My third child (a little boy) has been a great baby, he eats well, sleeps well, but the last three days has been a pickle to get to sleep for naps. He's three months old and is getting really close to rolling over, he seems to like to sleep on his side. He will scrunch his leggs up and roll onto his side. I have been noticing he also tries to suck on his hands/fingers a lot but doesn't get a specific thumb or finger into his mouth. So Tuesday, Wednesday and not today he has been just crying and crying and not settling down. I go check him every 10 to 15 minutes and try him in a different position, back, side or stomach even. He just goes right back to crying. Yesterday he didi this for about two hours before finally going to sleep for probably a good 2-2 1/2 hour nap! I just don't know what to do for him anymore. He has never carried on like this before. I don't know if he's just at a stage where he's frustrated 'cause he can get into a position he wants with the fingers he wants. If anyone has had an experience like this do you have any advice?
One thought is he may be teething. My 2nd daughter pushed through her first tooth at 4 months and it's always painful before it pushes through. Maybe some teething gel to try just in case that's the problem.
any developmental stage can cause sleep disruptions.
but what i would encourage you to do is to just be very sensitive to your baby's needs. he has some kind of need, and its your job to fulfill it. babies arent really the best sleepers, and for good reasons. so just try to be flexible and sensitive. the more sensitive you are, the easier it will be for him to trust you and get thruogh this phase.
www.askdrsears.com is a great resource.
Your baby is 3 months old, why is he crying by himself in his crib for such long periods of time?? Pick him up and rock/cuddle him to sleep, he probably just wants some love. I would be frustrated too if no one was answering my cries.
My kids are prone to ear infections, so that is always my first thought. You might want to get him checked. My 7-month-old just went through the same thing. After a day on antibiotics and Motrin, he was back to his old self.
H. other parents may disagree but first I would say try a pacifier if he wants to suck on his fingers he is telling you he needs to sooth himself and it is easier to take away a paci than it would be to take away his fingers in the future , all 4 of my children used them and we had great results we used a wedge make spefically for babies and we always put them in that also. Good Luck
J.
I can't tell for sure from your description whether you are just checking on him and repositioning him or picking him up. He needs to be picked up and comforted if he is crying. I have been thinking about this from a different perspective since I began to deal with serious insomnia myself. My body CAN NOT fall asleep unless it is convinced on every level that everything is good. This makes sense in terms of instincts. So I relate that to my babies and give them all of mama that they want. That's what makes everything good for them, and I love being that to them. Be careful about any idea that states that "if all of their needs are met" then they should fall asleep on their own. How in the world can we know if all of a baby's needs are met? Just like you and I are spiritual beings, babies have physical, mental (soul-ish), and spiritual needs. You can't check all of those. At this age, your baby is almost certainly going through something temporary. If you just put him back to sleep when he wakes up, he will soon stop waking up. If not, you can look into underlying problems.
Try a chiropractor! It worked (and still works)wonders on our kids. Anything from sleeping to ear infections to colds! We've had great luck with them. And many of my friends and relatives have too~ Good luck.
I have a two-month-old that is desperate to get her thumb in her mouth but isn't coordinated enough to make it happen with any sort of accuracy. If the thumb is in the mouth, she will happily chill in her crib and drift off to sleep on her own. If the thumb comes out, she fusses and gets extremely frustrated. Once she gets to the point of frustration, she is not likely self-soothe and I do what it takes to get her to nap at this point - if it involves picking her up and rocking her until she calms down again, we go that route. If it means that I have her nestled in the crook of my arm for an hour, we do that. Sometimes the nuk works to get her calm enough to go back into the crib on her own but she really isn't attached to it and has a strong preference for her fingers.
I remember going through a similar difficult napping phase with my older two right around the 2-3 month mark. It seemed like naps required a lot more hands-on time from me than I wanted to give. It's especially difficult when you have other children that need you at home. There is a lot of development that happens at that age, any time my older two were trying to master a new skill we had some difficulty sleeping. Most of the time it was short-lived and once they mastered whatever skill they were working on we'd get a reprieve until the next developmental milestone. I would bet that once your little one figures out how to get the fingers in his mouth and/or roll himself into the position that is comfortable, you'll get back to the good napping habits. In the meantime, it might be more work for you to help him figure out how to calm down enough to sleep.
