naps and spitting up

[ydnam7]

My lo is now 6wks old. The EASY worked for about two wks and then he started waking up about up about an hour before he was supposed to eat. Now, my concerns are two-part: 1) waking up from naps WAY early; 2) spitting up more and its got force behind it

Here is the EASY we used to have for about 2wks.
EAT: 5am-5:30ish (anywhere from 25-30mins)
SLEEP: Usually right down, as he would fall asleep on the breast and mommy wants to get more sleep.

E: 8am-8:30ish (I would have to wake him up for this usually)
A: 20-25mins, then re-swaddle and shh-pat to sleep. Usually asleep within 5-10mins. So he would be asleep by 9 or little after.
S: Until next feeding

E: 11am (I wake him up, same time length)
A: same as above
S: same as above

E: 2pm (Again, I wake him up & same time length)
A: same as above
S: same as above

E: 5pm-5:30ish We decided to go 3hrs here for 1st cluster feed as it worked best with our schedule.
A: a little longer here as we had a hard time getting him down. Sometimes he wouldn’t get to sleep until 6:30 or even 6:45.
S: until next feed

E: 7:00 same
A: right back down, with some fussing to get him down. This would take as long as after 1st cluster. Again, with him maybe only getting to sleep around 8 or 8:30.
S: until 9:00 dream feed

E: 9pm dream feed (dark room, still swaddled)
S: right down usually, but maybe with a little shh-pat

We really don’t use any props. We will hold him and shh-pat or lay him down in crib & shh-pat. The sides of our crib do not lower, so it’s hard on our arms to lean over, but it usually only takes 5-10 minutes of the shh-pat before he falls asleep. We might have to come back in once or twice if he wakes up within a couple of minutes, but he falls back asleep quickly with a little shh-pat. This schedule worked great for about two weeks!

Here is my concern: He has been waking up about an hour early from EACH daytime nap. So, he wakes approximately @ 7, 10, 1, and then somewhere around 4pm. I do not know if he is gassy and that is what wakes him up, b/c he wakes up grunting and red-faced. Sometimes there is a bowel movement within a couple minutes other times nothing. I can usually get him to go back to sleep, but have had to start using a prop (swing, bouncie seat). For example, one morning he ate a little after 5am and went back down fairly easily by 6. However, he woke back up about 7:30. I got him to go back to sleep, but used the swing. Any suggestions for why he might wake back up so soon? I usually end up feeding him soon after he wakes up b/c he’s crying and not much consoles him. One person thought he was going through a growth spurt and needed to eat more often, grandma thinks it’s gas. A wks ago he had an eye injection and is taking drops, but this waking up early started at least 4-5 days before that.

Please, any suggestions for the waking up early.
Thanks,
Amanda

[anna*]

It sounds like there might be some colic/reflux issues here, do any of the symptoms at this link sound like your LO?: http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=654.0

anna
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[ydnam7]

Anna,
Thanks for the response. I did question the reflux issue. Thanks for the link. After reading it, he does have some of those symptoms: large and small amounts of spit-up, frequent waking (as I mentioned in my post), wet burps or wet hiccup sounds, not sure what hiccoughs are but I don’t think he has those. However, he does not seem extraordinarily gassy. He definitely has no problems with weight gain, sore throat, ear infections, swallowing problems, refusing to eat or eating too much. None of those problems. I plan to ask the doc soon. It said something about the "spitting up phase." When is that, so I know if he is in that phase or not.

What else do you think it could be? We are trying to stay with the EASY, but now it seems more like AES and the Y is slowly disappearing as the A time increases and the S time decreases. 

Amanda

[anna*]

Hiccoughs is just a different spelling for hiccups The spitting up phase usually starts to get better around I guess 8-10 weeks, and is noticeably better by 12 weeks.

So is he having mostly 1hr long naps? At this age I wouldn't worry too much about the EASY - he is still so very young. The main thing is that he gets as much sleep as possible. If this means you are feeding every 2.5 hours, that's fine - if you are keeping him awake but not feeding when he wakes early, that's going to make a long A time and he's going to quickly wind up overtired.

The red-faced grunting wake ups concern me though, he's not going to sleep if he's uncomfortable with colic, constipation or reflux, so I think you need to talk about this with the Dr.

anna
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[ydnam7]

He does not do the red-faced all that often. I just noticed that he would do it sometimes and I thought maybe that would indicate gas. I will talk to the doc about it.

So, is 6wks too young for a by-the-book EASY? I try to pay attention to his cues for tiredness. When he starts to yawn, then I put him in his swaddle and begin the shh-pat. Mostly the naps are about an hour or a little longer. For example, he ate today at 5am and then went down a little after 6. He was up again a little after 7, so that would be about an hour nap. He did that all day on Saturday and Sunday. I am waiting to feed him until it gets closer to the 3hr mark. Is this not a good idea? I do think he ends up overtired, but not sure what to do when he wakes up so early. So, should I feed him sooner than the 3hrs if he wakes up?

Thanks,
Amanda

[anna*]

At this age I would feed him sooner, if he wakes up before 3 hours. Otherwise you will end up doing long A times and he is too young to handle it without getting OT. The most he can handle - including all feeding time and all time spent winding down - is 1hr 15 mins, and that's after a 1.5hr+ nap. After a short nap, he will need to be asleep again in less than an hour.

Keep with it, you're doing great.

anna
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[ydnam7]

 Thank you so much for your quick replies! I was wondering about feeding him earlier. Seems like as young as he is we need to make sure he is getting enough to eat, and like you said, enough sleep. I think, as you suggested, our problem became too much awake/A time and not enough sleep, to the point where he became OT. Good to know that we were right in putting him down earlier for the next nap if he woke up early from the previous one. When he wakes at about 3hrs for a feeding we are doing the 1:15 mins for E & A time, so again good to know that we are on the right track there.

It just threw me that the EASY was working for two wks and then seemed to be out the window after that. I wonder how much the eye infection threw him off… Either way, we are grateful for the amount he sleeps at night, which is usually from a 9pm DF to 1am or so and then doesn’t get up again until around 5am. Those two stretches are good sleep for Mom and Dad! 

Thanks for the encouragement!
Amanda

[anna*]

   You're more than welcome! These LOs are always changing things up on us - may as well get used to it, just when you think you've got a great EASY going... things need changing and tweaking again! This is still true for us at 14 months!

anna
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