unpredicable baby

[AndrewBoy]

Hi,
I am in desperate need of help.  My ds is 15 weeks and I can't figure him out for the life of me.  He is a pretty happy little guy, but is completely unpredictable and I am exhausted.  We started right off with EASY as this is our third child.  He will do really well for 3-4 days taking 1.5 hour naps and waking only once/ night.  Then it's as if the world turns upside down.  For about 3-4 days he will be all over the place.  Fussy and rubbing eyes after about 20 min. of A...try to put him down for a nap and he fusses until his next feed time.  He doesn't eat well.  I try to read his needs but nothing works.  He will wake up every three hours at night through these days.  Then he's back to his angelic self fot another 3 days.  I am bewilldered and exhausted, any help would be greatly appreciated.  Just to clarify, we follow a good nap routine and bed routine and try to make things the same as possible.

[Meg's Mom]

Hi, sorry you r having such trouble.

I don't have any specific ideas yet, but my first thought was could it be a food issue.  His he bottle or breast?  Any other signs that indicate a food allergy or intolerance?  eg: irregular poop, consistence of poop, smell, etc.

Can you post your routine as well?

I'll check back.

[AndrewBoy]

Thank you so much for replying.  My lo is a bf baby.  My oldest daughter had food issues and since that time I have really changed the way I eat.  I don't eat dairy, eggs, or whole wheat.  I tried keeping a journal to see if I could associate his behavior with anything I was eating...no luck.  We have a hard time going anywhere (grandparents...) because he won't settle down.  But even at home naps are usually short (1 hour tops) these days.  I thought maybe he was ready for a 4 hr. routine but he still gets so tired.  Here is yesterday's routine:
6:50-    awake/E/A  when tired take him into room close shades, turn on fan, swaddle, sing and put him down.  He cood himself to sleep
           no paci
8:00-    S
10:30-  E/A  was yawning and rubbing eyes right away
11:15-  S- went off as above
12:30-  woke up, unable to extend sleep, held him off to eat-he wasn't hungry anyway
1:00-    E, diaper change
2:00     S
3:00     Awake
3:40     E
4:00     S
5:00     Awake
5:50     E
7:00     S
7:45     Awake, E
8:50     S
10:55   Dream feed
2:30     woke, tried paci until 3:15 BF
5:30     woke unswaddled, re-swaddled and he had fitful sleep until BF @ 6:50

We tried to extend each nap with no success.  I have been feeding both sides for two days hoping the extra milk supply might help.  He has eaten well for these days, but it has not changed.  I realize I should have put him to bed after hte 7:45 E.  But as you can see the day was off anyway.  When he is awake he is very alert, smiles and giggles a lot.  He is starting to roll over some and really enjoys his hands.  I still swaddle him because he wakes himself even sooner than 1 hr. if I don't.  Thank you for reading all of this.  I would appreciate any help you can give.

[Meg's Mom]

Sorry for being MIA, how are things any change?

You say you don't eat diary, does that include the hidden diary in a lot products? 

[jules_is_cute]

Hi I don't have a solution for you, but I did want to tell you that my DD is about the same age 20 weeks next week and she started doing this at about 16 weeks.  I read that sleep disturbances can occur with developmental milestones, they are coming fast right now.  She started having "off" days right about when she rolled over the first time.  Then she went back to normal for a week and a half.
Now she just started learing how to make certain toys "work" and she's had another few days that are off ...I wonder if there's anything to that.  I don't know.  I'm just trying to roll with the punches, everyone keeps saying to give her until she's 5 months to really have day sleep organized. 

She still wakes once at night to eat too, I was trying to hold her off, but I get back to sleep faster if I just feed her and put her back down.  It hasn't resulted in more wake-ups for us.  Good luck

~Patty   

[AndrewBoy]

Hi,

Thanks for the feedback, it's so nice to problem solve with other moms.  For Megsmom, we avoid all dairy.  This forces us to have little to no processed food so that when my girls are out around friends (especially b-day parties) they can have ice cream and other danger foods and the effects are minimized.  I will occasionally use organic butter, but not since the baby for myself.  He did have a better week.  Days were pretty good with at least one good nap, sometimes more.  The evenings have been rough.  Although he should be done cluster feeding...he eats like crazy at night and fusses on and off from 6-9.  He then goes to sleep after nursing  about 3x during that time and sleeps until 6:30ish.  For Patty, thanks for the encouragement.  I tried to relax a little this past week and reminded myself to be patient.  I have also learned that if I just nurse him like crazy in the evening he goes to sleep much faster and stays happy.  He goes into bed awake so if he still needs to cluster feed I guess that's what I will do.  He is a big guy, 17lbs, and is just rolling over and trying different things so I will keep this in mind.  Thanks guys!!!