My 2Monrth Old Deaughter Wont Sleep Alot

You are a brave woman to be doing this as a single mom. I hope that you have family around that is supportive and helpful! If you don't have your little one of a schedule, then I would try that first. At two months you could try feeding every 2 1/2 - 3 hours, try and keep her wakeful for a little bit, and then hopefully she would sleep. When I had my first I had the experience of having had 3 young silblings who were scheduled, and was also given the book, "Baby Whisperer." It is an awesome book. Look for it on Amazon and get a used copy. I'm sure they are pretty cheap. Anyway, every kid and parent I know who has been on a schedule has been very content and happy.
If you are going back to work at this point, there is a chance that she might feel your tension, or it is possible that your milk supply is suffering. Best of luck!

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T....drop everything you're doing today and go to the bookstore and buy the book "The Happiest Baby on Block" by Harvey Karp, MD. It is truly a lifesaver. It's a pretty quick read and I swear that it will bring sanity to your life. I thought my daughter had colic and all that other stuff too but it turned out she just needed help triggering her self-calming reflex which babies usually don't figure out how to do until around 12-15 weeks. Go get the book. I promise it will work.

L.

P.S. I'm a sahm to 8 and 5 year old girls...that book is the only gift I buy for baby showers now.

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HA HA HA! (sick that I find that kinda funny huh) Just exhausted sorry!:) I am in the same boat as you!!! I have a 9yr. old, an almost 23 month old daughter and a lil boy who will be 3months old tomorrow!!! He is OH MY GOSH such a handfull! He has Colic and reflux which I didn't know he had because he didn't spitup for the first 6weeks. He started screaming @2days old! Very early for colic. Anyway, the meds help the acid burning him but as for the sreaming he is still going as of today (but VERY slowly getting better). They say anywhere from 3-4 months it should be gone. If not then my doc it going to refer us to OHSU for further testing. My lil man doesn't sleep very much during the day. Since we have had him on meds he has slept GREAT at night! We were up until 2am alot of nights and maybe getting 4 hours of sleep now he goes to sleep by 9:30 and doesn't wakeup until about 5:30am to nurse and then goes back to sleep for another hour or two! It's GREAT!!! I've tried EVERYTHING!!! From colic calm that I ordered off the internet to colic tabs, Gripe water, gas drops, baths, Message, Rocking, walking, car rides EVERYTHING!!! There really hasn't been anything that actually worked for us. It's SOOOO tiring and hard. The doctors promise it will get better soon but soon doesn't seem "soon" enough!!! Well, I have just rambled on and on about my situation SORRY!!! If you have any questions I would LOVE to hear from someone else who is going through the same stuff as myself :) Goodluck!!! ~Jenn~

2 bricks and a swaddle - that's my advice because when we tried this, our son who REFUSED to sleep in his crib started sleeping for up to 4-5 hours at a time. He still wakes up during the night but it's much, much better - I struggled to swaddle my little guy with a normal blanket but the SwaddleMe deals with velcro tabs worked like MAGIC. Also, our doc recommended putting two bricks under the feet of the head of his crib to help with the refulx he has - this allowed us to avoid medicine for now.

My son was like this until I quit nursing him. My milk upset his tummy. If your daughter is nursing, talk to a la leche leader for help figuring out ways to make sure she is latched on properly and that it isn't something you are eating.
If she is on bottles, you may need to try different formulas.
Does she spit up a lot? If so, this is a BIG red flag that something is wrong (acid reflux, protein intolerance, etc).
Try gas drops, be sure to burp out every little bubble.
Find what baby apparatus she loves (swing, bouncy chair, vibrating something, etc) and leave her in it to sleep. For the time being, forget about creating bad habits, and do whatever you have to do to make everyone happy and to help you enjoy her more. With my daughter, it was sleeping on me, or in the swing, and with my son he would only sleep in the bouncy chair.

Keep in mind that not all babies need a ton of sleep.

chiropractic!

especially if she was born any way except by un"assisted" vaginal birth ... but a spinal/neck misadjustment can happen other ways too, after birth

I had a friend who worked a a chiropractors office, she saw a 9 month old who essentially never stopped crying, since birth, essentially completely stop crying (the chiropractor kept the thank you note on file to show disbelievers ;) )

I have friends who blamed the Caesarian drugs for their baby's colic--but one-time drugs don't last two years unless they are _really_ toxic ... too bad I hadn't heard the chiropractic idea back then! They had such a hard time :(.

