Hello fellow moms. I have a situation were I need advice & suggestions. Giselle has been regularly waking up at night 2-3 times and at least one of those times she is WIDE awake and doesn't go back to sleep easily. If she was just waking up every 3-4hrs to nurse then going back to sleep I think I could handle that but she acts like it's 8am at usually 2am. Last night was a perfect example: Bed time at 8pm., wakes up crying at 11pm at which point I nurse her & she's goes easily back down. Wakes up again crying at 2:45am: I first try to just give her a passy and comfort her but that does nothing then I nurse her and after that she's very awake. I rock her for a moment and she's just looking all around; that's when I realize rocking her is not helping so I just lay her down with her passy and shut her door. She's quite a few minutes then she's talking & that soon turns into fussing. Although she's crying, it's not an urgent, 'I'm in pain cry', so I let her fuss a while. After about ten minutes I comfort her and rub her back- not helping. The problem is we are in condos and Clay is worried about our neighbors being kept up by her. So at 3:45am I go in there and rock her (still acting awake) then end up bringing her into bed with us. She squirms a minute then falls asleep. I'm a little unsure about having her sleep with us (it's only happened a handful of times) and I don't really want to make it a habbit. I don't sleep well with her in there anyway. At 4:15am I turn off my alarm clock which was set to remind me to go to the gym in the morning. The Lord has been giving me so much grace during this time but I admit my patients is really being tested and I'm open to advice. Here are a few factors that may help:
>She's 7mo. and weighs about 15lbs. I just started feeding her a tiny bit of mashed food but it's so new that she's not really eating much. She nurses every 2.5-3 hrs each day and I give her two good feedings before bed (usually at 8pm)
>She takes two 1.5-2 hr. naps every day.
>I eat everything except broccoli, garlic and any other really gassy foods. I drink two cups of reg. coffee in the morning and sometimes a half cup in the evening. I've gone without the evening cup and it doesn't make a difference with Giselle getting up at night.
>Ask me any other questions you need to before giving advice- thanks friends!
15 comments:
Katy I bet she is teething. Does she have lots of slobber. You could try a little tylenol. Adelee had high pain tolerance so she wouldn't do a pain cry when she was teething but would wake up a lot. I would probably cut the caffeine back to only am and just one cup.
We co-sleep at night with all of our kids actually 7 months was when we started to transition them to their own bed at the start of the night although many times they ended up back in our bed by early morning until a year. They take naps in their cradle. Dr Sears has good advice on that if you want to read it. We do have a king bed which makes a difference. I know its not for everyone but really worked/works for us and is very normal in countries other than America.
You know with babies just when you figure them out they change. But know she will not do that forever it is just a season...it will pass. My big kids all pretty much sleep through the night unless they are sick in their own bed every night. There were times when I wondered if that would happen. It does. That first year there are lots of changes both for you and baby. They just keep changing. But you will look back and it will go fast.
My advice if you are up with a little one....use the time. I figure that when God wakes me up or baby up and we have a sleepless night it is for a reason and I use it....I use to to pray for my kiddos or friends or whatever God puts on my heart. It is a nice peaceful quiet time which doesn't always happen around here in the day. Somehow when I use that time instead peace comes over me.
Oh and if you have lots of sleepless nights nap in the day when she naps....since she is your only one you can still do that.....lucky girl. ;)
My first thought was teething also. Virginia does the same thing occasionally... I do a little bit of Tylenol (half the lowest dosage) and it helps.
Other times I think she's going through growth spurts, so I end up feeding and it helps. Around Giselle's age she was waking up a lot and I felt strongly that she was just growing and needing more food so I started with more mashed food and I also started doing mixing some formula in her bedtime bottle. I was still nursing but I don't think she was getting enough from me.
I'll be praying for you. Make sure you communicate with Clay how this is affecting you and ask for help too. It's okay for your man to help out. I don't ask Jason all the time because he works, but he is more than happy to take a shift when I ask him.
She has two bottom teeth, so. yes, she is teething. I have given her pain releaver every once in a while, but mainly when she's super fussy, not just wide awake at night. Thanks for the advice.
I guess since I didn't sleep with my parents, it didn't really occur to me to have her sleep with us, plus our queen-size bed does make me nervous. But thanks so the help. I'm going to work on one cup of coffee a day-eek, pray for me!
I only have one and she's just 10 mos. old, but I would say try more solids as well. By 7 mos. Annie was eating "dinner" and then a bedtime bottle, and I think it helped her get throught the night. But teething messes everything up.=) I'll be praying for you!
Hey Katy,
Sawyer did the exact same thing at 7 months...I read in a book that a lot of babies go through this around 7 months. It's like they become more mobile and aware of things and they don't want to miss out on anything. Not sure if that's the reason but my son loves to be social so that made sense to me. Plus the teething...Anyway I found that letting him sleep with us only made it worse. I finally had to let him cry it out. I stopped feeding him in the middle of the night. I would give him some infant tyelenol and lay him back down without getting him out. He cried really hard for about 35 min the first time. Then the next 2 nights he cried for about 15 min. After that he got the idea and would go back to sleep. After about a week he stopped waking up all together. Another thing I did was put an extra binki in his bed.(if she takes a binki) Sometimes he would get mad and throw the binki out of the crib having the extra one in there when he calmed down he could find it and go to sleep.
