constant struggling

one of my boys is suddenly into this thing where he struggles constantly wherever he's set down. he flexes his body the opposite direction of whichever way he's laid. he struggles against the car seat, the swing, and the bouncy chair (we have to keep both boys sitting up due to reflux). if we do put him in the crib or PNP he struggles there, too. if we swaddle him, he struggles to be free. if we leave him unswaddled he flails his arms and upsets himself. if we put him on his back he squirms and cries, if we put him on his side he struggles to get onto his back. if we put him on his tummy he gripes and struggles until we pick him up. basically the only time he sleeps quietly these days is in our arms. which is great except we can't constantly hold him. especially when it's just me and his brother needs attention.

please tell me this is a phase. i am so out of ideas.

 

Bless your heart--you are in the thick of it right now. I would treat everything they do right now as a phase. One of mine was big on being held when he was really little like your are. He would settle down with a pacifier if we put him in the bouncy on vibrate, wrapped in a blanket, though. If that doesn't work for yours, another thing that worked sometimes was to put him the baby bjorn, which would at least free my arms so I could tend to his brother or wash bottles, or whatever. I basically wore him for a few weeks. He also liked being swaddled, but with his hands up by his face---so we would use the swaddle me blankets but let him keep his hands up (not out, just peeking out of the top of the blanket). If we pinned his arms down at his side, he would struggle.

Big hugs to you--I noticed it got easier every week with big jumps forward at 6 weeks and 12 weeks. By four months, we were cooking. Hang in there!!!

 

jeez i hope its just a phase! ds has been like that since a month after his due date! talk about high maintenance! if im holding him and squat down to take care of dd, give her a toy, give her back her paci, he cries! im friggin holding him still but he'll cry. or if she needs a diaper change and i put him sitting up in my lap and change her he'll cry then too. sooo needy it drives me insane! youre not alone! :hug:

 

Maybe see if he has acid reflux?

 

QUOTE(kgrew @ Oct 24 2008, 04:04 PM) [snapback]1040695[/snapback]
Maybe see if he has acid reflux?

they both have reflux but they trade off on this behavior. right now it's owen's turn and jacob is totally chilled out. last week it was jacob and owen was totally chilled out.

we have bjorns but i swear they look enormous compared to the boys so i haven't tried using one yet.

 

My DS was like this for about a week. We kept swaddling him (he would scare himself out of his sleep) because that was the only thing that would get him to sleep. He struggled like crazy against it too. My husband would sleep in the chair in the babies' room holding him to get some sleep. For us, it only lasted a week because we were consistent in putting him down for naps and bedtime. It will get better...just be consistent.

 

My girls were like that until they were about two months old. I started putting them on a playmat then and they would actually be settled for a little while!! Breakthrough! Not to say that we still don't have days were they are both crying and wanting to be held but it does get easier as they get older and easier to entertain! Good luck!

 

Just wanted to say to hang in there...everyone has provided great suggestions. I went through the same feelings at that age--I couldn't even put one down to go to pee at times! But it'll get better. You are in the middle of a busy period and quite chaotic. Perhaps try the suggestions provided, and just take it day by day. It does get easier...

 

What formula are you using? This sounds like how Ryan was anr at 2 months he was put on Alimentum and he became a different baby! It was a blessing. HTH!

 

QUOTE(jasonsmommy @ Oct 24 2008, 08:28 PM) [snapback]1041009[/snapback]
What formula are you using? This sounds like how Ryan was anr at 2 months he was put on Alimentum and he became a different baby! It was a blessing. HTH!

they were on similac neosure which we boosted the calories on. then that started overwhelming their intestines so we switched to similac sensitive.