Paris Interrupted.

Thursday, February 9, 2012

I had planned on blogging this week about all things Paris... the fashion, the food, the shopping.... and still intend on doing so, but I have to interrupt talking about Parisdise with a cry for help err advice. Like please come to my house and fix this for me, kind of advice. Any takers????

Okay, so for the past few weeks months, I have been waiting for baby boy to roll over. When he was 4 months he went from back to front a whopping 3 times, and then he did a whole lot of nothing until we went on our trip. (Of course, we missed not only this milestone, but also seeing his two front teeth coming in, actually I'm kind of happy about the latter because he was not a happy camper while that was happening ;)) Prior to the roll heard around the world (seriously, it happened right after a Skype session) I was starting to think (like I always do) that something might be wrong. The LM was a rolling fool at 6 months, so of course, I though that there was some dramatic reason why at 6 1/2 months, baby Gray refused to even try.

The reason, of course, was he was lazy, and I was crazy, and he plans on proving to me over and over again that HE IS NOT HIS BROTHER. Okay, okay, I get it... geesh kid... feel free to go on developing at your own pace. 

I digress.

Anyway, for the past week the little guy has perfected the art of rolling from back to front. One would think that mastering this task, would make rolling the reverse way a given, because the first is so much harder. As always, that "one" would be wrong.

How do I know?

Because my kid just can't seem to put the two together. As in, anytime you lay him anywhere (including the crib) he immediately rolls to his stomach. Where he happily plays for all of two minutes. Then he gets tired. The panic sets in. He starts to cry. Then scream. Then face plant. Then cry some more. Followed by more face planting.

You get the idea.

This goes on until someone, usually the LM, is nice enough to go over and give him a (gentle) nudge, flipping him onto his back. During the day this isn't a problem. At night? Well, I learned last night that there is only one baby flipper in this house, and as luck would have it, it turns out that person is me. (Lucky right?) So now, my kid who was FINALLY sleeping from 6:30pm- 6:30am, who no longer needed me to feed him in the middle of the night, now needs me to get up, not once.... not twice.... but THREE yes, three!!!  times to flip him back over. By the time the 3rd flip was necessary, he was also hungry. Apparently mom = food after 4am.

Grrrrrrrr...

I really don't know what to do. I've tried all day to get him to roll back the other way, and he refuses to even try. I've tried leaving him on his stomach, thinking that eventually he will give up the fight and/ or flip to his back, but after 5 painful minutes I had to step in and help him.

Here is where you all come in and save the day? Right? So far, the only thing I can come up with is that tonight I should put him right up against the bars of the crib, this way he won't have any space to roll onto. Either that or he will grab onto the bars and use those for leverage. We will see.

Short of duck tape or sewing his sleep sack to the sheet does anyone have any suggestions? I actually considered the second... so you know I'm desperate.

I'm sure that this is another one of those funny little things that will soon pass, but for now... I'm not laughing.

Until then, here is the Valentine I'm sending to baby boy.


And that is exactly what I am about to do.... 

(Photo via A Cup of Jo)

10 comments :

The Mommy said...

Wow, I'm the first one to venture into this one? Or maybe you're busy napping and comments are awaiting moderation...anyway! Haha

My advice, as a mother of two (one of whom is turning 9 months on the 13 and isn't sleeping 12 hrs straight yet), is to stop helping him.

Babies are smarter than we think, and they figure out real quick, as Gray has, the easiest way to get what they want. Gray wants to be on his back and not on his tummy? He knows - KNOWS - that if he screams just loud and long enough someone will relieve him of this difficult task by doing the rolling for him.

It's either getting up to roll him yourself or suffering through the crying, either way I think 6:30p-6:30a is over for the time being. Clear your schedule for momma's afternoon nap!

Unless, of course, he figures it all out by the end of the day today!

Melinda said...

Get him a sleep positioner, position him on his side and he can't roll over. My son used one until he was 15 months old. We figured if he was sleeping through the night why risk it! Attached is a link of some options (babies r us has them)

Good luck!
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=baby+sleep+positioner&id=10AB2D1CAFCC15295F0015CAD188888F06F2B710&FORM=IQFRBA

Grace in TN said...

I've got nothing for you but I do feel your pain. My 4.5 month old has been waking to nurse every two hours for too many weeks to count. And yes I have been racking my brain to remember what my first one was doing at this age as though it matters! So far my only semi solution has been to go to bed earlier. Babies are crrrazy :)!

Nikki Hartley said...

OMG, I'm having the EXACT same problem. J started getting his two bottom teeth in and I thought that was the reason for all the extra fussiness, but now it's this flipping on his stomach thing. I get up more than 3 times a night..more like 12. It's terrible. I am at a total loss. If he's not hungry, he's flipped over, or his teeth hurt. Poor little guy. I've tried swaddling again, but at 6 months he just totally breaks out of that blanket. The only thing I've found that helps is to give him some homeopathic teething pills, and then feed him till he's milk drunk and passes out.

Ladies Holiday said...

Good luck Mama and I hope you all get some rest!

Anonymous said...

Right there with you girl. My 9 month old is doing the same thing. He was in a mini crib (due to space in our home) and he could roll over onto stomach but then when he tried to roll onto back again there was no room. Solution....get a regular sized crib and be a bit cramped. Did it work???....Ah...that's a BIG FAT NO!

I agree with the first post. Let him figure it out..He won't suffer or suffocate. He knows how to get from on to the other..he's done it once he can do it again. We've had to do that a few times and he falls asleep and is okay. He will figure it out and then you will go back to a blissful slumber..eventually

But then again..you did just get more days then I can imagine of uninterrupted sleep while on vacation and I sort of hate you...just sort of..j/k

Anonymous said...

I have the same problem too! Yay so glad I'm not alone : ) I've started putting a small pillow either side of my son in his bed and lying him on his side. He sleeps really well this way all night (if he rolls to his back or tummy he *mostly* stays asleep. But I still am eager for him to roll from tummy to back, he's even getting up on his hands and knees and rocking back and forward as if he's about to crawl but still no rolling?! I'm definitly going to keep my eyes on your comments about this one.

Kelly
P.S I can't wait to see your Paris photos!

Kelly said...

I just found you while blog hopping. I have a 13 month old Daughter and I think it's pretty normal, we have gone through various reasons for waking from rolling over, loosing her dummy to night terrors and having a 'hungry' couple of weeks when she wanted a bottle at 2am. All I can say is that all of these periods have passed after a few weeks.

Giving your son plenty of rolling time during the day might help him master both ways!

Lots of Love

Kelly

Kelly said...

Oh and I love Paris too, although I'm not as far away from it as you!!

Anonymous said...

Sorry to be unhelpful but Ibam just soooooo relieved to know that my boy isn't the only one doing this. He is a few weeks older than your little guy and has been doing this for weeks which has been stressing me out to no end.