Kaitlyn is six weeks old now and has grown so much. I definitely don't consider her as a newborn anymore. At her 1 month checkup she weighed 9 lbs 4 oz - she gained 3 lbs in 2 weeks! Her head has gotten so much bigger and she's developed those chubby baby thighs - she's so soft and cuddly now.
She doesn't have her evening crying spells as often as she did her first few weeks, and her gas pains seem to have gotten a little better/less frequent. But in general she has been really fussy lately - constantly crying, always wanting to be held (but not happy with whatever position she's in), constantly wanting to nurse. I'm assuming it's related to the 6-week growth spurt and hope it ends soon.
Last week she started sleeping for over three hours at a time, sometimes even four. It's been a lot easier since I only have to wake up once a night to feed her. But now our newest problem is just getting her to sleep at all. Every night it takes at least two hours to put her down, it's ridiculous. We've tried to establish a nightly routine so she knows it's bedtime, but I'm not sure if it's helping. Every night at around 8pm, we bathe her, change her, turn on soft music, read a story, and cuddle. When she appears drowsy we finally put her in the crib. Most of the time, if she doesn't start crying right away when we've put her down, she'll close her eyes and go to sleep on her own. But 30 minutes later she'll wake up screaming and crying. It takes us another 20 minutes of holding, shushing, patting her back, and cuddling until she's calm again and we can put her back in the crib. Then another 20-30 minutes later she'll wake up again and the whole cycle will repeat...and this goes on for 2 hours. Usually by 10 or 11pm she finally sleeps solidly until her 3am feeding. I just don't understand why it takes two hours to put her down in the first place.
During the day, Kaitlyn is awake for longer periods of time now, which means less down time for me. I'll spend 1-2 hours at a time holding her, walking her around the house, playing on the activity mat. I feel guilty if I just leave her in the bouncy seat and do my own thing (even then, it's 20 minutes tops in the bouncy seat), and feel like I need to constantly be engaging her as long as she's awake. I'm running out of things to say and do with her... I don't even get a break during naps. Kaitlyn insists on being held all day, even when sleeping. If she falls asleep in my arms and I try to put her down, she'll wake up crying until she's picked back up again. The Pack n' Play and the swing have both gone unused. She requires 100% of my attention all day long, I barely have two free hands to eat, type, or do anything, and it's pretty frustrating. Is it supposed to be this hard?
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