I understand about the condo situation...we were in an apartment for a while. You have to think about it from a long term point of view. A few nights of crying for the long term sleeping through the night is better off for everyone. :-) A book that I found very helpful was "Baby Wise". I don't follow it exactly but they had some good ideas that worked well for us.
Every baby is different so be encouraged that the Lord will give you and Clay direction and guidance on how best to handle your sweet baby girl. I'll be praying for you I know it can get frustrating especially in the middle of the night.
Blessings to you!
Tess
Just want you to know i'am praying for you, Its been so long,that i don't really remember.
I will continue to pray for you, and if you'd like call me if you need to just chat. Waking up in the night is not a problem..
Love you sweetie..Jane
thank you all so much for your encouragement and love. I walked into church Sunday and talked with a new girl who had been up almost all night with her one yr. old boy who was teething and she just looked like she was gonna cry. It made me so thankful for the support I have all around me and to just hear that it can be normal. I guess we all tend to take the best cases and label them 'normal' rather then knowing that every kid is different and there's nothing 'normal' except the unexpected!
The last three nights have actually been an improvement! I've been pushing baby food especially at dinner and I've been trying to limit her naps to only two and none later than 4:30ish. I also am not having any caffeine in the evenings. Two nights in a row of nursing only once and rocking back to sleep within minutes- thank you Lord. I also have been enjoying my rocking time more seeing that I have a quiet time to pray and reflect on God's blessings to us.
Hi Katy! Elizabeth pointed out your post to me. Here are a few things you might want to think about.
Hyland's Teething tablets are really effective and a lot easier on the liver. Lucy just went through a teething phase and when she started wailing over the silliest things (I call it "toddler adolescence") I'd give her a few of the tablets and she'd run off and play with no problem (even fall down and just dust herself off and keep going!).
It is good that you cut out the caffeine. It goes straight to the milk. I am not a coffee drinker and personally am very affected by caffeine, so I can't identify with breaking the coffee habit. But I have some stuff called Teeccino that brews like coffee and is a bit bitter like coffee, but I can't vouch for it as a replacement. It makes a great ice "coffee" drink, though. Yum...just like those Starbucks frappaccinos. And no caffeine (use honey to sweeten and there is no refined sugar, either!) To help your milk supply make sure you are eating lots of good fats (butter, butter, butter!, cream, coconut oil, eggs, etc.) - the highest quality you can afford. It will definitely help you keep up with her demand. Also you may consider feeding her egg yolks and pureed meats rather than vegetables and cereals. Babies don't have the digestive enzymes to digest grains and they need a lot of fat (besides it will keep her full all night, too!). Here's an article with some more details. http://www.westonaprice.org/children/nourish-baby.html
Good call on limiting the naps. I remember that was a big deal with Lucy and it was a tough night when I let her sleep too long. :-)
Glad you are getting a handle on the problem! She's a cutie pie!
Blessings,
Katie
Totally agree with the decreasing naps... and no naps after 4 b/c that may be too close to bedtime :) I totally regretted the Baby Wise stuff I did with Luke. My mom always said little babies cry because they have a need... and being close to mommy is a good thing. I did not do a tight schedule with Sophia and it has gone much better! She slept in the car seat or swing for at least 6 months b/c thats where she liked to sleep- so that's what she got! Hang in there
sleep with her now.....it won't last forever. give her cupcakes, ice cream and all the fun stuff. She'll be just fine. look at clay....that's all he would eat. oh yeah, and can you blend up mcdonalds chicken nuggets? he lived on those forever too. okay, really though Kate, I think she needs more food. and stuff for teething (the suggestions above sound great). I agree with Les. but you know me....I spoil um...jack is still sleeping in my room! I miss you and love you. wish I was there to hold baby girl. and sneak her some yummy treats! kises to clay and giselle.
Hyland's Teething tablets are the best! They even have some for babies with colic. I know this will sound weird but try putting chamomile tea bags in her bath water at night (her skin will absorb the tea). When ours had colic we gave him peppermint and chamomile tea baths it worked wonders:)
We were co-sleepers as well. And when it was time they had no problem going into their own beds. If you don't want her in your bed there is a crib called Arm's Reach which attaches to your crib so they have their own space.
Nap when she naps, maybe rethink going to the gym at 415am until she is sleeping through the night go for an afternoon walk instead.
If you ever need a nap during the day give me a call we are right down the street:)
I've enjoyed reading everyone's comments... we co-sleep too.. it does help having a king size bed, but I know people who put a baby rail on their bed just to be safe...(I always keep baby next to me on the outside of the bed, never between me and Roger) I get alot more rest when I don't have to actually get up...she's right there... and when she's teething, she loves to just suck, not really eat. I don't find that feeding more solids makes any difference, so at 10 months old, Susannah is only eating an egg yolk in the morning, an occasional bit of banana and tastes of this or that during dinner if she is at the table with the rest of us. www.westonaprice.org is a super place to learn about feeding babies! (and you) All to say, ENJOY Giselle! The first year flies by soooo fast and it will never be just you and one baby again! Happy Mothering! Also.. sign up to get Above Rubies. It's free and just the BEST! www.aboverubies.org
I'm with the other ladies... bring her to bed with ya. Maegan Hall
Thanks girls for more help. I'm excited to check out the web sites and learn more. Things have been a bit better but some days I just know it will be a rough night. Thankfully Clay is so gracious and willing to let her sleep with us or stay up late if it means we're all 'happy'. Wow- it's the best having advice from godly girls who have walked the road before me!
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