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evening fussiness and long rem stage
Margaret seems a lot more "twitchy" than my first baby. She startles easily
and takes a long time to enter deep sleep from rem sleep. When she's in rem sleep she often startles at nothing - I wonder if she has those "I'm falling" dreams that jerk you awake just as you are dropping off. It seems to take much more than the typical 20 minutes, I've often rocked or walked her for much longer and she's still drifting in and out of a light sleep. I'd like to start putting her in her crib for the first sleep of the night which tends to be longer, generally 3 hours now sometimes a bit more, but this is the worst time for getting her in a deep sleep. I'd love to nurse her down, but it just doesn't work for her, at least not in the evening. For starters she generally has a screaming fit around this time, I go down the checklist and she's fed, burped, clean, comfy, and being held, but still unhappy. I'm pretty sure she's tired but overstimulated by the evening routine of getting dinner on for myself and her 2 1/2 year-old older sister, then getting the sister into bed which generally involves a lot of squirming and squealing. DH comes home from work around DD1's bedtime, but if he's a little late I have to juggle the baby during the whole routine and it really winds her up I used to nurse DD1 down then just rock till she reached the rag-doll stage and put her in her crib, but DD2 rarely falls asleep at the breast unless she was already half asleep when she started. When she's done eating her eyes open and she wants to look around and play. Novelty amuses her and nothing else will do. At this point I can keep her from crying only by changing her position every couple of minutes, but that just postpones the inevitable snit, potentially for hours while she gets tireder and harder to please. Eventually I just get too tired and sit and rock her in my arms while she arches and shrieks until she conks out. At this point she sleeps very lightly so while I'd be happy to sit next to my husband and just hold her, she keeps waking up at every noise or jostle and sometimes starts crying all over again. She only settles if I take her to our bed and lie down with her. By the time she's deep enough asleep to leave her there I'm asleep too which is a little frustrating because it leaves zero time for talking with my husband. From there it's pretty easy though, she wakes 2 or 3 times for a feed and settles right back down. I haven't had the nerve to try moving her to the crib in the middle of the night. FWIW I've gotten her to nap there in the daytime pretty regularly, it's the evening that's just rough. Wearing her down in the sling sometimes works, but she still doesn't go down deep enough to out down for longer than a few minutes, even when she seems completely limp and I just ooze out of the sling leaving it around her, she wakes very soon and kind of ticked off so we start all over again. So, thanks if you've made it this far. Does this sound like any of your babies? Did you find any other strategies that worked? I really don't want to be co-sleeping long-term, we're doing it now for the extra sleep but we're going to be needing our baby-free time and space back for our sanity. -Liz |
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evening fussiness and long rem stage
"Liz S. Reynolds" wrote in message
... I'm pretty sure she's tired but overstimulated by the evening routine of getting dinner on for myself and her 2 1/2 year-old older sister, then getting the sister into bed which generally involves a lot of squirming and squealing. DH comes home from work around DD1's bedtime, but if he's a little late I have to juggle the baby during the whole routine and it really winds her up My DD used to get very overstimulated and overtired in the evenings too. It just gets worse and worse the later it gets. Would it be possible for you to put the baby to bed before her older sister, so that she's not as tired, or would the noise of the older one going to bed wake her up? Lucy |
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evening fussiness and long rem stage
Liz S. Reynolds wrote:
So, thanks if you've made it this far. Does this sound like any of your babies? Did you find any other strategies that worked? Are you swaddling her? I must say that swaddling always seemed to work wonders for preventing my babies from waking up from the "twitchiness" you descibe. -- Be well, Barbara (Julian [6], Aurora [4], and Vernon's [22 mos.] mom) This week's special at the English Language Butcher Shop: "Taxi's R Us" -- name of a cab company Daddy: You're up with the chickens this morning. Aurora: No, I'm up with my dolls! All opinions expressed in this post are well-reasoned and insightful. Needless to say, they are not those of my Internet Service Provider, its other subscribers or lackeys. Anyone who says otherwise is itchin' for a fight. -- with apologies to Michael Feldman |
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evening fussiness and long rem stage
In article ,
Lucy wrote: "Liz S. Reynolds" wrote in message ... I'm pretty sure she's tired but overstimulated by the evening routine of getting dinner on for myself and her 2 1/2 year-old older sister, then getting the sister into bed which generally involves a lot of squirming and squealing. DH comes home from work around DD1's bedtime, but if he's a little late I have to juggle the baby during the whole routine and it really winds her up My DD used to get very overstimulated and overtired in the evenings too. It just gets worse and worse the later it gets. Would it be possible for you to put the baby to bed before her older sister, so that she's not as tired, or would the noise of the older one going to bed wake her up? If she fell asleep in the sling I could do that, but I can't leave the older one unattended long enough to walk/rock/nurse her down in a quiet room. -Liz |
