May Emeralds 2014 - Parenting

[Wannabe Mommy]

My baby is FF'ed and she is going through a phase where she wants to eat every 1 1/2 hours so I'm cutting back the individual servings a bit but not much. I didn't think formula fed babies cluster fed as much as this one does. My mom told me that colicky babies think they need to eat more than they do. It seems like that would be true because when my stomach hurts I keep nibbling thinking something will make me feel better. It never does though.

The colic is BAD today. She didn't let me get more than 1 hour of sleep at a time last night and this afternoon she wouldn't let me nap. I had to leave her in our room to cry just so I could snag 15 minutes of actual sleep on the couch as I was in tears myself.

I'm getting NOTHING done today but yesterday my doctor said my only "to do" list should be to make sure everyone is fed and everyone gets some sleep. Well, everyone is getting fed.....

Lexi went through a 3 week old growth spurt where she ate constantly for 48 hrs then just stopped slept for 5 hrs and went back to her previous routine.

I've just looked back at my log for 3 weeks ago and she had 37 oz of formula in a 24hr period.

 

[Lilly12]

Yea Layla is going through the 3 week growth spurt right now

 

[bumpin2012]

^ oh yeah. I've heard that too about not waking after they've regained birth weight. I don't really have that problem as she wakes herself up every 2-4 hours if I'm lucky four, at night it went from every two hours to every three.

I can NOT wait for this to get easier. It has from the first week or two but my nipples are still hurting when she latches. When does that stop! It's not as sore during feeding though she's also being a turd lately where she's not opening as wide as she use to. Or she'll pull off and slurp nipple back in so she's only latched on nipple.

Someone brought me a fancy nursing cover today! I was just using a blanket but it's far too hot for that. I usually don't care about covering up but her doing the in latching to look around thing I'd rather the whole world not see my nipple multiple times

J wakes every 3-4 at night, with the occasional night where she sleeps for 5 hours.

Mine are still sore (ish) but getting better all the time. J does the EXACT same thing with the pull off and slurp crap. damn that hurts too! I just make sure I break suction as quick as I can and relatch her. She started doing it around the same age as Scarlet. If you pull her in closer while nursing it makes it harder for her to do. J likes to pull her bottom lip in now too.

 

[bumpin2012]

Starry night, could she be super gassy? J was a BEAR around 4 weeks and once I started giving her gripe water and Ovol regularily (like one or the other at almost every feeding) and Cocyntal when she was fussy, she started to be easier to settle. It took a few days, but it did work eventually.

 

[Starry Night]

Yeah, she's pretty gassy. I give her gripe water a couple times a day but no regular routine with it. I'll try a small amount with every feed.

It's been an hour and she still hasn't gone to sleep for the night yet. Poor DH. He has to be up so early in the morning and it's such tough, physical work he is doing. But I don't know what to do anymore. I've stuffed her so full of formula I think she's about to explode. She's fine in my arms but I can't hold her all night. She had seemed to start to settle (just soft whimpering) but it's picking up again. I think I'm going to have to become a coffee and pop addict to function off of no sleep. I just wish there was a way to know how long this would go on. If I knew she would start sleeping through the night (8 hours) at 6 weeks like DS did then I think I could grit my teeth and bear it for the short term. It's the thought that this could go on for months or years that is scaring me right now.

 

[Starry Night]

Crap. I was JUST in the middle of posting that she has now self-settled when she started screaming again. Seriously, she was quiet for 10 minutes or so. Wah. I'm never going to sleep tonight, am I? She's been fussing in her sleep so even though she sleeps for 3ish hours she cries out every 20 minutes or so. Gives me zero sleep. I'm sleeping on the couch tonight. When she screams for real I should still be able to hear her. (just around the corner)

 

[Wannabe Mommy]

Crap. I was JUST in the middle of posting that she has now self-settled when she started screaming again. Seriously, she was quiet for 10 minutes or so. Wah. I'm never going to sleep tonight, am I? She's been fussing in her sleep so even though she sleeps for 3ish hours she cries out every 20 minutes or so. Gives me zero sleep. I'm sleeping on the couch tonight. When she screams for real I should still be able to hear her. (just around the corner)

Try putting a towel under the head of her mattress so her bed is inclined, or if you have one pop her in a bouncy chair/swing. If she has bellyache then laying flat in her back will make her uncomfortable.

