u/booberry1994

I’m reaching out to see if I can get some reassurance from other possum’s families that it does get better.

I have a very sweet 5 month old baby boy. He is the centre of our worlds.

He used to be a trooper sleeper, sleeping 7-9 hour stretches. Wild - I know. But when we hit 3 months old, after 11pm they turned into hourly wakes. We co-slept for 3 weeks, until I got sick and my husband placed him in our sidecar crib to sleep. He has since then has been starting the night in his crib and for a few weeks he was only waking up twice at night.

His wake ups are now all over the place. Sometimes it’s hourly, sometimes every 2. I sleep next to him and am able to comfort him easily. He has started rolling around so he seems more comfortable with the space in his crib.

We have been using the possums approach and it really works for our family. I am hoping someone other families might give me some reassurance this will get easier (or have any tips that fall in line with the philosophy).

I have limited family support and I’m really starting to struggle.

I have the sweetest 11 week old boy but he absolutely despises tummy time. He was on the bigger side and was delivered at 41 weeks and 6 days. Any nurse or doctor who has seen him comments that he is really strong.

I just can’t get him to like Tummy time. It almost seems like he is bored and doesn’t want to do it. He won’t turn his head or track anything.

He used to watch the dog intently but now seems to be over this. He won’t track flash cards, rattles or squeaky toys. I’ve tried laying in front or next to him talking but this doesn’t encourage him but he won’t engage with me either.

He won’t turn his head while on his back either but that’s because all he wants to do is coo and talk to me. I LOVE this but I’m worried he isn’t building his strength.

He is a very strong boy who just wants to be upright. We use the carrier pretty regularly throughout the day and he will turn his head an look around before he has his sleep and he will turn his head towards the TV if I forgot to switch it off before putting him in his bouncer or on the ground. (I don’t leave it on usually or let him watch it, this was just incidental).

He can hold his head up pretty steadily now in every other position and he can do it during Tummy time. He just HATES it.

Does anyone have any tips they could share that would encourage him to engage with the activity more?

So far we have tried:
- on my chest
- on my legs with his dad talking to him on the other side
- near the dog so he can watch them
- different toys and sounds
- different locations
- shorter and longer sessions
- putting him in front of his kick n play piano while it’s playing
- on a pillow or rolled up towel