journey will sleep for 2 1/2-4 hours if someone holds/wears her or she is in motion in some way (the swing). i know she will grow out of this. it wasnt like this at first....she slept best right next to me except for the reflux which is better now. so at night she is awake every hour or so...not to nurse, just wakes up from not moving i guess.

what can i do? i swaddled her last night & she lasted about 2 hours & would nurse back to sleep. she is just such a little furnace....swaddling is hot.

:rolleyes:

I rember bailee sleeping in a swing for several months...sorry I m not much more help. At least she'd start out in the swing and when she'd wake up I d move her to our bed to nurse where she'd fall back asleep . eventually the swing was no longer needed :rolleyes: makenna slept anywhere you put her, but for the first few months she too had to be held. So far Sully needs his space. he likes to be put down and if he wakes up I lay with him and he falls right back to sleep.

well, nevermind......now she will only sleep if she is being held! grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Miguel was always so hot when he slept... I will ask Tony how we did it. He too only slept if held, somehow we changed it though.

julie

have no clue...Ellery's the same way

There's this book that mostly says the first 3 to 4 months should be considered something like extra-uterine fetuses. His argument is that the babies are really underdeveloped for the outside world but have to be born for head size. So, he advocates creating uterine like conditions- swaddling, sucking (he says it's easy to get a thumb inside the uterus due to close quarters), motion, white noise... Anyway, he also points out they have gone from being held, being constantly sated, being surrounded by a steady noise 24 hours a day to the random noise, being put down, feeling discomfort. I'm not offering any good advice; I just try to think about this when I begin to feel like I'll never do anything but hold and feed the baby. My other two were worse than this one, and I will assure you they got better between four and six months, Good luck. Pardon poor wording, nursing at keyboard.

thanks rach...that was helpful....i've heard before that the first 3 months are the "4th" trimester & that you can't hold the baby too much.

last night & this morning she slept for nearly 4 hours in the swing w/ the tv on! we actully have a few good days then a few clingy days. she is now 4 months old & getting so interactive! that makes it a little easier! her smiles & giggles!

I read the book Rach was talking about - It's called "The Happiest Baby on the Block" and it's by Dr. Harvey Karp. My husband loved this book -- he can calm our baby in minutes when he's fussy, even when he's got gas or is overtired. The only exception is that the Karp method does'nt work when he's hungry (and of course then I just feed him!).

My 2 1/2 mo old only wakes once during the night. He used to sleep in bed with us but lately it seems my husband's fitful sleep was keeping him awake so we've moved him to a bedside bassinet and it works well for us. I just pick him up and bring him in bed to nurse, and put him back down when he's had enough.

We also got "On Becoming Babywise" (by Ezzo) and have both read it, but I don't recommend it b/c it bashes attachment parenting and makes you feel guilty for following your heart. I've got my son on a flexible schedule, but it's based on what *he* wants and on his natural patterns rather than what's convenient for me (like Ezzo suggests). He does better on a schedule and is less cranky but I'm not as rigid as Babywise tells me I should be. The only good advice in Babywise, IMHO, is to make sure that if you have a baby who falls asleep during meals, to wake him up as many times as you need to make sure he gets a *full* feeding. This is less important during the day (unless you don't like to nurse every 1/2 hour, I sure don't) but for that last meal before bedtime it will really help her sleep longer if you make sure her belly is just as full as it can get. (Of course make sure she burps, too!) We've also started feeding him when he wakes up instead of nursing him to sleep, and we've found he eats more at one sitting this way, and his playtime is more fun because he's less likely to decide he's hungry halfway through. But this idea isn't new, you can find it in "Secrets of the Baby Whisperer" from what I hear (although I haven't read it so I can't recommend it).

Hope this helps!

Guys, I wanted to post an update based on some stuff I read on the net today. Do NOT follow Babywise or allow your friends to do it! It is apparently really dangerous -- lots of babies on this plan have been hospitalized for Failure to Thrive -- and it is written in such a way that makes even an (I like to think) educated couple like me and my husband question our instincts. We knew it didn't sound right but it's very compelling...it pretty much tries to scare you away from attachment parenting with stuff that sounds authoritative but is actually pretty much just made up. For more info, go to http://www.ezzo.info.

Please pass this on as this is a bestselling book and it was recommended to us by several reliable sources. I don't think most people realize how dangerous this book can be.

I have 2 suggestions. The Amby baby bed has been wonderful for us. It's pricey though if it doesn't work, but resell value is pretty good.

The other thing, every baby must have. Pay whatever they cost, especially if you have a baby who likes to be swaddled. The Cozy Cocoon.http://www.cozycocoon.com/cc.html

Zella will nurse to sleep and won't startle when I move her because she's all snuggled in. Also, she's not moved from a warm to a cool surface. Basically, moving her doesn't send up any signals that something changed. I don't know how we'd survive without it.

regardign swaddling--I would swaddle Anders in a cotton blanket in just a onesie on the days when it was hot. He had to be swaddled tightly until about 7 months (I had to clip the blanket to keep it tight enough for him), and loosly until 12 months... and this was sleeping next to me!! We never read the book, but my mom had the video and told me all about it, and we used "the happiest baby on the block" with Anders. He needed ALL of the areas for the first 4 motnhs or so... dropped the pacifier on his own at 7 months.