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October 20, 2010

Holy Hell

Jackson has been pulling himself up onto everything for about a month now. He reaches his arms so high, grips his tiny little fingers onto anything he can get a hold of and then using all of his power pops himself up onto two legs. We are so proud of him and you can see he is so proud of himself.

Lately this major milestone has become a major nightmare. Bedtime used to be something I enjoyed, it would be our time to snuggle while he nursed and I read to him. He would slowly get tired and I'd put him in his crib with a goodnight kiss. Sure, there were nights where he would fuss for 10min or so but he would eventually fall asleep.

This past week everything has changed. During our quiet time before bed he seems agitated, not really feeding, kicking, grunting, the whole deal. I eventually put him in his crib and he pops up right away and stands in his crib rubbing his eyes and crying. I leave the room and his crying only escalates into blood curdling screams. I leave him in there for a few minutes and when I go back I find him still standing, with tears and snot running down his face. I lay him down again, try patting his back, sushing, the whole deal but nothing seems to work. And God forbid I actually pick him up because then he really loses it, screaming and throwing himself backwards, pushing away from me. Bedtime has now extended into an hour and a half ordeal. So far it's ended with me nursing him again which gets him to settle down and become calmer. He'll do a full feeding and I can even put him back in his crib where he falls asleep.

Along with this, he's not sleeping well anymore, waking multiple times throughout the night. Amy and I are both exhausted and I'm at my wits end. I feel so bad for him and nothing I do offers him any comfort. I'm hoping that he's just teething and that this ends soon.

So please raise your hand if you're being an absolute terror at bedtime!

13 comments:

Somethingtogrow said...

This is a great picture! I hope the bedtime routine improves soon.

Shannon said...

Oh no, so sorry. It may be related to the major milestones he's going through or that are about to happen. Or teething, like you said. But the no sleep thing is so hard especially when you've gotten used to getting your sleep again! Hang in there, it will probably pass soon. We'll wear him out at the pumpkin patch on the weekend, maybe that will help. :)

j.k-c. said...

I agree with Shannon - right before a major milestone the sleep thing gets all messed up. Take care of yourselves!!

J and DZ said...

Time to lower the crib! Stat! He's going to fall
out and bonk his cute little head. =P
I've found that anytime Sadie has reached a new level of independance she becomes a pain in the arse. When she first started to stand I had to pin her to the bed crying to get her to settle down. ALL she wanted to do was climb the headboard!! No fun at all!!

B. said...

Yikes. I treat your updates like little windows into my future, fully expecting what your little one is doing to reach our house about 6 weeks later. Our little one has become VERY fidgety while feeding now that she knows how to sit up without support. It's like that's all she wants to do. Same with when she started rolling over... it was all she wanted to do, even when she was too tired to control it. It sounds like that's Jackson's problem. He loves to stand, and just can't stop himself from doing it, but he can't fall asleep up there. What a connundrum! I hope he figures out soon that he can pull himself back up any old time, so there's no harm in lying down to sleep. Good luck!

N said...

Lower the crib, lower the crib!

That is the cutest picture ever. Heh.

I'm sure that part of it is the mental mess-up that happens with new milestones - it STINKS. But we also found that, when she started pulling up in her crib, we had to literally let her hand out there (yes, screaming & crying, it SUCKED) until she figured out to sit down on her own. For a while there, it was stand up, scream, get a mom to come in and PAAAARTY!!!

Whatever you decide to do, good luck. *hugs*

H2 said...

Growth spurt? All that pulling up must be burning calories! *Hugs* I hope it gets easier soon.

Casey said...

This is a very hard time. We went through this for a few weeks or months. Not sure. It merged together into messiness. It's okay now, though. Nothing really helped, just riding it out.

Heather said...

We've gone though some similar stuff. Ryan can be a bit of a challange to get to bed when he wants to be. I think it could be teeth. Have you tried medicating him before bedtime so he feels more comfortable?!

He is so adorable!!!

Stacey said...

Yep, parenting is like that. Smooth riding and a routine and wham! They switch it up on you. Many nights I would have to let Jackson cry for a bit and then I'd nurse him to sleep. If he was refusing to go to bed, the crying helped tire him out. We have nights were bedtime is awful for either kid and then nights where they go to sleep easily. Good times, good times. You'll get through this soon, I'm sure.

Next in Line said...

Bee's hand is in the air waving right now! Fi and her have sweet bed and nap times, but with me there is screaming right now. It is so tiring. I hope it shifts again so I get some of those nice going to sleep times with her.

Karen said...

Yyyyyeah, this was us, minus the ever being able to just lay her down in her crib and have her fall asleep. She nursed to sleep pretty much always, until we started nightweaning around 16 months. She had newborn sleep patterns, then slept really well (from 7pm to 3am in a stretch) from about 3 months to 5.5 months, and then... WHAM.

I blamed everything. Teething, milestones, growth spurts, being evil. I tried everything. The truth is, she was just a needs-mommy needs-nursie kind of baby, and she is a very light sleeper. Now that she's weaned and almost 2, things have improved to the point that bedtime involves bath, diaper, jammies, teeth, hair, story, and kiss. And then leave the room. And she falls asleep. It does get better!

Anonymous said...

But he's a darling little terrorist!

Hope things valm down soon.