Mommy help!!!

[saucymb]

Okay, all of you creative moms...help a fellow DIS'er out here. I'm a new mommy to 5-week old Jonah, and for the past three weeks he won't sleep in a bassinet or crib!!! Just in his bouncy seat and on my chest. In fact, we had to buy a recliner so that I could get some sleep as well.

He's colicky and fussy, but I know a lot of you have been through this. Please please give me your tricks and tips. It's at the worst from 9pm - 1am. Our pediatrician discouraged the sleeping-in-the-recliner-with-him practice, but after 4 hours of screaming, I'll sleep wherever I can get it!

I'm ready to try just about anything! Help me put him down to sleep in a crib or basinet please please please!!!

 

[katelynsmommy2001]

I slept with my daughter in a recliner for about 5-6 months!! She has Spina Bifida & was in body casts & overly paranoid 1st time mommy that I was, I was too scared to put her in her crib. So the recliner was my bed! Not comfy, but I say do what you have to do to get some sleep!!

Good Luck!

 

[Soccermom-Cheri]

This is just what worked for my DS ...

he had this little seat, like a car seat really without the straps. He fit very cozy (cozily?) inside. He loved sleeping in there. I think he liked the secure feeling and the partial recline may have been good for his tummy. (I even put the seat inside his crib).

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

Don't know how you feel about chiropractors but it is said that it can help with colicky babies. All of my kids started seeing our chiro at 2 days.
The key is to find one that is extremely gentle. I think there may be a course that they take. but I'm not sure.

But in the mean time sleeping in the recliner should be ok as long as there is no risk to the baby falling out of your arms. They also make co sleepers for your bed.
http://www.babybungalow.com/nebadesnne.html
That way they are close but it reduces the risk of you rolling over on them. One more thing is a CD we own called Transitions:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00000IKGP/sr=8-6/qid=1146885693/ref=pd_bbs_6/103-2582040-

it combines soft music with womb sounds. It works like a dream just do not listen to it while driving!

Hopefully you will get some sleep soon, but know you're not alone my DD is 7 weeks and still likes to sleep with me. I either have to touch her or hold her for either of us to get any rest.

 

[CACruisin']

Sometimes you just gotta do whatever it takes to make everyone happy. And if baby is happy, mommy is happy. If the recliner works, go for it. It won't be forever. The worst of the colic should be over by 12-16 weeks. I know it seems like forever right now, but it will be over before you know it. Hang in there!

 

[holycow]

Oh, you poor mommy! I've been there just 9 short months ago!....are you swaddling the baby? That helped very well for us and the sleeping in the car seat did too....one night he sleep like 4 hours and I kept checking on him to make sure he was ok! (I had him sleeping right next the bed!) Good luck!

Lisa

 

[graygables]

First, tell your pediatrician that S/HE can come over to your house then, so you can get some sleep. Doggone it, some babies are just more sensitive than others.

OK DD3 (now 10yo) had colic BADLY. They thought she had an intussuception where the intestine folds in on itself, it was that bad. The only thing that worked for her was to be held across my forearm, face in my hand, feet by my elbow with firm pressure on her tummy. She was also swaddled and she slept on her stomach. I know that isn't recommended these days, but it's what worked for us. The other thing that really helped was this buzzy thing that attached to the crib and vibrated it...don't even know if those are still available. We had her on Nutramigen formula after cutting my diet completely down to celery and carrot sticks. It was horrible. The formula 10 years ago was $10 per *day*. She had terrible stomach problems until she was about 8 (including hospital admissions and appendix scares), but just seemed to outgrow it.

DD4 (now 7yo) has, for the last 2 weeks, for the first time, spent an entire night in her own bed. Yes, 7 years old. Stinks for me, but it is what she NEEDED at the time. My sleep patterns have been completely altered (it's 220 and I'm still up) b/c of this child, but she is terribly sensitive, had horrible dreams (yes, even as a baby). I had a sling for her that I wore in the recliner so she couldn't fall if my arms went blah. She sometimes still comes to my bed in the middle of the night and is right up against me (or draped over me). She is very tactile and needs that touch to be able to let go and rest. My mom used to chastise me (this after having been a mother myself for 13 years ) that I needed to "put that baby down", but I had a sense of when she was enough "gone" and if I laid her down before that...forget about it.

