Dear Maree,
I am perhaps hoping you can help me.
My baby boy is just now six months old. He has been a very difficult baby from birth, a catnapper, very hard to settle, constantly feeding, and hates it if he is put down.
I wrap him and use a dummy to settle him. Sometimes he goes down with very little fuss, other times he will just scream and scream. I do not use a routine with him, I follow his signs and wait for the tired signals. As well as this, I demand feed him (breast feed), although I have tried a routine for the feeding, he does not allow for it as he will just at times cry and cry until he is fed. He is very content if being held, but when he gets put down, he puts up a real fuss. It is always at this time, after a while, when I decide "your not happy - time for bed!"
He has always woken at least twice a night for a feed, until recently he started waking 3-4 times for a feed during the night. He has now dropped back to 2-3 feeds at night.
I really try to re-settle him without the feed - initially with a dummy, then a few sips of water, patting, then pick him up and pat, then just let him squalk for a few minutes before finally giving up (as I am now wide awake) and giving him a feed. He settles instantly and goes back to bed afterwards very content.
What is your advise for what I can do? I find that all through the day I am constantly fussing with a crying baby, (or holding one) and at night I am then up feeding him.
I have chosen not to stress too much about routines, as I find they are constantly getting interrupted as quite often I am out and about for a little now and then. I feel that I am not doing much different than what I did for my two year old daughter, and she responded in a totally different way to what my son is now. (she was very easy to handle).
Any advise you may be able to help me with will be appreciated.
Thankyou.
Regards,
Linda
I am perhaps hoping you can help me.
My baby boy is just now six months old. He has been a very difficult baby from birth, a catnapper, very hard to settle, constantly feeding, and hates it if he is put down.
I wrap him and use a dummy to settle him. Sometimes he goes down with very little fuss, other times he will just scream and scream. I do not use a routine with him, I follow his signs and wait for the tired signals. As well as this, I demand feed him (breast feed), although I have tried a routine for the feeding, he does not allow for it as he will just at times cry and cry until he is fed. He is very content if being held, but when he gets put down, he puts up a real fuss. It is always at this time, after a while, when I decide "your not happy - time for bed!"
He has always woken at least twice a night for a feed, until recently he started waking 3-4 times for a feed during the night. He has now dropped back to 2-3 feeds at night.
I really try to re-settle him without the feed - initially with a dummy, then a few sips of water, patting, then pick him up and pat, then just let him squalk for a few minutes before finally giving up (as I am now wide awake) and giving him a feed. He settles instantly and goes back to bed afterwards very content.
What is your advise for what I can do? I find that all through the day I am constantly fussing with a crying baby, (or holding one) and at night I am then up feeding him.
I have chosen not to stress too much about routines, as I find they are constantly getting interrupted as quite often I am out and about for a little now and then. I feel that I am not doing much different than what I did for my two year old daughter, and she responded in a totally different way to what my son is now. (she was very easy to handle).
Any advise you may be able to help me with will be appreciated.
Thankyou.
Regards,
Linda
Linda (Jessica 3/4/03, Caleb 11/4/05)