Hi everyone, newbie here and first post. Ive been trying to read older posts and find a situation similar so i dont repeat the same questions but nearly 2 months later im just going to write a post anyway. I wasn't sure where to post but seeing as my son is spirited I thought I would start here. Looks like his thread hasn't been active for a while but I can vent even if no one is listening.
My son is 24 weeks, 5.5 months. Since he was born we rocked him as nothing else would settle his screaming. We then found out he had reflux and has been on medication since 5 weeks. His reflux is under control with no signs of discomfort when spitting up and his cot mattress is elevated though he sleeps fine lying flat on his back when in bed with me. Since 18 weeks it seems things have greatly gone down hill.
We are on a 4 hour EASY. No night feed and he has purée with his losec morning and night (any benefit to rice cereal? I read its full of sugar and empty calories). He is extremely heavy, maybe 11kg now. I'm concerned but his doc, paed and health nurse don't think it's an issue. Should I be concerned? It's hard to rock him to sleep as he is so heavy. Tummy time and sitting is also going slow as his big gut is in the way and with his reflux he doesn't like it.
He has never slept thru the night. He use to sleep well, I would rock him to sleep, put him in his cot, wake at 4:30am to feed then wake 5:30, 6:30, 7:00 (so I would hold him to sleep usually after 5:30 wake up). This probably isn't really what you call "sleeps well" but compared to now it was). He has never self settled. Nothing has worked, if he wakes at night I rock him until he is completely asleep. Ssh pat and pupd doesn't work, it just makes him scream, and boy does he scream. I really want to address this issue somehow but I am at a loss. I even try to rock him less and he would just open his eyes and look around as soon as I stop. Even holding him while sitting and patting his bum isn't an option as he screams. The issue now is he wakes 10-15 mins after I put him down to bed at night or sometimes 30m (overtired?), 45m (undertired?) and sometimes after 1hr or so (in other words at random times). I now take him to my bed after about 2 wake ups as I can now only put him in his cot once he is in deep sleep but in bed I can lie there and pat his bum til he reaches deep sleep or when he stirs. I have no idea what to do and he seems overtired all the time.
I always have to hold him for naps. He can't transition to the next sleep cycle during the day. But now even when I hold him he stirs or wakes at random times. He use to sleep 1.5hrs twice then one catnap (but always was fussy and grumpy). Now he sleeps about 30m in the morning, 1.5-3hrs at noon (I let him sleep as he is so tired), then 30m in the evening. How much sleep should he be getting? His awake time is about 2hr15m-2hr30m. Should he have the same awake time in the AM (i tried shorter but no change) and before bed (he cries at bedtime and goes over his normal awake time)? Is it ok for him to catnap after 4pm? He gets cranky so fast. At 1.5hrs of awake time he is cranky. Nothing keeps him happy, I constantly have to move around or do something to keep him from crying and each new attempt only lasts for a few minutes at most.
We have a very short wind down and he doesn't like the paci, well he does but it doesn't help him sleep, only settles him if he is screaming in the car, else he just chews or plays with it. I know he is probably teething, his tooth came up but disappeared at 15 weeks. But I'm sure there must be something I can do. He started grunting recently too (teething?) and I'm sure I should be moving to 2 naps now but I'm just lost, tired, stressed, anxious, angry, falling apart, and scared, scared I'm not cut out for this and that it won't get better coz that's all I've been hearing (from people with angel babies) but it hasn't happened yet.
Sorry for my rant for anyone that stumbles across this.
