Okay ladies, now that I have my daughter sleeping good at night, here is my next problem (yes I have lots of them).
The last three days, my daughter (9 weeks old) has cried a lot more than usual. So, I changed her diaper........that didn't work.........I tried getting her to go to sleep...........that didn't work either. Finally, when I started to breast feed her, she took it and fell asleep. Now, I know most of you are probably thinking that she was just probably hungry and tired, duh! Well, that may be true, but her cries were longer than usual and just sounded more different than usual. I kept thinking it was colic, but I was told if it was colic, nothing would soothe her and that they would be more during the same times every day. This usually occurs between 1pm-7pm, but not the exact time every day. I was also told that it could be that she is starting to eat more and now she knows what crying will do for her.
My daughter also had the DPT, Polio, HIB & Rotovirus vaccines on Friday and I have also noticed she is sleeping more during the day than usual. She seems to be sleeping more now at 9 weeks than she did at 4-6 weeks, but when she sleeps, she sleeps on me. When I go to lay her down, she will wake up within 20 minutes.
Okay, so I know this is more like 2 questions here, but #1. Does this sound like she is just hungry on her crying or something else? #2. Why is she sleeping more now at 9 weeks than at 4 weeks?
Thank you for anybody who can help me!!!
Thank you to everyone who responded!
My daughter was going through a growth spurt. She is eating more and it is also making her more sleepy because she is eating more. The good thing is she is starting to sleep more throughout the night.
Getting shots will make babies more tired and cranky. Could just be a side effect of that. They will start eating more as they grow as well, so she could just be hungry. You learn what the cries mean as you go. Also, she could have gas. That will make them cry too. Have you tried gas drops before or after her feedings?
Make her room as dark as possible. She's just starting to notice the world around her and want to be awake when it's light. Get black-out shades, they will make a world of difference. When she cries, go in, sooth her and put her right back down. It can get monotonous but eventually she'll learn without making her cry-it-out.
This sounds like a reaction to the vaccines. My suggestion is that you research the vaccines on your own, and do not rely on only your doctor's recommendation. @ the very least, you could delay them, or seperate them to one @ a time...that is a LOT for a little person to handle. There is a LOT of information available out there. If you would like direction, pm or email me. If it IS a vaccine reaction, next time will be worse. You are your children's advocate...sounds like the breastfeeding is helping to sooth her. Good job, momma! Listen to your instincts!
Growth spurt!! She is growing and needs to eat more and sleep more. This last usually 1-2 weeks and then she'll go back to "normal". She'll hit these spurts at various times in her life. The colic would be continually crying for hours. My first child cried from 4 pm - 8pm every day with nothing to comfort her. She would pull her arms and legs up and would just scream. The shots could make her more sleepy. Sounds like her shots and growth spurt happened around the same time.
I very much agree with the posters that said nurse on demand and research shots and don't get any more until YOU are sure you want to.
I nursed on demand, and my ds is a perfectly normal weight.
I didn't know anything about vaccines, and didn't do any research until ds was 1 year old. He had been vax'ed on schedule until then. At that point, I stopped vaxes because he was most likely already as immune as he was going to be with more doses. (this is according to information from the CDC).
You can delay, choose which ones you want, space them out the way you want, etc. You can also email me if you want links to sources.
I strongly disagree that babies that age will cry because "what crying will do for her." At that age (and up to about 1year or older, imo) any "want" is a need. That need might just be that she needs to be held. It might be that she needs comforting (which could be why she stopped crying when you nursed). But it's a genuine need.
My ds only ever slept on me. He did a lot of comfort nursing. It's normal, and fine as long as your needs are being met too.
My daughter also would not sleep unless I was holding her, its exhausting sometimes but now that she is 10 months old I miss those days. It doesnt sound like colic.....colic is usually more at night and like you said the same time every night and nothing will soothe them(not even nursing) Its sounds like a growth spurt and my advice would be to nurse on demand, when baby is hungry nurse. I always did this and dont have an over weight baby or a to terribly needy baby, she is just right. It could also be the shots making her grouchy and she wants to comfort nurse. The sleeping can also be because of the shots or because of the growth spurt. I have noticed that anytime my baby was learnign something new she was more tired, even something as simple as smiling, cooing, or putting her hand in her mouth. Anytime it was somethign new she would sleep more, babies are learnign so much right now and continue for a long time...there little bodies just need more rest. Good Luck and congrats on breastfeeding!!!!
