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Again another bad night...I think we are going to try cereal...
So last night, he napped from 4:30-7:30pm....so I thought, "oh good, he's changing his bedtime and will probably sleep longer at night" WRONG! Oh so wrong. He woke up at 11:30pm (which is his new thing)....we let him cry for a while....finally I got him and fed him (he was hungry) and I myself had a meltdown, since I am the only one who feeds him and I am just desperate for sleep (mind you I went to bed at 9:30pm last night). I was so fed up that I went and made a bottle of formula 1/2 way through BFing him and he took 2 oz of that, because he hates bottles.
We then put him to bed in his room - he went right out like a light, but it was still too hot in there if you ask me. Then at 2am he woke up again....we let him CIO for 20 minutes and there was no sign of him calming down. So Tom went and got him and I BFd him ....I said "screw it" if I'm still getting up at night every 3 hours, I'm not walking down the hall and back - so back into the bassinet he went - again he went back to bed fine.
5am - he woke up...and he was hungry again...I fed him and down he went until 7am.
I just don't get it. 2 months ago for about 2 weeks he was STTN, with maybe one variable waking at 4 or 5am....then he started consistently waking once....then it turned to waking twice through the night....now he wakes up 3 times during the night! He's waking up to eat, since he often wakes and sucks his hands and goes back to sleep....so clearly he needs more food...so we are going to give it a try...
Tom and I are calling this "reverse colic"
Any advice/tips for starting cereal? I know to try it in the a.m.
Re: Again another bad night...I think we are going to try cereal...
My initial thoughts are growth spurt &/or 4 month sleep regression/wakefull period. I'm not sure that cereal is your answer. A) it is on the early side to start it, especially if you do use his gestational age as you mentioned yesterday &
you will find a lot of conflicting reports about wether or not it really fills them up anymore & helps them sleep better.
But, you are the mom & you need to decide what is best for you & Austin.
If you do try cereal, be prepared for a mess. I would make it very, very liquidy at this age. Does he still have his tongue thrust reflux? If so, it will be nearly impossible to feed him w/o being covered. Get a plastic bib for him, much easier to clean-up! Don't be suprised if he doesn't like it, lots of babies don't. He may like oatmeal or barley better.
Other signs of readiness for solids, including interest in food, ability to sit upright w/ minimal assistance, doubling birth weight.
I'm not understanding his broken sleep either
it's either a) he's not getting enough sleep during the day, therefore waking at night or b) waking at night because he's not getting enough food....or c) both! He' snot always sucking his hand and going back to sleep - like you said with Alyssa - Austin make sit known when his hand won't do and he's clearly hungry...
Lisa, I know you have worked very hard with Austin's sleep pattern. Just how much is he sleeping during the day? I believe at his age he should be around 2-3 naps somewhere between 30 min-2 hours each. Is it possible that he has his days and nights mixed up? I know the theory of sleep begets sleep but maybe he really is sleeping too long during the day. Also, what does he weigh now? And how much milk is he getting per day? I can do a rough calculation to figure out if he is getting enough. Let me know if I can help!
Thanks Sarah....well, his naps have been pretty crappy, which originally (a few weeks ago) made me think that this was why he was sleeping so poorly at night...but now he is waking to actually eat, so I'm just so confused....perhaps I need to get his naps under control again and then see how he does at night (one thing at a time, right) then maybe if he is still waking, we can give him cereal....I'm so happy his 4 month appt is next week so I can talk to his pedi about all this!! I don't think he is getting his days and nights mixed up....during the day he had been napping one hour, then up for one hour, down for one hour, up for one hour (he can only tolerate being up for 1 hr 9 minutes total)....last week he weighed 15lbs 3oz...I have no clue how much milk per day he is getting, because he snacks so much
I will say though, that he woke up for the day at 7am, I got him down for a nap by 8am and he has been sleeping since (11am now)! Maybe this will make a difference for tonight!!!
Well, a rough estimate on what he should be eating is double his weight. So 15 lbs = approximately 30 ounces of 24 hours. Granted this is for a fomula fed baby but it should still be close.
Based on his nap schedule, he is napping ALOT, especially for his age. Why do you say he can only tolerate 1 hour 9 minutes up? He starts to get fussy? I know that Charlotte gets really bored. Evan and I have to keep mixing up what she does...some time in the exersaucer, rolling over in her crib, standing at the crib rail, sit up/fall down, going downstairs, out for a walk, in to visit mommy at work, etc. Is it possible he is bored and gets fussy because of that?
Good luck with this. Hopefully your pedi will have some other ideas.
It sounds like a growth spurt.. and honestly right now I dont think cereal is going to help. You can start introducing it to him, but it takes awhile for babies to learn how to eat off a spoon and actually swallow the cereal. The cereal wont help at night until he's adjusted and up to feedings 2-3 x days and that way you can give it to him as his "dinner". But, to be honest with you, when we gave Brianna cereal I saw absolutely NO difference in her sleeping. I definately think its worth giving you ped a call and see what his/her opinion is of starting cereal.
Good luck... I hope Austin gets through this growth spurt quickly !!
Because after 1hr. 9 minutes (apporx.) he starts yawning/rubbing his eyes and is ready to go down for a nap...if I keep him up past that he is terribly fussy/cranky...a lot of babies his age can tolerate staying awake longer, but unfortunately, he is one of those babies that has a short wake period during the day, as of now...
My only thought is that if the only reason that you are going to try cereal is because you want Austin to sleep better, I think you are going to be disappointed. I hope that you won't be for YOUR sake, but in my experiences, solid food/cereal never made a difference in the way that my kids slept (given that I was lucky in that neither of my kids had nightime sleep problems, though). I hate to dash your hopes by saying that, but my pediatrician has also told me this is true.
I just think that as young as Austin is, he still has not settled into a consistant routine and rythm to his days/nights quite yet - if that makes any sense. Caroline, though she always slept great at night, was a TERRIBLE napper until she was 6 months old. She never napped at the same time on any given day and it used to frustrate the heck out of me! It is very common for kids not to have consistant sleep patterns at this age and as frustrating as it has to be for you - I think that may be the only explanation that you will find for now...... it will work itself out with time, though.
Whatever works for you, though, and I truly do hope that Austin will work through all of this very soon!
ya know what lisa? vinny was up all the time when he was a baby, all the time and i was at my end. so my mom told me and so did my boss at the time, to put a tsp. of cereal in his bottle at night. it was easier for me since i never bf so he just took to the bottle.... but i used a faster flow nipple to let the cereal through and it worked! he slept! and a good long sleep! it was the heaviness that he needed in his tummy. other wise i was up at 1am, 3am, 430am, and 6am to eat..... but then it was 1x a night, then it was sttn!
i hope the cereal works for you. please dont think its bad to do. vinny is perfect. i was scolded by his dr, but bottom line, i am his mom and a happy mom is a happy baby. and he was happy and i was happy and best of all he was healthy.
AND HE WAS 2 MOS OLD WHEN WE STARTED 1 TSP. OF CEREAL IN HIS BEDTIME BOTTLE.