Love the fact that I never know what my day will bring. Yesterday LO was a nap queen and did so well in her Mamaroo. Today the gremlin refuses to nap anywhere but my arms or wants me to break my back bouncing on the medicine ball. Thank god MIL is coming over today to help out - aka hold her for me (after DH had a long talk with her last night on how help days are different from visiting days and not to hold the baby the entire time... Karma is getting me good since I told him to have that convo with her...).
Anyone else willing their baby to sleep? He keeps drifting off then waking up and repeat about 50 times. JUST GO TO SLEEP KID! Mommy has to pee, eat, and wash things!
Anyone else willing their baby to sleep? He keeps drifting off then waking up and repeat about 50 times. JUST GO TO SLEEP KID! Mommy has to pee, eat, and wash things!
This is my day today... Refusing to nap. I just stare at her in the Mamaroo and every movement she makes I cringe and pray she doesn't wake up - I had to eat breakfast while bouncing her on the yoga ball and was just able to pee. You need sleep. I need sleep. Stop fighting it, child!!!
That was my day yesterday. I'm hoping today will be different. Probably not since she started the day out with a bang by being mostly awake and crying from 3am to 9am. She finally crashed, but I had to wake her just now at 12 pm to eat.
I had my fussy day with LO yesterday. He slept 1.5 hours overnight from Monday to Tuesday and refused to nap for more than 30 minutes all day. He would only fall asleep while cuddling with my boob, which the pedi has told me not to allow, but I was so desperate for quiet that I just left him there for 2 hours. When DH got home I just wordlessly handed him off and went to bed. Of course LO slept on DH peacefully until he was ready to eat. Fussy days are the worst! Good luck mommas!
Love the fact that I never know what my day will bring. Yesterday LO was a nap queen and did so well in her Mamaroo. Today the gremlin refuses to nap anywhere but my arms or wants me to break my back bouncing on the medicine ball. Thank god MIL is coming over today to help out - aka hold her for me (after DH had a long talk with her last night on how help days are different from visiting days and not to hold the baby the entire time... Karma is getting me good since I told him to have that convo with her...).
Yep this is for sure .... We never know what we will get each day. Today DS was the gremlin creature that would not I repeat would NOT nap for me. He would fall asleep in my arms and as I set him down anywhere that is not my arms he woke up screaming ... Now it's almost time for bed and my back is about to break. Also in the same boat as you with MiL ( DH had a chat with her too)
@wsgjmw1 hopefully we can survive tonight.. I'm also having major back pain and hoping this is our last feeding before bed and we can get a nice 4 hour stretch in before the next waking. Wishful thinking....
Kirra is such a good baby between the hours of 7am and 8pm. She sleeps, eats, wakes happily throughout that time. She sleeps in her own crib (nesting box inside the crib because I feel like that's more cozy) and I have time to do things like shower. She eats about every hour to three hours during her happy time too. However, from 8:01 pm to 6:59 am she is a completely different baby. She won't sleep in her bed, she eats for what seems like that entire length of time with few breaks...I was starving and tried to make a bowl of cereal and she started crying so I picked her uo and started feeding while trying to pour the cereal, spilled it, got mad and threw the box across the kitchen. Can't wait for SO to wake up to that mess in the morning... also, I've been having to take her to the bathroom with me at night to not interrupt her feeding which makes cleaning my postpartum parts difficult. I literally get anxiety around 7 every evening and behin crying in anticipation of our nightly routine... I'm at a loss on how to fix it and she's only 1 week old.
@1mae2016, are you sleeping when your LO does during the day? If you have a baby that likes all nighters, many of us do, adopting a funky sleeping schedule will at least help you feel somewhat more able to handle the overnights. Since it sounds like you're still healing, can DH or another family member lend some support over night? I'm 7 wks pp and LO often does not sleep at night (and sometimes not during the day either), but I have support from DH at night and family during the day. If I didn't, I wouldn't have made it. Especially 1 week pp, ask for help, you need time and rest to heal. Hang in there, you're doing great!
EBF makes it hard to allow anyone else to help when she's hungry because I don't have a pump yet. SO would help if I asked but he didn't get any paid paternity leave and used all his vacation time for the week we were in the hospital. He leaves for work at 5 am and gets home around 8pm so I always feel like he needs his rest too. I'm trying to sleep when she sleeps, but my body is having a hard time adjusting to day sleeping. It's not impossible, just becoming difficult.
@1mae2016 how old is your LO? Im in a similar boat where I dont let DH help at night because having two sleep deprived parents isn't a good idea, especially when DH has to function at work. Sleeping during the day is a rare thing for me, too. If LO is finally napping then that is usually my chance to eat or do a few chores. It is definitely easier said than done to sleep when the baby does, but sleep does make all the difference in the world.
