At my Witts end.. Help

[Jacalber]

Hi  I have a 18 week old who has been on EASY since birth.  We are on a 4 hour routine (since 3 months).   He has always slept well at night.. but never been a great napper.  In the past I have been able to get 1.5 -2 hour naps  with some effort.. ie putting him back to sleep at the 30-45 min mark.   HOWEVER.  Not anymore.  He wakes up at 45 mintues and is usually cranky and will not resettle.  I have tried every thing the BW book recomends (PUPD is AWFUL for us- just overstimulates and maeks us hysterical) I try going in early to be there for the jolt.  This used to work - but no more...  HELP PLEASE!!!!

I have reviewed our day - and make sure we are cnsitent with routines and that he is not over stimulated.  NOTHING  is different.    This has been going on for about a month - and I have tried everything to make him sleep - even teh dreaded props like the boucy seat or swing - they don't work either.

I am going crazy - becasue my once perfect little angel is now fussy all afternoon  and routinely will have a meltdown and cry for 45 minutes becasue he is tired... This never used to happen.

I am so upset...
HELP!

[deb]

My first thought is developmental stuff - a new skill emerging or about to emerge - or pain/discomfort/illness, like a budding cold or the start of teething.

Does it make a difference if you give pain meds maybe 20 minutes before sleep times? That would at least give you an idea if it's pain/discomfort or something else.

Also, have you started solids? If so, maybe he ate something he didn't like, and if not, maybe he's telling you he wants to start; you can always look to see how he behaves when he sees you eating. Natalie (5 months) was watching me eat and drink very intently and moves her mouth when I eat, so I've started her on the slightest teeny bits of solids but it's too soon to tell if it'll make a difference in her sleep as she's also got 2 teeth and is frantically chewing for more to come out. :shock:

If you're nursing, have you eaten something different? Any caffeine? It can also be found in some medications, decaf coffee and decaffienated tea (not usually herbal, though, which didn't have caffeine to begin with), and even chocolate can be a culprit.

Just a few thoughts to see if we can't help you get this sorted out.

[Jacalber]

Thanks for your reply- good thoughts...

As for foods we recently started rice cereal (5 days ago).  He get it 2 times a day - before first and last bottle.    He seems to enjoy it and no indication (tummy wise) that it is not agree with him.   Not breast feeding any longer ( stoped 6 ks ago).   But hte nap issue has been going on for a while now.

As for teething - quite possible - he chews on everything (and has been for a while)... but nothing buddng yet.  I did give him Tylenol one day, think this might be the issue, but did not notice any real effect on the nap duration or his mood and did not want to keep medicating him for no apparent reason. 

We did recently have a nanny start as I am going back to work ... but the problem started before the nanny and she follows my routine -I have observed her.

[deb]

As for teething - quite possible - he chews on everything (and has been for a while)... but nothing buddng yet.

I can tell you that Josie chewed on EVERYTHING for MONTHS before she actually cut any teeth - and whenever she did, it was almost ALWAYS a surprise. We'd wake up one morning and she'd have another tooth, like when she cut her top ones. She spent an entire day cranky and crying and I couldn't figure out why; I was just about having a breakdown w/all her crying. Next day she was clicking her bottom teeth against her brand new top ones! :shock:

PU/PD didn't work well for us either, at least not w/Josie. She was too Touchy, and I'm even more so. It probably WOULD work with Natalie if I didn't have another (Touchy) child who wanted my attention from time to time. LOL

Are you using a pacifier? Swaddling? White noise? Losing the pacifier can wake some babies, and others benefit from the sensation of being wrapped (Josie did, Natalie does NOT) or white noise to mask other sounds that might bring a baby to full alertness during what would otherwise just be a shift in sleep cycles.

As for cereal, Josie tolerated it OK but we found after a while that it was giving her just enough gas that it bothered her. We tried switching to barley, which some babies tolerate better, but it seemed to bind her up, so we ended up settling on oatmeal. (Yes, I'm grasping at straws at this point, but it's a thought.)

Hope something in here is useful!