Well, 6.5 months. I can't believe how quickly he is getting older!

For the past couple of days Jack has been nursing every 3-4 hours allll night. I am sure you can imagine my pain as he was almost sleeping through the night completely right before this started. It is awful! I think it might be a growth spurt, but also I think he had lost some weight recently b/c he has become a very distracted nurser, and now he is trying to make up for it.

Now his diaper is always soaking through his sleeper b/c he eats so much through the night. He uses a paci when I put him to bed, and usually after he eats he keeps it in his mouth until he falls asleep. Now, he spits it out again and opens his mouth side wanting more, even though he is half asleep! And last night, I tried to put him to bed at 6:30 because he got maybe 1.5 hours of a nap that day, and he didn't go down until 9:30! Then up at 1:30am, again at some unknown time, & 6:30am. I was so tired, we both slept in until 9:30am! I need to get him back to a 7-7 schedule! Ugh, I am going bonkers here.

Last night for those 3 hours when he wouldn't fall asleep, he was flailing his arms, talking, laughing, crying, just acting crazy. He would spit his paci out and smack his lips, and he would make all sorts of noises. It is honestly hard not to lmao at some of his goofiness. And he is a smarty pants too. He gives me these looks, like he knows he should be asleep but thinks it is FUN to drive mommy crazy. And he can tell when I am stifling a laugh, so then he busts up laughing. Of course then I can't stifle it any longer and so I end up laughing too. It is a vicious cycle - he laughs, I laugh, he laughs harder. Then he stops laughing and stares at me, so I stop abruptly which sends him into even more giggles (I call it being "slap happy"). So then I leave him to it since I am obviously just making it worse, and a modified CIO has been working very well for us. But last night he just wouldn't go to sleep even then. Usually when I lay him down he fusses some then starts crying, I wait 2-5 minutes to see if he will stop, and he usually does stop on his own and then sleeps like a rock! Not last night though. I ended up doing a long run of nursing him, rocking him a bit, putting him down, patting his bum, and then leaving him to it, with the time in between spent laying on my bed listening to him keep himself awake.

He also does this thing that I KNOW he knows I can't stand. He shakes his head back and forth vigorously like he is saying no, and looks at me while he is doing it with this smirk on his face b/c he knows I don't like it. If I tell him no or hold his head in my hands, or even look concerned, he cracks a huge smile! Then when I say "no, it's time to sleep", or even give him a mommy "don't do that" look (you know the one), he busts up laughing!

I know I need to move him to his crib, but I am having a hard time letting go. I love having him in the co-sleeper next to me. But it isn't the safest anymore since he acts wacky. And if I leave him unswaddled and lay next to him, he wacks at my face.

Writing this all down had been enlightening

[IamMom]

This was really funny to read and I was LMAO!!! Harrison did some of this stuff when he was that age....because I let him....with Nora we are no nonsense and honestly she's never tried too hard to stay up or fight sleep...she's my good girl! I am a huge proponent of babies/kids sleeping on their own... I think all people sleep best alone....(ask my hubby, he'd get better sleep without me grinding my teeth next to him all night ).....both my kids are great sleepers .....sleeping thru the night. The only problem we have is when Nora has a cold (like ALL the time) she coughs and wakes herself up but usually all I have to do is go in and put her paci back in or pick her up to get her coughs out and she goes right back down. Put your foot down on this craziness now or he will keep doing it cause he gets your attention and the boob....he needs to know this is not an option.

Last night Harrison tried to throw a fit that he wanted a certain Kumon booklet to work on (not the one that was next for him to be doing...they go in a certain order) and he was thrashing on the floor crying, spitting etc.....DH and I just completely ignored him, we didn't say "Harrison do this, do that, stop spitting... we didn't go over and pick him up nothing.......all of a sudden he picked up the paper he was suppose to be working on got up at the table and started working - as soon as he did that I started talking to him and laughing with him.....it showed him he gets attention for doing the RIGHT thing and not the WRONG thing. Kids are smart man....they'll try everything!

I would continue the modified CIO if that is working and if it were me, I'd try moving him to his crib. It's a safe place for a baby especially when they start crawling and pulling up. Good luck girl!

Yeah, we are putting him in his crib on Friday So sad for me! Wah

I agree with you not to give attention to behavior like that. But then it is SO HARD b/c he is so cute, and this is all new behavior with him. I am such a sucker, lol

[~*Bethy*~]

I bet hubby will like having him in his own room

But as for sleeping, it sounds like hes just hit a rough spot in the road. I cant think that far back but morgan was never a sleep through the nighter, still isnt.

[Mars]

I hope it's just a phase for you. That's around the age Amara start going all wonky with her sleep and it hasn't stopped.

Jack is so cute!

[ShannonMVT]

Ahhhh be careful girl. Matthew started grabbing people's faces and we all thought it was funny and encouraged it kinda by acting silly when he'd do it and now I'm backpedaling and trying to teach him to touch people's faces gently.
Also I can't cosleep with him anymore (used to on occassion) because just recently it's like mommy's bed = FUN. If I bring him there when he's fussy then he's just getting what he wants and then he's all smiles and trying to crawl around in my bed at 3 a.m.
I'm surprised he was still fitting in your co-sleeper! We had the mini one and I had to move him to his crib at 4.5 months because he'd move around and the whole thing would shake.
Getting up every 3-4 hours...don't mean to scare you but that would be an excellent night for me these days. Matthew got up twice last night and nursed and went back to sleep well and it was great. You are lucky Jack slept in till 9:30. If it was Matthew he'd just still wake up around 7:00 or 7:30. Crazy child.
I can't nurse laying down either. I don't know how ppl do it. Matthew tries to get up on all 4s WHILE he is nursing or else wiggles and grabs at my boobs and pops on and off and looks around, etc. So I laugh (well not really, more like sigh) when ppl talk about how they can sleep while their babies nurses at night while co-sleeping. Not happening here!

Oh man, I thought it was a phase but some of your comments scare me.

Shannon - I should get best mommy of the year award (haha, not), b/c Jack can still sleep in there because he is still swaddled! I am about ready to ditch the swaddle, but not while he is in the co sleeper. When one or both of his arms are free he goes nuts in there. So for his naps when he usually has one or both arms out I don't let him play around in there & I check at the slightest noise. He sleeps GREAT for naps - clonks out right away and wakes up happy - so it works. He is running out of length too, but luckily he usually sleeps with his legs bent (anywhere, even in the pack n play). But He is ready for no swaddle all of the time (I think) and he is ready for the crib. I am more of a baby then he is!