Author Topic: How to proceed with my 5mo son?  (Read 3866 times)

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Offline Chicane

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Re: How to proceed with my 5mo son?
« Reply #15 on: April 18, 2010, 05:11:55 am »
yay!



Offline lilredhen89

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Re: How to proceed with my 5mo son?
« Reply #16 on: April 18, 2010, 15:27:00 pm »
Okay, so maybe this is totally unrelated, and maybe not. I can't decide whether or not DS self-settles or not. He used to spit his binky out then talk to himself for 5-10mins and then go to sleep. Now, however, he will go on and on and on, and I'll look in to see him rubbing his eyes, seeming as if he wants to sleep, but not being able to settle. So, what has been happening is that I will let him go for about 15mins, yelling, talking, mantra crying (never actually crying), then I will go in, give him his binky and lovey, give him a kiss, and leave immediately. He then rolls over and goes right to sleep. Today, it struck me that maybe this is interfering too much. Here are the problems I think it could potentially be causing and my thoughts.

1. I could be taking away his ability to self-settle by interfering. However, if I leave him, I have no idea how long he will go! I've let him go as long as 35 mins and he seemed nowhere close to resettling, then he took a 35 min OT nap!

2. I could be creating a paci addiction, but he always spits it out when he goes to sleep. Also, he's SO close to learning to put it in by himself that I'm wondering if he won't just learn to stick it in and go to sleep when he's ready.

What do you think about this? It's not really an inconvenience to me to go back in after he's had some time, and it keeps his A times predictable and helps me avoid OT...I just don't know if it is causing potential problems or not. Any insight?
-Dani
Mommy to William Arthur - 10/23/09
and Benjamin Atticus - 05/05/11




Offline Chicane

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Re: How to proceed with my 5mo son?
« Reply #17 on: April 18, 2010, 17:11:42 pm »
Phew - I dunno! I think I would probably go in and give him a helping hand....



Offline lilredhen89

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Re: How to proceed with my 5mo son?
« Reply #18 on: April 18, 2010, 18:49:17 pm »
Case in point: he woke from his first nap at 11:30am, started acting a little sleepy about 1:10. We started our wind-down around 1:15, and I had him in his crib by 1:35. He grunted and squawked and made all kinds of noises until I came in at 1:55, gave him his binky and lovey, turned him on his side, rubbed his back for a moment, and left. He woke up after 25 minutes. 25! He normally makes it at least 35, and I still have to intervene at 45mins often as he has been a 45 minute napper since he was 2.5 months old. He is, however, fairly easy to resettle most of the time, but right now he's not even going back to sleep! I'm thinking that things WERE going well with naps until I started trying to extend his A times. Now they're a mess. When I put him in bed a the two hour mark, then give him 15 minutes and he goes to sleep, he takes much better naps...so, maybe my problem was that I was miscalculating his A time by not counting that 15 minutes. I think I might leave it for a week or two and then try again. Dropping the DF seemed to be our biggest trick for helping the NW's, but I'm beginning to think that he's not quite ready to extend his A's.

Oh, and one other thing that may be a key is keeping his naps to 1.5hrs. Until we drop the CN, I think a 2hr nap messes with his night.
-Dani
Mommy to William Arthur - 10/23/09
and Benjamin Atticus - 05/05/11




Offline Chicane

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Re: How to proceed with my 5mo son?
« Reply #19 on: April 19, 2010, 06:24:00 am »
yep - all you can do at this point is experiment with the times and see what works. I think you've made good progress though.



Offline lilredhen89

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Re: How to proceed with my 5mo son?
« Reply #20 on: April 21, 2010, 11:41:26 am »
Ugh! I am at a loss here! Nights are a complete disaster still! Two nights ago, he woke every hour from 2:30 on until 5:30, I fed him, and he still woke at 6:30, then slept until wakeup. Yesterday, he got a new tooth, so that may explain it. Last night, I put him to bed about 15 minutes early because he seemed so tired, and he kept crying at everything. He woke at 10:15, but then did well until he woke at 4:15. I went in, fed him, put some teething solution on his gums, and we both went back to sleep. But he woke at 5:30, talked to himself for quite awhile, and I finally went in at 6:15 to resettle, at which point he started crying hysterically. I put more teething stuff on, and he finally settled down to sleep. However, 7:30 comes around, and he's up talking to himself again! What is going on??? What do hourly wakings mean? It seems if I feed him anytime before 5 or 5:30am, he'll still keep waking up, whereas he used to ALWAYS sleep until wakeup when I fed him.