Raising one end of the mattress really helps Lexi and in moments of desperation I have let her sleep on her tummy which works really well.

Oh the tiger in the tree hold (facedown on you arm, head near your elbow and feet over your hand) is great too.

 

[bumpin2012]

She may have reflux. G had it REALLY bad...like he SMELLED like acid bad. Maybe try wannabe mommy's suggestion with raising the head of her bed a bit. There are angled pillows for reflux babies.

She may be overfull too, making her belly hurt.

big mama. Hang in there, as anyone who has ever had a miserable baby will tell you, it WILL get better.

 

[Lilly12]

Not to scare you but my first didn't sleep through the night until she was 2.5 years old.
Some kids just don't sleep for long periods of time until later on in life, it's not weird or out of the ordinary.
Society tries to make you believe that babies have to sleep through the night from early on . While it is actually normal for them not to , as it is a survival instinct to eat every few hours, and be close to mommy!
But know that it will pass, even if it may take a while. I'd not stuff your baby full though as like the other person said, it may be hurting her belly.
You say she's quiet in your arms . I'd try to cosleep .
I'm cosleeping with my 3 year old (she sleeps on the other side of our king bed.) And my 3 week old , she sleeps next to me , this is the only way both will sleep good, and I need my sleep !!
Baby just wants to be next to you as it's a scary world out there for a baby

 

[Excalibur]

Jayden was 7 weeks yesterday and we got him weighed, he now weighs 12lbs 5oz!

 

[daddiesgift]

My kids have never slept overnight well not consistently. We are currently split up in the house! The boys were in there own room but since one is usually waking up once Scarlett was born OH started sleeping in the boys room with Anthony and Dominic, Scarlett and I sleep in our room. Just easier that way. Once Scarlett is sleeping longer which is starting to happen Dominic is going back to his room and daddies coming back to ours! We love co sleeping it was the only way we got any sleep in early days. We moved the boys when I found out I was pregnant with Scarlett. While they've done great in their room they started waking up again. We'll sleep with Scarlett as long as she wants to! I need my

 

[FleurDeMai]

Co-sleeping is the only way I can get Arthur to sleep as well. They're so little, thy don't understand when we're making them sleep so far away... if bed sharing isn't an option for you, you could always put the cot close to your bed so baby's at arms reach. That's what I'd do if mattress wasn't firm enough.

We had our last midwife appointment today
And she confirmed what I thought, if I had not done exactly what the pediatrician was saying the hospital would've called social services. And from what I could make from what my midwife said, they did call. I guess the only reason why no one came to check on us is because the health visitor and the bf'ing specialist (who's a doctor) are satisfied with what they've seen, with Arthur's weight gain and with my parental competences.

Anyway... Arthur is 7lbs3oz now. Yesterday we went to the store and I've had complete strangers tell me they didn't believe he's 6 weeks old, I must be lying kind of like the lady who argued with my mother that my brother was a girl.

 

[Starry Night]

Co-sleeping is not really an option as DH moves around in his sleep a lot and when he has a bad dream he can be almost violent. I've gotten a few smacks myself and once he twisted my arm so bad I cried. He felt rotten about it once he woke up, of course. I once tried to co-sleep with dS but he just sunk into the mattress (it's a pillow top) and just as I picked him up DH, in his sleep, rolled over and PUNCHED the mattress where Ds had just been lying. I was like "OH yeah, that's why we don't co-sleep". Yeesh. I already do have the bassinet right beside my bed and I feel that's making it worse because I can hear every little whimper. As I said, she does it in her sleep so it's me who suffers.

