There are a few items, some related, some not, so I'll just list them I guess. And for background, we co-sleep and breastfeed. He'll be 4 months at the end of this week.
1) I had thought that babies usually start sleeping longer at night and less during the day as they get older, but DS has been getting up earlier lately. He used to wake around 7-7:15 and now it's more like 6-6:30 and I do my best to keep us resting in bed with side-lying nursing, but he hasn't been very happy with that. He goes to sleep about 9:15 at night and wakes up twice to eat. He takes 5 naps during the day (usually about an hour each - mostly on me since he wakes about every 20 minutes and by nursing I can stretch the naps into a solid hour rather than 20 minutes here and there with a cranky guy in between).
2) He has always tended to put his hands up on his face when sleeping. We swaddled for a while, but it tends to make him angry more than calm because he wants his hands free. But they wake him up if we do that. So for about 3 months I had him sleep on me tummy to tummy so it was harder for his hands to reach his face and that worked great. But eye-rubbing has become his new thing and he does it even when on my tummy now that he can lift his head. He rubs his eyes when nursing a lot too, but never when awake, so I don't think they are itchy or anything. What's with the eye-rubbing?
3) Both of the above are causing him to wake up more generally, just not always to eat. Since we co-sleep I help him reposition himself or let him suck my finger to try to soothe him when he just seems a little restless, but if he wakes up enough the only thing that will get him back to sleep is nursing. He used to sleep for at least 3 hours at a time at night (often 4 and occasionally 5), and this last week he sometimes doesn't make it two hours. Is this some 4 month developmental thing or what?
I'm not really sure what I'm asking in some of these, but I'm getting frustrated and tired! If the answer is "that's all totally normal, just give him a while and he'll work it out" that's fine. But if anyone has had similar experiences and ideas for how to help him sleep better I'd love to hear that too! And I know there are people who have it a lot harder - I've generally been just fine with his sleep habits. But these are new things that I'm not sure how to handle!
Thanks for reading my novel...
1) I had thought that babies usually start sleeping longer at night and less during the day as they get older, but DS has been getting up earlier lately. He used to wake around 7-7:15 and now it's more like 6-6:30 and I do my best to keep us resting in bed with side-lying nursing, but he hasn't been very happy with that. He goes to sleep about 9:15 at night and wakes up twice to eat. He takes 5 naps during the day (usually about an hour each - mostly on me since he wakes about every 20 minutes and by nursing I can stretch the naps into a solid hour rather than 20 minutes here and there with a cranky guy in between).
2) He has always tended to put his hands up on his face when sleeping. We swaddled for a while, but it tends to make him angry more than calm because he wants his hands free. But they wake him up if we do that. So for about 3 months I had him sleep on me tummy to tummy so it was harder for his hands to reach his face and that worked great. But eye-rubbing has become his new thing and he does it even when on my tummy now that he can lift his head. He rubs his eyes when nursing a lot too, but never when awake, so I don't think they are itchy or anything. What's with the eye-rubbing?
3) Both of the above are causing him to wake up more generally, just not always to eat. Since we co-sleep I help him reposition himself or let him suck my finger to try to soothe him when he just seems a little restless, but if he wakes up enough the only thing that will get him back to sleep is nursing. He used to sleep for at least 3 hours at a time at night (often 4 and occasionally 5), and this last week he sometimes doesn't make it two hours. Is this some 4 month developmental thing or what?
I'm not really sure what I'm asking in some of these, but I'm getting frustrated and tired! If the answer is "that's all totally normal, just give him a while and he'll work it out" that's fine. But if anyone has had similar experiences and ideas for how to help him sleep better I'd love to hear that too! And I know there are people who have it a lot harder - I've generally been just fine with his sleep habits. But these are new things that I'm not sure how to handle!
Thanks for reading my novel...
