FamilyLife Forums

Quite some time ago we had a thread that was dedicated to parenting infants/young children - I would like to start that again.  Being a new mom I have so many questions and it would be nice for us to all encourage one another and pray for one another.

What do you all think?

Right now, we are struggling with naps!  Nights are great - as long as that stays the same I can handle the napping issues but would like to get them under control!

I think that sounds great--especially since the parenting forum is gone now. How old are your children? I have 3 of them--a boy who is 11, a girl who is 5 and a girl who is 3.

My oldest son has some issues and is in the hospital right now for bipolar disorder. He is supposed to be there for 45-90 days.

My middle daughter is getting ready to start gymnastics. She is already reading on a 3.0 reading level in kindergarten.

My 3 year old is my love bug. She is the one I can count on for laughs and hugs.

it is amazing how 3 children can be so different.

 

So, what is going on with the nap situation?

My little girl, Avery, is 5 weeks old - she is our only child.

For the first 4 weeks or so she was very fussy during the day and would only "cat nap" until mid afternoon.  My sister-in-law mentioned that she had read Babywise so I picked it up at the library last week and loosely put Avery on the feed/wake/sleep routine which worked very well for her - she was actually able to nap consistently after every feed/wake time and she was a much happier baby.  For the past three days she has not napped well (at least one nap per day has been interrupted).  I think it may be due to overstimulation and I also pumped (the last 2 days) right before the feeding preceeding her interrupted nap.  Ah, figuring out your baby, whew!

She eats anywhere from every 3-4 hours.

Hi Harper!

I would love to join - I thought about starting this thread myself, but you beat me to it :-)  I beccame a mommy while the forums were closed down.  Our daughter, Essie,  was born February 11. 

I completely understand the struggle with naps.  We are doing great with the afternoon nap, but morning and evening times are difficult. 

One book that has really helped me is called "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child."  I forget who wrote it and don't have it handy at the moment.  An 'aha' moment for me came when I read that at a couple months of age, babies can't really handle being awake for more than 1-2 hours at a time.  I started watching for signals and sure enough, Essie becomes cranky at about 1.5 hours and by 2 hours is borderline hysterical. 

I remember your username from the old forums, but not much else about you.  How old is your baby?  Is he/she your first? 

Blessings,

Nicksbride

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Nicksbride
Our adoption journey: www.thegiftofadoption.blogspot.com

Ha ha.  I started the last post a couple hours ago and didn't check the thread again before posting.  I see you already answered my questions about the baby :-)

I, too, have Babywise.  There are some things I don't agree with in the book, but the eat, wake, sleep thing has been good!

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Nicksbride
Our adoption journey: www.thegiftofadoption.blogspot.com

I havent' read the book, but I found that having a schedule from the start was a huge plus. I wasnt able to do it for my son as well because of a swing shift work schedule, but I did it with my daughters and it helped alot. They could put themselves to sleep without a problem and could go to sleep with a fair bit of noise in the room. Made it way easier to take them places.

great idea!!!  i have 3 boys 7, 5, and 1 1/2!  and i could always use whatever input i can get as well.  even though i am a "veteran" in the mom business as far as my numbers go, each child is very, very different and have their own personalities. 

my oldest never slept very well and still doesn't!

my middle is the textbook "middle child" and it started the day we brought the baby home.  he has always been an excellent sleeper from day one.

the baby is the baby and gets away with A LOT!  also a terrific sleeper!

since we are talking about sleep i will start there.  each child is different.  my first still has a hard time shutting his mind off at bedtime we have tried all the routines imaginable. 

my middle one puts himself to bed if i'm not getting to it quick enough for him, we have been having issues with late morning early afternoon crankiness though, i try to give him so rest time, as long as he is quiet he can watch a little TV but needs to lay down for a bit to get calm. 

my baby goes to bed like a champ nap pretty good too but he needs to be on a routine with them or he is a little monster.

i always made sure they were fed well before a nap and bedtime.  you could give your daughter some cereal before her nap time figure it into the routine.  i don't necessarly keep things silent either.  a fan works great in my son's nursery for some white noise or his lullaby music is put on rotate.  he will point at the stereo before i get  a chance to put it on.  with other children i can't keep the house completely silent.

Generally, how many naps should a 5 week old take per day?  For how long?

The frustrating thing is not knowing what I should expect - I have never done this before.

Iamjabeska - I prayed for your son and your family.  Please keep us updated, ok?

at five weeks it is so hard to get a schedule pinned down at least for me it always was.  they are growing and developing so fast that what worked at 5 weeks may not at 6 weeks, or 8 weeks and so forth....and if you pin yourself to a very "set" schedule you will feel trapped and not want to go anywhere for fear of disrupting the whole thing!!!

