Then we got home. It is incredible how many clothes this child goes through in a day. He's gone through 2 sheets, 3 undershirts, 3 pjs, and an outfit. Most go by spit up and a couple by diapers. Glad that we have a washer and dryer. No one prepared us on the quantity of these that we'd need. I figured that 5-6 of each would last the week. Wrong! Ken had to go shopping today for undershirts, long-sleeved onesies, and pj's.
Last night was another test of our parenting. We started getting ready for bed at 10:30. I was going to nurse and then put Josh to bed in the pack n play in our room. He would not latch and started screaming. We tried all of our tricks: diaper change, burping, more clothes, fewer clothes, swaddling, bouncing, and even singing. Nothing would work. The child cried for 3 straight hours. Ken took a turn and let me get some sleep. He couldn't calm Josh. I got up to take a turn around 1:30. Ken decided to call the pediatrician. She said that Josh might have a bit of reflux and to put him to sleep upright in his carseat. He wasn't about to sleep while screaming. I told Ken to get some sleep and finally got Josh calm by stripping off his clothes and getting him snuggled up to my body. He FINALLY slept. There I was, sitting on the sofa holding this sleeping baby. Everything I had been taught told me not to sleep while holding him, so I dozed in and out, but didn't sleep. I could take this until about 3:30. I changed his diaper which started him crying again. Fortunately, he was then willing to nurse. This put him back to sleep and I took him up to daddy. Ken was able to transfer him to the carseat and he slept until morning. Needless to say, Ken and are exhausted today. Josh has slept a lot today, so I'm prepared for another long night. At least we have a little more experience this time.
2 comments:
hope last night was better! i have a bouncer seat that i used occasionally at night with katelynn which helped everyone sleep better. with abby I got a swing that was wonderful too. most of the time i had the girls sleep in the crib in our room, but they had their nights where they had a hard time going to sleep.
just some thoughts...you'll find something that works for you guys i'm sure!
I know everyone will give you advice on what to try, but someone told me to run a vacuum cleaner a few minutes around bedtime. It worked for ds1. If he was having a particularly hard time we would buckle him in the car seat, run the vacuum in his room for a few minutes, when he fell asleep turn the vacuum off and get a few hours of sleep that way. I would not recommend him sleeping this way all the time, but on particularly difficult times.
Try to have friends or family come visit during the day and take a turn and/or you two take turns because you have to get some sleep.
We also took our boys to a chiropractor and that really helped. We always knew when it was time to go to the chiropractor again so we could get some sleep!
I never planned on being a cosleeping family, but when ds1 had all his dairy problems we ended up doing it because it was the only thing that worked. Of course you have to be safe about it-Dr. Sears has great books about how to do it safely. I wouldn't cosleep forever, but when ds1 was little it was the only way to get some sleep.
It sounds like you've been blessed with a high needs baby. I thought my friends that had babies that went to sleep easily the second night they were home (they usually did Babywise techniques) were crazy because that never would have worked on any of my boys.
I would advise to keep trying different things-something will work-and keep listening to friends that say it really does get better. You're in our prayers and remember to keep praying yourself-you know more specifically what to ask God for at this point! No one can prepare you for being first time parents. You are doing a great job!
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