u/Lizzy_Be

Two bouts of illness, a couple of hectic trips, slammed at work, baby started to sleep longer and eat solids, and my period started all within a month. In that time I have had wonderful support from others giving baby a formula bottle, and I sincerely appreciate that.

But now my supply is down to a few drops and baby is wanting the bottle more than the breast now that she can crawl. She wants to look around and move and return to the bottle for a minute or so at a time. She still nurses for comfort but when she’s thirsty she’ll wriggle away hoping for a bottle. I’ve been back at work since she was 8 weeks and wanted to get her to 3 months, then 6 months, then until she stopped, and, well… she stopped. But I thought I’d have more time. I can’t pump often enough to get my supply back up and so I think this is the end and I’m just so sad. I wasn’t ready.

I could use some gentle words of affirmation.

Just curious what other people are experiencing in this group! We’re trying to improve things so schedule advice is welcome.

We’ve chosen to not sleep train or cosleep (no judgement for whatever works for your family). We’re also not night weaning because we live in the desert and she may be sincerely thirsty in the middle of the night, we sometimes are. Our baby (11/15) sleeps in her room in a pack n play now after we discovered she sleeps better in there since my husband is an active sleeper, I respond too quickly to her fussing, and the dog’s nails click on the floor. We often only get 4-5hrs total of sleep but it’s slowly improving and we are fortunate that she can sleep most anywhere, even if it’s light or loud, and in most anyone’s arms. Unfortunately she hates her crib because it has bars instead of mesh. Not sure how to transition …

This is how it’s currently going for us:

6:00AM - wake for the day, usually wakes up happy and alert ~9-10AM - nap for 30-90 min, usually a contact nap, very grumpy if she wakes up in her pack n play but very happy and smiley if she wakes up being held ~3-4PM - nap for 30-90 min, usually a contact nap, recently moved it to earlier in the day 🤞 ~7-8PM - bedtime, I get her in her pjs and then rock her and sing to her while we watch the sunset and we go in for bedtime when she turns to nuzzle my chest (best part of my day) 10:30PM - first wake, husband’s turn, baby usually drinks 2-3oz 1:30AM - second wake, I nurse her 4:00AM - third wake, usually hard to transfer her after this so I’ll often hold her until 5:15AM and then hand her off to my husband and go back to bed for a bit

What’s your schedule? Has anything you’ve done made a significant difference? Advice on transferring from pack n play to crib?

Currently, we go in immediately to pick her up and soothe her and we’ve done that her whole life. We tried cosleeping but she hated it. She would wake up crying and when I’d try to comfort her she’d cry harder until I’d actually physically pick her up, so I think I was keeping her awake. I think that sometimes happens even now when she’s sleeping in her crib.

So for the past 1.5 months she’s been sleeping in her own room in her crib. Some nights she’ll wake up 4 times between 8pm-6AM, sometimes more, never less. During the day she naps 9-10:30 and 4:30-5:30, it’s just based on when she starts to act tired but it’s pretty consistent. So at some point are we supposed to give her 2-3 minutes to see if she’ll fall back asleep on her own?

We’d cosleep if we could, and that feels most natural, but now that she sleeps better and for longer alone I’m not sure what’s “normal” for this age.

Edit: it sounds like I can keep going in immediately (no need to wait) but that shifting her second nap earlier may help. She got tired 1.5 hrs earlier than usual this afternoon (rough night and grandpa woke her too early from her morning nap so he could pee, so not unexpected) so I guess we’ll start today!

Do we stop using tables at some point and only use the floor? If you’re not using a changing table, how are you keeping your diaper swag organized and on hand?

It wasn’t wholly intentional. My 7 month old baby 1) started solids and has loved them, 2) got incredibly distractible during nursing, 3) cut 3 teeth in as many weeks leading to multiple bites, 4) I started and ended this same 3 weeks with my first and second period postpartum, and 5) I was rushing to finish work before vacation, then went on vacation and am now rushing with work after vaca all of which made it tough to find the time to pump. I was still nursing as able, especially at night, but …

Siiiigh.

Of course, now I’m sad that my supply has dipped SO much so I’m back into “up my supply” mode. We’re talking down to 1oz total per pump, if I’m lucky.

SIGHHHHH.

My girl is 6 months old and has never taken a paci. We’ve tried 6-7 brands since she was born and she’s just not interested and sometimes looks downright offended!

She’s a bad sleeper ( still wakes every 30-90 minutes at night), we’re not doing sleep training if we can avoid it, and we’ll be traveling this summer so it would be nice to find a way to help her self-soothe.

Any tips? Is there actually any issue with not ever accepting a paci at this point?