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Saturday, December 18, 2010

A not so restful night...

Kynlee is finally down for a nap! What a day...

I have had a not so happy baby today. I've also had a baby who isn't into the whole sleeping at night thing anymore. Baby K used to be such a good sleeper. We would lay her down around 11pm and she would put herself to sleep, wake up once to eat, then be up for the day around 9:30am. 
Ah, those were the days...

Lately I've been laying her down with no problem, only to have her up an hour later either wanting to eat, or having trouble staying asleep. After a battle to get her back to sleep, she will be up every 2-3 hours to eat just like it was daytime. 

I have a few theories, and I hope to put an end to this madness:

Theory #1:  Much to my dismay, Kynlee has become a tummy sleeper. 

One of the methods to prevent SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) is to have babies sleep on their backs. I always lay her down on her back, but she automatically rolls on her side, then she proceeds to her tummy within an hour. 

There is nothing I can do to stop her, this is just the way she prefers to sleep, so I have done everything I can do to provide a safe sleeping environment for her. No blankets, stuffed animals to suffocate on, and not putting her in clothes that will be to warm for her. 

Sometimes she will fall asleep with her arms tucked underneath her. I'm wondering if maybe her arms are "falling asleep" on her, and the tingling sensation is waking her up. I only wonder this because when she wakes up she is furious. When she used to sleep on her back she never woke up so upset. So this is my first theory. 

Theory #2: She wakes up because she is legitimately hungry.

I haven't seriously started her on solids yet. There isn't really a reason, I just haven't. Babies can start solids anywhere from 4-6 months when they can hold their head up and seem eager to eat. 

Kynlee's been able to hold her head up for months, but honestly I'm so overwhelmed with how to feed her, I was just going to wait until her 6-month check-up and ask the doctor how to do it. 

I don't know how much to feed her, when to feed her, and if I should take away a bottle or nursing session in place of solids. 

I've fed her rice cereal before just so she could get used to it, but it hasn't become a routine yet. 

I'm wondering if she isn't getting enough to eat during the day with just milk, so maybe if I start following a set solids/milk routine, she will feel full enough to sleep through the night again. 

There is no way I can control her arms falling asleep on her, but I can control her tummy. So I'm going to try to read up on introducing solids to a baby, and hopefully we can get her sleeping again. 



If anyone has tips to share, that would be great!

3 comments:

  1. I have many a tip to share...but I'll spare your blog and send you a message on Facebook later this evening when I have time to sit down and address each subject fully.

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  2. Following you from the MBC! My pedi use to say once they can roll it's ok if they choose to sleep on their tummies. I also remember being really nervous to give my first born solids. The cereal is where we started. We made that a routine first and then got into baby food...she wasn't really into baby food and so we moved right on to table food. Good Luck!

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  3. Thank you Katie! My doctor said the same thing. She said to try to roll her back on her back, but if she preferred her tummy, then there is nothing I can do about it as much as I wish I could. I'm trying to start a routine with the cereal, I'm just afraid that I'm feeding her too much, or too little. I just don't know!

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