With the above scenario, you can see why I am desperate to find a solution. What exactly happened at 4 months you say, I HAVE NO IDEA!!! I thought it may be a phase that he would outgrow either due to teething, adjusting to his crib, growth spurt, etc., but it has now been 2 1/2 months of bad sleep patterns. Another bad pattern is he will only nurse to sleep. Eric used to be able to get him asleep without issue. We are working on this and he has successfully put him down about 4-5 times this last week but it required major bouncing on the exercise ball. This nurse to sleep pattern started when his naps during the day became every 2 hours after waking for about 30-45 minutes (cat naps) which is also how often he eats. So, he quickly made the association between sleeping and nursing. The book I talked about last week (no cry ideas)has many ideas of how to help his sleep improve including how to break the sleep/nurse association. This includes allowing him to nurse for shorter and shorter times (until asleep, then until falling asleep, then until drowsy) and taking him off. When he then starts to root (which he does), I try to close his mouth and if he fights, put him back on and start over again. She also has ideas of how to help him learn to put himself to sleep by learning that white sound, certain words I say, music, etc. mean sleep and then slowly going from picking him up when he cries to standing by the crib to standing at the door, to not having to go in at all. I say slow, because I can see it will take a LONG time to get to not going in at all.
My success with these techniques has been minimal, primarily due to being so tired at 3am after getting only an hour or less at a time of sleep and just giving in and either nursing him to sleep without taking him off or just bringing him to bed where he just rolls over to nurse. I'm not 100% sold on how this will work as I have joined a chat room of other moms using the book and all have their ups and downs and frustrations with how long it takes to work. I am doing okay now as I can nap with him during the day but once I start work within the next couple of months, I'M IN TROUBLE IF THIS DOESN'T GET BETTER!!! I may need to explore some other ideas, too, if I can't get myself to stick to it due to my exhaustion!! I took Eli to the doc to make sure he wasn't still sick with an ear infection and he checked out clear. I asked about sleep and she suggested that maybe he has set a pattern of eating and sleeping for himself of every 2-3 hours 24 hours a day. This makes sense to me but as for how to break it, that is the real question. I don't want to not feed him when he is really hungry but don't want to nurse if it's just out of habit!!
As for eating, Eli isn't a huge fan of it yet. He's had rice cereal and banana and has worked up to about 1 tbsp before he shuts down. He hasn't quite figured out how to open his mouth for each bite but then is able to do the chewing motion pretty good. Tomorrow I think I will start him on sweet potato and see how that goes. Then maybe add either pear or carrots to the menu later this week. Mommy question: Did/do you make your baby food with fresh ingredients and with what you are having for dinner or just use the jarred food? I am thinking of doing both as I don't want him to get completely accustomed to just fresh foods and then not like any processed foods, which he will have to eat on occasion. Any thoughts? Here's some video of him eating yesterday:
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Eating after 1 week & 2 foods (rice cereal & banana)
This week we returned to breastfeeding group which was good. We enjoy playing with our friends and having mommy talk. Eli now weighs 22 lbs. 4 oz!! Otherwise, a pretty low key week. I was a week off of the government test for the job in social security, it's this Thursday not last Thursday. I'll post about how that goes next week....keep your fingers crossed!!
Eli continues to babble, babble, babble and just loves to hear himself talk. He also has started a very high pitched scream which is a little annoying, but again, he likes to hear himself! He still doesn't like to roll over too much, just when he falls over from trying to reach a toy and then he just kinda hangs out instead of rolling over. He prefers sitting right now! Below are fun pics/videos from the week:
Eli continues to babble, babble, babble and just loves to hear himself talk. He also has started a very high pitched scream which is a little annoying, but again, he likes to hear himself! He still doesn't like to roll over too much, just when he falls over from trying to reach a toy and then he just kinda hangs out instead of rolling over. He prefers sitting right now! Below are fun pics/videos from the week:
I practice my sitting a lot throughout the day. Here I am watching Sesame Street that mommy started putting on in the morning for me to watch....see!!!:
I often have my feet in the air when playing under my gym
Here I am visiting great-grandpa Bidney!!
