I am almost ready to give up....

[OliverRowland]

Briefly: my 9 week old is so inconsistent with day naps.  Iam on the 3 hour schedule.  I find myself staying in the room for at least 45 min to an hour shhing patting, and holding my little guys arms down.  I half the time he will not sleep more than 30 min.  Then when he is really tired he will let me leave the room after 30min....When will i get "Y" time?  Why is it so difficult for him to stop squirming and let himself fall asleep?  We have been doing EASY/shhpat for 2 weeks.  Please help!   Should I just surrender to the fact that he will not nap as much as EASY suggests?

[OliverRowland]

Thanks for responding.  My wind down is  reading and cuddling, then often bouncing on an exercise ball once he is swaddled.  By now the room is dark and I have white noise playing as I am finding it more effective to calm him down. My swaddle is pretty tight but his whole body wiggles and fights me initially.  Then when in his crib the arm and leg jolts just require I put my hand on them, with an occasional shh and pat (whereever I can reach  but usually his back).  But that is easy....it is when he doesn't just reflex/arm jump  but when it turns into a full body squirm that the shhing/patting and me trying to keep him from squirming with both my hands....like I am holding a wet fish (isn't that awful....I don't know what else to do!)  He wiggles and squirms so much sometimes that I just give up!   

[OliverRowland]

I also forgot to mention in my last post that we think from all the internet research that he may have reflux.  His ped put him on pepcid a a few days, I make sure he feeds more upright and keep him upright after nursing for 15-20 min.  I have also raised the head of the bed up using a blanket under the mattress.  But I am not even sure it is reflux.  Then I thought it might be overactive letdown....I have a ton of milk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  So I make sure he comes off my breast during a let down and I also pump a bit before a feed so that I can be sure he will get hind milk.  But I am not sure if either are affecting him as I really haven't seen much of a change over the past couple of weeks.  What do you think?

[Zoey]

Hi there!

I wanted to chime in about reflux!  Have you read this link yet?  https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=67791.msg520003#msg520003

My personal opinion is that you take him back and re-evaluated.  Tell them what your sleep times are like.  Perhaps a better med is in order as this pepcid seems to not be so effective?   My son is on Zantac which, at the proper dose for weight works very well.  Elevating the mattress is a great idea but it has to be pretty high.  Have you seen a Tucker Sling?  http://www.tuckersling.com/index.htm - they work very well to make LO comfy at sleep times.

Also peak at this link:  https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=65742.0 - helpful sleep hints for flux babies.

I agree with Stacy about the bouncing, best to take that out.  Most often sleep issues won't be fixed until you can get LO's pain managed.  Reflux is extremely painful - it feel kind of like when we get bad heartburn, but its very frequent and the acid actually can cause damage to the lining of the esophagus.  So, perhaps start with the pedi again, especially if you have dealt with the let down issues.
Here is the link to the reflux board:  https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?board=13.0 - there are alot of great informative posts there, awesome mods and other mom's going thru this too.

I hope this helps some.  Good Luck, and don't be afraid to be a squeaky wheel with your baby's doctor - be a good advocate for him.

Love,
Zoey