Both Hubby and I are exhausted! For the past couple days, little AC has been up and cranky from about 11 PM to 1 AM. It is a team effort to keep him soothed and and calm. And he is tired! The only good thing is that he is fairly easily soothed. When he is calm, he yawns and slows down. You can tell he is tired. He is usually back to sleep before 2 AM, which is small comfort when Hubby has to go to work for a full day. Both of us are hoping it gets better soon. I read several places that fussiness peaks at 6 weeks, and then it gets better. We are halfway there, as little AC is about three weeks right now.
We are fairly sure the fussiness is not colic because he does calm down within a couple of hours. The soothing techniques we are using do work, he just does not fall asleep. He may have his nights and days confused? Maybe I should try to wake him to feed him every couple of hours. That has worked the one day I tried it. Maybe it will work better if I do it for more than one day. It is difficult when you are very tired, though.
We suspect his fussiness is due to gas, so I am back to giving him simethicone to help him pass it. It does not help that I am crappy burper. It is difficult for me to get him to burp, and then the gas just builds up. I try him sitting up in my lap, and over my shoulder. Every now and again I get a small or medium burp, but that is about it. I have increased the forcefulness of my patting. Gentle does not seem to do it, I think. Of course, I am not having a lot of luck either way, so I am not sure how much it matters. He is breastfeeding, and supposedly takes in less air, though with my overactive let down, I suspects he gulps regularly which causes him to take in air. I wish there was an easy way to burp a baby!
I finally got to play with my pump yesterday. I pumped three ounces from one breast! Hooray! It works, and is easy to use! Now I can stockpile milk so that Hubby can feed the baby from time to time. Also I can try leaving the baby for a while, and getting out of the house on my own. I hope I will feel better leaving him if I know he can be fed. Maybe we will try a bottle this weekend. I am not really expecting too many problems. Keeping fingers crossed that it will go smoothly.
More snow here today. I decided to stay home, rest, and hide. Hopefully baby will let me nap this afternoon. I finally figured out the side lying breastfeeding position, so at least I can rest when I feed him. I just wish it worked between 11 PM and 1AM!
4 comments:
I'm guessing baby will get the hang of it soon and will figure out nights and days. Hubby and I just watched the video "The Happiest Baby on the Block" (too lazy to read the book!) and one thing that was emphasized is that you should think of the first 6 weeks of your baby's life as a 4th trimester - that they are really still fetuses. Therefore, they are still looking for the same routine they had in utero (and part of that is having no concept of night/day). I have idea if the ideas in the book/video are any good given that we haven't had our little one yet, but it was still an interesting concept. Take care and hope you get some good sleep soon!
hope the fussies go away soon!
another vote for the 5S's from happiest baby! OMG worked miracles in our house.
I hope the fussies end soon: We really have to wallop on DD to get her to burp.
Things did improve for us around 6-8 weeks, though Bruiser's insane appetite often made nights a bit rough on me. You'll start getting longer stretches, at more reasonable times for adult sleep.
However, until that happens, do whatever it takes to get sleep. Can you take shifts? I used to sleep from 8-11 or so, then get up and hang out/doze/nurse until I couldn't take it anymore, around 5 AM-ish. My husband got enough sleep to function at work, and I was able to remain somewhat sane. What about taking the tyke for a car ride at 10:30-11 PM? Lying down with him to nurse? A warm bath as he approaches the dreaded unhappy hour?
Basically, look at all the suggestions possible, try a few, and just do whatever you can to get through the first 2-3 months.
It does get easier. And someday, a year from now, we'll look back and laugh at those vaguely remembered sleepless nights...
Post a Comment