Support thread for raising touchy babies - part 2

[weaver]

'd avoid PU/pd if you can. It's very stimulating for some LOs and touchies tend to get too worked up.

Absolutely agree with that.  Would have driven my LO1 crazy.

Sara, and others, I feel with LO1 that GW of feeding to sleep in the daytime would've made him more frustrated.  I think he'd have been better with cold turkey.  Sure, he would've been hopping mad for a day or two but once he understood it was not happening again, he would've gone with it.  I did use GW with him for just about everything else - but in this case I think a direct switch to 4s and sh-pat would be more effective, and ultimately less stressful.  There's something about touchies and clear boundaries.  What do you think?

it seemed like she was dreaming about her scary day   breaks my heart!

I'd say she was OT, rather than having bad dreams.  In situations like that, which might be stressful for touchies, I would make sure to keep her close, maybe even in her carrier for a lot of the time, and take her out of the room for a bit of quiet time if you can at all.  I really would avoid handing her around to different people.  Maybe hold her and let people come to her.  (See post above by epting.) 

[zportiss]

Zacsmumme:  she is so difficult to even get to sleep with an AP...I just can barely get her to nap at all now.  I like the idea of introducing shush pat while AP.  Have you heard this is common with touchy babies or do you think it's more likely OT,UT, or. Over stimulated? 

I don't think it's reflux, I've never seen any reason to be suspicious. 

So I do shush pat, and then when she cries I pick her up and do shush pat until she is calm?? I've read the book and the faq's but I am not she if you're suggesting something slightly different. 

I am very sensitive like my lo so I am just nervous about my resolve...I want to make this as painless as possible for both her. And I.  It's so hard for her to even get to stage one because she is always such an alert baby...I can't imagine her getting there while she's so upset during the initial. ST.  But,  I know it's possible because I have read the success stories. 

Do you consider carrying her in a sling to get her to stage one a prop?

[ZacsMumme]

I just know with my first touchy sensitive boy gently moving from AP to IS with shh/pat worked well he had silent reflux too so there was no way I was going to do pu/pd as crying aggravates the reflux pain. So I pretty much did what your doing but I'd shh/pat in my arms till asleep, then gradually less and less ie drowsy and finish off in cot, then moved to WD followed by a hum and into cot for a few pats...eventually I could just pd in the cot. He was a bit younger though

Have you had any advice from try he sleep boards? You may want to post on easy or general sleep to see how your routine looks etc?

Personally I think sling or wrap naps are totally fine. Start with aiming for one nap a day in the cot if your struggling. Then move forward from there.

[Kirstyjenner]

Hi there i am new to this site so hoping i have the right forum.
I have a 8 week old who was 5 weeks prem. Basically i just wanted to ask anyone if they have gone through a baby who when is awake just cries. Taking his clothes off having a bath lying down, passing wind and also being held too much. i just cant seem to do anything right!!
He is suffering with reflux which started new meds last week and he is now sleeping longer than 45 mins! But when hes awake hes just grumpy! I have a 20 month old and i feel like i cant spend all my time trying to find out whats wrong with 8 week old.
Any advice welcome x

[ZacsMumme]

Hi Kirsty, sorry no one has replied to your post. Have you posted on the main boards?
My touchy cried a lot in his first 6 months. It was so tough. Can you baby wear? This ill help for the reflux too. I also invested in a dummy which really was the best thing for him, and me!

[Mel p]

Please help me I am really struggling. My little girl is 8 weeks old and I think is a mix of touchy/spirited. In the day time she is a lovely, happy little thing but from late afternoon it's like she turns into a little devil! We have always struggled to get her to settle at the evening despite having a consistent bedtime routine since about 4 weeks. She just won't settle and can be sound asleep on us and then as soon as we put her down she wakes and either grumbles escalating to a scream or just screams straight away. Other nights she screams in our arms even. It normally takes 2 or 3 hours to settle her and it's exhausting. She has reflux and the medication does seem to have helped her feeding issues. But I don't know what to do to help sleep time. I have tried to implement a routine and limit her day time sleep and make sure she is having enough awake time but it doesn't seem to help. I wake her from naps in the morning only to find she won't take any naps from 4 ish. If I let her sleep as long as she wants then she won't settle as she is wide awake. She hates swaddling. Any advice anyone?

[ZacsMumme]

Hugs, at 6-8 weeks they really seem to 'wake up' don't they. She is still really little and some of that touchiness could be down to the reflux discomfort she is experiencing.
Things that helped us
White noise and a dark room where she sleeps?
Baby wearing through the rough/colicky period (the touch arvos are really common with babies and they do love to be close and held so if you have a wrap or sling, or DH is happy to cuddle her in a rocker then go for it!)
Try a paci. They are good for reflux and help to minimize the crying and aid settling if your LO likes to suck

What meds and dose is she on? Feel free to post on the CRC board for support and advice re her reflux and crying xx

[Mel p]

Thank you for your advice. We do keep the room dark and use white noise. We have started to think also that she may be overtired too so just letting her sleep as much as she wants during the day. Hopefully that will help too. She is on ranitidine 0.5 ml x 3 per day. Re the sling, thanks that's a good tip. We will try that. Normally it's DH upstairs pacing the floor for hours on end! We do use a paci too but she's also find of her fingers which is good!

[weaver]

Do use the sling to APOP if you can. Both of you can have a snuggle and she can snooze while you stroll. 

Touchies are really sensitive to OT and to OS (overstimulation).  They *LOVE* their routine.  So once her reflux is sorted, if you still think she's touchy, those are the top things to bear in mind.  Once a touchy baby has found their routine, things are heaps easier

[ZacsMumme]

Oh bless. We ended up with a recliner that rocks in the lounge with the lights off in huge evening and DH just held, rocked and walked my boys around till they settled, then kept them in his arms for an hour post BT till they were close to 12/14 wks old as they were just too uncomfortable to pd in the evening.

