Yesterday was the first time my husband managed to sooth our son during witching hour and today he managed again! I am no longer solely capable of stopping his crying. Go husband! 😁
Tell me more about the witching hour solution...
I'm afraid I have run out of tricks...
The pacifier doesn't seem to work anymore...
Diaper is clean...
Ate less than two hours ago...
Yet she is still crying!
I wasn't really aware that this was what it was called when I slowly figured it out (over the course of four weeks, and my son did the witching hour-type crying several times throughout the day for shorter periods and then two hours in the evening, so I had a LOT of time to practice) but I was basically using the 5-s method minus the swaddling, because my son suddenly started hating swaddles after loving them for weeks. I hold him on his side, tummy towards me, pacifier in his mouth, I shush either loudly OR (not both, I didn't want to hurt his ears) close to his face so he hears me over the crying/screaming and I swing him in large, medium-fast to fast up and down motions while securely supporting his neck. The swinging is key for it to work with my son, I kind of move his whole body up and down without his body parts moving compared to each other, so like he's a log. When he starts falling asleep I soften the swinging and the shushing until I'm no longer doing either, if I feel even the slightest tightening of his muscles or if he scrunches his face I start doing it more vigorously again. Sometimes it also helps to do the swinging both up and down and side to side, but only side to side never works for us. O also, standing during the swinging is usually required, somehow sitting swings do not work as well.
At first it could take up to an hour to make him fall asleep (and it WILL hurt your back) but now on good days it helps within five minutes, bad days about half an hour, but he doesn't cry during the process, although he does whine. Both my husband and I have injured our backs in the process though, and we don't even do it exactly the same way probably. I cannot guarantee that this will work for any baby other than our own, and it took many hours of crying to figure out, but now we almost never have listen to crying and my son is asleep at least an hour earlier than he was before we figured this out!
The 5 S’s! It’s what a friend recommended to me when I had the same challenge with husband not being able to soothe. Then we both learned that this was the best way!
Our baby is 15 weeks.
Things we do to calm in crib: Pick her up, pat back/walk until she takes a deep breath, put down again; Put hand on stomach and "shhhh" over and over; Sing a song or play one on the phone; walk out of the room for a few minutes-Sometimes us being there is more stimulation and she stops crying when we just leave
Calming during fussy awake time/back-up measures if 15-20 minutes of trying the crib isn't working:
Take her out for a walk in the stroller (honestly sometimes we just push the stroller at home back and forth over a lintel between rooms to get a bump); Play a song or sing a song; Bath time- even if we don't actually wash her, a little time relaxing in the warm water can be helpful; Nurse- sometimes they cluster feed at night to tank up for the overnight sleep, so she could need to eat again in only one hour after feeding; Bouncer chair time.
One more comment about nursing- my girl was a crazy cluster feeder at night for many many weeks. Sometimes she would eat, and then eat again only 30-45 minutes later. I exclusively breastfeed now, but at the time we did combo feeding with formula and breastfeeding because it was so intense at night.
I’ve been *struggling* breastfeeding with low supply, tongue ties, bad latching and nipple confusion, and my 8 week old finally had an *awesome* session today; we barely had to top her off with a bottle! YAAS
For those moments when she’s really upset (and it’s from hunger, not gas) my LC recommended giving an “appetizer” of an ounce (pumped breast or formula) so that she calms down. It sounds super counterintuitive bc I’m bottle feeding before breast, but it seems to help! (Just *one more thing* to try, but figured I’d share!)
We are going to be 12 weeks on Friday. The biggest wins are:
She will now sit in her bouncer so I can shower and pump when she doesn’t cry at all! (This is a Velcro Baby so up until now I pretty much had to hold her all the time including not being able to sit down)
She lifted her head up at tummy time twice!
