Ollie turned 3 months today and i seem to remember people saying that three months was when it started getting easier. those people must have had babies very different than Ollie.
Oliver wants to eat every hour, for 20 or so minutes, and absolutely will NOT take a bottle. he takes 1 - 2 naps each day for 20 - 45 minutes. the rest of the day you either have to play with him (this requires full eye contact), carry him in football hold, or listen to him cry. i have absolutely no peace but can't get a sitter because he will only go 40 minutes without eating and won't take a bottle.
i am afraid i over feed him because it is the only time i have any time to "myself"...at least then i can watch a movie or read for a few minutes and not make stupid faces or baby talk or hurt my back walking around with him. do other people ignore their babies when they are fussing? or do other babies not require so much attention? i swear i play with him and read to him and talk to him and move him around lots, but he will never just hang out and look at stuff or play with a toy or something on his own.
additionally, he is no where near sleeping through the night. he will sleep 7 hours one night, then 2 4 hour chunks the next night, and then wake up every hour the night after that. there is no rhyme or reason.
he also constantly sucks his hands so they are dry and cracked but refuses to take a binky.
also, we have tried 5 different bottle types, numerous different positions, different times of day, feeding him before he is hungry, putting my pinking in his mouth with the bottle, trying formula and breastmilk in the bottle, but none of these options have work.
so there's my rant. Ollie is a smiley baby but ridiculously high maintenance and i'm not sure what to do about it.
this post might come down if i start feeling too pathetic and whiney. :) I am soo not a natural momming person...
8 comments:
I don't think 3 months gets easier... just often more predictable, but not so in your case. hopefully he'll sleep soon, as you know, millie woke up 2-5 times a night basically every night till she was 11 months. I thought I would never get over that trauma, but I did. And the answer to the questions of people ignoring their babies is YES- at least that's totally what i've seen in our ward. just ignore crying and basically force them into a "routine" which basically means sitting in a car seat or bouncy chair all day. I could go off on other stuff but it's wierd. anyways, I would die if I had to feed millie that often so so sorry for you :(
My only saving grace was a book called "the baby whisperer". It is worth buying. It will give you some great ideas of what to do to help Ollie, and you. And, just know, you aren't a bad mom if you let Ollie cry... And, one last thing, I totally know what you mean by not feeling like the "momming" type. I like my "mom life" a lot more after my kids are about 7 months old. :) And, I like them even better when they can use the potty, get dressed and feed themselves... hee,hee. Hang in there.
I think it part it depends on the baby. It may also be because he is your first and you are still figuring out what to do. I feel like I had some of the same issues with Ian, but Jaiden seems a lot calmer. He is content to sit or lay and watch what is going on. The first two months, he was great with naps, but lately it has been 30 minutes- 3 hour naps just depending on the day. On thing that helps is trying to get him to sleep before he is too tired. I don't know about the eating a lot, Jaiden can go about 2-3 hours, but he also won't take a bottle either.
first of all, thank you for posting this because i feel this way all the time, and sometimes i wonder if i'm the only one.
second of all, you can bet it wasn't me telling you 3 months is easier...
from birth until my babies were both 6 months i didn't feel like i had anything resembling a life. infants are hard for me because both of mine were/are high maintenance too. we don't all have infants like julie flowers :) that's just luck.
max is still not sleeping through the night either (and he's over 6 and a half months now) i feel like i'm going to LOSE MY MIND some nights.
and yesterday he just whined and cried all day long. i wondered if it was teething but his gums look totally normal (not swollen or red, or anything...which doesn't always mean anything anyway).
but keep your chin up because it does get easier, even if it is a slower process for your baby. max hasn't gotten a lot easier lately even though we still struggle sometimes.
p.s. i sure wish max would hold his own bottle someday. and learn to sit up (most 6 month babies can). and grab his own toys (which most 6 month babies can do too). but sometimes i feel bad for thinking these sorts of things since he was premature... i guess he'll get it on his own time. :)
good luck kelly! when ollie can go longer than 5 minutes w/o eating lets get out to the park or something together w/the kids.
sorry such a long comment.
also 3rd paragraph down i mean to say that max HAS gotten easier lately.
Sorry I don't think it gets too much easier-there's always something. I really like the Secrets of the Baby Whisperer and I've heard people really like Happiest Baby on the Block for getting babies on a better schedule. It seems like there came a point when I let my kids cry themselves back to sleep after a short nap (and took a shower so I couldn't hear them crying). It's a rough transition but after a few days they learned to sleep longer and then they're happier too. Good luck!
Kelly I was so glad to find your blog. I'm sorry Ollie is being so hard. Addie who has been my hardest baby was her worst from 3-4 months but every baby is different. I'm still sorry that he is being difficult that is always hard. If you ever want a day out just come on down and my girls can dance and sing for him and possibly scare you to death with their ability to smother babies:> But really give me a call sometime it is silly that we live so close and never see each other.
Sometimes I feel better if I can mentally say, "this is hard now". It won't always be so hard. I used feeding Kate as her only calming mechanism and it was rough. Maybe you could start there? Get him on a feeding schedule so you feel like your making progress and there is some control you have over your day.
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