Help! 6 month growth spurt and wrestless eating

There is a 6 month growth spurt, right? DD has been eating like a
horse! During the day, it pretty much hasn't changed, but she is eating
constantly all evening until bedtime. I feed on demand, and boy is she
demanding. This is all fine and good, but, she had started sleeping
good stretches at night, waking only once, sometimes sleeping all night.
But, since she started this feeding binge, she is getting up 3-4 times
in the night. Is this normal? I'm going crazy with lack of sleep.
Co-sleeping is not a safe option at my house. DH sleeps way to hard and
most nights, our 4 year old winds up in bed with us, and she flails
around too much for my liking.

I've always been a person who takes a long time to fall asleep, no
matter how tired I am. So, with dd getting up so much, I'm going on
about 2-3 hours of good (broken up) sleep. If I know there is an end in
sight, it makes it more bareable, KWIM?

And she is teething, so I'm sure that has some to do with it. When I'm
nursing her before bedtime, she gets extremely wrestless, grunting and
groaning, and stretching her body, arching her back and stiffining up
her neck and arms. If I didn't know better, I would think it was very
bad gas, but she toots, and doesn't act like it gives her any relief.
She'll dig her little feet into my leg, pop off the breast and cry (not
really a pain cry, more like a frustrated cry). I've tried changing
positions, no go. She does these things at other times she nurses, but
not to the extreme that she does before bedtime.

Any ideas, help, suggestions?

TIA,
Jodie

You can give tylenol for the teething pain, and that might help with
some of her wakefulness at night, but if it is a growth spurt that
probably won't help.

I am sorry that you can't co-sleep. I also have a hard time falling
asleep if woken in the night, but do it very easily with a baby on the
breast, so I actually sleep better when bf than usual. I sleep with
just the baby and me on a twin mattress on the floor. Dh was booted
out of my bedroom long ago because he snores and I have so much
problems with falling back asleep if woken up.

KC


(Jodie) wrote in message ...
There is a 6 month growth spurt, right? DD has been eating like a
horse! During the day, it pretty much hasn't changed, but she is eating
constantly all evening until bedtime. I feed on demand, and boy is she
demanding. This is all fine and good, but, she had started sleeping
good stretches at night, waking only once, sometimes sleeping all night.
But, since she started this feeding binge, she is getting up 3-4 times
in the night. Is this normal? I'm going crazy with lack of sleep.
Co-sleeping is not a safe option at my house. DH sleeps way to hard and
most nights, our 4 year old winds up in bed with us, and she flails
around too much for my liking.

I've always been a person who takes a long time to fall asleep, no
matter how tired I am. So, with dd getting up so much, I'm going on
about 2-3 hours of good (broken up) sleep. If I know there is an end in
sight, it makes it more bareable, KWIM?

And she is teething, so I'm sure that has some to do with it. When I'm
nursing her before bedtime, she gets extremely wrestless, grunting and
groaning, and stretching her body, arching her back and stiffining up
her neck and arms. If I didn't know better, I would think it was very
bad gas, but she toots, and doesn't act like it gives her any relief.
She'll dig her little feet into my leg, pop off the breast and cry (not
really a pain cry, more like a frustrated cry). I've tried changing
positions, no go. She does these things at other times she nurses, but
not to the extreme that she does before bedtime.

Any ideas, help, suggestions?

TIA,
Jodie

Jodie wrote:
There is a 6 month growth spurt, right? DD has been eating like a
horse! During the day, it pretty much hasn't changed, but she is eating
constantly all evening until bedtime. I feed on demand, and boy is she
demanding.

Sounds like in your case there is a 6m growth spurt, although the
teething is probably playing a big role too.

She does these things at other times she nurses, but
not to the extreme that she does before bedtime.

Any ideas, help, suggestions?


Once I was told by a ped that babies can have pain in their ears
when the first teeth emerge. This makes sense, since the jaws are
very close to the ears and get quite 'tense' when teeth are breaking.
It sounds like she is really having ear pains, and you can ease
those with some tylenol. This may also help her sleep a little
better during the night. Once the teeth break, it should be a lot
better. Hang in there!

--
-- Ilse
mom to Olaf (07/15/2002)
TTC #2
"What's the use of brains if you are a girl?"
Aletta Jacobs, first Dutch woman to receive a PhD