Harper, don't get discouarged (not saying that you are) it is a process and parenting is very difficult if you care to do it right.  ease up on yourself this is suppose to be an exciting nature thing!

i don't remember how many naps my son got, i remember they were lessening as he was getting older into his infancy.  i think you will run yourself ragged if you rock her for 30 minutes before every nap for her to sleep 15-20 minutes at at time.

i never read the Babywise, but i did let all my sons self soothe, if it is done in the beginning you will be thankful later on.

*phone call* be back later!!!

Hang in there, Harper.  8 weeks seemed to be the turning point for my daughter.

Establishing a routine is difficult - especially with the first because, if you are like me, you are used to going and going and going and not worrying about anyone else.  I've had to slow down and rearrange my schedule.  I do my best to make sure NOTHING interrupts afternoon nap.  We do errands in the morning - she sleeps well in her carseat for morning naps.  I work in the evenings (aerobics instructor) so she is with grandparents Tuesday - Thursday nights.  Otherwise, we try to take walks at night.  She loves to be outside - I even started the walks when it was still pretty cold out.  I just bundled her up really well - the fresh air was great for her!

If Avery is becoming overstimulated - we have that issue every time there is a family gathering! - try some type of white noise.  One day, by accident, I discovered Essie LOVES the vacuum cleaner.  When we are having a rough time with her, we turn it on and she calms down almost instantly.  Just recently, we bought a CD - 75 minutes of the vacuum.  I found it on eBay.  They also have the hair dryer, clothes dryer, rain, womb, thunder, among others.  We took a long road trip with her this past weekend and had to use it in the car. 

We just got home from a meeting at church.  Our baby is being dedicated on Mother's Day. :-)

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Nicksbride
Our adoption journey: www.thegiftofadoption.blogspot.com

how cool nicksbride my daughter was born on mothers day and it was the worst and best day a mom could have she will be 5 on mothers day

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Being a mom is the best and worst job but the rewards are out of this world

MommyHarper:

Generally, how many naps should a 5 week old take per day?  For how long?

The frustrating thing is not knowing what I should expect - I have never done this before.

Iamjabeska - I prayed for your son and your family.  Please keep us updated, ok?

 

Thanks! My son has been in the hospital for 16 days right now, and we are just waiting. I missed his call last night, so that was a bit upsetting.

 

When mine were 3-6 weeks, they napped every 2 hours or so. Most of  the time the naps would last about an hour. Then they started more awake hours with longer sleep periods. By 9 weeks, all of mine had their days and nights right...this was an issue with all 3 of mine.

Hi I am glad to see that this thread has been started. Nathaniel was born March 14 while the forums were down.  He will be seven weeks this week. He has been doing well with sleeping, but has been sick and seems to be sleeping more. We were rocking him to sleep every time, but tried just letting him try and fall to sleep himself. He is really doing well with that esp at night. It is so hard to know what the right thing is to do!  He has started sleeping longer at night which has been a blessing. I think Sundays and Wednesdays are hard because we are so busy at church and everyone wants to hold him. He is so exhausted by the time we get home. I started limiting how many people hold him which I feel bad about, but the poor guy was so miserable and fussy from being over tired.  

 

On another note.... Did any of you gals have problems with breastfeeding? Nathaniel would not nurse and we found out that he had an extra piece of skin under his tongue. They cut it and we tried again but then I came down with mastitis and I had to stop. So I have been glued to the pump. I have had mastitis twice this month and am miserable. I am going to meet with a lactation consultant to see if we can get him to nurse now that he is a little older. The midwife and the lactation consultant say that the pump does not empty the *** as well as the baby will and I will just continue to get infections. Did any of you gals have this problem? Did any of you have luck with getting the baby to *** after he/she was a few weeks old? This is so frustrating!!

I bottled fed, so I can't really respond to the breastfeeding issue.

I'm glad to see this too!! It appears that the delivery rooms were busy while the forums were down!

Sidney Lynn arrived 11 days late on April 15. She is an absolute joy and I can't imagine how we ever lived without her!!

 

As to the nursing, it has been a nightmare for me. At first my milk didn't come in and she lost 12 ozs. She is almost back to her birth weight now. We have been breastfeeding but now she is just practically starving. She wants to eat every hour and never seems satisfied. I've started pumping and feeding her breastmilk from a bottle and that seems to be satisfying her more. I'm going to have to start transitioning to formula before I go back to work in a few weeks...