well, I need a little help - sleeping

my2monkeyboys wrote: Waylon will be 6 weeks Tuesday, and while that is still a bit young for a schedule, we are trying to get him into a routine of sorts. I have tried keeping him up a little more in the day so that he'll sleep better at night, which does help except that he's SO fussy in the evenings then that I can't get anything else done. So then we tried letting him sleep whenever he wants in the day - which ends up being a few short naps with a long afternoon nap - about 3 hrs. He then fights going to sleep until close to midnight and only sleeps one decent stretch, about 3 1/2 hrs, then is back to waking up every 1 1/2-2hrs.
What am I doing wrong? I feel like I'm going crazy....
Will didn't sleep through the night until almost 4 months old, but he seemed to have a schedule of his own from the start. This one here, though, I just can't figure out.
Any suggestions?

Thanks,
From One Tired Mom

ZandersMama replied: im sorry im really no help. zav is completely unpredictable now at age 2, where early on i could set the clock by him.

lisar replied: Lexi was hard, she was up every night until she was 2. Raygen on the other hand after being in the NICU for the first 2 weeks, she had her days and nights mixed up. At night she wanted to stay up and during the day all she wanted to do was sleep. It drove me nuts. I had to literally fight with her for 3 days to keep her awake during the day so that we could get them straight. Plus she was on an every 3 hour feeding schedule. Which I promptly changed to every 4 hours at first. And by the time she was 2 months old she wanted to sleep thru the night. So I let her. Sorry i am not a whole lot of help either

Our Lil' Family replied: I'd start early in the morning with a routine, say 7am, feed every 3 hours and let him about nap 3 times a day, maybe 4..hard to remember that young, probably 4. I'd guess one after each feeding. Then at around 6 or so in the evening give him a bath, keep it quiet and relaxing. Then set a bedtime for him, say 7pm. You can choose to do bottle then bath or bath then bottle and bed. It might take about a week but just try to be very consistent. I base this off of the Babywise book where they recommend the schedule to be eat, awake, sleep, eat, wake, sleep, etc. throughout the day. Hope this helps some.

my2monkeyboys replied: I just found my book called the Baby Whisperer and it has a similar Eat, Activity, Sleep pattern, too. So far today he got up at 8:30 (he normally gets up around 7:30, but we had a rough night... he had kind of a late nap at 7 and then was up a lot last night with a tummy ache), ate, changed his booty and then played for about an hour and just laid back down for a nap at 10:20. I'm going to try to keep a routine today since we should be home all day.
How long do you think I should keep him up after his last nap of the day? He's been just nodding off around 7 for about 30-45 min, then being fussy and nodding off/waking up until he finally goes to bed around 11. I know this isn't working for him or us, so what do you think would be best to do?
The bad thing is that DH hardly ever gets home before 7 to eat dinner, and we usually end up going to grab something near by to eat. That makes putting Waylon in bed at 7 kind of difficult... I hate feeling so unsure about things. Having someone from the outside looking in sure does help, though.

Our Lil' Family replied: 7pm bedtime was just my suggestion, you make it what works best for your family. If 9 works better, then go with that. I guess I'd have to know what time he naps last to answer your question. If it was me and I chose 9pm for bedtime I'd start at about 8 or 8:15 with bath, then bottle and bed by 9pm. Basing it off of that I probably wouldn't let him nap past 6 or 6:30, if you can keep him awake. See how today goes, keep track of what he does and I'll help you evaluate it tonight or tomorrow.

Our Lil' Family replied:
In reading this again it sounds like he definitely needs cues that it's bedtime. I think bath and maybe quiet time would help him identify that it's time to sleep for the night.

my2monkeyboys replied: Well, so far today he hasn't slept well at all. He went down for his morning nap around 10:20, slept until 11:35. Got up, ate, played, changed diaper again, then went down around 12:45. Slept for about 15 min, woke up crying, seemed hungry so I let him nurse, he started falling asleep so I laid him back down, slept off and on about 30 min, fussing quite a bit between sleep. Got him up at 1:30 and let him nurse a bit more, and we went to the bank and post office, where he fell asleep in the carseat. Just before we got back home he woke up again (after about 15 min sleep) and I tried to swaddle him and get him back to sleep. Again, he's slept in about 15-20 min stretches, waking up screaming between. He's crying right this minute, as a matter of fact.

I'm not sure where to go with this, as he seems so very tired, yawning, tired eyes, but can't seem to sleep. Any ideas???
I feel like a first-time mom again today!

Our Lil' Family replied: Think it might be gas causing him not to sleep well?

my2monkeyboys replied: Well, he finally went to sleep at 6:30 and slept until almost 9. (At that point in the day I just let him sleep, figuring I was in for a bad night again anyway.) He then woke up, ate, played about an hour, ate again at 10:30, started fussing so I gave him some gas drops and went to sleep. He then slept until 4 this morning, got up and ate, gave him some more gas drops and he slept until 7:30. He's since been up playing, all smiles this morning, and is in the process of eating again, no doubt heading for his morning nap.

I do think it was his stomach bothering him, and I think I know why. A few weeks ago I thought that my drinking milk was bothering him, causing him to vomit. After a little while though I realized the vomiting was from air bubbles getting caught due to an over-active let down. I've since come to take care of that part and figured I could drink milk again. Apparently though it is causing problems, bc about a week ago I started drinking it again, almost daily, and he has started becoming gassy, fussy, and having watery stools, also getting a red ring around his little booty. So, I'm going to cut out the milk again and see if that helps. I feel so bad that I'm probably at fault for him feeling bad...

I'm hoping today will be better since he had such a good night's sleep last night.
Wish me luck! I'll keep you posted on the day, in case I'm missing something.
Thanks!!

Our Lil' Family replied: So glad to hear that the drops helped! Don't feel bad, it's truly a guessing game until you get it right, only then do you know for sure. Sounds like you both got much needed sleep!! I hope today goes better for you! I'll check in later.

My2Beauties replied: I was also going to say he sounds gassy! I'm hoping taking milk, out of your diet helps. KUP

lovemy2 replied: Yep I would guess the milk - maybe try not 100% cutting it out but cutting way back - milk is harsh on any baby IMO - milk intolerance or allergy aside it is just tough on their tummy - I don't know many newborns that have been able to handle regular forumla even - but soy seems to work.

As for a "schedule" IMO its way early - let him sleep and eat when he needs to while gently steering him towards the routine part - I always put my kids in their crib twice during the day at a "naptime" even if they only slept 15 minutes - they eventually got it - same with bedtime - my kids both as infants were in bed at 7:00 - as newborns it lasted maybe until 9:00 then they settled in for the nite around 10:30 - 11:00 - waking once during the nite - Dylan was BF for about 8 weeks so he woke two or three times in the nite but they were both at least getting the picture early...KWIM - hang in there - we always want this stage to be over and try to rush it - then they start sleeping through the nite and crawling and walking and being kids and we want it to start all over again

Hang in there you are doing a great job