Sleep Deprived - Norwood,MA

Put the baby in another room, when the baby actually cries you'll wake up. Works for me. I can't sleep in the same room as my baby. I did for a while but we both sleep much better apart. I don't use a monitor unless we are downstairs.

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Forgive me if this is a stupid response as it seems too simple, especially to a 3rd time Mom... If your son is sleeping in your bedroom, I would definitely move him to a different room or space - even the hallway in a rolling pack and play if necessary. I quickly learned that I couldn't use a baby monitor or even have the bedroom door open, as I kept myself awake all night listening to every sigh and shift. Your son will be fine, and you'll be a better well-rested mommy. And congrats on the new baby!

put him in another room. If he's not fussing, just let him do his thing.

Hi Kelly,

Different angle....What are you washing your son's laundry in? Laundry detergents, even Dreft, have neurological stimulants in them that can cause a baby to fidget because of discomfort. If you are bleaching anything, stop right away. Bleach is not only a neurological toxin, but can be very dangerous. When I changed laundry detergents and detoxed my home my littlest one settled down and slept better. My elderly mother did also. She had complained of itching all her life and never slept. She told me at the age of 82 that she didn't itch anymore and woke rested.

Detoxing can be simple and very inexpensive so I think it would be worth a try. It will help in other areas as well. Let me know if your interested and I'll be glad to tell you what I did.

God bless,

M.

Is he not sleeping at night because he is sleeping too much during the day? I have four kids and with each one it was like being a first time mom not remembering all the tricks. I would put him in another room and possibly give him a crib music machine. You both need your sleep. Best of luck

Hi Kelly,
I read once that when you have the baby sleep in your room (bassinet, etc.) that they actually interfere with your sleep more and you, in turn, interfere with theirs! You might respond to every grunt, wiggle, snort, etc. It sounds like he's not screaming or crying and I'm sure you're pretty much 'on call' several times a night to feed him, so give yourselves a little space.
At six weeks, do you think you can try to put him in his own room? Even if he's still in a bassinet, pack & play, etc? You both might sleep better! Use a monitor so you still feel you can check on him from time to time.......Good luck!

Oh, I feel your pain. I've not gotten a good night's sleep in over a decade. Honestly, even Rx medications have yet to help me really get sleep. Last night, it was bed at midnight, sleep at 12:30, one kid up at 3 am, the other kid up at 4 am. Alarm off at 6:20. I feel your pain.

I couldn't tell from your message, but have you considered putting him in his car seat and letting him sleep in that to help keep him a little more restrained (not buckled in necessarily, just sitting in there)?
Also, have you considered cosleeping if you're not already? I know not everyone agrees with it. Our daughter was colicky, and that was a saving grace for me with a 21 month old at home as well.

Good luck! I hope Dad is able to give you time to rest and steal naps when time allows.

Yep, the good news is that it does get easier. Babies come into the world terrified. They have come out of a lovely warm 'cocoon' into a huge unknown place. Also you cannot predict a baby or toddler, as you will find out. They will not necessarily eat what you want them to eat. Just try and be there and have the father be with him as much as possible. I learned this in parenting classes:
Get Dad to lie down or recline with the boy on his chest and sing to him. The closeness and the singing and the vibration from the chest are very soothing. 'Moon River' sung with a deep voice is one of the best to get him to go to sleep and soothe him.

Now my son at 3.5 years tells me to shut up when I sing ;-) But if I make up a silly song, such as Daddy and Alan are on the bus, on the bus, on the bus, Daddy and Alan are on the bus, all through the town, to the music of 'Wheels on the Bus' - he loves it!! My theory is that when I sing it properly, it looks to him like I am entertaining myself. When I make up different words it looks more like I am entertaining him, especially when I use his name in songs. I have added his name in songs since he was born and he loves that. From birth past 3 years old he is doing everything to hold on to his identity and figure out who he is.
With all the fatigue and hard work, I would not trade it all for anything. ;-)

