Having a hard time with 4mo. and overstimulation and short awake times

[jmosery]

Hi ladies

I have a 4 month old. we are on 4 hour easy and he was doing really well. some rare occasions he couldn't stay up the full two hours but he was pretty good

he has mild torticolous and last week we started physical therapy

the therapist said he's going to be a lot more tired doing the exercises everytime he's up and might be more hungry

well she was right. he can no longer stay up past an hour twenty to an hour and a half

i don't want to move him back to a 3 hour easy beacuse he goes easily 4 hours between feeds. he naps well too

he gets overstimulated really fast and i have a hard time even keepig him entertained for the hour and a half. he changes, eats, plays with his hand. i don't do the exercises till i see him getting bored because I see how tired he gets

he also has been gettting really frustrated beacseu he is starting to teeth but can't get the toys in his mouth like he wants. that stage

is that normal for them to get so frustrated?

i'm not really sure what i'm asking as I'm following his cues

maybe some support that i'm doing well even though he isn't getting as much awake time as others his age

he sleeps great. 7pm to 4-5, eats a bottle and back to sleep till 7

we are actually going to try a dream feed this week to see if it eliminates that 5 am bottle since its so close to the start of the day

jaime

[jmosery]

i think its more overstimulation than tiredness because his naps are not longer than 40-50 min. and he's wide awake ready to play

how do I keep a spirited baby amused without getting overstimulated.

having such a hard time finding a balance.

jaime

[Erin M]

Hey Jaime-
Babies are so different around 4 months that it's so hard to even say what's really "normal".  There are a couple of threads that you can check out for some ideas if you haven't already.  This thread has lots of other people's routines for LOs of the same age as yours - I always found it helpful to see what others are doing:
https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=10385.0

Also, here's a support thread for parents of spirited  babies - some more ideas on activities here and what can keep them from getting overstimulated:
https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=62650.0

Basically, it's pretty normal for LOs to get frustrated when they're learning a new skill but haven't mastered it yet (like getting hands to mouth).

As far as the exercises go, I would say that once he gets used to it, you'll see his sleeping and eating patterns go back to close to what they used to be.  I know with my LO when she started rolling, crawling, walking, etc we'd have a short time where she needed more sleep, but eventually she'd adjust to her new activity level, I'm guessing that's what you'll see from your LO.

[GG]

Jaime, I just want to say that I'm right there with ya!  My dd is very spirited and I can't tell when she's ready for her naps so she gets overstimulated, which makes her sleep for 45 min, which makes her tired faster... it spirals out of control so quickly that she gets tired VERY fast. She was taking 2 hour naps but when she started rolling over, it all went out the door. Your lo will start sleeping better - this doesn't last too long.

Btw, have you tried to extend his naps? I'm reading Tracy's sleep interview in the Sleep section of this website and will be starting sleep training tomorrow. I'm hoping to get her 2-hour naps back.

[jmosery]

thanks ladies

well, his new thing is the front carrier

he will NO LONGER play on the floor AT ALL. screams his head off

so last night i had to walk around for over an hour with him in it. he loves it and laughs and screams

this morning my housekeeper wore him for an hour and a half.

he was up for 2 1/2 hours and slept for 2 hours without waking at all. i think carrying him is less stimulating and calmer which is good for him but he's 18 lbs. you can't just walk the whole activity time.

but he slept without waking once. i actually had to wake him up because it was 4 1.2 hours since he ate and i don't like him to sleep more than 2 hours during the day

but he was up for 2 1/2 hours no problem. guess because the play wasn't as stimulating.

grrr. hope this stage passes soon

jaime

[Erin M]

It will pass (of course, he'll move on to something equally as interesting) -- personally my DD never took a decent nap until after she was 4 months old, I was so happy when she started napping like babies are "supposed to"