Hush little baby...

Liam's first 4-5 months of life consisted of eating and the 5 S's.

1. Swaddle
2. Shush
3. Side/stomach (laying)
   Swing
   Suck (pacifier)
   
   If not done in this order, he could not be soothed to sleep. I found this pattern when he was 2 months old. He would only respond to dramatic and over stimulation movement. We went through 3 swings because the motors all burned out on them...all brand new. The noise in his room was a loud ocean noise that we had on constantly until he was 1 year or maybe alittle older. He would never 'cry himself to sleep' he would just cry for 3 hours. I used to say around 3 months old that he's going to need to learn anger management when he gets older, some of that is true...because he had absolutely no instinct to self soothe. I had to soothe him to get him calm enough and then get him to sleep before putting him to bed. I knew he was demanding but I just thought this was normal behavior, not realizing that he truly had difficulty with his emotions. Now I know it's all neurological and that it's not just a stubborn streak. This would have been helpful to know if the pediatrician took my complaints serious. I did research and found the 5 S's technique and it worked right away and I thought, WOW, I can maybe get some sleep now, and he can rest and not be exhausted. This was very helpful info that I was grateful to have, even if I didn't know the cause of all this behavior at the time.