The first I am going to say is just because I had bad experiences with ear infections. When my first daughter was around 4 months I think she had an ear infection and I thought she was just crying for attention, I felt so bad when I went later to the doctor and found out she had an ear infection. When I had my second baby, she also had a ear infection!
So every time I hear that a baby is crying that is the first thing it comes to my mind.
Other than that, sometimes there are things that we may don't think are important but for babies are.
Like the temperature, the same way that my husband likes to freeze the house and I love to cuddle in warm sheets, babies too have their own comfort zone. My mom teach me that I should check the baby's back to see if she is hot/cold and not the head.
Also like other mom said, most babies love to be cuddle in blankets, but there are some (very few I think) that they like to be free.
Check also for stuffy nose. When my baby has buggers she can't sleep, and is a pain in the butt because she also hates when I take her buggies out, but she sleeps a lot better after that.
My advice is to first check if he is not sick (ear infection, or allergies, or buggies), check if he is hungry, then check her confort (is he hot/cold, does he likes to cuddle, does he sleeps better with some light or some music) then check if he is just want momy hugs, I have no advice for this last one because is a decition each mom have to do, you can either rock him to sleep or start teaching him how to sleep him self.
One more, have you try the pacifier? My baby only could sleep with it, we took the pacifier away when she was 6 months and after a week she wouldn't even take it.
Try to sleep everytime he does, and don't feel ashame to ask for help so you ca sleep, I never wated to ask for help to sleep because I thought it would make me look like I wasn't good mom, but you know what, now I have my kids, I would never think that of a new mom, and I am sure every woma that have kids knows that.

Congratulations on the new baby!

My son fidgetted around a lot as a newborn too. He slept though.
I had him in a crib in my room and it didn't always work out very well because he got rest and I didn't. We actually moved so he could have his own room and we had TWO cribs. One in our room and one in his. He was used to a crib and didn't really care which one he was in.
He just turned 15 and has a queen size bed. He still rolls around and takes up every inch of it in a night's time. He also talks and laughs in his sleep.
I learned a long time ago that if he wasn't crying....he was just wiggling and rolling and happy and fine.

Try your baby in another room or a little further away from you. You know you won't sleep through him crying.
I hope you get some good rest.

Best wishes!

Try swaddling - that may help with the fidgeting and may also help him settle.

My son was also a very noisy sleeper with grunts and fidgeting, and it turned out he was allergic to food I was eating (I was breastfeeding). He was having trouble digesting the proteins, and so was very uncomfortable. I eventually figured out he had trouble when I ate dairy, beans (including soy), and nuts. Dairy is the most common digestive irritant for babies, either in formula, or a food mom is eating if she is nursing. You may want to experiment with taking things out of your diet or changing to a hypo-allergenic formula.

Hi Kelly,
First, make sure that this is not some kind of dietary allergy. Wiggling and seeming uncomfortable is a way for babies to show that their stomachs are upset.
If that's not it, I know when my son was a was a newborn we wrapped him in a swaddler or tight blanket so his arms were still and this was the ONLY way he would sleep soundly for months! The instant we wrapped him up it would calm him right down.
Hope you get to the bottom of this, I'm sure you need your rest :-)

I've been frequently giving babies magic tea to my baby who wasn't settling during the night. It soothed him and now can sleep through the night.

It's hard to say what to do since you didn't say where he sleeps or how he sleeps right now. But, I would say try a swing or bouncy seat or even his car seat to sleep. Also, put him in a different room than you if he's not already. I know I found that every little grunt would wake me up with both of my girls. I tried them in the room and then moved them out after a few weeks and actually got some sleep. Also make sure he's swaddled. The actual swaddle wraps they sell at Walmart or Babies R Us are awesome!! Hopefully doing any or all of those things will help you get some sleep! Good luck!

You have my sympathy. My daughter was a horrible sleeper! I used a swaddling blanket called "The Miracle Blanket" it worked far better than any other swaddling blanket we tried. It was very soft and held her arms firmly at her sides. I also had to adjust my schedule so I went to bed as soon as my husband got home from work so that I could get at least a few uninterrupted hours. Good luck, I hope he starts sleeping soon!

do you swaddle him? because that could be a problem too....i know alot of moms will tell you this is the way to get a baby to sleep, but the fact is some babies hate it! my son hated having his arms and legs restrained like that. He loved stretching. plus with the summer heat sometimes it can just make them generally uncomfortable. Also are you giving him a bottle before bed? if he is eating it to fast he could be getting gas pains, we had to let our son get out three good burps before he could settle down to bed. Good luck

My 2nd son was pretty much collicky, but my first son did more of a grunting type thing and it was mostly noticeable at night. It turned out he had a milk allergy. I hate doing the try different formula thing but sometimes that does help. Even with my collicky son, changing to Gentlease helped. If you do try that, just be sure to give it a week or so on anything new you try. And, good swaddling did seem to help alot in both instances as well.

He's still so young. Can you sleep in another room, away from him or the monitor, now and then. You've got to get some rest. If he's not waking up, you don't need to attend to him other than feeding if you are nursing. If he's on a bottle, let someone else help out - husband, boyfriend, your mom, a sister, anyone! If this keeps up and you think he might have some tummy issues, let me know and I can help you settle him without you putting him on meds. If it's just getting used to being in the world and learning how to self-soothe, he'll grow out of this.