Playing with my sound mixin' drum!
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This weekend Uncle Chris, Aunt Holly, Aunt Sarah, Aunt Stephanie, and Grandma Bidney will be visiting for Easter. Should be fun and hopefully mommy will remember to take pictures!!
7 comments:
Keep in mind, I'm speaking from zero personal experience, this is just what some other moms I know say!
They're wondering if a larger part of his diet should be foods (in addition to breast milk of course). I know you guys have started cereal and other food so that's good. But from their experience with their kids, they would wake up so often because they got to the age and size where they were really hungry all the time and breast milk alone didn't seem to "cut it." So they recommend more food throughout the day - when they did that, their kids started sleeping longer during naps and at night because they weren't waking up from hunger.
However, I'm sure you've read about 35 articles on the matter, so take it or leave it! :) Just passing it along.
Love the videos, can't wait to see you guys this weekend!
Thanks for asking your mommy friends, Holly. The thing is, he isn't too hot about food yet. As you can see in the video, he doesn't quite get how to open is mouth and really only gets about a 1/2 tbsp max at the one feeding we do a day before he is done (starts to cry, turn his head, etc.) So, he will eventually eat more but right now he's not developmentally ready. I've been told he'll start to get the hang of it more over the next weeks. Plus you have to take it slow to help their bodies (and mind) used to solids as he has never had anything else!! Believe me, when he is eating better, I'll definitely be feeding him more food....especially if it helps with sleep!!
We're going through the exact same thing this week. Georgia has been waking up crying from 1:00 - 3:00. This is new for her and I think there's something upsetting her stomach that wakes her but no matter what I do, she just cries. She's gotten fussy about eating and isn't pooping much so maybe the cereal is making her constipated. She sucks down a full bottle in the middle of the night and never used to before but that still doesn't settle her down. Maybe it's something about this age. I'm kind of glad someone else is going through it too. I've tried giving her bigger bottles during the day but then she spits up. If I figure something out, I'll let you know.
I thought I checked your blog late enough last night to think that you weren't going to post yesterday! Sorry I missed not seeing this this morning. Love all the videos and pictures and write up. It will take awhile for Eli to get used to eating solids. It's a big step. I hope he'll get the hang of it soon and will soon start to enjoy it, also will begin to stay fuller longer so he'll eat a little less often and sleep longer which will be good for everyone! Can't wait to see you this weekend!
On Amy's side of the family you're Norweigen, English,Swedish,Danish,Scottish and maybe German,unforunately I don't know the family background of Grandma's dad's. I don't remember if I asked her about that,if I did I sure don't remember what she said. We should ask Grandpa if he knows anything about it, Dean and your dad also.
Hey Amy. Callie has been getting up still this week too. Every 2-3 hours. I'm exhausted like newborn days. Oh well, I figure it's a stage and she will grow out of it. I bring her to my bed when I get up the 3rd time because I'm just too tired. I think it has to do with teeth too, but she's still very willing to eat each time. All I can do is deal with it as it comes, pray about patience, and take naps. Seems like other things are on hold when this happens (like housework and my art projects), but back to survival in a sense for hopefully just a short while. I'll talk to you again on Friday. P.S. We're going to start avocado first next week...exciting! I'll bring my Super Baby Food book Friday. It's good.
Addie did the same exact thing about 4 months old too!!! She'd go down fine (about 8) then wake up an hour later and fuss and cry for about three hours. It was usually about 11 pm before she was really down for a few hours. Once she turned 5 months and could roll from both sides, we did the cry thing. I read the book "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" and I highly recommend it to all the families I visit. I attribute Addie's good sleeping habits to that book. He has some other suggestions you could try if you are not comfortable with letting him cry too. I have it if you want to borrow it...or you can get it at the MCPL. Thinking of you!
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