Four Months!

[judecorp]

My little punk is four months old today! She is firmly entrenched in Four Month Hell. She will not nap. She is an overtired, overstimulated mess. She shrieks for a good part of the day, stopping to smile when Jen gets home. I spend most of my day in a zombie fog, wondering what I'm doing wrong and whether a better person would be able to meet her needs, whatever they are. Except for sleep, which she will not do.

I would really like to figure this part out. Actually, I think we both would.

Comments

[evewasframed.livejournal.com]

Babies are cute so that we don't kill them, I firmly believe that. She looks wonderful, so whatever you're doing is working!

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

I have resisted the urge to sell her to the gypsies so far. Thank goodness she is cute!!

[sassywoman.livejournal.com]

The picture says it all!

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

TOTALLY.

I will be glad when this developmental leap is over, man. I think once she figures out rolling over, she'll chill a little. (I hope.)

[hetterrific.livejournal.com]

... but look how cute she is!! I loves her little jacket!

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Thanks! It's a whole sweatsuit. My mom sent it, so I had to take a picture. (You know, so she would know I put it on her.)

[eeka13.livejournal.com]

Yes, it's adorable! She needs some bigass earrings and a floppy cap now!

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Are you trying to make her from Malden?

[eeka13.livejournal.com]

Yes, this was the basic idea. ;o)

[afullmoon.livejournal.com]

She is so cute.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

It's true. That's what saves her.

[hyperpurple.livejournal.com]

Might be good for you to have another adult watch gus once a week or so. It will really help YOU feel better, and hey. Maybe having a grown up who is not foggy and tired will give gus a slightly better chance of sleeping. And if not You'll be better rested, so you'll be able to deal with her being a little punk-in better.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

We're kind of isolated out here and don't have family nearby, and our friends all pretty much have little babies too which doesn't really help. Trust me, if I had someone who wanted to come listen to her scream, I would! :)

I really feel pretty bad for her. She is so tired, so so tired, but is too wound up and excited to sleep. It's like she discovered the world in the last couple of weeks and she doesn't want to let a minute slip by!

[hyperpurple.livejournal.com]

For what it's worth, If I lived near I'd come and listen to her scream one day a week :)

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

As long as she gets her naps, she's fine with the screaming. Or lack of screaming. You should come with some whisky for the baby. Or for me. :)

[lizardjee.livejournal.com]

did you ever seen that baby language thing on oprah, where they make noises like "neh" when they are hungry? it is on the interwebs somewhere.. but IT WAS MAGIC when jaxen was that small, it helped so much.. also, this is when we stared to sign with him. it has cut down a lot on baby frustration as he can communicate to us..

http://www.parenting.com/parenting/babytalk/article/0,19840,1564131,00.html

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen the Oprah but I read an article about the baby language. There's really something to it!

It's not that I don't know what she needs (she needs to sleep) it's that she's too consumed with studying everything and trying everything and analyzing everything that she can't settle down to sleep and she just becomes A MESS. She will scream the scream of the tired, overwhelmed baby like nobody's business!

[lizardjee.livejournal.com]

i went through that with jaxen too, there were days that he would only sleep on my lap in the boppy if i was on the computer. other times he would only sleep if he was on my chest in the bed.
i feel your frustration.it didnt last that long thought, it was like a phase, now he only does it every once in a while. like last night. lol.
now the magic trick is holding his feet again.
but i did spend many days/night crying right along side of him out of my own exhaustion.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think this stuff is linked to big developmental leaps and hey, there's nothing I can do except go with it. It's just so maddening when she's so tired but she won't go to sleep! I mean, she's screaming and I just want to /reason/ with her! :)

[lizardjee.livejournal.com]

when jaxen was doing that i also took him in the shower with me with lavender wash. it usually knocked him right out.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

I am too scared to take G into the shower with me. She is too wriggly!

[lizardjee.livejournal.com]

it is easier than you think, jaxen is a wiggle worm too and i have yet to drop him, there is something about the skin to skin and the warm water that knocks him out. he settles right on my shoulder and has fallen asleep more than once.

[lizardjee.livejournal.com]

i just remember what my gram use to call this phase.. it is called "too afraid to miss a trick" and it might last until she is about 19..LOL. according to gram.
although it does seem that my teenage niece sleeps ALL the time.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Heh. I'm nosey too so I can't even blame her. :)

[katishna.livejournal.com]

Go read Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Marc Weissbluth, MD. You might not agree with everything in the book, but he's got a very balanced and multi-option approach to dealing with sleep issues. It saved our bacon when Evan was a baby, we got him napping and sleeping around 4 months thanks to Dr Weissbluth's book. We've been following his advice from the start with Laurie and her sleep is already starting to make sense at 6 weeks. (Oh, and he's a REAL doctor, a pediatrician, not some psychology dropout who wrote a book.)

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

I've read it.

She was a really great sleeper until about a week ago, and then she started getting super distracted by everything, hence the not napping. I'm hoping it's a phase and she gets over it really quickly. :)

Weissbluth also recommends a lot of CIO-like stuff that I can't do with my daughter. She's not the kind of baby that releases tension when she cries, instead it really ramps her up more, so if I lay her down at X time in her crib for a nap, I can't wait it out because what will start as a little fussing will be a full-blown baby nightmare in about 10 minutes.

I'm fairly confident that when she moves past whatever has her hung up right now, she'll go back to being a sleep champ. :)

[eeka13.livejournal.com]

Mail her to ME!

(Hey, actually, was I the winner of the pool? Do I win a baby? I was definitely close if not THE winner. Maybe the winner would share her?)

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

What day did you pick? Did you pick the 2nd? I can't remember. I know you were close.

[eeka13.livejournal.com]

Eh, I don't remember. No one else is jumping up to claim their prize, are they? Just stick her in a box with airholes and send her on over!

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Go make your own!

[eeka13.livejournal.com]

God no. ;-)

[wendywoowho.livejournal.com]

OMG, how much does she look like yoU?????

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

It's the face. ;)

[mayna.livejournal.com]

She looks just like you. :-)
Babies with real sleep problems, I'm not sure that there is a real answer. I read ALL the books with Greg and none of them helped. Maylie only did the not-sleeping thing if she was teething (I used to call it the teething demon possessing her). Then she would go back to her normal self after a week or two.

Vivi has problems sleeping if we are out and about... she just wakes up and wants to watch things and then just doesn't do her usual nap. Then when she's home and I manage to put her down, she sleeps for hours to make up for it. If she didn't do that I think I'd go crazy.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

She sleeps alright at home, but whenever we leave the house all bets are off. It's like she's too distracted anywhere but home. Sure, she gets distracted at home too, but not as bad because I can always just swaddle her up like mad, bury her into my body, and rock her into oblivion.

...can't really do that at a restaurant or a store. ;)

[calliopeblogger.livejournal.com]

Happy 4 months!!
xoxoxoxo Cali

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Thanks! :) :)

[(Anonymous)]

You get theeeeee most hysterical photos. My 6-month-old still gets that face, complete with the screaching, ouch!

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

I just take a lot of photos. Then I can weed them out! :) But yeah, it's the face. It's priceless!

[froggymommy.livejournal.com]

I wonder if she's teething? I know with #1 he'd sleep terribly for a few days, then a tooth would show a few days after that, so it's possible. She could be getting ready to do some big stuff developmentally, too :) Either way, I hope she sleeps good again soon!

Isn't 4 months just amazing? :)

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

So far, no sign of teeth. I keep looking. I know that teething will make it WORSE. I am not looking forward to that.

I think she's just busy with the development. Being a baby is wicked hard work. :)