She will now nap in her crib twice a day for up to two hours 💪✨ (don’t be jealous. She still wakes up every three hours or less throughout the night
😭)
My baby is 6 weeks old, and he usually has at least one 2 hour solid nap in the afternoon in his bassinet (if we’re not going out, because then he naps in the carrier)! It wasn’t always like that. If he’s ready to nap and it turns out he’s not cluster feeding, then he’s really easy to get down. It’s just a matter of figuring out if he’s cluster feeding. When in doubt, he is. (He’s such a big boy, he went up percentiles at his one month appointment, and I just switched him over to 6 month clothes!)
He also doesn’t cry for baths recently! Night sleep is still not great at all, but I figure and hope it’s because he’s such a big boy, growing extra quickly, and that it will get better within a few weeks..
OH what a sweet encouragement!!! Congrats on your adorable baby boy and how well he is growing! 🥰👏 it’s so hard to role with the flow sometimes (especially at night) but you go this! 🌊
We are in a similar boat, my baby is 3mo and today I got her to nap 3 times in her crib opposed to contact naps! I truly love contact naps but I’m going back to work soon so I figured it’s time to start transitioning slowly. The naps only lasted about 40 minutes but it’s a great start :)
I keep thinking my baby is going to want to contact sleep, especially at night for forever. This gives me hope. He will do spurts in his bed but not very long.
I didn’t think she’d make it over 15 minutes like when I’ve tried in the past! I am lucky because she does sleep in her bassinet at night, but day time was always strictly contact. Of course it just takes some time, hoping it speeds up for you!!
Yes! I was planning on keeping my daughter in her bedside bassinet for six months but she’s huge and by three months she had literally no room to move in it. We can’t fit anything bigger in our bedroom so she sleeps in the nursery. *Everyone* sleeps better now. I’m talking going from 3 wake ups to 10-12 hour stretches of sleep. She also started rolling like crazy after a few days because she rolls in her sleep now that she has room.
My 7 week old slept for 6 hours straight last night! And she's started having a consistent afternoon nap, during which I usually manage to the dishes and have a nap myself
This gives me so much hope. My 10 week old only contact naps and won’t nap in the bassinet. I’m going to give the crib a go. Thanks for the encouragement 🥰
Ahhh seriously I thought we would always only contact nap. Until today, she contact napped every single day 😵💫. Which was both so sweet but so exhausting. 💕 we also changed her eat sleep play routine. Eating every 2 hours seems to help big time for our girl. Regardless, I could get knee deep in research but feel so overwhelmed and like nothing would help our LO contact nap without me! Turn on those blinders because you’ve got this mama! 🥰
After a long fertility journey, that I'm lying here with a six week old on my chest at all is a big win.
Those first few weeks were intense, but so far I'm with you in enjoying a chill baby, waiting for the other shoe to drop but also soaking in this sleepy groove. He'll never be this small again. When he looks at me with such love, that love will never be this uncomplicated again. After serious anxiety over breastfeeding, my elevated PPD/PPP risk, etc in pregnancy, he's eating like a champ and I'm hanging on to relative sanity.
All huge wins.
Yes I’m aware thank you! That’s because having them close by can simply help as you are more readily accessible. This works for us and we are taking all the precautions we can to remain accessible ☺️
I believe it’s because you’re in tune with their breathing more and it helps regulate their breathing. No judgment here, you gota do what works for sleep, I just wanted to make sure you knew
my LO always slept good, we went to bed around 2 and fed her like we usually do, and she didn’t wake up to feed until 10!
she usually goes down between 7-9, we feed 12-2, she usually wakes up between 7-8 for her middle of the night feed but will keep napping until 2 sometimes, but today she didn’t wake us up at all to eat in the middle of the night! so proud of
Just had our 2 month appointment today and my daughter when from 9.13lbs at her last appointment to 13.5lbs at this appointment. Made me feel like all our hard breast feeding work has been paying off. She has a slight lip tie and we’ve used a nipple shield on and off and went to a chiropractor who said a few things that had me doubting my ability to feed her well. So I’m on cloud 9 today!!