ITA with Anne re routine. My first is touchy and he sleeps really well, and has done mostly since his reflux was controlled as long as he wasn't OT/OS. Their sleep windows are short, but I found once I knew DS1 well enough he was actually easy to read as he got older.

If your LO is really unhappy try walking out in the trash air. I'm not sure why but it always helped DS1 when he was awfully OT or unhappy.

REMEMBER HER RANITIDINE DOSE WILL NEED INCREASING WITH EVERY (Sorry about the silly caps) 500gm weight gain. X

[Ella64]

Hi all, I'm totally new to this website. I did try to search for touchy baby and over tiredness but search thing doesn't seem to work, just said I wasn't allowed to search?!
Basically, my ds 14 weeks, and I am desperate for help to get him to nap. He is going through sleep regression and so wakes at 20 or 45 mins. But I am having some success with putting him down to nap when he is only awake for 1hr (he doesn't really give cues to sleepiness). But the timing is so critical. I just put hm down now, and have watched him for 20 minutes doing tired cry, settle, yawn....and he still looks wide awake. I don't want to pick him up and overtire him, but if he is under tired he can lie there for a long time and finally cry properly and I think he is overtired. It can then take hours to settle him, usually by feeding to sleep or a car ride. Any tips really gratefully received! I feel house bound, and all my antenatal group seem to have baby's that 'just nap' wherever and whenever they feel ready. This sounds totally wonderful but the opposite for me. I'd like him to be able to nap while out of the house occasionally!!!

[weaver]

Hello and welcome to BW! 

Yup the search function doesn't work but if you can use google if you put babywhispererforums and your topic, I think.

Do you know he's a touchy baby? Have you done the quiz?
The BW "Know Your Baby Quiz"

My touchy one would just about never nap out of the house, I'm afraid.  Best bet was in the sling.  You can do things to make it more likely that your LO will nap out and about - getting timing right, getting his buggy dark and snuggly, or deciding to go out at a certain time, accept a short nap, and make it up later.  Figure out what works for you.  It'll be easier to do once he's on a routine.  But usually I would reckon on taking a home day after a dodgy nap day, just to make sure he makes up his sleep.  And remember this too shall pass, as he get bigger and needs fewer naps.

Those babies you see napping out and about have probably just passed out from exhaustion! And that is something touchies don't really do, as they are sensitive to overtiredness and overstimulation.  Because they are sensitive to overstimulation, that can cause short naps, sometimes.

An hour seems a short A time for that age.  The average is more like 1hr 20-30.  Touchies tend to need a good and consistent wind-down and sometimes also holding through the jolts which occur naturally about 20 mins into the sleep cycle as they transition to deep sleep.
What does a good wind down consist of (Includes 4S ritual)

Different lengths of naps mean different things. So 20 mins means he's being woken by the jolts of transition to deep sleep (easy to fix, you need to just gently lay hands on him in the cot so he can't jump too much!) and 45 mins usually means he's undertired as he's waking up after one sleep cycle.

HTH!  You might want to post on naps or EASY boards if you feel your question is more about routine than his touchiness  

[athenasmom]

Hi, I have an 8 week old and I am starting to wonder if she is touchy. I read the baby personality quiz but she does not come out as touchy. She does not cry without a reason, she does not get scared of noises or new things. However she seems to have super hard time to turn off sensory inputs. She is very prone to os and ot and eventhough we have been on a good  routine since she was born, by the end of the day she cannot drop off to sleep without the ot screaming and exhausting herself. Even APOP does not help. She cannot be held or rocked to sleep, she would not drop off in the swing or in the stroller. She needs to totally exhaust herself to sleep at this stage. It is so sad to watch and I feel it is somehow my fault. We spend most days home to stick to our routine and I watch her like a hawk for tired signs to not miss her window.
What do you think? Is this just a normal developmental stage as she has really woken up from the sleeping baby stage in thelast 2 or 3 weeks? Is this a routine issue?
I did bw with my first but he was an angel baby and I do not remeber any issues like this. By 8 weeks he nicely self settled and took good naps. He was coliky in the first 6 weeks but after that life was a bliss with him.

[weaver]

Hi Suzanna,

My LO1 was the touchy one, and he was also super sensitive to OS and OT, with either of those he would end up screaming his tiny head off.  It was awful so I can sympathise!   He would not sleep in a stroller/buggy or even in a sling once he got a bit bigger, no hope of him dropping off in a bright room with other stuff going on.  The only APOP that worked was feeding to sleep, which I used only when I really needed to!  What worked for him was a good long wind-down and a solid routine. He needed to have his naps in his room, with the black out blinds up, a good long wind-down (along the 4S lines below), lots of sh-pat, swaddling and his dummy.    The good thing is that once he was on a solid routine, he calmed right down, was happy and curious, a great eater and so on.  Also, after a several weeks of implementing a long wind-down and naps in his room, he became a good independent sleeper.  So there is hope. 

What does a good wind down consist of (Includes 4S ritual)

[*foxy*]

Hi. Need help with st my 12 wo DS. We are in a short naps nightmare which is leading to major OT and then he doesn't feed well and then he's up every 2 hours feeding in the night. Im exhausted and so is he. 

I read earlier in the thread about shh/pat and GW? So you'd try shh/pat in your arms which Im currently doing but Im walking around too (in his room) them once he's asleep putting him down but he always wakes 35/40 mins later and is very difficult to resettle. Do you sit with them and shh/pat until asleep etc then gradually use less shh/pat or put them down more awake and shh/pat in the cot? What do you do if they wake up and start crying? Just start again? He seems to get so worked up in his cot