[enchantingdragon]

I am exhausted!!! Last night we put Drake down around 7ish. I had to go in there almost every 10 minutes until 9 to settle him. I fed him at 9 and he went down for an hour. Right before I went to bed at 11 he had to be settled down again. He woke up at 1:30 and I fed him. He woke up at 3:30 and I fed him. Then he woke up at 4:50 and I rocked him. Up at 5:21. I took him to bed with me and he and I had an on and off sleep (he slept on my chest) till 6:12 when I fed him. Since that point till now I have been trying to get him to go back to sleep. He has woken up, if he falls asleep, after 10-20 minutes everytime. I have changed him, rocked him, gave him back his pacifier countless time, and let him whimper/cry in his crib before rocking him again. I am so tired that Im wide awake. I cant sleep and even when he is "sleeping" Im so paranoid he is going to wake up Im as tense as a wire. Its now 9 and he is watching Baby Einstein and Im desperately trying to find 1) a solution to this 2) someone to take him for the day so I can try to sleep. Im not sure how much more of this I can take. He is a losuy napper, at the babysitter the other day he slept 2 times 20 minutes each over the span of 5 hours. I know he isnt getting enough sleep and Im sure its the reason he doesnt sleep well, a vicious cycle. I have no idea how much longer I can take as Im about to snap. Not only does he sleep so little I also have to get up and pump at night cutting even more into my sleep. Sometimes Im just too tired to do it too but Im so paranoid about getting mastitis again (which I had 3 weeks ago for my birthday. I had fevers, chills, I threw up, it was the worst and I never want it again) I fear Ill get it anyway with my lousy sleep as Im sure my immune system is going to take a hit soon. I am very tempted to cry it out soon if thats the only thing that will work. I dont want to do it, he is young and will cry non stop forever. He has cried it out in the past...in the car as I have no option. He use to be an awful car rider as he never slept in it and sometimes he would just flip out mid ride for no reason. I hated taking him places but then I started work and he had to come along for the ride. Shortly before his 4 month he started to sleep in the car. Now sometimes if I know he is tired and I have to go somewhere Ill strap him in and set him up with his sound box, pacifier, blanket, and monkey pal and he will pass out within 5 minutes of the car moving. I wondered for some time if it was age that made him better or because he essentially ended up crying it out so much in the car that he got use to it. I dont think he is a great candidate for cry it out as it took months for the cry thing to take as well as the fact that he really will just cry non-stop until exhaustion or if I got to the destination and comforted him in my arms. I really dont want to go through it again as the car was agony but I also had no real option, I had to go places and he had to come and I couldnt do anything as I was driving but Im really leaning toward it now. Today is Saturday and as soon as my husband comes home from the football game he is working I can sleep I know but if this was a work week day I might crash driving to work. I need a solution and I need it soon before I lose it on all levels.

[LuvMyLwAaMr]

Sorry, I don't really have any advice to help out... sorry you are having to go through this It does sound like you need to find a sitter for awhile so you can rest up and have some "You" time... then at least you can go back to the problem without feeling like you're going to snap right away. Has this been an ongoing issue at home or fairly new? Maybe he's teething?? My 2nd ds had colic for the 1st 3 months and went right into teething, cutting his 1st 4 teeth between 4 and 6 months... he was also a carseat crier, it's definitely not fun and I feel your pain.

Good Luck and I hope you can get some alone time to get yourself feeling good again!

[Mars]

I remember going through this and I think it happened when Amara was teething. Unfortunately, I don't have a solution. I had to stick it out with several days going to work looking like a zombie. I co-slept through it too so it was easier for me to feed nurse her without having to keep getting up. I don't remember exactly how long it went on but it happened a few times at different stages of her growth. I think each stage lasted a week or so. I'm sorry I can't help. Maybe someone else had better luck than I did.

[*krista*]

I'm sorry he's not sleeping well. I don't really have any suggestions either. For us, as long as Charlotte doesn't take long late naps she goes to sleep at night. But it doesn't sound like taking late naps is an issue for you since he's not sleepng much period.

I can imagine how rough it is to go through that and still have to work. I hope you can get some sleep soon!

[~*Bethy*~]

is there something keeping him awake? have you tried white noise by his crib? maybe try to swaddle him again and just rock him? With Bella now, I have to rock her and keep her pinned down (and yes its a 10 minute cry fest) in order for her to fall asleep for nap time. Bed time shes good. I really cant think of anything else for you to try...they are so tiny at this age still, I wouldnt do the CIO option...

[LuvMyLwAaMr]

Originally Posted by ~*Bethy*~

is there something keeping him awake? have you tried white noise by his crib? maybe try to swaddle him again and just rock him? With Bella now, I have to rock her and keep her pinned down (and yes its a 10 minute cry fest) in order for her to fall asleep for nap time. Bed time shes good. I really cant think of anything else for you to try...they are so tiny at this age still, I wouldnt do the CIO option...

This reminded me I had to do this with my youngest too... swaddle, rock, and just snuggle him as firm as possible to keep him from throwing himself all over the place while screaming... and agreed, definitely a 10 minute cry fest... but he always finally just chilled out and drifted off to sleep. Also, I don't know why it helped, but I always snuggled him so I could kiss his little lips over and over again even with him screaming, it has helped since he was a tiny newborn. He's going to be 2 in less than 2 months and occasionally I still have to snuggle him tight, rock and kiss him.

Hope you have gotten some relief by now!