Help for 3 week old - sleeps better during the day

[aidenmc]

Hi there,

Just wondering if anyone has any tips for helping Samuel sleep better at night. Currently he doesn't seem to go longer than 2-3 hours at a time and is difficult to settle back to sleep after his feeds. We started giving a bottle of formula at the late evening wake up but he still only slept 2.5 hrs despite drinking 70mls. I usually end up taking him into bed out of exhaustion. There he nurses off and on the rest of the night and seems pretty restless, though too much crying. I am finding it uncomfortable and often lie awake with him there. I know gas is part of the problem and he is still very young (he was most active during the night when i was pregnant), but I am getting very tired...

He generally sleeps better during the day. He is not yet on EASY although we are starting to get some time between feedings and naps. He doesn't settle on his own but we can usually start one nap a day with pat/shush. He generally wakes between 7 and 8 and wants to go back to sleep very soon after. He will take naps of 45 mins to 2 hrs unless we get off track with gas, poops or partial feeds. Hr usually sleeps off and on all evening except for feeds (although he's occasionally a little fussy, nothing like the hours of crying we had with our older boys. If there is any other info that would help, let me know.

I welcome any and all ideas 

[tanna83]

Hi, my lo was similiar to this he had his days and nights mixed up mainly due to gas and reflux so he would sleep during the day as he was exhausted!! He would be awake just grunting and twisting for hours on end generally worse in the early am's!! These are the things i did all through experimenting and trial and error!:

WIND - burp every 10 mins during feeds and never give up at end of feed until a burp comes out or his tummy doesnt feel bloated.....he had extreme amounts of wind from a lactose overload (possibly get that checked - he will be drinking loads n loads of BM or Formula to the point u think u might be overfeeding him) I also did loads of massage and wind work, pop a pacifier in his mouth and rub rub move legs etc, warm packs on tummy. I put a rolled up towel with tape around it to keep in place under his knees in his cot so that his tummy muscles were relaxed while he was sleeping and the wind could escape (this helped alot!) he doesnt need this now cause he can get it out himself.
REFLUX - This is what triggered his lactose overload for us, was drinking to soothe his throat and once this was sorted with meds he calmed down the drinking and his wind settled down tremendously.
I also had to use distraction big time in the early days....anything to take his mind off his pain until we could sort it out! hope you find this helpful, Tanya

[aidenmc]

Thanks Tanya. I am really hoping it's not reflux. DS#2 had that and other digestive problems and we didn't get decent sleep out of him until he was about 2.5 yrs old. I know that gas is a problem. Funny how it takes a few weeks to develop. He has had a rough day today - feels like we have regressed and I am thinking it is due to the formula feed he had last night. He hasn't had a solid sleep of longer than 45 minutes today and is asking for the boob all the time (though not taking full feeds and often falling asleep at the boob). The other thing is that although he's had plenty of wet diapers he has not pooped since before his formula feed last night (about 22 hours ago). He normally poops 5-8 times per day. Am really hoping he's not constipated. We won't be using that formula tonight.

[tanna83]

Yikes poor thing, just reading over what you've written sounds like the formula is not agreeing with him - my lo's probs started when i had to go to formula feeds (milk dried up at 2 weeks) he's still on a lactose free formula as he is sensitive to lactose and the couple of times i have tried to re-introduce it he has a flare up of the wind/pain/cramps/constipation....the reflux just puts a little cherry on top of the already very exhausted cake im sure! It might be worth checking he doesnt have a lactose sensitivity? He's prob feeding to try n comfort & fall asleep too but hey whatever works for these stressful times, bless him. x

[aidenmc]

Tanna: he had started refusing to feed when tired - which I was happy about. Instead I was holding him tightly in the swaddle sometimes with the pacifier and occasionally p/s in his bed. I find he tends to give the hungry rooting signs now only when hungry (and he shouts too , which is cute) and when gassy. When tired, he would often refuse the boob. However, today we seem to be way off. I am really not sure if it is because we started the day off on the wrong foot - overtired for first nap, then woke early because hungry, didn't feed well and so on - or because of that formula. Guess we will see what tonight and tomorrow will bring. I just finished getting him off to sleep after much fussing, and repeated farts and wake-ups. I expect he might wake again soon. Our nights are not great anyway, so i am not sure what effect today will have on tonight.