Ugh...just...UGH!

[misfitinmn]

So I don't know what happens at 5 weeks but this is a nightmare! Every night bedtime is taking over 2 hours for the little man. Last night looked like this:
8:00 - start
8:30 - put down drowsy
8:32 - little man is screaming his head off
9:00 - give up and pass him off to hubby
9:15 - hubby declares him hungry again, passes him off to me
9:15-10 - nurse and get him nice and drowsy again
10:15 - wailing again, finally rubbed his belly and he passed out.

11:15 - elder boy wakes up wailing.
12:15 - younger boy wakes up wailing.
1:30 - younger boy wakes up wailing.
finally a stretch here - 4:30 - younger boy wakes up wailing
6:45 - younger boy wakes up wailing for the day.

I AM DYING HERE. I can even deal with the wakeups, but I cannot deal with the 2 hour bedtime routine. Tonight it took 45 minutes and he's fussing again, no doubt I will be in there until after 10 again tonight. I miss having a life and being able to do things like take a shower and eat food.

Mostly I miss scrapping. Someone please give me a reality check. This isn't forever - this isn't forever. That's my new mantra.

[Traci Reed]

It's not forever, he will grow out of it and you will miss it! As stupid as it sounds now!

You can do it!!!

[origami]

This is totally normal for a five week old. You CAN do this and it's not going to last forever and it's okay that you aren't scrapping right now. Eventually, you will have a teenager that sleeps until 2 in the afternoon during summer vacation, but who will drive you crazy in other ways!

[misfitinmn]

I even know it's normal and I know I went through it with my first son but it's SO brutal when you're in it. Obviously I am a wuss who cannot handle anything harder than this though, because this is darn near killing me!

It doesn't help when I get up after a night like that and my husband (who snored soundly in bed all night next to me, those few moments I was *IN* bed) is like "man, I'm really tired today!"

[AmyG]

Maybe a growth spurt? I am trying to remember 5 months but it's foggy. Just repeat, this will not last forever over and over. It gets better .

[jessica31876]

It passes. And you do miss it. Mine are all teenagers (oldest very soon will be out of her teens & starting her 20's ) and I miss having a baby so much. I look at pictures of my kids and it just boggles my mind how they all went from such tiny little things to almost fully grown.

[Amber1279]

my 3-4 week old is doing a similar routine ... I call it his "witching hour"

[Megan Turnidge]

Originally Posted by misfitinmn

It doesn't help when I get up after a night like that and my husband (who snored soundly in bed all night next to me, those few moments I was *IN* bed) is like "man, I'm really tired today!"

OHMYGOSH I feel your pain, sister!! I have a 6 week old and he has not been sleeping well this week (while I've been suffering through mastitis). Every time hubby says he's tired I GLARE at him to remind him that I am WAY MORE tired. He goes to bed at like 9:30 pm and wakes up at 7 am... gosh, I'd rejoice if I could just get 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep, let alone 9.5 hours!! I know he works hard during the week, but I'm trying to get him to realize that he has NO IDEA what it's like to go 6+ weeks completely sleep deprived.

[Coila]

I hope it gets easier soon!! Sleep depervation is miserble

[*Celeste*]

have you tried the miracle blanket. my sam was like this but if i swaddled him tight he would go to sleep better. i nursed him in the swaddle and put him down. as well sam was gassy so we used gripe water with him when nothing else worked - burping, leg moving, etc.

[ayaandjudah]

Sara, you should PM me and exchange cell numbers, we can text through this.

Mine is now 13 weeks old and we're finally seeing an improvement. You can do this, hang in there. (and seriously, message me if you want some company in the insane assylum!)

Oh and what finally worked for us was swaddling. We have a miracle blanket and a halo swaddle sack. SAVED MY LIFE

[misfitinmn]

Oh, I am the swaddling queen. I swaddled my first boy for 7 months, and that boy NEVER escaped from my super swaddle. He fights it at first, but it's the only way he will stay asleep. My husband, when he tries to help, ALWAYS unswaddles him because he sees him squirming and fighting it (I think really he's just fighting sleep, not the swaddle). I'm just so over this gassy period - I really think he'd sleep longer and better at night were it not for the dang gas keeping him up. I've been using Colic Calm gripe water, which is miraculous, when I can actually get him to swallow it. The past few nights he either spits it out at me, or swallows it and then pukes it all back up all over me and everything.

Sleep deprivation is not my favorite part of infancy.

[kim21673]

Ahhhh, I remember those days like they were yesterday....oh wait, they were! LOL Derek has JUST started going to bed when it's bed time instead of taking two plus hours to get him to sleep and stay asleep! I just posted about this on FB!! He just turned 8 months and it would literally take two hours to put him to bed. We would get him ready for bedtime around 7:00ish, he would drink his bottle, we would fall asleep and wake up 1/2 hour later again and again...screaming...this would go on until about 10:00 when he would finally crash. Now for the past few days my baby has put himself to sleep...he eats and then wants in his crib and puts himself to sleep...no cuddling, no rocking...nothing...he even wants to feed himself now!!

[glumirk]

ditto here with my 6-week old. This morning DH got up all bright and cheery and couldn't figure out why I was a grumpy-gus.

Luckily she sleeps pretty well at night now, but I feel like I am patting her ALL DAY LONG so that she will get decent daytime sleep or else she is overtired and won't sleep at night. It's hard to take care of a 2 year old while patting a baby all day, so it's extra wearing. Poor girl has such bad reflux and I'm hoping it'll pass. I've even had to give up chocolate for her, and it does make a big difference, but it's so hard to see her so uncomfortable all the time.