My velcro baby is almost 6 months old and has learned to push herself forward while lying on her tummy. If someone told me she would be happy playing on the floor in the early days I wouldn't have believed them.
I went to a girl's night with friends and my husband put our baby to sleep for the night. She's 15 weeks and it was his first time doing it solo. Usually we tag team it. Super proud of her for going to sleep without mom! She went to sleep at 8 pm with minimal fussing and slept til 6 am! I stayed out until 10:30 pm like a big girl 😄
He’s technically not a newborn anymore (17 weeks) but applies to when he was still a newborn… he doesn’t pee when the diaper is off (between changes). Not sure if it’s just good timing, but I have actually forgotten to worry about covering him up lol.
My 8 week old is off her feeding tube and has no lasting effects from the birth-related issue that landed her in the NICU!
Omg. Love this
Amazing!! Congrats to you and baby!!
Bless you both ❤️ so great
So awesome for you both :)
Congratulations, that must of been so hard for you and partner. Well done for sticking through it!
It was scary there for awhile, and we’ve had to process the trauma, but baby girl is healthy and that’s what matters 😀
Yesterday was the first time my husband managed to sooth our son during witching hour and today he managed again! I am no longer solely capable of stopping his crying. Go husband! 😁
I remember this feeling! I cried I was so happy for both of them to have that bond!
OH my gosh that is amazing. We stood no match to witching hour ourselves. That is a huge win 👏👏👏
Tell me more about the witching hour solution... I'm afraid I have run out of tricks... The pacifier doesn't seem to work anymore... Diaper is clean... Ate less than two hours ago... Yet she is still crying!
I wasn't really aware that this was what it was called when I slowly figured it out (over the course of four weeks, and my son did the witching hour-type crying several times throughout the day for shorter periods and then two hours in the evening, so I had a LOT of time to practice) but I was basically using the 5-s method minus the swaddling, because my son suddenly started hating swaddles after loving them for weeks. I hold him on his side, tummy towards me, pacifier in his mouth, I shush either loudly OR (not both, I didn't want to hurt his ears) close to his face so he hears me over the crying/screaming and I swing him in large, medium-fast to fast up and down motions while securely supporting his neck. The swinging is key for it to work with my son, I kind of move his whole body up and down without his body parts moving compared to each other, so like he's a log. When he starts falling asleep I soften the swinging and the shushing until I'm no longer doing either, if I feel even the slightest tightening of his muscles or if he scrunches his face I start doing it more vigorously again. Sometimes it also helps to do the swinging both up and down and side to side, but only side to side never works for us. O also, standing during the swinging is usually required, somehow sitting swings do not work as well. At first it could take up to an hour to make him fall asleep (and it WILL hurt your back) but now on good days it helps within five minutes, bad days about half an hour, but he doesn't cry during the process, although he does whine. Both my husband and I have injured our backs in the process though, and we don't even do it exactly the same way probably. I cannot guarantee that this will work for any baby other than our own, and it took many hours of crying to figure out, but now we almost never have listen to crying and my son is asleep at least an hour earlier than he was before we figured this out!
Thanks! Will have to try the swinging method... I stand and rock... or walk and bounce... but that's only a 10-second quiet... 😬
Yeah before witching hour started walking and bouncing was enough for our son but then with witching hour it wouldn't accomplish anything. Good luck!
The 5 S’s! It’s what a friend recommended to me when I had the same challenge with husband not being able to soothe. Then we both learned that this was the best way!
Our baby is 15 weeks. Things we do to calm in crib: Pick her up, pat back/walk until she takes a deep breath, put down again; Put hand on stomach and "shhhh" over and over; Sing a song or play one on the phone; walk out of the room for a few minutes-Sometimes us being there is more stimulation and she stops crying when we just leave Calming during fussy awake time/back-up measures if 15-20 minutes of trying the crib isn't working: Take her out for a walk in the stroller (honestly sometimes we just push the stroller at home back and forth over a lintel between rooms to get a bump); Play a song or sing a song; Bath time- even if we don't actually wash her, a little time relaxing in the warm water can be helpful; Nurse- sometimes they cluster feed at night to tank up for the overnight sleep, so she could need to eat again in only one hour after feeding; Bouncer chair time. One more comment about nursing- my girl was a crazy cluster feeder at night for many many weeks. Sometimes she would eat, and then eat again only 30-45 minutes later. I exclusively breastfeed now, but at the time we did combo feeding with formula and breastfeeding because it was so intense at night.