I had my fussy day with LO yesterday. He slept 1.5 hours overnight from Monday to Tuesday and refused to nap for more than 30 minutes all day. He would only fall asleep while cuddling with my boob, which the pedi has told me not to allow, but I was so desperate for quiet that I just left him there for 2 hours. When DH got home I just wordlessly handed him off and went to bed. Of course LO slept on DH peacefully until he was ready to eat. Fussy days are the worst! Good luck mommas!
Can I ask why your pedi is so strict about allowing your LO to fall asleep at the breast?
@LadySamLady, similar to your LO, we're still having really inconsistent sleep. Pedi wants him at 12 to 14 hours per day and he hasn't even hit 10 in the last 17 days. Pedi is trying to push bottle feeding because she's attributing his sleep difficulties to bfibg too long. She's trying to make me condense his feedings so she wants him removed from the breast whenever distracted or falling asleep. I tried to explain that the internet ppl have babies feeding varying durations, but she seemed to dismiss that. It's very frustrating, I don't think bottles are the answer especially when his weight gain EBF is great.
My pedi is similar... Wants LO to distinguish the breast as eating only, not a soothing thing. I wish I could follow it because I'd love to just have quick feeds but I'd also rather not have a screaming baby oh and my child is a diva and does what she wants sooooo there's that.
@lbachran for what it's worth, we are ff/bottle fed and at 5 weeks Kasper is falling asleep during feedings, recently only wants to sleep being held, sleeps better during the day, and our longest stretch is 3.5 hours maybe once or twice in 5 weeks. So you're not wrong to question whether bottles would solve your problem. And I have a loud toddler up during the day so I have no idea how this baby sleeps longer during the day than at night.
I was concerned that he's over tired and our pediatrician suggested yesterday that I wake him after 2 hours during the day and that he's struggling with nights and days. I don't usually subscribe to waking a sleeping baby, but I did it and he slept really well (relative to what we've been doing). I also did an accidental dream feed, which would be counter to what your doctor suggested, but it worked. Unfortunately I know from DS1 it's trial and error to find what works for your baby, but I hope that helps!
@LadySamLady, similar to your LO, we're still having really inconsistent sleep. Pedi wants him at 12 to 14 hours per day and he hasn't even hit 10 in the last 17 days. Pedi is trying to push bottle feeding because she's attributing his sleep difficulties to bfibg too long. She's trying to make me condense his feedings so she wants him removed from the breast whenever distracted or falling asleep. I tried to explain that the internet ppl have babies feeding varying durations, but she seemed to dismiss that. It's very frustrating, I don't think bottles are the answer especially when his weight gain EBF is great.
Ahhh gotcha. That sounds really frustrating. My LO actually sleeps a lot, just not where I want her to sleep!
@Kennedy0830 LO is a week old today. I usually spend her nap times doing dishes and laundry too. It's supposed to be a time of rest but I just can't rest! Lol
@Kennedy0830, yeah, it's really hard to follow that advice when you're chronically sleep deprived and being screamed at. Sometimes you just have to go for the quick fix to the screaming and that's the boob. Sometimes your sanity is just worth more!
@Bltbear82, thank you for sharing! I'm not opposed to bottles, but I just don't understand why that was the first fix mentioned. I'm planning to stay home so there's no reason he can't stay on the breast and I can't find anything that medically states there are any advantages to bottle feeding. LO has classic reflux symptoms, but the pedi seemed to overlook those in favor of pushing bottle feeding.
@LadySamLady, he's slept a little more the last few days, up to 9/10 hours, but he fights sleep so much. I miss the beginning where he just wanted to sleep constantly. Any hours, just more, I'd take it.
So I hate to even ask and jinx it, but LO has been giving me a good nighttime stretch when she first goes down for the night - about 4.5 hours consistently between the 930pm-3am (depending when we put her down). However when I get up between 2-3am to feed her, she'll go for about 30 minutes (which I feel is a good feeding) and then go back down for another 1-2 hours before being up again and that'll keep occurring throughout the rest of the night/day. Am I asking too much for another decent stretch and seeing what you guys do to extend that time or should I keep my mouth shut and count my blessings that I get at least a decent stretch in the first half? She's 3 weeks old and I keep her swaddled for the mid-night feeding as she tends to do better when her arms can't startle her to wake her up.
