moms of fidgeters

someflower6

lilly has a tendency to figet when she's tired. she plays with my hair, plays with her bottle, rubs her eyes, etc. if she's really overtired, she will start to fall asleep and then wake herself up by flapping her arms around or kick her legs. the more she does this, the more she wakes up and then we have to start from square one in getting her to sleep.

i don't really know what to do during these times. when she's just fidgeting like "normal", she'll eventually stop and fall asleep, so i just let her do her thing. but when she's really overtired and flapping/kicking, she gets really worked up. i don't know if i should try to restrain her or just let her flap. if i restrain her, sometimes she'll calm down but MOST of the time she just fights harder, which leads to me restraining her tighter. i certainly don't want to hurt her by restraining her, but i also don't want her to hurt herself (it's rare, but sometimes she'll get so upset, she'll wind up scratching or hitting herself). thoughts?

hst

Mine does the same thing!  So usually I have to get her to fall asleep in my arms, then put here down on her tummy, otherwise she will kick up her legs or flap her arms and wake herself up!  I am interested to see if anyone has any answers.  

Kestrel84

I have a major fidgeter too.  When he's overtired, sleeping in a wrap for a little while helps.  It restrains him without thinking that he's being restrained so he doesn't fight it as much.  Have you tried wearing her for naps or at least for half an hour before  transferring when she's over tired?

3003girl

same boat here. no suggestions. I do find i fi walk her aroudn for 15 minutes or so if she gets over-fidgetty it helps. but not always.

someflower6

Kestrel84:

I have a major fidgeter too.  When he's overtired, sleeping in a wrap for a little while helps.  It restrains him without thinking that he's being restrained so he doesn't fight it as much.  Have you tried wearing her for naps or at least for half an hour before  transferring when she's over tired?

yes, a wrap does help. it calms her. sometimes it's not always practical, but it's definitely a good option.

Kestrel84

someflower6:

Kestrel84:

I have a major fidgeter too.  When he's overtired, sleeping in a wrap for a little while helps.  It restrains him without thinking that he's being restrained so he doesn't fight it as much.  Have you tried wearing her for naps or at least for half an hour before  transferring when she's over tired?

yes, a wrap does help. it calms her. sometimes it's not always practical, but it's definitely a good option.

Yeah I know it isn't always practical.  I also thought of something else, but not sure if you feel comfortable with this but DS now likes to sleep on his tummy and does much better staying asleep.  I am ok with it at this point since he's able to roll and he won't stay asleep any other way.  I actually have to stand him up to dress him and changing his diaper is a huge ordeal because if you put him on his back he flails and jerks.  He just HATES it.  Just thought I'd throw that out there.   

schtephanie

We also have a busy body.  Wrapping has practically saved us in that respect - for some reason he can be totally worked up and then once wrapped, he'll calm down and fall asleep.  We also have to put him down to sleep on his tummy - otherwise he flaps around and wakes back up screaming.  I know it's a no-no, but if we didn't, no one would be getting any sleep around here.