It sounds to me that she is going through a growth spurt. Please just feed on demand and don't add cereal to her milk - it could cause allergies later on. I know that not every child will develop allergies, but why risk it?
Also, vaccines could be causing her to not feel herself. I would research them a bit...you may decide that you would rather wait or space them out.
I nursed on demand, didn't vaccinate and co-slept. My son in not in any way clingy, he is tall and thin for his age, and he is very healthy!
I also found that doing the co-sleeping I always got my rest :)
Good luck!
Hello Victoria,
Bothh of my kids had Acid Reflux as babies and were put on meds. They too cried all the time. It was horrible.
With my first child the doctor suggested she could have acid reflux and tried her on zantac. She also went to a GI doctor and we ended up thickening her formula too which helps it to stay down in the tummy.
Things got better and she eventually outgrew the prolem.
If this is happening with your daughter and you're breast feeding. Maybe, you could pump and thicken yours if that's what your doctor suggests doing.
My son is now 18 months and also had acid reflux. He too went to a GI doctor and we thickened his formula. He still was crabby so the GI doctor suggested we try him on Soy formula since I wasn't breast feeding and we noticed a big improvement in a couple of days. His belly just wasn't doing well on the other formula.
He was able to switch to cows milk at age 1 with no problems and is doing good.
Just keep this in mind. If things don't get better, talk to your pedatrician about acid reflux...it's very common in babies and there are things you can do to help your little one. :)
After the shots do you give her Tylenol? I would always give my children Tylenol right before their shot appointments. Their doctor would offer to give them a dose of Tylenol if I hadn't given it to them.
It just helps them feel more comfortable after the shots.
Good luck to you!
T.
Hi Vitoria,
You know I dont really think she has colic..my son has colic and he is a handful and really hard to calm down and just feeding him wouldnt make him calm down and go to sleep when hes having a colic episode which occurs anytime not always the same time just usually in the same range..I wouldnt say that nothing calms a colicky baby its just a lot harder to find out what does and it takes a lot longer to work..How often are you breastfeeding her because she just sounds hungry to me breastfed babies need to be fed as much as every hour(my son is breastfed)..as for number 2 it is completely normal for your daughter to sleep more at 9 weeks than she did at 4..its a little weird at first because you're not used to it but my son slept 6 hours when he was 3 weeks old and is now sleeping 8-10 at 3 months. babies sleep more as they get older of course shots will make them sleep more and be more cranky for up to two weeks afterwards as well..well i hope this helped take care
p.s. It could also be a growth spurt which makes babies hungrier and sleepier just nurse on demand and forget about any schedule you may have had..this spurt can last a few days
In case her tummy is upset, you can always elevate the head end of her crib about 3-4 inches. It won't hurt anything to do that.
You can also try putting a teaspoon of cereal (even at her age) in each bottle when you feed her. It did wonders for mine and the first three months she had a terrible time with colic.
Sounds like a growth spurt to me. My daughter would hit a stretch where she would cry urgently for food and then eat voraciously. Then she would sleep for long stretches. Then I would look one day and notice that she had grown quite a bit. She was rounder and longer, her cheeks were fuller and she was starting to do more.
When my daughter would want to sleep on me I wrapped her in her blanket and put her in her swing. We had the aquarium swing that rocked from side to side as well as front to back. I would put it on the side to side mode and then I would turn on the aquarium and music and before you know it she was fast asleep. She stayed that way as long as the rocker was on. It helped when we transitioned her to sleeping in her crib at night because she was used to falling asleep and staying asleep without being held.
My baby did the same thing after she had her shots, but felt better after 2 or 3 weeks. Ride it out.
