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Good afternoon, Emma!
Thank you very much for your response.
Perhaps I am not correctly or timely responding to my child’s signs of fatigue. For example, when he is in my arms while we walk around the mall and I talk with my husband, he can quietly fall asleep, as if he is not overstimulated at that moment and is ready to sleep without tears. By “overstimulated,” I mean the following:
At home, after waking up, I feed and change his diaper (as needed). Then I place him on a play mat with hanging toys, where he stays either alone or with me, and I also turn him onto his tummy. After that, I lay him on my bed and talk or play with him. Sometimes we start by playing on the bed and then move to the play mat. If he starts to fuss after these activities, I pick him up and walk around the apartment, talking to him and showing him things.
Here’s what happens: I notice the first signs of fatigue, even though he is still looking at me and smiling. I begin to put him to sleep, and he cries—it really seems like a protest. He can cry and cry, and then, after I switch him from one arm to the other for the fifth time, he falls asleep in a second. Another scenario: I see by the time that it’s almost time for sleep, and this time he is not fussing. I calmly wrap him in a blanket and lay him in the crib with white noise. He lies there calmly and smiling for about 20 minutes, then starts to get fussy. I try to soothe him, but it doesn’t work. I pick him up, and he starts crying. After three minutes of crying, he falls asleep. It’s as if he doesn’t like my method of rocking, or maybe I’m missing his cues, and he is always overstimulated and needs to let off steam. Could you suggest a relaxation technique before sleep? Or what actions to take before sleep, or how to behave? Or how to distribute activities during wakefulness?
For example, today we managed to go to sleep at night almost without tears. I was sure that an hour after the last daytime nap, he would already be tired and start to fuss. We prepared for sleep, turned off the lights, and I began to sing a lullaby and walk around. It took much longer than usual—about 40 minutes of walking and shushing—but he fell asleep without tears.
Another example of the first daytime nap: we woke up at 7:30 AM, feeding, diaper change, interaction with me, then the play mat, then walked around the apartment. I laid him on my bed again, saw that he started rubbing his eyes, and checked the wake time—it was 1 hour and 3 minutes. I began the sleep routine: closed the curtains, turned on white noise, took the sleep sack to put on him, and during the process of putting it on, he started crying. I picked him up; he cried for about 8 minutes, calmed down for about 3 minutes, then whimpered a bit, but it was clear he really wanted to sleep. After another 5 minutes, he was asleep. I stopped rocking, and after a couple of minutes, laid him in the crib. He opened his eyes a couple of times but fell asleep. He slept for 30 minutes. I really want to understand the reason for the crying and start using your system.
Also, I boasted to you that we sleep well at night, and now he has started waking up every 3–3.5 hours to eat. I immediately reviewed the video about the 4-month sleep regression, but the length of nighttime feedings is even longer than during the day—he really eats. So I don’t even know how to get back to the past and achieve the first long sleep again.
During the day, the number of feedings hasn’t decreased; he eats either every two hours, or lately, he might cry after an hour or 1.5 hours, and if I offer the breast, he starts eating vigorously. He is breastfed. I read somewhere that he should already be eating every three hours, but some sources say that feeding every two hours or more frequently is still normal. My baby is 14 weeks old.
I really want to hear your opinion about my situation. May be my way of thinking is completely wrong and you have any ideas what is going on.
Thank you Emma!