So I hate to even ask and jinx it, but LO has been giving me a good nighttime stretch when she first goes down for the night - about 4.5 hours consistently between the 930pm-3am (depending when we put her down). However when I get up between 2-3am to feed her, she'll go for about 30 minutes (which I feel is a good feeding) and then go back down for another 1-2 hours before being up again and that'll keep occurring throughout the rest of the night/day. Am I asking too much for another decent stretch and seeing what you guys do to extend that time or should I keep my mouth shut and count my blessings that I get at least a decent stretch in the first half? She's 3 weeks old and I keep her swaddled for the mid-night feeding as she tends to do better when her arms can't startle her to wake her up.
So I hate to even ask and jinx it, but LO has been giving me a good nighttime stretch when she first goes down for the night - about 4.5 hours consistently between the 930pm-3am (depending when we put her down). However when I get up between 2-3am to feed her, she'll go for about 30 minutes (which I feel is a good feeding) and then go back down for another 1-2 hours before being up again and that'll keep occurring throughout the rest of the night/day. Am I asking too much for another decent stretch and seeing what you guys do to extend that time or should I keep my mouth shut and count my blessings that I get at least a decent stretch in the first half? She's 3 weeks old and I keep her swaddled for the mid-night feeding as she tends to do better when her arms can't startle her to wake her up.
This is how Harper has been sleeping for almost 2 weeks now. Bed by 8:30, up between 2-3 for feeding. She has been going back down until 5:00 after that feeding but the last two nights have been rough. Last night was up at 2:30 and never went back to sleep. I guess I can't complain since she's been doing so good, but I'm really hoping she is not regressing!
@Kennedy0830 that's a good stretch for her age! Our typical nighttime is similar. He'll often sleep from 10-2, then wake around 3:30, 5, 6:30 and is often up for the day then. Sometimes those early morning wakeups turn into a continuous clusterfeed and then he'll sleep afterwards. Sleep schedule before 10pm is a coin toss between 2hr stretches and a clusterfeed.
I'm happy with a solid early stretch because I had month after month of the extreme alternative with DS1. He was up to eat every 45min-1hr overnight, and needed to be touched by me to sleep, or had to be sleeping on me. What's getting me right now is that, the past few nights just as I get DS2 down again at 2:30, DS1 is up for an hour and wants to cuddle and talk, or needs to be calmed after having a nightmare.
@Kennedy0830 At this age, one long stretch is (awesome!!) the most you're likely to get out of a night, and after that it's normal for baby to be up every 1-2 hours. Mine does something similar. I don't remember when the early morning feedings decrease, but eventually they do!
Same sort of rough schedule here so am glad to read this from others
I read a great article on purple crying this morning as I was getting concerned baby was getting 'worse' I think I am bit further on as he was 4 weeks early so maybe helpful to others as they approach 2 months. I know I was glad to read it peaks then troughs and that its normal development, I was worrying my parenting was getting worse or something!
@kbrands7 How old is your baby? Mine is up for the day around 10 but he'S only 3 weeks old. Shouldn't he still be napping pretty consistently?
He's one month. Up for the day really just means that I get my first longer stretch of awake time from him then. He still takes frequent naps throughout the day that are usually between 1 and 2.5hrs.
I would quote everyone but we are on a similar schedule!! It's hard but like @kbrands7 I'm embracing it bc it's an actual schedule. My first was like dealing with someone on a bender, you never knew if she was going to be up all night, or crashed for 6 hours. The anxiety of not knowing was a lot to deal with, and staring at wide eyed newborn at 3:30 am doing a battle of wills never ends well.
@That1didntcount Lol! You're description is right on! DS1 gave me those middle of the night staring contests too. The first time it was hilarious...then it turned into a habit that we referred to as his 1am party, even though it happened anywhere from 1am to 4am. It was slightly less adorable when it kept happening for varying lengths of time.
@That1didntcount, ok so my LO sounds like your first child, how did you survive? He's 7 weeks and the dramatic swings in sleeping are killing us.
For the first weeks my husband and I switched off a lot. There was a lot of swing sleeping for the baby. We watched a ton of Netflix in the middle of the night. We called our baby crazy cheeks for OITNB's crazy eyes Susanne. She took glorious naps during the day....
I went back to work at 6 weeks, and 7-8 weeks she made huge jumps in sleep. A LC told me around 6 weeks babies begin to distinguish nights, so hopefully your nights will get better soon!!!
How are those of you handling your babies who have their days and nights switched? I could tell in Kirras ear and it wouldn't wake her ( which I don't do, lol) about the only thing that gets her up is putting her in her bed and then she screams so much that I end up feeding her and putting her in her swing or my arms. I will say that yesterday, last night, and this morning have been awesome because she's been sleeping about the whole time except when she eats, which now I'm worried she's getting sick or something. Boo first time mom anxiety!
@kbrands7 How old is your baby? Mine is up for the day around 10 but he'S only 3 weeks old. Shouldn't he still be napping pretty consistently?