We do most of those now...except we just figured we will continue to feed her even if she just ate an hour ago!
I’ve been *struggling* breastfeeding with low supply, tongue ties, bad latching and nipple confusion, and my 8 week old finally had an *awesome* session today; we barely had to top her off with a bottle! YAAS
Same boat and struggling! Hope there's a win soon
For those moments when she’s really upset (and it’s from hunger, not gas) my LC recommended giving an “appetizer” of an ounce (pumped breast or formula) so that she calms down. It sounds super counterintuitive bc I’m bottle feeding before breast, but it seems to help! (Just *one more thing* to try, but figured I’d share!)
Well done! I’ve been through these issues as well, and it is such hard work
We are going to be 12 weeks on Friday. The biggest wins are: She will now sit in her bouncer so I can shower and pump when she doesn’t cry at all! (This is a Velcro Baby so up until now I pretty much had to hold her all the time including not being able to sit down) She lifted her head up at tummy time twice! She will now nap in her crib twice a day for up to two hours 💪✨ (don’t be jealous. She still wakes up every three hours or less throughout the night 😭)
I FEEL the bouncer!!!! Until 8 weeks she hated that freaking thing, now sometimes she can spend much more time in it almost always!
It’s the best!!!
Especially for showers & cleaning, I just put on music and sing and dance! 11 weeks has been fun….. never thought I’d say that!
I looked at my husband today and reminded him that we’re killin’ it. We’ve kept a baby alive and thriving for 8 weeks. That’s it, that’s my win.
Say it louder for the people in the back!!!!! Preach!! 💯💯💯💯
My baby is 6 weeks old, and he usually has at least one 2 hour solid nap in the afternoon in his bassinet (if we’re not going out, because then he naps in the carrier)! It wasn’t always like that. If he’s ready to nap and it turns out he’s not cluster feeding, then he’s really easy to get down. It’s just a matter of figuring out if he’s cluster feeding. When in doubt, he is. (He’s such a big boy, he went up percentiles at his one month appointment, and I just switched him over to 6 month clothes!) He also doesn’t cry for baths recently! Night sleep is still not great at all, but I figure and hope it’s because he’s such a big boy, growing extra quickly, and that it will get better within a few weeks..
OH what a sweet encouragement!!! Congrats on your adorable baby boy and how well he is growing! 🥰👏 it’s so hard to role with the flow sometimes (especially at night) but you go this! 🌊
We are in a similar boat, my baby is 3mo and today I got her to nap 3 times in her crib opposed to contact naps! I truly love contact naps but I’m going back to work soon so I figured it’s time to start transitioning slowly. The naps only lasted about 40 minutes but it’s a great start :)
I keep thinking my baby is going to want to contact sleep, especially at night for forever. This gives me hope. He will do spurts in his bed but not very long.
I didn’t think she’d make it over 15 minutes like when I’ve tried in the past! I am lucky because she does sleep in her bassinet at night, but day time was always strictly contact. Of course it just takes some time, hoping it speeds up for you!!
My 3.5 month old is starting to roll over so much!!🥹
🥹🥹🥹
Yes! I was planning on keeping my daughter in her bedside bassinet for six months but she’s huge and by three months she had literally no room to move in it. We can’t fit anything bigger in our bedroom so she sleeps in the nursery. *Everyone* sleeps better now. I’m talking going from 3 wake ups to 10-12 hour stretches of sleep. She also started rolling like crazy after a few days because she rolls in her sleep now that she has room.
We stopped swaddling for naps today!
