hello

[annick.rauch]

Hello!

Ohh, where to begin! I have an 8 week old baby, and he's recently started acting up during most but not all of his feedings (he is bottle fed since he was 2 and a half weeks). He will start off eating well but then stiffens up towards the second half of his feeding. I've had many advice from people, none of which have worked! Tried burping him more, tried giving him gripe water... Maybe I should try switching formula (he's currently on nestly good start) but my thought was that if he had a problem with the formula, he would act up every feed, not only sometimes). I'm thinking that this problem might be due to the fact that he doesn't sleep very well during the day and might be over tired? He used to sleep about an hour and a half between feeds (eating, playing then sleeping until it was time to eat again) but now only sleeps for 20-30 minutes before waking up screaming. This problem started about 2 weeks ago... we took him to the hospital because he had a rash and small fever. They told us it was probably something viral. The rash persisted so we took him to the doctors this week and found out he has eczema... don't know if this could have anything to do with it. He still sleeps pretty good at night (only wakes up once to feed) but the past few nights, he's woken up before he normaly would and needed to be soothed back to sleep. Seems like we're tried everything...

[sombrabella]

It almost sounds like acid reflux, except he's sleeping ok at night....I would definitely keep pursuing the cause though. Just keep going to the doctor and be persistent. I've found (from personal experience) that doctors tend to shrug off fussy behavior and trouble sleeping as just normal baby stuff. But if your gut is telling you that something's not right, listen to it! You know your baby better than anyone else.

[annick.rauch]

Thanks! It's really nice to get support from others and just to be able to get it all out!

Yesterday, I had a reunion class with my prenatal class and although only one other couple showed up, it was really good to talk to them, I sure felt like I wasn't the only one going through all of this! They gave me realy good advice too! Seems like my 8 week old was fussing during feeds because I wasn't reading his cues properly... and I was feeding him when he wasn't hungry or over feeding him. I think that I did this because he lost soo much weight when I was breastfeeding for the 1st 3 weeks that I feld bad i guess. I'm also learning to go with the flow a little more which is VERY difficult for me. Anyone who knows me know that i'm super duper organized and I like my routine. I've also decided to put down the books and stop googling. I was too focused on trying a million things that I just wasn't paying attention to what my son wanted. Poor little guy! I feel like he's had such a hard life so far and I'm finding it hard not to blame myself for everything. But, my husband made a comment that stuck with me yesterday... he said "But, when's the last time you were a mom?" very good point - i can't blame myself for it all... i just have to learn from my mistakes and keep on doing the best that i can.

by the way, if i remember correctly, you're having trouble with your little one's sleeping? i was struggling with that too for a while. my baby's very curious and after trying everything in the book, my husband found out that all he wanted was to be left alone in his crib with his soother. if it fell out, he would cry a bit and we would simply go back in there to give him his soother again... he doesn't do it more than twice before falling asleep on his own. We also put an air purifier in his room which makes a great humming sound - helps him sleep better and longer. don't know if you've tried any of these...

thanks again

[sombrabella]

Glad you figured out his feeding issues! Don't beat yourself up about the past...babies only live in the present! And he is a lucky baby to have a mommy who tries so hard to make him happy!

Well, my son doesn't take a pacifier (we've tried several kinds). We've tried everything to get him to sleep alone, but he just isn't ready. And that's ok. I went thru a period there where I thought it was really important to get him to sleep in his crib alone, but it was mostly just because it was what 'everyone else' does...but I've found out from talking to lots of people that there are more of us 'sleep sharers' out there than I thought! And truthfully, I think I will really miss the little guy when he finally does sleep in his own bed!

I used to feel guilty, weak, and overindulgent about letting him sleep with us until I read 'The Baby Book' by Dr. and Martha Sears. They are big proponents of attachment parenting, and their book has really helped me to feel better about some of my parenting decisions. I highly recommend it--it has alot of info about the first 2 years of baby's life.