He's one month. Up for the day really just means that I get my first longer stretch of awake time from him then. He still takes frequent naps throughout the day that are usually between 1 and 2.5hrs.
Mine is up at around 10 and he refuses to nap until almost 3
Speaking of naps... I feel like Harper naps a lot. Normally she sleeps about 2 hours in the morning, maybe 7-9. Then again 11-2ish. Then again before bed (time varies daily). She's been awake a bit more than she was before, so I think she's on track.. Just wondering how everyone else's babies are napping and about how long?
Speaking of naps... I feel like Harper naps a lot. Normally she sleeps about 2 hours in the morning, maybe 7-9. Then again 11-2ish. Then again before bed (time varies daily). She's been awake a bit more than she was before, so I think she's on track.. Just wondering how everyone else's babies are napping and about how long?
Holly naps a lot. She's awake for an hour at a time at most before she falls asleep again. Her naps are anywhere from 1-3 hours, but usually 2 hours throughout the day. She is most awake in the morning when she is very happy and alert and then during witching hour in the evening when she's a fuss face.
Speaking of naps... I feel like Harper naps a lot. Normally she sleeps about 2 hours in the morning, maybe 7-9. Then again 11-2ish. Then again before bed (time varies daily). She's been awake a bit more than she was before, so I think she's on track.. Just wondering how everyone else's babies are napping and about how long?
Holly naps a lot. She's awake for an hour at a time at most before she falls asleep again. Her naps are anywhere from 1-3 hours, but usually 2 hours throughout the day. She is most awake in the morning when she is very happy and alert and then during witching hour in the evening when she's a fuss face.
Ahhhh fuss face. Better than calling her crabby ass like I do! I feel like I'm living with a teenager. She sleeps all day and is a bear to wake up!
So I hate to even ask and jinx it, but LO has been giving me a good nighttime stretch when she first goes down for the night - about 4.5 hours consistently between the 930pm-3am (depending when we put her down). However when I get up between 2-3am to feed her, she'll go for about 30 minutes (which I feel is a good feeding) and then go back down for another 1-2 hours before being up again and that'll keep occurring throughout the rest of the night/day. Am I asking too much for another decent stretch and seeing what you guys do to extend that time or should I keep my mouth shut and count my blessings that I get at least a decent stretch in the first half? She's 3 weeks old and I keep her swaddled for the mid-night feeding as she tends to do better when her arms can't startle her to wake her up.
Re: Witching hour...or hours
@babyfmama I have yet to master my ktan. She tolerates it for about 30 seconds.
I was concerned that he's over tired and our pediatrician suggested yesterday that I wake him after 2 hours during the day and that he's struggling with nights and days. I don't usually subscribe to waking a sleeping baby, but I did it and he slept really well (relative to what we've been doing). I also did an accidental dream feed, which would be counter to what your doctor suggested, but it worked. Unfortunately I know from DS1 it's trial and error to find what works for your baby, but I hope that helps!
@Bltbear82, thank you for sharing! I'm not opposed to bottles, but I just don't understand why that was the first fix mentioned. I'm planning to stay home so there's no reason he can't stay on the breast and I can't find anything that medically states there are any advantages to bottle feeding. LO has classic reflux symptoms, but the pedi seemed to overlook those in favor of pushing bottle feeding.
@LadySamLady, he's slept a little more the last few days, up to 9/10 hours, but he fights sleep so much. I miss the beginning where he just wanted to sleep constantly. Any hours, just more, I'd take it.
I'm happy with a solid early stretch because I had month after month of the extreme alternative with DS1. He was up to eat every 45min-1hr overnight, and needed to be touched by me to sleep, or had to be sleeping on me. What's getting me right now is that, the past few nights just as I get DS2 down again at 2:30, DS1 is up for an hour and wants to cuddle and talk, or needs to be calmed after having a nightmare.
I read a great article on purple crying this morning as I was getting concerned baby was getting 'worse' I think I am bit further on as he was 4 weeks early so maybe helpful to others as they approach 2 months. I know I was glad to read it peaks then troughs and that its normal development, I was worrying my parenting was getting worse or something!
https://purplecrying.info/sub-pages/crying/why-does-my-baby-cry-so-much.php
For the first weeks my husband and I switched off a lot. There was a lot of swing sleeping for the baby. We watched a ton of Netflix in the middle of the night. We called our baby crazy cheeks for OITNB's crazy eyes Susanne. She took glorious naps during the day....
I went back to work at 6 weeks, and 7-8 weeks she made huge jumps in sleep. A LC told me around 6 weeks babies begin to distinguish nights, so hopefully your nights will get better soon!!!
Boo first time mom anxiety!