Chiropractic can be involved with acid reflux people list here as well, and if the baby is significantly more comfortable in a carseat than laying down, or laying down on one side than another (like, when nursing), than that's a pretty clear sign their back isn't aligned well.

Just remember, whatever the answer is (and even if you don't find one):
1) babies don't cry for no reason, they literally can't, it is _always_ because they are distressed
2) even if the medical folks can't find a "reason," there is one, don't blame the baby
3) equally, DON'T BLAME YOURSELF--you are loving her and taking care of her as best you can; it is frustrating and sad to have her unhappy ... but she will grow into the love, and if her distress continues eventually she will be big enough to tell you what bothers her

I hope your situation eases, whichever routes you choose ... !

God's love (please translate for your personal tradition ;) ),
K.

Unfortunately, this is probably normal for your daughter. Our son, who is now 7 months old, fussed constantly - awake, asleep, eating, riding in the car, you name it. If he was awake, there was a 90% chance he was crying. And if he was asleep, well, he was probably crying too. We suspsected acid reflux, but there was never hard evidence that he had this. We chose not to medicate. He was just a very unhappy baby. Both sides of grandparents even commented on that.

So, advice? YOU need to get some sleep by "any means possible." Your baby will be fine, but you've got to function to take care of her and her sister. If she sleeps well on your chest on the couch, then sleep on the couch for a while. If she sleeps while rocking her in a chair, then do that for a few nights. Maybe her carseat? The goal is to find something that really calms her down - it might change too. For us, it was having him sleep on one of our chests with a pacifier - it was the only thing that ever worked. YOU get several hours of sleep. And then a few nights of this in a row, and some naps if possible. I recommend trying to have her sleep regularly in her crib so you don't have to break a family bed habit later, but right now, don't worry about that too much -- take care of yourself and your baby will come around. Of course, ask about this at your baby's doctor's 8 week appointment, and 3 month appointment, etc. By 6 months, we didn't have to bring it up again! Our little guy did snap out of it, but it took over 4 months for daytime happiness, and about 6 months for nighttime happiness. It seems like an eternity when you are tired, but 4 - 6 months out of a full life isn't that much.

If you have relatives or friends around, have them come over while you take a nap. Don't entertain them, just hand-off the baby and go to bed!

Do you swaddle your baby? Swaddling helps a lot of babies, especially at that age. There is a book, "THE HAPPIEST BABY ON THE BLOCK," by Dr. Harvey Karp that is a great resource for swaddling and other techniques to help calm a fussy baby. I don't agree with his philosophy because I am a Christian and he talks a lot about evolution, but I do agree with his techniques. If you don't know how to swaddle, this book explains it well with diagrams or you could find someone who does and have them show you (maybe your pediatrician).

My goodness that sounds difficult!! Poor baby and poor mom! My heart goes out to you.

Sounds like colic. Gripe water which can be purchased in most European or Arab Delis (call around) is wonderful for colic. Also, take her to the pediatrician if that doesn't work. She may also be allergic to something you're eating or drinking. Babies are often allergic to cow's milk - if you are breast feeding, try not to eat or drink any dairy products as well, and see if that helps.

If she's bottle fed, try changing the formula. Your baby may be allergic to some of the things in the formula.

I kind of sounds like colic. Your doc can recommend whatto do for your situation. My last baby had it very badly to the point where i had to put him on special formula that smelled awful. they may even give her a antiacid because colic can cause reflux which is uncomfortable for the lil guys. But i would take her to the doc and ask about the possiblity of it being that. It usually goes away at three months my son stopped screaming constantly exactly at three months it was a the third best day of my life!! i thought my two year old would start clapping he was so excited. Us as parents have the hard part becasue there is nothing we can do for them. If you have help ask becasue the screaming can make you just go nuts get a night off if you can every once and ahile so you can one get sleep and two get some sanity back. They also say have them sleep in the carrying carseat it never worked for me but it had to for someone or they wouldnt recommend it. Anyways good luck i know where you are at right now stay strong and just remember there is a light at the end of the first three months!!

Gripe water- one that is natural with licorice. There is a good one from Canada. Make sure you read labels since some gripe water in not all natural.

