Thursday, July 8, 2010

Eat, Sleep and Poop

That's all babies do, right? Ryan does his fair share of eating....approximately every 2 hours. But sleeping and pooping? Not so much.

Ryan barely naps during the day. The only way he will fall asleep is if he is in motion (the car or sometimes the stroller, or when mommy is holding him and walking). The minute the movement stops, so does sleepy time. My poor little guy is averaging 1-2 hours per day of sleeping, and probably a total of 5 or 6 at night. His Dr. said that he should be getting between 12 and 15 hours of sleep per day, so Ryan is definitely sleep deprived! I have tried getting him to fall asleep in my arms, and then gently put him down in his crib or bassinet. But he will always wake up within 5 minutes. I could do this all day long, but I'd never get anything done! I've tried letting him cry for a little bit, but all this does is make him angry. He gets even more worked up and then won't fall back asleep at all. How do you get your baby to fall asleep and stay asleep???

As for the pooping, well, Ryan hasn't been as "regular" lately. He used to go with every diaper change, but lately it's been more like once every 2-3 days. (I've heard this can happen when a baby is on formula, but Ryan is still mostly breastfed). We are still supplementing each feeding with 1 oz of formula in order to encourage faster weight gain. Unfortunately, his weight is still progressing at approximately 1/2 oz per day. I am taking him to see a lactation consultant tomorrow to hopefully get some answers. I want to make sure he's getting enough to eat, and that the slow weight gain isn't because I am unknowingly starving him. At his Dr. appt earlier this week he was 10 lbs, 10 oz, up from his birth weight of 8 lbs, 6 oz.

5 comments:

  1. Don't quote me on this, but I believe exclusively breastfed babies can go a week or two without pooping and it's usually fine! Mine were frequent poopers, though, even though they only had breastmilk.

    Sorry I didn't reply to your sleep comment yet! There are soooo many books out there. And I found that the more of them that I read in the early days, the more I got worried that I was doing everything wrong! I really DO like the No Cry Sleep Solution. It doesn't have any "magic three day solutions," but I love her perspective and found the book helpful for my kids (who both slept through the night last night! Nevermind that they are 1.5 and 3 ;-)

    Does he sleep in his swing at all?

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  2. The ONLY way my son would sleep the first few months was in his magical vibrating chair (bouncer) or ocassionally his swing. Gotta try it! Now when I put him in his bouncer he goes quiet like he's getting a massage. Swings are amazing too!

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  3. I will definitely look for that No Cry book. I checked out "Sleep Tight" from the library but got really frustrated when her system didn't magically "fix" the problem in 3 days.
    Ryan will stay happy in his vibrating chair or swing for a good 5-10 minutes (in the morning. In the evening only mommy's arms will quiet him down). But he doesn't fall asleep in them.

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  4. Jessamy also never slept much during the day. An 1 1/2 hour nap late AM, and a 45 minute later in the afternoon. However, she slept through the night. BUT I woke her up at 11PM if she wasn't awake and gave her a feeding. She sometimes looked like she was sleeping so we called it her dream bottle. But that way she had a full tummy and slept til 6 or so. My breast milk just didn't come in fast enough, so she was on full bottle pretty quickly. She just had no patience with trying to get what little milk I had, and then having the bottle. She did sleep on a lamby and seemed to really relax on that. Have they checked your breast milk to see what it's like? Just curious. Have you ever tried giving him a full bottle and seeing what he did with that? Also just curious.

    Love,
    Aunt Susan

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  5. Ayden was the same way. I wish I had the answers for you but I don't. I can tell you that it gets better. There where times he didn't poop for 4-5 days and I would have to make him go... He was not a happy camper as a baby. Also try when you lay him down to put blankets around Ryan to make him think Mommy is still holding him. This worked for Ayden. I also let him play in warm water like a bath but I didn't really wash him just let him play in the water. That would clam him down. Just keep trying things. You'll find something that will work. To bad babies don't come with a how to book right!

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