over tired and just wait for this to pass? My baby will be 10 weeks tomorrow and this is getting old. He'll be happy for a day or 2, then fussy for a few days. I just feel like I must be doing something wrong, like why can't I keep him happy? My baby is on a eat, wake, nap routine so he definitely sleeps enough. He also sleeps from about 7 pm to 6 am waking up maybe twice. Just waiting for this to get better.

jasmineluke

Sometimes you have to hunker down and hold tight ... It WILL pass
I tell myself that at 11 weeks. I even feel better knowing I don't need to go crazy looking for a reason (gas, reflux, constipation, formula intolerance, nipple sizing with bottles) ... Just plain old FUSS and it will just pass on its own

Krysta6

It's like clockwork with my little man if he's awake 1 1/2-2 hours he gets super fussy. He was losing his mind at 4pm today. I swaddled him, gave pacifier, white noise and in the rnp. He finally fell asleep! I feel like once I figure out something that works he doesn't like it anymore. I think there is some much growing going on right now and they have no other way to express themselves!