4 month old baby?

Question

2 questions..
my son is 4 months old and hates tummy time. he can pull his legs up under his stomach but he wont keep his arms in front of him, to learn to push up. he always bring them back to his side, and then he just gets frustrated. any ideas on how to encourage him to keep his arms out in front of him while he is on his tummy.

also, he loves his pacifier..and wont fall asleep without it. (he sleeps thru the night) the problem is, he will wake up at about 4 am, and scream if someone doesnt get up and go put the nuk back in his mouth. and then every hour or so after that until 10am.
should we try the method of: just puting him down, letting him cry for 5 min..go attend to him...wait 10 min..attend to him...etc...until he falls asleep without the nuk?
when he was in the bassinett, it was fine, ebcause i could just reach over and give him his pacifier, but now that he is in his crib, i have to get up and go to his room. its getting really annoying.
serious answers only please!

Answer 1

With tummy time, it may just take "time" for him to get used it. All babies do things at different rates. You could put his arms back in front of him for him to be encouraging. Maybe get down on the floor with him, pat or rub his back. Put toys he would want to play with as an incentive to put his arms forward. Or he just may not be quite ready. As for the paci. . .I let my daughter keep hers for a long time. However, I didn't really care for the "let them cry it out". I held mine constantly at that age and mine also slept with me as I was nursing. If he needs to paci to console him, then I would suggest letting him have it. I personally do not believe you can spoil a baby. They need the reassurance that you are going to be there to meet their needs, all the time, whatever they are, no matter how trivial they seem to adults. Not addressing crying babies only teaches them that they can not trust the people who love them most to be there for them. This is a critical time for bonding. This makes for difficult parenting later on by breaking the trust early on. Go ahead and be responsive, nurturing and loving. If getting up and going to his room is a nuisance, put him back in the bassinet and let him sleep in your room. He is still very young. I can't imagine he would object to being in close proximity to his mommy who can/will reassure him and meet his needs (anytime day or night)!
Hope this helps. Good luck!

Answer 2

1. Try putting a toy in front of him a bit while he's on his tummy that he can try to reach for. He's still probably too young to really be getting up on his arms and legs. Just keep at tummy time for a few minutes each day, a few times each day.

2. No real advice on the pacifier, except that it usually takes about 3 days to get a child used to something new, so if you were willing to let him cry it out as a way to self-soothe then it should only take about 3 days for him to learn to sleep more soundly without it. Now's the best time to take away the pacifier all together, I've heard it can be a lot harder after 3 months (neither of my children ever used them).

Answer 3

Every child is different, let him figure it out on his own time. he is only 4 months , give him some time. CNN showed a study on SIDS about 8 months ago and in there, the doctors thought that pacifiers can help to prevent SIDS, it is not 100% sure but they said that. in about 3 months, he will learn how to put it back in his mouth. Don't worry about him being attach to it because it will only take like a week the most to get him off once he is older. Plus pacifier can save you at times when you are out with him.

Answer 4

well my daughter hated being on her tummy till she was about 6 months old. don't force your child. he will come around.
as far as the pacifier, take it away from him when he is around 6 or 7 months and let him cry himself to sleep. he will eventually learn that the crying doesn't work like that and finally forget about the nuk. i went through the same thing with my daughter and it took about a week before she would stop crying for it... Good Luck..

Answer 5

Is your baby breast or bottle fed? It's perfectly normal for exclusively breastfed babies to go a few days without a bowel movement. It's not uncommon for a breastfed baby to go up to a week between bowel movements. Formula fed babies also slow down on the bowel movements after about one month old. Every 2-3 days is fine, as long as the poop is soft, about the consistency of peanut butter. If your baby is showing signs of constipation (hard balls of poop or pain while pooping), see your doctor to figure out what is causing constipation. Common causes include: soy formula, rice cereal added to bottles, solids, high iron intake from formula/cereal/vitamins. Read the source included - more about baby poop than you'll ever want to know!

Answer 6

My 5 and half month old son was not able to do any tummy time until he was 4 and half months due to 2 heart surgery's,what I have found now that works great is if you put your baby on your chest and lay back on an angle,this way you can control how much of an angle your baby is on and slowly work with him moving his arms in front of him.I had child development people show me that.As for the soother,my opinion would be to let him be a 4 month old baby for now and work on cutting back on it in a few months from now,he is still very young in my opinion,good luck!

Answer 7

Despite his frustration keep giving him tummy time. This is the only way he will learn to push up and gain strength in his neck and arms. Just give him some occasional gentle assistance...but I'd say keep it up!

Can't say anything about the pacifier...mine found her thumb a few months back so we don't use one.

Answer 8

You can keep trying to put him on his tummy and put something in front of him that he likes or lay on the floor in front of him,but he will get it sooner or later.As far as the pacifier it depends on how long you want him to have it.I have three kids and they were all different went it came to the pacifier.My first had it for a while then throw it at me and don't want it any more.My second was really hard.Every time she lose one we had to run out and buy more.My last never wanted one.If you can take your child crying then try that,but i never could.Lots of luck.

Answer 9

I can only help u about his pacifier, my son is 3 months old and for 2 months we had to deal with putting his pacifier in his mouth if u r tierd of getting up and puting it in his mouth then let him cry.. I did that for 3 days and after that he was fine.. but do not give up.. bcz they can cry.. remember it will not be for ever..

Answer 10

hi, i have a 1 &2... so i was just there. I never gave them pasifiers to begin with... they dont even know what they are... which is a blessing. try prop feeding him with a small bottle of water. that will help relax him and he'll fall asleep. or, cold turkey, he's youg enough, if you do it now, you wont have this problem in the future, and form what ive read, its gets prety anoying. as far as the tummy thing, in time, they all do things in their own time, practice, but dont push to hard. make it fun, what does he like?? put it a little ways in front of him... it works. good luck.