Also, I had breathing/esophogus problems as a baby and my mother put me in a baby seat with a vaporizer next to me. I had to be upright or I couldn't breathe and had acid reflux. Has your DS been checked for that by any chance?

You have to do what is right for you and your baby and don't let the "experts" tell you what that is...you'll know it...it's a mommy thing.

 

[kaylajr]

First you know what is best for you and your child
Period end of discussion

The Dr I had when DD was little and we were dealing with Colic told me that

he said if you find something that works for you GO WITH IT!!!!!!!

Swaddiling helped
stomach sleeping helped
white noise helped
car rides helped

they didn't all work all the time but they were things we tried

we also had to play the lets find a formula that works game

she is 10 now and still has some stomach issues

Good Luck and if the recliner is working than Good for you

 

[PrincessNancy96]

You know what is best for the baby... Jonah is probably more comfortable in the bouncy seat because it is nice a cozy...
My DD was this way... I was working still at the time and I would put the bouncey right next to my bed and strap her in tight...it got to where DH would find me on the floor next to her in the AM...
DS's were better...
But I did many times sleep right next to them in whatever made them comfortable.. My baby now 5.. would only sleep in sleepers w/ the feet that were fuzzy...even in the heat of the summer... you took it off to cool him and he'd not sleep all night...

You do what makes Jonah happy..and you'll be happy!!!

 

[KAMommy]

Sometimes pediatricians need to take a pill...

DS was relatively easy after he got over the "I think I'll stop breathing" thing when he was six days old. He had some allergy issues, and occassionally would have to sleep laying on one of us in a recliner because of the congestion. (Funny story, he was on an apenea monitor because of the turning blue incident and he learned that mom and dad might not get up if he whined, but if you wrapped your three-month-old toes in the monitor wires and pulled them loose, mom and dad came to see about you - little twerp! )

Anyway, DD was compeltely different, we had colic - I had to have a near fist-fight with a call nurse to get her in to the doctor, who promptly gave us the formula change the nurse said I didn't need. The bigger problem was that she had almost constant ear infections from one month until our first set of tubes at eight months. Most of the time, the only way anyone got any sleep was if she was propped up on you and you were sitting mostly upright. We did find one other thing that was really helpful, though. We found this bouncy seat (can't think of any other word for it) that had a vibrator (I know...my daughter and the vibrating bed - the jokes are endless). But this gentle vibration, combined with sitting up, let us all get some rest.

I really feel for you. The first months are hard enough without colic. But I want to echo what the other ladies have said over and over, you know your child best. If pediatrician is blowing you off, it is time to visit a new pediatrician. The best one I ever had (then had to move ) told me that he could never know my child as well as I did and that I was always to bring them in if I felt they were "off", even if they didn't have a fever, etc.

Best of luck and prayers to you and Jonah.

 

[bevtoy]

Both my girls were colicky and cried for the first three months. Here's the only relief we found:
1) Take them for a ride in the car, they fall asleep, problem is you can't drive all night, now gas price is too high. Sometimes pushing them around in a stroller helped........ motion and vibration is the key.

2) Put them safely in a car/baby seat and sit them on top of the washer/dryer and run the washer and/or dryer at the same time, I think it sounds like they are in-utero and comforts them! My oldest loved this a lot. She wasn't even sleeping! Just quit crying and got very quiet.

3) They had available a vibrating bouncy seat for infants that runs on batteries. My Youngest slept there almost all of the time till the colic passed, sounds weird but if the baby is happy and safe then I wouldn't worry about it.
Some of these cures are not traditional and sound scary but they worked. How good is it for an infant to cry that hard for that long? Not to mention parents sanity........

 

[saucymb]

You guys rock! Thank you so much for your responses!

First: the pediatrician is great, she was just concerned that the sleeping-in-the-recliner-together thing would become a long-term thing and I wouldn't get any rest. I did let her know that right now it's the only way I AM getting any rest!

Jonah is on breast milk (I pump about 10 times a day!) and seems to be okay with that. I have no appetite, so whatever I do eat I make sure it is mild enough to not upset his tummy.

Our biggest issue is that he just won't stop crying between 9pm and 1am! How in the world does he know what time it is?!?!? I don't care if I have to keep him in the bouncy seat or in the recliner with me, as long as he is calm and not screaming!

We're doing better this morning. Again, thanks so much for your suggestions and kind thoughts.

mb

 

[Stephres]

My first one slept in the bouncy seat (with the vibrator) on a lot when he was little. You do what works and try not to worry what the doctor thinks. Good luck!