Hi Victoria
I would think, like many of the other mothers who responded, that your daughter is probably reacting to the shots that she had. One thing that I started to do after my first son had his first round of vaccines was to start only letting him get one or maybe two vaccines at a time. This made a world of difference. His little body just couldn't tolerate so many shots at once. His pediatrician wasn't fond of the idea, but I stood my ground to help my son. I am currently doing the same thing with my younger son who is 4 months old. He actually had no problem tolerating the vaccines one at a time, and didn't even act like he had a vaccine at all. I just scheduled nurse visits each month until they were caught up with all the vaccines.
Also, do you swaddle your daughter at night? This has been very helpful for me as well. I just swaddle my son right before I sit down to breastfeed and then put him in his crib for the night. Most nights he will sleep 6-8 hours before waking up again to eat and then will go back to sleep for a few more hours.
Good luck and just try and feed your daughter as often as she wants to eat until she recovers from the vaccines. Hope this info has been of some help :)
Perhaps your daughter has figured out how to control you already.Maybe she just wants to be close to you.Breast fed babies are a lot closer to their Mothers than bottle fed babies,there is just a greater bond. At 9 weeks baby does sleep a lot.
We never vacinated , we don't believe in it.
She may be sleeping more now as she is more comfortable with her surroundings.You might want to take her to a chiropractor it's a rough journey down when your born and things do get out of wack.
Definitely research shots!! My friend who has gotten her baby two sets of shots is telling me the same thing about her baby crying & sleeping more...As I have done some research, I have found that shots have been linked with swelling of the brain, autism, SIDS, Chrone's,etc... Google "vaccinations" and you should find out everything you need to know. I've chosen not to vaccinate my three children & am trusting the Lord to provide...You're doing great on the Mommy thing with the way you know your child & are observing her.
Sometimes it takes up to two weeks for the side effects of the shots to go away. My son's first sets of shots gave him no issues, but the second set did. He had similar crying spells and it took about 10 days for him to return to his normal self.
So, I'd give it up to two weeks and if she is still having the same issues, take her to the doctor just in case.
She is probably going through a growth spurt, and they are hungry more often during these spurts. Is she taking Tylenol after the shots? That can make her sleepy. You might want to have her checked for an ear infection. Lots of babies get them after vaccinations. If she is sleeping on you, do you notice her laying one ear on you? If so, then your body heat could be easing an ear infection, and when you lay her down, it starts hurting again and wakes her. I also would see about splitting up some of those vaccines. I know "they" say it is OK to get them all at once, but if she is having a reaction, then you will know which one caused it and be better prepared next time she gets her shots. It is also easier for them to fight off fevers and ear infections when they don't get so many at once. I have twins and one had a very bad reaction to the HIB, so he gets that one all by itself a week after the others, and we are very consistent with the Tylenol before and after.
If your baby wants to sleep on you it could just be because its warmer there. My granddaughter is the same way. Now my daughter keeps her room warmer than the rest of the house and puts her in a winter sleeper. She sleeps great! My grandson is the complete opposite, he sleeps in just a diaper and a light blanket in a cool room. Good luck!
If she is crying more than normal, she may be sensitive to dairy or wheat. It is very common for babies to not be able to tolerate one or both of these things. Dr. Sears says that there is really no such thing as colic, it is babies to responding to dairy or wheat. I would recommend taking the dairy out of your diet for awhile and see if it improves. It is tough for most people, but you will get used to it. If that is it, you should see some improvement within a wk or so from removing the dairy, but it can take up to 30 days to get it completely out of your system. Try to keep breastfeeding though...it is the easiest on her system:)
It's probably from the vaccinations. When my kids got their vaccinations at that age they were fussier and slept more than they did before. This will probably go away in a couple of days. Make sure she's not running a high fever and just soothe her as you can. She probably just wants you close by to comfort her when she isn't feeling well.
The shots could have her cranky.
She most likely is not colic since that typical starts a little earlier. My daughter was colic and I knew it by the time she was three weeks. It was the same time everyday. 6-9 p.m. every single day for three months.
Try giving her the gas drops before her feedings and see if that helps. Good luck
