Need some advice moms out there. Harper is a good sleeper, during the day....but at night for the past week it's been a different story and it's killing me. I get up to feed her, she falls asleep, usually after about 20-30 mins of feeding. I sit in the chair and rock her for a few mins, and then I attempt to transfer her to the cradle. Usually she will go down for just a few mins, but then she'll wake up and fuss and carry on for like an hour before she finally falls asleep. Usually her eyes aren't open. If they are open, I usually pick her back up until they are closed again. I've tried rocking her, rubbing her, leaving her alone, etc, but none of it seems to make any difference. I am starting to wonder if she is having belly troubles b/c a lot of time she will work out a few farts as she grunts and carries on in her cradle. So my question for you ladies is, when your baby was this young, did they always seem to be kicking and grunting around working a fart/poop after they ate? I am just worried she's having digestion problems. During the day she is rarely laid right back down after she eats, but at night of course she is. She very rarely cries when I put her down and if I hold her or lay her next to me in bed she doesn't fuss nearly as much. She is pooping a few times a day and its normal, so its not like she's constipated.
10 comments:
If you think it's gas, try the Mylicon, that stuff is very safe for every feeding if necessary. Is she burping after you feed? You may need to help her work the gas out. I tickled the boys on their sides when they had gas and it made them squirm around until the gas let out...just our trick here.
Do you swaddle her? It could be that she just wants that security of being close to someone. If you are already swaddling, try a pacifier if you don't object to that...the sucking action helps soothe them.
The first few months are always hard until that pattern is set. Hang in there.
we had the exact same grunty piglet issues anytime H fell asleep eating and got put down without a serious burp -- always within 45 minutes of lying down, inevitably 5 cruel minutes after I fell asleep.
we had to be burp sticklers for awhile, but he eventually got better at eating and hardly gets gassy anymore.
Swaddling is a good one to try. Also, if you're using a blanket with her, keep it on you while she's with you - it may be the cooler feeling of the crib that's waking her up (my daughter was terrible for this).
The wee one may still be finding her pattern too, and if that's the case, it'll pass. Just keep her day routine as consistent as possible. Pretty soon the night-time queues will sink in and she'll just know to sleep.
Hang in there!
I agree w/ everyone else so far and Nick had some nights like this - usually I'd end up w/ him sleeping on my chest. Not recommended but precious
It's the three week thing! A lot of babies start having trouble sleeping around that time (Nate is exhibit A!) If I ate dairy or soy he got really gassy and extra tough to get down. It's very common for babies to not be able to tolerate milk and soy protein through breast milk. Also, at 3 weeks until about 8-12 weeks a lot of babies struggle with overstimulation in the evenings. Once we figured that out we turned the lights low and muted the tv about an hour before bed and kept things quiet except for white noise (remember the blow dryer?!) That helped a lot. Good luck! Call me if you need to discuss further :)
Swaddle! We had to swaddle Anna Claire tightly for the first 6 months using the Swaddle Me blankets. Sound machine is great too - we still use it every nap and leave it on all night! We got to where we used mylicon after every feeding for about the first 8 weeks - it does help almost instantly when they are crying for no apparent reason after feeding. AC was gassy and struggled every time she had a bowel movement - our Ped told us this is normal as their systems are maturing and developing. The first 8 to 10 weeks are hard and then it get so much better -I promise! Hang in there! Oh and try the swing... it didn't work for us until about 7 weeks, but it was magic after that! We never really used the crib until 7 weeks. She slept in the bassinet at night and in the swing or bouncy chair (with vibration on) for naps. You are going through what most new Mom's go through - no worries. It will be a distant memory in a few months :-) I think it was about 6 weeks before Anna Claire STARTED to figure out the day and night thing - then she started sleeping for longer stretches at night and had more awake time during the day. Good luck!
agree with swaddling, and pacifier (though andra didn't want that until like 2+ months). she was also a noisy sleeper, so we put her in her own room after 2 nights home because i thought every noise meant she was awake. not so for her - if she really cried i heard her and woke up, but if she was just squirming, she went back to sleep on her own. farts = normal i think. good luck! it all does get easier.
I also agree with the swaddling. It was the only way we could get Zach to sleep early on (and he learned to break through the blankets quickly). I also bounced with him on the exercise ball after feeding and that seemed to work to put him to sleep when nothing else would. I wish I had more helpful advice but Zach was a terrible sleeper early on. Trust me if I knew, I would have been doing it.
We have the same problem. Jack squirms and grunts all the time, even when he is asleep. We give him Mylicon after each feeding and swaddle him. He really doesn't like the pacifier. He also will only sleep in the bouncy seat which we started to help him with the reflux. We are trying to get him into the crib but he doesn't like it. He also still wakes up every 3 hours at night to nurse (he's just over 6 weeks) so I don't know if I am a good source of advice. Hang in there. Hopefully we can sleep again someday.
Gas is rad! I held Nils upright, or on my shoulder, for like 15-20 after a feeding at night to work any gas out before I laid him back in bed. Sucks, but all of it is hard.
Do you have a wedge for her cradle? So she can be leaned a little up with sides to make her feel comforted. Might help.
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