 

[AlexWyattMommy]

I noticed you said you are breastfeeding. When my oldest was an infant he had horrible crying spells from 4pm to about 10pm (so I was still able to get some sleep at night) but it was the most gutrentching feeling to hear your baby cry and not be able to offer comfort.
Anyway, I had read about that the mom drinking cow's milk can cause colicky symptoms in the baby. I stopped drinking milk and he started to cry less. I stopped eating all the silly ho-hos or swiss miss things (hey I needed the extra calories ) and he stopped crying, not all together as we still had some bad days here and there, but it was not the every night routine anymore. We family bed and he wouldn't go to sleep until after he heard his dad snoring. Ha, at least someone can sleep with the snoring.
My youngest son I slepted holding him on my chest in an upright position for a long time. (He was constanted congested and couldn't breath laying down) I started on the recliner, but that was uncomfortable for me. I ended up taking our sectional and putting it together so that when holding him, if for some reason my arms gave out, he would only fall to the couch cushions and could only roll to the next back of the section. It was like a huge square I had to climb into. After he got a little bit bigger, I would lay sideways and lean him on my stomach and bent knees. I got great sleep when we did that. We did that for about 6-8 months and finally he was able to sleep in his bed.
So you find what works for you, there used to be some great bulletin board groups dealing with breastfeeding who had great advice to try and see what works.
Enjoy the good times with Jonah and know that the hard times will NOT last.

 

[saucymb]

Well, we've had a good few nights now. I've just decided to do what works for us, which is for me to bounce him in his bouncy seat when he's fussy, which is usually until around midnight, then give him a good feeding and then just sleep in the recliner with him for the night. It works right now, it means that we both get decent sleep, and it takes the stress out. We'll give it a couple of weeks then I'll try to get him in the bassinet.

AlexWyattMommy: I have no appetite, so I try to make sure that whatever I eat will be very nutritious for both me and Jonah. I avoid anything that could possibly make the colic/gas worse for the baby, so no broccoli or beans, nothing very spicy, and no caffeine.

Again, thanks you guys for the suggestions but mostly the ENCOURAGEMENT! That is the most helpful part, to know I'm not the only one who has been through this and that it will get better!

Thanks thanks thanks!

 

[ariel & eric]

Just like everyone else said - Do what works for you. DD slept in her swing for about a month. And both DS's slept on me on the couch for about 8 weeks. Both boys were both after they started telling parents to put their kids on their backs. After 8 weeks, they slept on their tummies. I couldn't take it any longer. It's funny because DS10 still sleeps on his tummy and DS9 sleeps only on his back.

 

[GraysMom]

I hope things are going better for you and you are able to get more sleep! There is a pediatrician named Dr. Harvey Karp who has calming techniques for babies (colicky or not). He has a DVD out called the Happiest Baby on the Block which shows you how to tightly swaddle, use specific holds and calming motions, etc. I found it to be helpful with out DS even though he didn't have colic. I totally know what you are going through with the pumping 24 hours a day . I pumped like that for five months and it nearly wore me out! Knowing it was what was best for him is the only thing that kept me going, but it got to a point where I knew I needed to get out once and a while by myself (for more than just the hour and a half before I had to pump again) and I started weaning myself from the pump. The good news is that I had so much extra milk frozen, he continued to have breastmilk exclusively for the first 6 1/2 months, even though I only pumped for 5 of those months (and he was/is a big eater). Like other posters have said, you are the one who is with your son the most and you know what is best for him.

GraysMom

 

[poconoboatniks]

There is light at the end of that tunnel. Both of my kids had colic. I use to see other new moms in the mall with their sleeping babies and I would wonder why my kids were "broken." The bright side is that the kids don't remember a thing about the colic.

I taped a vacuum cleaner for about an hour and used the tape in my car because neither kid liked to ride in the car. Water music helped, but it made me sleepy. Not good for me when I 'm driving. My son would sleep in his swing for hours. Both kids loved the Snuggly. I nursed both kids until they were approx. 10 mths old. Ped. had me alternate with formula for my son. It helped and I didn't feel so worn out. Dr. Sears has a great section in his book about colic. There different ways of holding the baby to help make them feel better which he describes in his book.

Good luck and know that this will pass and they won't remember any of it.

Pocono