First baby suckered us!

MommyAtty · May 2014

I'm not sure if I ever did an intro over here, so here it is.

I'm a just-turned-40 year old STM. I have a 22 month old DD and a 3 1/2 week old DS. And can I just say DD totally suckered us into having No. 2? She was a 2 time per night eater for a week or so, then up once per night until she was 6 weeks old, when she magically started sleeping all night in her crib. Her brother, on the other hand, eats every 3 hours, day or night, and has recently decided that every night between 1 am and 4 am, he has to poop and has forgotten how. So he grunts and groans, and occasionally cries if he isn't held and given gripe water at least once and often twice. I am stinking EXHAUSTED. And DH apparently goes deaf when he falls asleep, so he's completely unaware anything is happening. I'm dreading going back to work at the 6 week mark. If his sleep isn't improving, I'm going to die. Or get a new husband!

Geeps2 · May 2014

I can relate. I have a 2 year old daughter and my son is 6 months. My daughter was sleeping through the night by maybe 3 or 4 months, can't remember but it was early. My son still is getting up. Just when I think he is rounding the sleep corner, he starts waking back up every 3-4 hrs. I walk around in a fog at work. Coffee is my best friend and there are days I will be mid sentence and forget what on earth I was trying to say or why I started telling a story. It's bad. Oh, and my husband may get smothered by a pillow soon because he too has no clue how many times I am up a night, He hears NOTHING. I am swimming in the same sea as you!

DTNZ4Ever · May 2014

Ds1 was a unicorn baby. He was sleeping. 12am-6am at 3 weeks old. I could also set my watch by him during the day and he would eat every 3 hours and barely cried. DS2 is 10 weeks old and just started sleeping 9pm-5:45/6am. He cries all the time and needs to be held all the time. Today for example both DSs ate, DS1 was down for his nap, DS2 had a clean diaper and was in the swing happy. I sit down to eat my lunch and DS2 starts crying and flipping out. I check his diaper it's fine, he ate 5.5 oz an hour before. I try the paci, I try picking him up nothing makes him happy. All I wanted to do was eat my lunch since I drank too much coffee and was all jittery from the caffeine. Oh and he only wants me DH can do nothing to help him.

stever · May 2014

Aw, hang in there.

I had the opposite happen. DS1 didn't sleep well until he was 18 months hold - he was a wake up half a dozen time a night guy for a while - so we weren't expecting much with DS2, but he's (mostly) been an awesome sleeper.

Sorry, back to my point. The lack of sleep sucks but you get used to it. Seriously. And then, when you get to have a full night's sleep it. is. awesome!

JilliansMoma · May 2014

There were a few days after we brought each of our girls home where DH and would look at each other and ask WTF did we do? Lucky for us it was a short window before they each found their sleep groove. I'm sure I just jinxed myself and #4 will be a holy terror! I sleep with ear plugs so my DH is up or wakes me so we switch off on those rough nights. GL

MommyAtty · May 2014

Thanks, all! I also keep reminding myself that DS was 3 weeks early, so his adjusted age is really only approaching the one week mark. Here's hoping he's finally going to be big enough that he cuts out the 2 am feeding. And we are switching bottles to see if that helps with the grunt-y pooping and excess gas and spit-up. (I can't believe Similac discontinued their bottles. Those were the best!)

Guennie · May 2014

I am convinced all men become deaf in their sleep, both because they won't hear the baby and because they will let their highly irritating alarm go off for a freaking hour before shutting it off. (Do I sound agitated?)

shelley1002 · May 2014

I had the opposite problem. DS1 is just starting to sleep all night (no wake ups) and he's 2.5 years old. DS2 is 7 months and was sleeping from 7pm-4am, had a bottle then slept until 7am. Then after his last growth spurt/helmet/crib transition all at once he is up 2-3 times a night. Usually 7pm-11pm, has a bottle, up again around 1am for a diaper change, up again around 4am for a bottle, up for the day anywhere between 5am and 6:30am.

You adjust to the lack of sleep. I also work full time and have been back at work since DS2 was 6 weeks old. It does get better. Just hang in there and grab some DD or Starbucks.

URMySunshine77 · May 2014

Hey, my DH also doesn't hear the baby cry even though we are in the room next door. What's up with these men?

@MommyAtty: Hang in there!

MesmrEwe · June 2014

DD slept through the night from her second night home from the hospital... DS... I didn't get to sleep reliably in my bed until he was about 14 months... And even now at 2.5 I don't get to bed some nights until 2AM because he's that hard to get down for the night, and then he's up at eh, 6:30AM.. DH OTOH, he can't understand why I am so tired all the time and complain that I need more sleep... <GRRRRRR> And yes, DH falls asleep about a half-hour or less into my attempting to get DS down (this process starts at 9PM), and if DS gets up during the night, DH rarely if ever notices but he'll complain to high places if I convince DS to crawl into bed with us to sleep (I don't care if he sleeps on my arm or DH's pillow as long as I get to sleep past 4:30AM!)

I keep reminding myself it's a phase and one day I'll be able to break my requirement of drinking coffee every day (I never could tolerate anything coffee until after DS was born)..

MommyAtty · June 2014

If this kiddo doesn't sleep through the night for years, one of us sooo is not going to survive this adventure! Lol. Last night he had 2 stretches just over 4 hrs each. So we are seeing improvement. I think if we could solve the middle of the night painful gas and pooping issue, we would see even better sleep. He was up from midnight to a little after one grunting and crying, poor little bun.

shelley1002 · June 2014

Have you tried burping a little longer, bicycles, and/or gas drops to try to lessen the gas before bed? If LO BF or FF? If FF it could be the formula. If BF it could be something in your diet. I also remember DS1 outgrew the gassy phase after a few months (not exactly sure when, maybe 4 months).

MommyAtty · June 2014

shelley1002 said:

Have you tried burping a little longer, bicycles, and/or gas drops to try to lessen the gas before bed? If LO BF or FF? If FF it could be the formula. If BF it could be something in your diet. I also remember DS1 outgrew the gassy phase after a few months (not exactly sure when, maybe 4 months).

Yes, all of that. He's FF, and we've switched his formula and his bottles. His sister went through this, too, she just had the good sense to do it during the day! DH and I joke that we wake up chanting "Work the legs! Rub the tummy!" I'm hoping like with his sister this ends soon.

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