I need to stop obsessing, don't I?

[isabel]

Mornings are the worst for us. Sometimes I wish I could video the hours of 6-8 for you guys so you can tell me what's wrong with my kid and how to fix it.

He wakes up, grunting and squirming. Seems like he has gas or needs to poop. Eventually it becomes full fledged crying, so I intervene. Put him on the changing table and massage his belly. This doesn't seem to help really. The fussy, whiny, squirmy thing comes and goes. Also, his belly doesn't really seem taught and his diaper is pretty dirty when I check it.

I then decide that maybe he's hungry. It's barely been two hours, but sure. So, I feed him. He eats for maybe 4 minutes and then starts fussing at my boob. Latches on, whines, pulls off. So I give him a pacifier instead and start to rock him. He chills for a minute or two, then starts whining, squirming like crazy, loses the pacifier, and fights me getting it back in his mouth. Once it's back though, he's chomping hard.

This routine will go on for an hour or so before he actually falls back asleep. I know he's tired this whole time. He's yawning and rubbing his face.

I just can't figure out what it is about this time frame and what's going on with him. Is he just fighting sleep? But that doesn't make sense because he's usually only asleep for about an hour before waking up and starting all of this. He ate at 5, was back down by 5:30, then woke up a little before 7 and started this routine.

Does any of this sound familiar or like there's something specific going on? I feel like I try to just cover all the bases, even though none of them actually fix the problem. I wish I knew what to do to actually take care of the problem, whatever it is.

[krystee]

I have no idea, but you could try some gas drops at the feeding before that to see if that helps. J's fussy time is the evening and those seem to help a bit.

[lo]

Will he latch back on after he pulls off and whines?

I can't see how old your baby is, but when DD was a newborn she was eating more often than not and I put her to the boob whenever she fussed. 2 hours would have been a very long time for her between feedings.

[loskadoodle]

I would possibly say teeth depending on age.

[Deleted]

Honestly, I think the problem is most likely that he is a newborn. I bet it will sort itself out by the time he is 3 months old.

Do you have a wrap or sling? Have you tried wearing him while you go about your own morning routine? Both of mine, but especially DD2, were comforted by babywearing when they were fussy like this as newborns.

[Deleted]

Newborns suck. I'm sorry you're going through a tough time.

Do you have a forceful letdown? I'm grasping but I remember having more milk in the early morning and in the beginning my letdown was really tough to handle for DS so I would need to let down a little bit in a towel before he could latch well.

After an hour he's probably not hungry. 6-8 weeks is a growth spurt time so perhaps growing pains and general fussiness from that.

[curbsideprophet]

I am not sure I would try to put him back to sleep if it after six. What happens if you change and feed and just get up for the day?

[dcn]

I might just get him up and play for 45 min then put him back down. That age there wasn't much rhyme or reason to Ds' sleep.

[sillygoosegirl]

My baby was like this, for at hour or so 5-6am. You could have set a clock by it. She'd calm down and go back to sleep as soon as she pooped though, it just took a while. A probiotic helped (though the first probiotic we had her on had cows milk as an inactive ingredient, which made her sick, and it was a 2-month nightmire figuring that out).

[isabel]

May 30, 2015 12:04:56 GMT -5 curbsideprophet said:

I am not sure I would try to put him back to sleep if it after six. What happens if you change and feed and just get up for the day?

I'm going to sound like an idiot here, but what exactly does that look like? I'm usually able to get him back down toward the end of this time and he'll sleep for another hour or so. By then, I'm ready to be up and we usually go for a walk. Honestly though, if we didn't go for a walk, I'm not sure what getting up for the day would look like. It doesn't feel any different to me than any other time of day. I did just order a kick n play piano and a couple other things for him (not here yet), but I honestly don't know what to do with him when he's awake. He fusses if he's not moving, so reading a book or something doesn't really work very well. 

[isabel]

May 30, 2015 12:07:48 GMT -5 dcn said:

I might just get him up and play for 45 min then put him back down. That age there wasn't much rhyme or reason to Ds' sleep.

How do you play at this age? He's getting more interactive, but I still don't really know what to do with him. I ordered a few toys, but they're not here yet.

[curbsideprophet]

May 30, 2015 18:42:29 GMT -5 isabel said:

May 30, 2015 12:04:56 GMT -5 curbsideprophet said:

I am not sure I would try to put him back to sleep if it after six. What happens if you change and feed and just get up for the day?

