6 Week Growth Spurt - Share Your Stories

CA2006

I think this might be what is going on with DS, but am not sure.  He has had a cold, but is on the mend.  Just has a little congestion and a residual cough.  He is 6 weeks old (will be 7 weeks on Tuesday).  For the past couple days, he has been getting WAY overtired and cranky in the afternoon and nothing we do can get him to sleep.  His eating habits are all of the sudden strange.  There is no real definiteion between his overtired state and his hungry state.  I am trying to feed him at least every 3 hours during the day, but he will eat well for about 5 min, then just get fussy (he is breastfed).  He is wetting and dirtying enough diapers, so I know he is getting food, but his feedings just don't seem as good or as rewarding as they were a few days ago. 

Then there's nighttime.  He used to give us a 4-5 hour stretch, then another 3 hour.  The past 2 nights, he has been up every 2.5 hours or so and doesn't want to go back to sleep.  Sometimes he is hungry, sometimes just fussy. I am at my wit's end, as I am trying to recover from an awful cold, too.  It's so hard to take care of him when I am not getting ANY sleep. 

Is this the 6 month growth spurt?  These aren't behaviors he has had before, which is the weird thing.  Please share your experiences.

brideonjuly8

Sounds just like DSs 7 week and 9 week (right now) growth spurt.  DS is bf also and would eat for 5 minutes and then pull off and be fussy and would not get back on for anything, even though he was still hungry.  He would only sleep for about 20-30 minutes at a time during the day, but still slept good at night (6-8 hours) thank GAWD!  He has just been cranky and fussy off and on all during the day.  He also started nursing every 1-2 hours instead of every 3.  I also noticed I was SUPER hungry and thirsty, and that's a sign of a growth spurt as well.  Sounds like a growth spurt to me!

As far as getting him to eat more, DS only usually eats from one side, so when he would pull off and cry, I would burp him, try and get him a little more calm and then put him on the other side.  Sometimes, that works, sometimes it doesn't. 

sunnygyrl

It sounds like it to me. DD woke up on week 7 (on the dot) and refused to nap. She woke up at 5am and didn't go back to sleep at all! By 12:30 of me trying everything, I put her in the carseat and we took a 40 minute drive. She fell asleep 20 minutes in and I finally got her to sleep for 3 hours. This went on for about 8-10 days. Nighttime? kinda a sad story, we had screaming fits until after midnight and she would wake up after an hour.

We learned a lot during that time:

Use the yoga ball to "bounce" her to sleep

Push back her bedtime to 8:00. Routine started at 7:30 with bath, then story then nursed then bed. She would go to sleep by 8:30. We have stuck to this schedule for nearly 2 weeks now and love it. She sleeps for 6 hours at a time (from 8:30-2:30), up for a half hour and back down again till 5:30-6am.

I do a vigorous shaking with her up against me (not like SBS), but enough that it mimiced the bouncer. She usually falls asleep within 2-3 minutes.

You will get through it. promise.

elainew

I wonder if thats what we're going through now. Last night was a disaster! He was up every two hours and hungry... fed for a good 20 min (thats longer than usual) and refuse to go back to sleep. If I tried to give him more to eat then, he'd refuse the breast, but still look hungry. After us drowsy parents finally gave up and just let him hang out in his crib swaddled and awake, ?he'd complain and I'd bf him again. Does this even make sense? Didn't get much sleep last night...

Echowysp

Ugh, the 6 week growth spurt.  Ds became very fussy and woke up every hour to hour and half for a couple of nights.  He ate all day long too.  I was exhausted.  Thankfully, it ends.