My son did this too at this age. He had acid reflux and also we found that he was lactose intolerant. Talk to your doctor about these issues. You baby may have an allergy to a food and it is upsetting her stomach too much to sleep. In the mean time have you tried keeping her upright to slepp? If it's acid reflux that helps.Good luck and I fell your pain!

HI Traci--you must be exhausted, especially with 2 little ones. Well the only thing that I would like to suggest is some excellent pediatric Chiropractic care. My husband and I are Chiropractors who take care of many infants, children and pregnant mommies and have amazing results with colic, earaches, sleep problems, reflux, breach turning and many many more. If you have any questions please give us a call at ###-###-#### or thru out website....www.thesparkoflife.com

This is a completely natural approach with out any of the dangers of drugs for you or your little angel!!
Good luck!!

do you feed her right before "bedtime"? This will help, also giving a bath before bedtime can soothe them as well.

First take her to the doctor to make sure she is fine and if he says so, try coop-sleeping, it worked for us or make sure her head is pointing North when she sleep, best direction for a baby, or both. Good luck!

Both of my daughters, we discovered, had sensistivites to dairy. If I ate ANYTHING with dairy in the ingredient list, both of them would turn into exactly what you describe, barely sleeping, crying all the time. As soon as I cut out the dairy (the most common allergen to effect breastfeeding moms and their babies) they were both totally different babies! It seems my 2nd can't do chocolate either...too bad for me! This is not all that uncommon in my expereinc either, I have numerous friends with similar stories like yours and after eliminating dairy, their babies were transformed. It is worth a shot.

Recently my friend had the same problem and it turned out to be an Acid Reflux problem. It didn't start getting worse until she was two months. She now has to give her daughter her medicine a half an hour before she eats in morning and has been doing better.

Please see your pediatrician soon!

J.

Hi T.-I'd definitely recommend seeing your doctor. Reflux and Colic are two different things, but can overlap, cause the same symptoms, or mimic each other. Usually reflux is more persistent throughout the day, and colic at certain hours. Our daughter had reflux, diagnosed at 6 weeks. Our pediatrician and GI doctor have been great!

She was initially treated with Zantac, and then Prilosec with great results-for us and for her! She was able to get off the medicine around 9 months of age. young babies don't really sleep "well" for the most part, but they should be fairly happy during the day, unless she has reflux/colic, etc so I'd recommend seeing your doctor! good luck! J.

I liked what most moms said: Try a routine (very helpful), try swaddling, try a soothing/vibrating rocker/swing, keep track by writing down what you eat (if you are breastfeeding) and when baby fuses (babies can be sensitive to what their mom's eat like dairy, citrus, juices, hot and spicy foods, chocolate and even stress changes your milk and it will be noticeable within a couple of hrs from when you last ate), if baby is formula fed some babies need soy based formulas or specialized formulas for fussy babies, try calming bath's/massage before bedtime.

When I visited my sister during Christmas her little 2 month old girl was very fussy and did not sleep well etc...I was worried for her and thought it might be colic, but a couple of weeks later at 8 weeks of age she got her first tooth and was no longer a fussy baby and slept through the night, so it could very well be TEETHING even at 2 months old so try orojel, cold chewy things, natural teething drops and natural teething tablets, see if she is different, if so, it could be teething.

If you're baby is colic, try working on your diet 1st (if breastfeeding) or formula changes (if formula fed) and try natural remedies for colic (even Fred Meyer's has natural drops for colic w/no side effect). I feel bad for babies that go on medications. It is so hard on their little bodies. I would try medications as a LAST resort even if the Dr says there are no side effects b/c no matter what they claim...there are ALWAYS side effects to drugs, even if it is something internal that is not visibly noticeable from the outside.

Last...babies at 2 months are still trying to get a pattern of sleep so this is still normal for most 2 month olds and YES mostly ALL babies need LOTS of sleep...try your best w/patience and giving it time. Good luck. J.

I would see your Dr. When my son was that age he started to do that and as it turned out, he had reflux. When babies have reflux, colic or upset stomachs, they can't sleep because they are too uncomfortable. Then they get too overtired. Once we got the medicine for the reflux my son started to sleep great again.

My 6mo old twins have reflux. They would cry and wouldn't eat much but they would be hungry. It was awful. We got them on medication around 3 months or so and now they sleep for at least 10 hours every night. They have figured out a schedule (2mos is kind of young to get them on a schedule) and life is so much happier. I agree with the ladies above, talk to your babies doctor.