I feel stupid for asking this. You would think that after 6 mo. I'd know my baby by now. But how do you know if baby is crying during naps/night due to
1. hunger (growth spurt)?
2. teething?
3. other sickness or discomfort?
4. reverting back to bad sleep habits? (wants to be rocked, nursed, held)
NJ has had the toughest time sleeping (naps and nights) after a week or so of great sleep unswaddled and decent sleep even before that. I don't know what to do.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Hang in there, Kyung! We all have days where we feel like this, I'm sure! Here's my 2 cents...
How do you know if baby is crying during naps/night due to:
1. hunger (growth spurt)? I'd try feeding him the first time he wakes up, as long as it's not at a 45-minute mark, since that's when sleep transitioning supposedly takes place. If he takes a full feeding (eats lots from both sides), then it was legit. If not, at least you can rule out a growth spurt for the time being.
2. teething? Does he have other signs of teething (swollen gums, lots of drool, chewing on everything, etc)? If you suspect teething, you might try Tylenol before his next nap. If he wakes up prematurely anyway, it's probably something else.
3. other sickness or discomfort? Does he have a fever or is his eczema flaring up?
4. reverting back to bad sleep habits (wants to be rocked, nursed, held)? You definitely want to watch out for that! I would try intervening the first time it happens, and see what happens. If he wakes up again, I'd suspect a regression and be careful not to encourage it!
Hope this helps!
This is probably not you want to hear, but to this day I still don't know what causes Chloe to wake up upset or frequently. For the most part, she'll sleep through the night so when she is upset, I go through my checklist.
When she was younger, I made a mental note of how much she had nursed throughout the day (substitute now with food intake). If all seemed normal but suddenly there is a greater demand for nursing/eating, then it is probably a growth spurt.
If I checked on her and suddenly she was fine just with seeing me, then I wouldn't make eye contact with her. I would pat her and try to get her back down to sleep as quickly and quietly as I could because there isn't much wrong.
I used to fret that if I had to nurse her back to sleep that she would never wean herself or pick up bad habits, but looking back I worried too much. There were times when she wasn't hungry or teething or sick. She just had a moment when she needed mama close by, and the nursing calmed her down. As long as I was consistently most of the time, the few inconsistencies didn't seem to mess her up.
As for teething and hitting any milestones, sleep will be disturbed. You'll be able to tell with teething by looking for the symptoms before putting NJ to bed and giving him teething tablets, baby orajel, or Motrin as needed. There's not much more that you can do if his sleep is messed up by learning something new like rolling over or whatever. That will just pass with time.
Before naptime, I always put Chloe in non-itchy clothes, nothing with a protruding tag or zippers that might poke her. Chloe has sensitive skin so I usually slather her with lots of lotion and get her as comfortable as possible. I also would change her diaper and give her a good wipe down just so she was clean and comfortable before bed/nap.
Hey Kyung - sorry he seems to be taking a step or so back. BUT, on top of all that Lisa and Julia said, which is good to run through the checklist, I read in my Brazelton/Sparrow Touchpoints book that the 6-7 month mark is a developmental spurt. They are learning to do a lot of things that could make it seem like you're taking a few steps back in the sleep department. In the past 2 weeks (and maybe even off/on in the past 4 weeks), Rachel has had sleep struggles.....where she once slept about 4-5 hours/day for naps and 11 1/2 hours at night, she started running into some issues. The good news is that it's supposed to smooth out after 2-3 weeks. I have noticed that she's starting to do better the past few days, although today, she had some craptacular naps:)
I know it's hard to trust your instincts when you're sleep deprived, but give yourself credit too. He's a healthy baby and is doing well under your care, so you know more than you think you do:) Lately, I've had to just walk away from Rachel at night b/c I know she's not hungry, she's clean, dry, etc, and there's nothing else wrong...after trying to soothe her for about a 1/2 hour. Soon after that, she actually falls asleep. Also, one last thing....I noticed that Lisa mentioned the 45 minute mark in the nap, and that might be worth looking into more...not sure how much you already have, but each baby transitions in their sleep differently, so now that NJ is unswaddled, he may have more active sleep transitions that even include crying (I read this is possible). The most they suggest doing is just standing over them and patting them and almost coaching them to get back to sleep. You know your situation much better than me:), but I thought Lisa had a good point b/c that's been helpful to me to understand a normal sleep cycle better and to know what to expect/look for so I don't go in early when she's really just trying to "turn over" in her sleep (even though she's fully awakened herself in the process).
I feel the same way and I'm not a FTM!
Every baby if different.
Bailey has me confused most of the time too!
Post a Comment