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evening fussiness and long rem stage
In article dEiLb.103459$pY.53000@fed1read04, Circe wrote:
Liz S. Reynolds wrote: So, thanks if you've made it this far. Does this sound like any of your babies? Did you find any other strategies that worked? Are you swaddling her? I must say that swaddling always seemed to work wonders for preventing my babies from waking up from the "twitchiness" you descibe. I stopped because I though she was too hot swaddled in my arms or the sling, and it's definitly to hot for our toasty bed. Of course if it worked she'd be in her own bed till she woke, hmmm. So how to tell if she's too hot or just cozy if she's screaming whether or not she's bundled up? -Liz |
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evening fussiness and long rem stage
The only things that I would try that I don't see you mention is to swaddle
her so she doesn't get "twitchy." Try starting her bedtime ritual earlier because it sounds like she is overstimulated and overtired. The other thing, since every little noise wakes her, how about rocking her in the room she sleeps in with the lights dimmed low and putting a fan in the room to block out noise and create white noise. Soft music could also be played if she wouldn't get too worked up. Good luck. ) -- Sue (mom to three girls) I'm Just a Raggedy Ann in a Barbie Doll World... Liz S. Reynolds wrote in message ... Margaret seems a lot more "twitchy" than my first baby. She startles easily and takes a long time to enter deep sleep from rem sleep. When she's in rem sleep she often startles at nothing - I wonder if she has those "I'm falling" dreams that jerk you awake just as you are dropping off. It seems to take much more than the typical 20 minutes, I've often rocked or walked her for much longer and she's still drifting in and out of a light sleep. I'd like to start putting her in her crib for the first sleep of the night which tends to be longer, generally 3 hours now sometimes a bit more, but this is the worst time for getting her in a deep sleep. I'd love to nurse her down, but it just doesn't work for her, at least not in the evening. For starters she generally has a screaming fit around this time, I go down the checklist and she's fed, burped, clean, comfy, and being held, but still unhappy. I'm pretty sure she's tired but overstimulated by the evening routine of getting dinner on for myself and her 2 1/2 year-old older sister, then getting the sister into bed which generally involves a lot of squirming and squealing. DH comes home from work around DD1's bedtime, but if he's a little late I have to juggle the baby during the whole routine and it really winds her up I used to nurse DD1 down then just rock till she reached the rag-doll stage and put her in her crib, but DD2 rarely falls asleep at the breast unless she was already half asleep when she started. When she's done eating her eyes open and she wants to look around and play. Novelty amuses her and nothing else will do. At this point I can keep her from crying only by changing her position every couple of minutes, but that just postpones the inevitable snit, potentially for hours while she gets tireder and harder to please. Eventually I just get too tired and sit and rock her in my arms while she arches and shrieks until she conks out. At this point she sleeps very lightly so while I'd be happy to sit next to my husband and just hold her, she keeps waking up at every noise or jostle and sometimes starts crying all over again. She only settles if I take her to our bed and lie down with her. By the time she's deep enough asleep to leave her there I'm asleep too which is a little frustrating because it leaves zero time for talking with my husband. From there it's pretty easy though, she wakes 2 or 3 times for a feed and settles right back down. I haven't had the nerve to try moving her to the crib in the middle of the night. FWIW I've gotten her to nap there in the daytime pretty regularly, it's the evening that's just rough. Wearing her down in the sling sometimes works, but she still doesn't go down deep enough to out down for longer than a few minutes, even when she seems completely limp and I just ooze out of the sling leaving it around her, she wakes very soon and kind of ticked off so we start all over again. So, thanks if you've made it this far. Does this sound like any of your babies? Did you find any other strategies that worked? I really don't want to be co-sleeping long-term, we're doing it now for the extra sleep but we're going to be needing our baby-free time and space back for our sanity. -Liz |
#7
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evening fussiness and long rem stage
Liz S. Reynolds wrote:
In article dEiLb.103459$pY.53000@fed1read04, Circe wrote: Liz S. Reynolds wrote: So, thanks if you've made it this far. Does this sound like any of your babies? Did you find any other strategies that worked? Are you swaddling her? I must say that swaddling always seemed to work wonders for preventing my babies from waking up from the "twitchiness" you descibe. I stopped because I though she was too hot swaddled in my arms or the sling, and it's definitly to hot for our toasty bed. Of course if it worked she'd be in her own bed till she woke, hmmm. Well, I woudln't swaddle her in the sling--that'd definitely be too warm. But anywhere else, she certainly can be swaddled in light material. I found that the top sheet for a toddler bed (flat sheet the size of a crib sheet) worked great for swaddling in warm weather. Keep in mind that you can also swaddle her wearing *just* a diaper--she doesn't *have* to wear anything else. So how to tell if she's too hot or just cozy if she's screaming whether or not she's bundled up? I usually felt the back of the neck. If it was sweaty, I figured baby was too warm. |
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