I'm going to sound like an idiot here, but what exactly does that look like? I'm usually able to get him back down toward the end of this time and he'll sleep for another hour or so. By then, I'm ready to be up and we usually go for a walk. Honestly though, if we didn't go for a walk, I'm not sure what getting up for the day would look like. It doesn't feel any different to me than any other time of day. I did just order a kick n play piano and a couple other things for him (not here yet), but I honestly don't know what to do with him when he's awake. He fusses if he's not moving, so reading a book or something doesn't really work very well. 

Can you get up and go for a walk? Do you have a bouncy seat or anything for him to sit in? What if you put him on the floor for tummy time?

[dcn]

May 30, 2015 18:44:34 GMT -5 isabel said:

May 30, 2015 12:07:48 GMT -5 dcn said:

I might just get him up and play for 45 min then put him back down. That age there wasn't much rhyme or reason to Ds' sleep.

How do you play at this age? He's getting more interactive, but I still don't really know what to do with him. I ordered a few toys, but they're not here yet.

Tummy time, or just walking around the house, singing, reading a book. Try a bouncy seat or swing? I don't think you really need toys, babies like just being with you and hearing your voice

[isabel]

May 30, 2015 18:50:09 GMT -5 curbsideprophet said:

May 30, 2015 18:42:29 GMT -5 isabel said:

I'm going to sound like an idiot here, but what exactly does that look like? I'm usually able to get him back down toward the end of this time and he'll sleep for another hour or so. By then, I'm ready to be up and we usually go for a walk. Honestly though, if we didn't go for a walk, I'm not sure what getting up for the day would look like. It doesn't feel any different to me than any other time of day. I did just order a kick n play piano and a couple other things for him (not here yet), but I honestly don't know what to do with him when he's awake. He fusses if he's not moving, so reading a book or something doesn't really work very well. 

Can you get up and go for a walk? Do you have a bouncy seat or anything for him to sit in? What if you put him on the floor for tummy time?

He hates the bouncy seat. The swing is hit or miss. He's usually chill in it for a little while, but during his fussy times, it doesn't often work. Tummy time is out at that time of day because we need to be quiet until H's alarm goes off. He tends to scream during tummy time.

Honestly, I'm not really up for a walk at that time of day. It takes a little while for me to really wake up and I'm usually treading water until closer to 8.

[isabel]

May 30, 2015 19:29:21 GMT -5 mockingbird said:

Have you tried bathing him in the morning when he's cranky? For two of mine, bathing was always super soothing. I don't remember having a specific time of day they fussed, but I know I threw them in water when they did and it generally made them happy.

The third just got pissed when I bathed him, so it's not for every kid

Hmmm that's an idea. He does like baths. I'll try it!

[kershnic]

My kids loved to be worn when they were that little. Baby wearing solved most problems for us!

[melsamoony]

Oh man this happened a lot when my son was a newborn. My H and I would switch off mornings and take him downstairs in the rock and play and rock him/give him his paci/soothe him. H would bring him back to me for feedings.

When he was a little older and had taken to his swing we would take him down to his swing and one of us would sleep on the couch for that dreaded hour or 2 when he was still tired but refused to sleep.

[Deleted]

May 30, 2015 15:56:47 GMT -5 sillygoosegirl said:

My baby was like this, for at hour or so 5-6am. You could have set a clock by it. She'd calm down and go back to sleep as soon as she pooped though, it just took a while. A probiotic helped (though the first probiotic we had her on had cows milk as an inactive ingredient, which made her sick, and it was a 2-month nightmire figuring that out).

Which brand was that?

[sillygoosegirl]

May 30, 2015 22:15:22 GMT -5 @hannymaren said:

May 30, 2015 15:56:47 GMT -5 sillygoosegirl said:

My baby was like this, for at hour or so 5-6am. You could have set a clock by it. She'd calm down and go back to sleep as soon as she pooped though, it just took a while. A probiotic helped (though the first probiotic we had her on had cows milk as an inactive ingredient, which made her sick, and it was a 2-month nightmire figuring that out).

Which brand was that?

Genestra had the milk in it. My midwife recommended it for infants in a lower dose than standard (for 1-4 year olds) dose. After my experience though, I would absolutely not give it to an infant again.

We give her ProBiota Infant now (it's inactive ingredient is derived from chicory root).

Of course, it's possible the improvement we saw was really a matter of her growing out of stuff or our minds playing tricks on us (it doesn't feel like it at the time, but they really do change so fast), but it seemed that when we took her off the milk-based ones, her allergy symptoms cleared up, and the early morning agony for the hour before pooping seemed to come back.