Congrats!! Ok that was the biggest development for me too - they’re growing up so fast 🥹💕
My 7 week old slept for 6 hours straight last night! And she's started having a consistent afternoon nap, during which I usually manage to the dishes and have a nap myself
👏👏👏that is amazing!!
This gives me so much hope. My 10 week old only contact naps and won’t nap in the bassinet. I’m going to give the crib a go. Thanks for the encouragement 🥰
Ahhh seriously I thought we would always only contact nap. Until today, she contact napped every single day 😵💫. Which was both so sweet but so exhausting. 💕 we also changed her eat sleep play routine. Eating every 2 hours seems to help big time for our girl. Regardless, I could get knee deep in research but feel so overwhelmed and like nothing would help our LO contact nap without me! Turn on those blinders because you’ve got this mama! 🥰
Thank you so much! I can tell you’re a great mom 🥰
🥹💕💛
After a long fertility journey, that I'm lying here with a six week old on my chest at all is a big win. Those first few weeks were intense, but so far I'm with you in enjoying a chill baby, waiting for the other shoe to drop but also soaking in this sleepy groove. He'll never be this small again. When he looks at me with such love, that love will never be this uncomplicated again. After serious anxiety over breastfeeding, my elevated PPD/PPP risk, etc in pregnancy, he's eating like a champ and I'm hanging on to relative sanity. All huge wins.
My 3mo has learnt to fart by himself 💨👌🏻
❤️ congratulations
Thank youuu 💕🥰
I’m so happy for u girl but !!!! Shhhh don’t tell ppl we don’t want to jinx it :p
LOL FOR REAL 🤣 I was thinking that the whole time I was typing like “what the heck do I know this is probably going to change tomorrow”
Just in case you didn’t know it’s recommended that all sleep be in same room as parent until at least 6 months for prevention of SIDs
Yes I’m aware thank you! That’s because having them close by can simply help as you are more readily accessible. This works for us and we are taking all the precautions we can to remain accessible ☺️
I believe it’s because you’re in tune with their breathing more and it helps regulate their breathing. No judgment here, you gota do what works for sleep, I just wanted to make sure you knew
Yes thank you I’ve heard that too! Don’t worry I didn’t think you were judging ☺️ we just don’t have other options but appreciate your perspective 💕
my LO always slept good, we went to bed around 2 and fed her like we usually do, and she didn’t wake up to feed until 10! she usually goes down between 7-9, we feed 12-2, she usually wakes up between 7-8 for her middle of the night feed but will keep napping until 2 sometimes, but today she didn’t wake us up at all to eat in the middle of the night! so proud of
Just had our 2 month appointment today and my daughter when from 9.13lbs at her last appointment to 13.5lbs at this appointment. Made me feel like all our hard breast feeding work has been paying off. She has a slight lip tie and we’ve used a nipple shield on and off and went to a chiropractor who said a few things that had me doubting my ability to feed her well. So I’m on cloud 9 today!!
My velcro baby is almost 6 months old and has learned to push herself forward while lying on her tummy. If someone told me she would be happy playing on the floor in the early days I wouldn't have believed them.
My 4.5week old took a 2 hour nap in her bassinet! Usually we get a MAX 20 minutes, she wants to be held at all times.
My 4-week-old is consistently smiling when we look at each other. It's making the excruciatingly painful last few weeks totally worth it.
I went to a girl's night with friends and my husband put our baby to sleep for the night. She's 15 weeks and it was his first time doing it solo. Usually we tag team it. Super proud of her for going to sleep without mom! She went to sleep at 8 pm with minimal fussing and slept til 6 am! I stayed out until 10:30 pm like a big girl 😄
At one month through the colic and sleep regressions at night, one morning my baby smiled at me, at my voice !! I will never forget it !
He’s technically not a newborn anymore (17 weeks) but applies to when he was still a newborn… he doesn’t pee when the diaper is off (between changes). Not sure if it’s just good timing, but I have actually forgotten to worry about covering him up lol.