To go in or to not go in?...

[AGILL]

Hello,

DS is 8 weeks old today and for the past month or so his naps have become more and more disturbed - this is due to reflux which came on at about the same time, but hopefully we're beginning to win the battle due to having INexium prescribed for the past week.

We're pretty much or solid 3 hour EASY, but he never does a complete 1.5 nap without waking up several times. That said, when he wakes up in the middle of a nap he does some fussy crying (it could be reflux pain, but I'm pretty sure that he's just unsettled) and most of the time gets himself back off to sleep. However, that only lasts for a few minutes at a time before he sets the baby monitor off again.

Unless he ends up winding himself up to the point of constant crying I tend to hold back and not go in to resettle him, but I'm not sure if I'm doing the right thing. For example, at the moment he's been napping for the past hour and a half (so I've got to go and get him up), but has set off the monitor at least a dozen times with fussy crying.

Hence the subject of my post - to go in or to not go in? Any advice, experience would be most welcome. I'm just worried that with him waking so often during his naps he's not getting quality sleep. Also, even though he's technically been napping for 1.5 hours, should I maybe let him go a little longer since it hasn't been a nice calm nap?

Many thanks in advance for your thoughts and comments, Alison

[ZacsMumme]

When you say he has been fussing on and off a dozen times do you think he is actually sleeping at this point?or lying awake, then fussing again? I suspect he isn't actually sleeping TbH if he is waking so frequently.

Personally, and after having a refluxer myself I would go in if you feel he in in discomfort and is unable to settle himself back to sleep. If the fussing is every 5 mins for 20 mins then he isn't sleeping. ...KWIM?

I is so hard when they are not ell, and when you are trying to give them a chance to settle on their own as well. To some extent I think you may need to do some APing during this time to get him to have a good restful nap.

can you post a typical days EASY? Is the first 30-45 mins of his nap restful?
Have you had a look on the CC board for tips to help reflux babies?

[AGILL]

He does that fussing thing quite a lot in the early morning hours when he's not far away from waking up for the day. I've sat and observed him several times and his usual thing is to turn his head back and forth and to extend his legs up and out in front of him (he's swaddled). At first we thought it was gas, but it doesn't seem to be that. He's not a silent refluxer, and I don't hear him refluxing, so it doesn't seem to be that either. It's definitely not crying, but it's certainly not peaceful sleep either!

Generally he'll do 45 minutes of peaceful sleep for his naps. And I'd say that when he does the fussing after having slept peacefully, a good percentage of the time he drops back off again after 10 or 15 minutes. I'm definitely torn between helping him deal with his reflux and helping him to be an independent sleeper. This afternoon he was woken suddenly after 45 minutes and I spent the rest of the time with him sleeping on and off against my chest because I just couldn't get him to settle again.

Here's what our EASY (still trying to find the "Y time") looks like on an ideal day.

E - 7:00 (we have to keep him up on us vertically after each feed for 20-30 mins, hence the long E time)
A - 8:00 (it's just been a week or so that he's actually doing a bit of A time, before that he'd just fall straight asleep after his feed. I have to change his nappy beforehand because of the reflux)
S - 8:15/8:30

repeats the same starting at 10:00 and 13:00

E - 16:00
A - 16:45 bath (unfortunately I can't do his bath after the later feed)
S - 17:15
E - 19:00
S - 20:00
E - 23:00 (could probably do a dreamfeed, but he has really bad nappy rash and so I have to change him, but we keep things as low key as possible)

If all goes well, he'll wake again around 4am for a feed, although for the past several nights he's been really difficult to put back down again. It's as if he thinks it's morning and it's time to party! I'm wondering if he's not getting too much nap time during the day. But since his naps are a bit haywire, I would think that he needs that much nap time.

Thanks in advance.

[ZacsMumme]

It does sound like he is trying to settle, good on you for observing its hard sometimes to know when to intervene when they are not crying but are fussing.

So if after a 45 min nap he is resettling after10-15 mins I would leave him be, this is great as so many LOs struggle with resettling at the 45 min mark. If you feel he is struggling to resettle then you can go in and help him (APOP), get him up if you feel stressed helping him, or try to shh/pat him back to sleep.

At such a wee age try not to worry about independent sleep yet, if you can get 1 nap in the cot a day that is great. If your LO is in discomfort with the reflux just write the day off, lots of cuddles and go with the flow.

How are your Argos looking ie EAS and sleep lengths between say 2pm and midnight. I wonder if you need to do a cN and earlier BT

[AGILL]

Thanks so much for the vote of confidence. DS1 was raised on BW and it's a method that I really believe in. But sometimes I tend to get a it too cerebral about it all instead of going with gut instinct (definitely need to grow some self confidence in that area, as I'm constantly questioning what I'm doing instead of just going with the flow).

We're very lucky in that end of day naps seem to be much more settled than daytime naps. It could be due to the fact that he gets his reflux "drugs" before his 4pm feed and it takes the edge off, letting him sleep more peacefully. I'd definitely like to do an end of day catnap for him, but it's really difficult to fit it in, as that's when I need to go get DS1 from after school and it's dinner time for him. DH gets home around 7pm (thank goodness!!) and we juggle DS1's bath and bedtime and DS2's bottle and bedtime between us, and try to get everyone snoring by 8pm. I think that once I can push his A time a little further, we'll hopefully be able to get a 2 hour nap in after lunch and then switch to a catnap at day's end. But I'll wait to tackle that when we get there. One day at a time, right?...

Cheers and thanks for the support, Alison

[ZacsMumme]

Are you giving the reflux meds 1 or 2 xdaily? if you feel that the reflux is causing ongoing issue feel free to post on The CRC board http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?board=13.0

If your LO is having it via suspension you may find overtime the effectiveness wares off. I think you need to get replacements every few weeks...but you may want OT check with your pharmacist.

Your doing great, it's so hardwith reflux on top of everything else