Last night actually ended up going better than I thought. Just as I was about to go pick her up again I heard her snoring so I just went to sleep on the couch. Then after her night feed she went right to sleep again so I slept in bed beside her. She also slept for 2 hours this afternoon in her bassinet and was able to lightly fuss herself to sleep.

I do think she has reflux though. She cries after every feed and when she spits up she gets really upset and goes into panic-mode. DS spit up more than she did but he was a happy spit-upper. She also doesn't like being on her back too much. I mentioned it to the public health nurse when she was over today and she stayed to watch me feed her and sure enough, DD spit up with it coming out of her nose as well (this almost always happens) and threw a fit. DD is gaining weight which can be a problem with reflux babies so I guess it's not severe. Hopefully, after a day or two on the gentle formula things will settle a bit.

I'm a girl who NEEDS my sleep. I can't do the "running on adrenaline and caffeine" thing. Yesterday was so, so bad for my PPD and that was only after 2 really bad nights. Waking up once and getting an early morning are doable. It's the not getting to sleep until 2 and only getting an hour at a time that are sending me over the edge. It doesn't help that I've been SO spoiled with DS. Seriously, sleeping through the night since 6 weeks and that was nearly 3 years ago.

 

[Starry Night]

fleur - I think it's crazy they called social services on you just because your baby is tiny. There has got to be some other signs they should have to cross-reference before calling social services on parents. I know there are some signs they have to take seriously, but a small baby is not one of them. Some babies are just small.

 

[gaves99]

Fleur - that is the craziest thing. Molly isn't much bigger and can't imagine social services being called. Good luck and keep up the good work!

Starry - I feel your pain with the no sleep thing. I am HORRIBLE at running on nothing. She's been horrible at night with purple crying, bed at midnight and up at 5. I can usually get her down again 7-10 and I take a nap again too to survive the day. Hope all gets better for you and less spit up and fussy. The out the nose is always fun!

 

[x__amour]

https://i326.photobucket.com/albums/k410/shannonmtravis/10463933_10203210044464823_586544502688527487_n_zps00a67988.jpg

Our sweet little TWO month old.

 

[daddiesgift]

I can't believe some of the babies are coming up on two months! Time is going way too fast!

Amour- very adorable!

 

[Starry Night]

x-amour - aw, so adorable! Love the idea with the tie. Is it an actual tie or is it a cutout/photoshop? Sorry, can't tell on my computer monitor.

And I agree that time is going by so quickly. My own LO is nearly a month old and she ended up being born in June. The past 3 1/2 weeks have been a blur (sometimes literally, ha ha)

Anyways, last night DD was good to me and pretty much slept through the night. She slept from 10:30 ('only' took 1/2 hour to get her down) to just past 6. So about 7 1/2 hours. I got 6 hours straight. She slept another 3 hours after her morning feed so I had some quiet time with DS. It's helping me bear this late afternoon colic scream fest she's having right now.

 

[x__amour]

It's a cut out. Maybe I'll have to Photoshop in the future though when he'll rip them off.

 

[Buggzxxx]

Hi girls! Its been a while! I had to take my princess to the doctors this week, ive suspected reflux for a while but tried infacol and gripe water on HVs advice... Anyway baby woke up on thursday and she just looked miserable she was fighting her feeds an Id had enough. Got to the doctors only to be told there were no appointments until tuesday and so I made a scene!!! I basically told the receptionist it was disgusting that a 5 week old baby should have to wait and suffer for 5 more days and that I would be making complaints... Then as if by magic an appointment opened up right there and then! Princess is on infant gaviscon and is so much happier the very first feed she had with it she managed a whole 3 oz (she usually does two then waits a while before having another two). Poor babas been in pain for a long time but thankfully she seems so much better now.

Dont be afraid to kick off to get these babies what they need girls! It works!