I will admit- I had to Google the spelling on that. :-)
Anyways... I am finding that Baby Owen is a spitting carbon copy of Baby Austin in so many ways... yet I'm still finding it hard to deal with him some (a lot) of the time, even though certain behaviors are not alien to me..
Napping.
Or I should say, lack thereof. Owen will NOT nap. At least not nap well, or for a long time. Austin was the same way. I remember taking him the doctor once just to see if something was wrong with him because all I could get him to do was nap for about 15 mins all day long.
(Note- nothing was wrong with him, he was just an "active" baby that needed a lot of help to fall asleep)
History repeats itself... Owen nurses, is awake and happy and checking things out for about 10 mins after eating.. then the "tired" noise starts. Oh boy... what's my plan of action this time?
Swaddle?
Swing?
Rock and hold?
Crib?
Couch?
Front pack?
Car seat?
We've tried them all and they all work sometimes and are epic failures other times.
Lately it's taken me at least 30 mins (sometimes an hour) to soothe him to at least the point where his eyes are closing.. all the while he's getting more and more cranked up, more and more tired and making his body more and more stiff and harder to hold and soothe.
Why do I get so frustrated?
Austin did the same damn thing. I should be used to this.. or at least know what to do... I blogged once that trying to hold and soothe him was like trying to hold a log- stiff and impossible to cuddle.
It's not that I don't wrack my brain with how I can fix this..
We burp.
We sway.
We rock.
We try nursing again.. ok, nope.. you are playing around on there, obviously not hungry.
We try massage.
And finally, FINALLY he falls asleep.
Oops... gotta scratch my nose.. oh god, I need to scratch my nose!!!! Ok.. quick scratch... ahhh... better...
DAMN IT!!!!!!
Moving my arm woke him back up!!
Here we go again... rock and soothe.. sway and walk... swaddle, unswaddle.. swing? Nope, hated that..
Bounce, bounce, bounce...
I'll be honest. I'm exhausted from having to do this all day, everyday... just to get him to finally snooze for about the time it takes me to go to the bathroom or get more water.
Austin finally just grew out of this... about 6 months later.. Sigh. That's a long time from now. I'm getting to the "very frazzled" point.
Not to mention, I'm terrified to go anywhere with Owen because if he gets to the overly tired point... well.. let's just say the kid has some powerful lungs on him and he is not afraid to use them.
I know I struggled with this same thing with Austin, but back then I didn't have toddler Austin around who basically gets ignored or told to be quiet all day long because all day every day is devoted to "Get the Baby to Sleep Before He Screams Even Louder Than He's Screaming Now."
Anyone have any bright ideas I can try?
Other than duct tape over his mouth?
I'm kidding.
Maybe.
3 comments:
Hey love. Those moments are SO hard to deal with, I'm sorry it's sounding like that's most of your day right now. :( My stomach will twist in knots sometimes and I feel so frustrated, especially when we would try and nurse and Fiona would be fighting me - but still acting hungry. Hard to keep offering basically yourself over and over and being rejected - but needed. At about 4 months old Fiona stopped being an easy napper for me. Maybe it's because Whidbey was cold and Florida is too hot? She used to nap on me in the rocker in the living room, remember that? She started screaming, becoming a stiff log, etc. I kept thinking
Are you overly tired? Still hungry? Gassy? Did I eat something you hate the taste of in my breastmilk? Nope! Turns out she needed a dark, quiet room to nurse and fall asleep in.
With a sound machine going... Maybe try that? It was like she needed the cue that now it's time to sleep, otherwise it was like I was trying to get her to settle down when every other thing around her was like 'check me out active baby!'. Love you lots, sorry for the 3 comments, my phones being weird.
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