Our days have become good and predictable, but our nights are just falling apart. Maybe it is the A time, but when I try to extend, naps go crazy. Is it just the teething? HELP!
-Dani
Mommy to William Arthur - 10/23/09
and Benjamin Atticus - 05/05/11




Offline lilredhen89

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Re: How to proceed with my 5mo son?
« Reply #21 on: April 21, 2010, 14:19:19 pm »
I have these teething pellets with chamomile in them, and it seems to calm him down, but he is still waking like that...I am not too keen on using drugs, but I suppose I will call the doctor today and check on what to use. My concern is with giving him a pain killer before bedtime, what if it's not a bad teething night? How do I know when to give it? It does seem that his teeth are coming in pairs, at least the first two did, within two weeks of each other.  With this one though, I'm not sure which one will come in next as it was not even one of the two front teeth! It seems to be a second or third tooth...I can't tell which, but certainly not what I expected!
-Dani
Mommy to William Arthur - 10/23/09
and Benjamin Atticus - 05/05/11




Offline lilredhen89

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Re: How to proceed with my 5mo son?
« Reply #22 on: April 21, 2010, 15:43:21 pm »
Well, the nurse pretty much said that sometimes the natural remedies just aren't strong enough, and that I could try Oragel, and also do the Motrin if he wakes earlier in the night and it seems like it may be a rough one. Since the Oragel is more for immediate relief, I may stick with the chamomile for that, but give Motrin on nights like last night in hopes of a longer-lasting solution.

One other note, this is kind of interesting...he woke this morning at 7:30 and talked to himself, and I went in to get him at 7:50. I still put him down for his nap at 10:05 though, and he was asleep by 10:15.  So, altogether, he had a 2hr45min waketime, then still took a 1.5hr nap.  So...maybe we can extend that A a little, but if he's out of his crib, he gets tired faster. Any suggestions?
-Dani
Mommy to William Arthur - 10/23/09
and Benjamin Atticus - 05/05/11




Offline Chicane

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Re: How to proceed with my 5mo son?
« Reply #23 on: April 21, 2010, 16:05:19 pm »
Agree with jay - a longer wind down could help there...or try to really mellow things down early on if he's out of the crib...no stimulation, just quiet time...also he'd be getting close to 6 months now wouldn't he? Not sure on his exact age but there is a major growth spurt at 6 months which can cause more NWs...sending you hugs love



Offline lilredhen89

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Re: How to proceed with my 5mo son?
« Reply #24 on: April 22, 2010, 11:29:16 am »
Well, he had the Motrin before bed, and it may have helped a little, but we still had multiple NWs...he seems to get upset when I leave the room at naptimes and bedtime. Yesterday I started to wonder about SA, and asked my mom if he was too young.  She didn't think so, but also said that whenever we were sick or hurting, it seemed like we often just wanted a parent in the room for comfort, so that may be related to the teething as well. It seems like it could be sooo many things right now that I'm reluctant to really try tweaking too much. Ugh!
-Dani
Mommy to William Arthur - 10/23/09
and Benjamin Atticus - 05/05/11




Offline lilredhen89

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Re: How to proceed with my 5mo son?
« Reply #25 on: April 23, 2010, 11:10:40 am »
Last night was better than most...he went to bed a little late, and the first waking wasn't until 4:30am...a 7.5 hour stretch. Once he went back to sleep, he woke again at 6, and I fed him, then he was back to sleep at 6:25, but woke at 6:50 and has been in there talking to himself! Why is he suddenly waking again, even after I have fed him? This never used to happen!
-Dani
Mommy to William Arthur - 10/23/09
and Benjamin Atticus - 05/05/11




Offline lilredhen89

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Re: How to proceed with my 5mo son?
« Reply #26 on: April 24, 2010, 12:09:18 pm »
Okay, so last night I gave him the motrin at his first waking, 3:30am. He still woke every hour. This definitely leads me to the conclusion that the paci is a prop. He still spits it out when he is asleep, but can't transition without it, though he is still doing a good morning nap and sleeping pretty well during the first part of the night.
-Dani
Mommy to William Arthur - 10/23/09
and Benjamin Atticus - 05/05/11




Offline lilredhen89

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Re: How to proceed with my 5mo son?
« Reply #27 on: April 25, 2010, 03:48:06 am »
Well, thanks for all your help...one question though. When does everything sort out? It seems that a lot of people run into problems around the 4-6 month mark for various reasons. Nobody tells you that your LO may very well STTN and then revert. I know it is different for every LO, and I keep reminding myself that all of this is temporary, no matter what the issue, even if I never figure it out, he will grow out of it eventually. But is there any kind of average age where things really start settling down?
-Dani
Mommy to William Arthur - 10/23/09
and Benjamin Atticus - 05/05/11




Offline Chicane

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Re: How to proceed with my 5mo son?
« Reply #28 on: April 25, 2010, 04:31:33 am »
Hi lilredhen

Well, my mother says everything gets easier around the 18 year mark and then it gets hard again around 27 years...then smooth sailing until about 35 years old after which there is a huge improvement! Then they have their own kids and you can laugh at them as much as you want, enjoy your grandkids and give them back at the end of the day!

xxx



Offline lilredhen89

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Re: How to proceed with my 5mo son?
« Reply #29 on: April 26, 2010, 02:17:37 am »
Lol! That is a fabulous encouragement...I hope my mother is enjoying her grandson! We live with her for another 3 weeks, and she is sure enjoying the days, but gets to miss out on night duty. Ah, well. Soon I'll have DH to help me on that one. =)
-Dani
Mommy to William Arthur - 10/23/09
and Benjamin Atticus - 05/05/11