Very Gassy baby

[lululivvy]

Hi my little one is 5 weeks old and has all of a sudden got serious gas, I had him falling asleep independently, but now he won't go to sleep unless he is in my arms. He also wakes up every time the soother falls out. Does anyone have any suggestions. Also i'm having trouble getting him on the 3 hour EASY, as he will only nurse for 10 minutes max. He completely drains my breasts in 10 minutes, but is getting plenty of food. how do i adjust the routine to fit in such a short feed time?

[meltown]

Welcome to BW!

how often is he feeding???  what happens when you put him down and how long is he awake between naps ( including feed and activity time)? 

[lululivvy]

He has just been able to start going 3 hours between feeds in the day, but only about 2 and a half hours in the evening. I cluster feed him at 4 and 6, but then he wants to feed at 8 and 10 aswell. He is awake time is about 20 to 30 minutes during the day before napping for 2 hours 3 times a day and then a 50 minute nap late afternoon. It takes anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes for him to fall asleep because of his gas, i give him gripe water that helps a little. I was worried that he wasn't getting enough in his 10 minute feeds, so i pumped some milk for the same amount of time that he feeds and got 4oz out of one breast. I get so tired in the evenings when i am trying to resettle him that when he wakes up at around 5am, i resort to bringing him into bed with me.

[meltown]

if your LO seems satisfied then 10 min is fine. 

10-20 min is also normal for falling asleep.  is he waking a lot during the night?  at this age most wakings are to feed.  it is normal to wake every few hours for that as well.  does he have a longer stretch at all? 

[lululivvy]

Thanks, I thought they could sleep a little longer but i guess he is still really young. I have been a little anxios as a girl friend of mine, got her son sleeping nine hours of a night by 7 weeks, and 12 hours by 10 weeks, using EASY. I used it with my first child from 8 weeks onwards, however she didn't sleep 12 hours until 7 months but was a dream baby any way because of the routine.

How do i adjust the EASY routine for a baby that only nurses for 10 minutes. It kind of throws it off abit?

He usually has a 3 hour stretch from 11pm. However i guess i'm more concerned about the gas, it seems to stop him from settling and his legs jerk him awake as he pulls them up to his chest? i've tried gripe water and Oval drops but nothing seems to be working. He just had an ultrasound on his stomach this morning, and they could see all the gas in there, but offered no advice.

[meltown]

weird that they didn't give you any advice. 

my DS was really gassy as well.  we found the gas massage, burping a lot during feeding, a lot of tummy time, bicycling legs, and me block feeding kind of helpful.  I had an over abundent milk supply so he was only getting the formilk which makes him more gassy.  do you think this could be the case. 

with short feeders you have to look at awake time ( feed, activity and wind down) instead of each part seperatly.  so if he can handle being awake for 45 min.  during that 45 min you just be sure to feed then have a short A time then do wind down and to sleep. 

how often does your LO wake at night?

[Venona]

i can relate, gas is a big problem with us too, and the ds is already 3.5 mo! what helped: holding him on my arm on his tummy and walking, the grape water (a little). massage didn't help at all :-(.  is your son a tummy or back sleeper? i found out that their legs jerk more when they sleep on their back. so during the day he's taking his naps on his tummy, and in the evening he falls asleep on the tummy and then we gently flip him on his back. i was firm about him falling asleep in the crib, so i used to sit patting him for 1/2 hour. still, during the night he starts jerking and moving and wakes me even when he's still sleeping himself... :-(
about short feeding - we are bottle feeding (i was expressing), so anyway he finishes it in 10 min, and goes on 3 hour EASY. i think it shouldn't matter. 10 min a feed, then 5-10 min on the shoulder until he burps, then 10 min changing nappy - and already 1/2 hour gone. then you have little time for playing with him. when he was younger, sometimes it was 2-2.5 hour till the next feed... as long as you follow the EASY order, things will get right with time.
and we too had the problems with the pacifier... some nights i was up half the time just to keep putting it back... but it too got better! so no despair! :-)

[Venona]

ah, and i forgot - the swaddling worked too! i was so desperate one day when he would not nap, and then i read about this miracle blanket. i immediately drove to a store ( in another city!) to get one, and it was a savior! he started to sleep through the night with it :-)

[lululivvy]

Yes i seem to have a very abundant supply of milk aswell. He pretty much chokes on it it comes out so fast, in the evening i have resorted to expressing and feeding him upright with a bottle to try and avoid the gas. He wakes up about 6 times a night from the time he goes down at around 7pm. He will settle himself and then his legs will keep jerking him awake, the last 2 days it has taken over an hour for him to finally fall asleep.

[lululivvy]

thanks, i tried putting him on his stomache today, but he wasn't a fan, his legs still keep jerking him awake. i bought a miracle blanket aswell, its great that he can't break out, and he likes it, he smiles when he starts getting wrapped up. I'm so tired, i feel like i am running on empty. I have a 2 year old aswell who is not taking well to the new one