Stacy:
I weaned the paci because he was waking us up at 3:30AM and wanted us to replug it so that he would continue sleeping. The replugging would continue for the rest of the night, every30 minutes to 1 hour, when the paci fell off. We were all getting poor sleep, including the LO.
Yes, the grandparents issue is definitely a problem. My mom has shoulder problems and she cannot really hold him for very long, that is why he goes on the bouncer. My father does not like to hold him much either. They do not want me to get a nanny while I go back to work, so they do not leave me many options in regards to the care of LO once I am away at work. (He is to go to daycare once he is 4 months, but I got to survive this month)
I will rearrange the EASY. As a matter of fact, LO was the one that spaced out the EASY this way - About more than 1 month ago, he was on the 3 hour easy and he would refused his meals, and get hungry at the times noted in my previous email.
Since, I weaned the paci he has been trying to use his hands more. Initially, I was very against thumbsucking, but I realize that he really need something to soothe himself and it seems that he's sucking needs are pretty strong. He has not found his thumb yet. He sucks at his knuckles and at times at all his fingers, but he does it for short periods of times and gets quite frustrated.
Last night, he actually woke up 2 times. Once at 2:00AM and again at 3:13AM (same time as previous night- but this time we did not feed him, I knew he probably ate enough during the day). At 2AM, he just cried for a few seconds, quiet down on his own, then make a few more sounds, and in between I could here him sucking on his hand, then after 30 minutes fell asleep. At 3:13AM, cried a bit longer, maybe 5 minutes, so we went in to check on him. DH held him and immediately fell asleep in his arms. We put him back in crib and started to whimper a bit, then sucked some more. We swaddled him and left. He continued whimpering for a while and then fell asleep.
DO YOU HAVE AN IDEA WHY HE IS GETTING UP NOW MORE OFTEN?
Also, the rocking is definitely an issue. I want to stop, but you should see him trying to settle himself for sleep. He makes all sort of movements with his mouth, indicating that he still wants his paci. In his frustration, he scratches me all over. It is bad. I know that he really is suffering from no having the paci. I just do not want to give it to him since we worked so hard to weaned him and I know that giving it back would indicate weaning it again in the future. I am thinking that once, his need for the paci is less, I will work on the rocking. I need to work on the rocking since he is probably 16 lb by now.
Thanks for the help