3 month old NW ritual = crazy tired mummy

[Itram]

hi,
i have a 3 mos old who was born 3 weeks early (not sure if that means anything but just in case).
anyway, we've been doing the EASY routine for about a week and a half and am trying to trouble shoot so i don't inadvertently become a prop or do anything that would deter him from getting good sleep. my two older daughters could sleep 3 hr stretches no problem (and 2 hr naps no problem too) but my son is a bit of an enigma...can't nap for longer than 45 min (except for one 2 hr stretch which can be either the 2nd or 3rd nap, and wakes up tired etc etc...posted in the nap section). his nighttime routine (after a normal crazy day is)

7pm feed
7:30pm bath, then feed again
8pm bed.
9pm wakes up because he can't settle... so i feed him -both breasts as milk supply is low then 12:30 feed (one breast, about two letdowns...and drifts back to sleep...does this for all night feeds. try to feed him more but he has reflux and gas - i have a fast letdown - and most time he just closes his mouth and doesn't want anymore)

and then pretty much like clockwork, a 45 min period, and 1-2 hrs all the other times til 6:45am or so when he is up for good.

he initially settles pretty easily, sometimes i hold him til his eyes are heavy, sometimes he is wide awake and i just lay him down and pat him and he drifts to sleep. he just can't stay down! and then when he night wakes, he feeds and then he's good. it may be worthy to mention that he doesn't last 3 hrs between feeds and needs to snack in between. should i stop that?
please help!
thx

[katie80]

Hi there, welcome to BW.   I guess I need to start off by asking a few questions. Is he medicated for reflux?  Often times reflux babies wake to feed in the night to soothe the pain. Does he sleep on an incline, use a paci, any of those things that naturally help reflux? This really sounds like it could be the case for him feeding so frequently.

How do you know you have a low milk supply? If that's truly the case, then I would be feeding him on both sides during the day and at night to increase your supply. Both my kids started feeding on two sides right around 3-4 mo.

Would you mind posting your full day EASY for us to have a look at? From just what you've posted in the evening, it looks like he's most likely going to bed a bit overtired and I'm guessing that's the reason for the initial wake at 9 pm, not hunger. I also don't think you need to feed him twice in the hour before bed, but let's see what the rest of your day looks like before we make big changes there.

Does he not last 3 hr between feeds because he has short naps, or do you think he's going through a growth spurt (there are many during those first few months)?  I would really work hard at getting him to take full feeds and getting to a good 3 hr EASY. If you need to feed more frequently for a few days to up your supply, then do it, but I definitely think the snacking is hindering far more than helping here.

Finally, 45 min naps are pretty common at this stage in the game, as they are often developmental. If you are getting one good long nap per day right now, that's just fine. Although, you're bound to get great help on the naps forum as well.

Hope that helps a little, will wait to hear back from you.

[becj86]

Hi, Katie has given lots of great advice.

I just wanted to add in that a fast letdown can really make reflux worse (almost like the milk is bouncing back up when it hits the stomach... and can be an issue with gas problems too as LO gulps air down with the milk when trying to cope with the flow of milk. A few things you can do to help with that are baby-led attachment, lying back to feed. How do you know your supply is low? Is LO not putting on much weight? DS didn't put on much weight in his first 6 weeks of life until I found out I actually had an oversupply and he was getting a lot of foremilk and not much hindmilk, causing gas and intestinal damage I am just putting it out there as a possibility to look into as I was told by lots of medical professionals, including child health nurses that I didn't have a good enough supply. DS seemed to want to feed really frequently (to deal with the pain as feeding helps LO's pass gas/milk along through their gut) but that really made the whole problem worse.

I'll just give you a link to another board that may be able to help out reflux-wise: http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?board=13.0