10 weeks tomorrow and can't work it out

[Spandanna]

Hi all

DD will be 10 weeks old tomorrow and things are all over the place. She has reflux and is on ranitidine which seems to be helping and is on comfort formula too.

So anyway the main problems are that she doesn't settle well for sleeps (she settled better a couple of weeks ago!) I put her down in her cot and where she used to cry for five mins then settle she now just cranks up into an @i need you cry' at which point I go in and try to shushhh pat but this no longer works for her. If I pick her up she stops crying but doesn't necessarily fall asleep. Eventually I giver her the dummy and she may or may not drop off to sleep. I don;t immediately give her the dummy because she only takes it once she's had a little cry, otherwise she just spits it out over and over and over and over!!!

If I'm lucky she will sleep for 30mins-2hours but it's so unpredictable and often she wakes on and off for the entire 2 hours falling into a deep sleep right around the time she's due her next feed and then I don't know whether to wake her or not.

She feeds every 3-3.5h I just follow her cues. But on days where she finally falls into a deep sleep around the next feed time I end up having to wake her at 4.5 hours otherwise I fear she would just carry on sleeping.

I have a, nearly, 2 yo too so am finding it difficult to follow any rigid routine but am trying to roughly follow EASY but really struggling.

The other issue is she seems to wake for 3hourly feeds at night too when a few weeks ago she could go from a 6.30pm feed until 1am and then 6am up for the day so we seem to be going backwards.

Here's a typical day:

E- 7.30am
S - 8.40 - with on and off crying/waking 11.00
E - between 11 and 11.30
S 12.30 - 2.30
E - 2.30 - 3ish
S 4.30-5.30 ish - I usually have to rock her or carry in sling or take her for a walk for this nap because she doesn not settle well nor sleep for long (sometimes just 30mins(
E 5.30- 6 ish half a feed then bath then the rest of the feed about 6.30-7ish at which point she then goes to bed

Bedtime is the one time she settles relatively well and without a dummy (usually within about 10 mins)

One thing to note is she is very alert and easily woken/kept awake/over stimuated

Any thoughts would be hugely appreciated...as the above routine really is a best case scenario. Somtimes her naps are only 30-45 mins and I spend the rest of the time trying to get her back down or getting her up and then she's OT quickly. It all seems so impossible with 2 kids...how do you guys out there do it with 2 and more!!???!! You are saints!!

[~Sarah~]

So anyway the main problems are that she doesn't settle well for sleeps (she settled better a couple of weeks ago!)

When was the last time you had a med increase?  With Ranitadine I found we had to increase about every 2-3wks.  This certainly could be why you are no longer settling to sleep.  LO's know when they lay down the pain will come so they start resisting.  Just went through it the last 2wks when I tried to do a med wean.  That was how I knew we had to go back on meds ASAP.

Honestly your whole post sounds reflux related to me.

S 4.30-5.30 ish - I usually have to rock her or carry in sling or take her for a walk for this nap because she doesn not settle well nor sleep for long

I had to almost always do this nap in the sling until about 4mo when I got fully off dairy and soy and she got fully comfortable.

It all seems so impossible with 2 kids..

It does seem so so so so hard and it is!!!!  You do what you can when you can.  When you have a high needs lo, nothing will be perfect..in fact perfect just needs to leave your vocabulary!!  I can say it is worth it though and I would do it all over again.

How high is your LO elevated to sleep?  Have you talked to your Dr about a PPI at all?  Zantac is so weight sensitive that neither of mine got *great* control until they were on the PPI.

{{{HUGS Sweetie}}} you will get through this...I am living proof