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April 2012 Moms
SteelCity44
member
Micah Leonard
Won't go down
SteelCity44
member
I can no longer put my son to sleep. I've been home for about a week now on break, and I can't put my son down for a nap or for bed. He screams at the top of his lungs, arches his back and stomps his feet. Sometimes it can take up to 90 minutes to get him down, and usually nursing is the only thing to finally calm him. He has never needed nursed to sleep, and I'm afraid of him picking up this pattern now.
He'll go down fine for DH, who can put him in his lap while watching tv and LO easily falls asleep. Some times he has to cradle and rock, but that's the most he has to struggle with DS. For awhile, we were able to put LO in his bed when he was tired but awake. Now, LO wants me to walk and rock and shush all at the same time, and I feel like we're moving backwards. Shouldn't it be getting easier?
And yes, LO is tired, but not overtired (when we start). He's not hungry because it's usually shortly after he has eaten. And it only happens to me. Daycare and DH have never had this problem. I'm so afraid of contributing to this problem by doing something wrong. If DH is home, I make him put Micah down now. It's less stressful on everyone involved.
Micah Leonard
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Won't go down
Yes! The mommy-itis is so strong right now! I have become a human jungle gym/teether over this past week. He wants nothing to do with his toys. He just wants to climb all over me. We normally are very good about having a routine when we're both working, but now that I'm on break, I'm not getting up at 4:30 and nursing him at 6 (thank God). Right around the holidays, there wasn't a chance of a "schedule," because we were constantly moving from one place to another. Hopefully this is short lived. I just wish I could enjoy vacation with a little less stress!
Micah Leonard
Hey Steel- we are going through the same thing at our house. I work from home though, so I don't know if it 100% because I'm "home" with her and off this week. She screams for both DH and I, constantly. She has started waking up in the middle of the night just screaming! We can rock her, and rock her, but the second we move her away from our bodies and into the crib, she starts again. Last night was the second night I was on the couch. Tonight, we did have to let her cry for 15 minutes before she calmed down. DH did some research today, and for us, it could be any number of things, starting with night terrors, and separation anxiety. Night terrors can start happening at 6 months. Just like with sleep walking, we read that we aren't supposed to soothe, talk to her, or do anything to draw attention to ourselves. We decided, that tonight, if she gets up tonight, we will simply go in, and sit in the room to make sure she's not hurting herself. Then, we have to wait for 15-20 minutes until she comes out of the terror.
Now, if that doesn't work, then I do think it is part of separation anxiety. That peaks at 9 months (according DH's research). In that case, it doesn't sound like walking into the room helps much either. I am NOT one to CIO, as DD's crying scares me, and she has a hard time breathing, but so far so good. She was able to put herself to sleep, after I spent 10 min. shushing and rubbing her hand. I hope for your sake that Micah calms down before you're back to work. Everything we read did say "this too shall pass." Good luck Mama! I'd also love to hear what works for you.
9 months was terrible with DD. Between the wakeful and growth spurt and of course she had constant separation anxiety. I'm getting really nervous heading into this time.
But on the plus side things started getting better than they'd ever been around the 10 month mark. I consider this the home stretch.
That's really good to know. I thought he had separation anxiety before, but this is insane. It's nice to be loved, but it's also nice to go to the bathroom on your own.
Micah Leonard
I also read that separation anxiety begins at 9mo. I've been on break, too. It'll have been 2 weeks once DH and I go back. This is also right when LO turns 9mo. I'm nervous about her return to daycare. She's definitely been clingy, and for whatever reason, DH has always had an easier time putting her to sleep than I have. There's also a Wonder Week around now https://www.thewonderweeks.com/index.php/about-the-wonder-weeks/your-babys-10-leaps/mental-leap-6
Keep your head up!
Thank you all for the support. I finally decided just to give in and nurse him whenever he wanted to nurse. Several times it was after only 2 hours, but he's such a fast nurser that it wasn't a big deal. He also has wanted to eat "real" food a lot more. He's now taking in 3 meals with snacks in between. I feel like all we're ever doing is getting food ready, eating, or cleaning up from it! I'm running out of bibs!
He's definitely going through something, because he's been trying so many new things lately and just crawled for the first time. Only it was backwards and he screamed the whole time. My kid is so goofy.
Micah Leonard