6 wo waking every hour at night- please help!

[mama of four]

My LO is 6 weeks old and I'm feeding him twice in the night due to his age, but he gets up every 30 minutes after I feed him! He naps amazingly through the day. Here's our schedule and maybe someone has some tweeking that might help me fix the problem.

W and E 6:30
A Wide awake in bed with mom talking, smiling
S 7:30-9:30

E 9:30
A get changed out of jammies, walk around with mom
S 10:30-12:30

E 12:30
A lay on blanket and look at some colorful toys
S 1:30-3:30

E 3:30
A sit in rocker next to older sibs doing homework
S 4:30-6:30 (sometimes he wakes early on this one around 6)

E 6:30
A get changed into jammies/ sometimes a bath before
S and bedtime 7:30

E Dreamfeed at 10 if he makes it, but he usually wakes on his own by 9:30
E Between 12:30 and 1 (takes a full feed, very hungry)
E Between 3 and 3:30 (takes a full feed, very hungry)

So he sleeps sound after that last feeding until he wakes at 12:30 or 1. After that he gets up every 30 min. and then sleeps an hour (so if he was up at 12:30 to eat, he wakes again around 1:15, then 1:45, then sleeps till 3 or 3:30) Same goes for after the 3/3:30 feeding...he's up every 30 minutes until I finally get fed up around 5 am, snuggle him in my arms and we both sleep until it's time to start the day again at 6:30.

When he gets up after these feeds he is crying and kicking his legs around. I usually try picking him up gently first to see if a burp comes out, then most the time he will go back down with a paci, but sometimes he won't even after re-swaddling, rocking, etc.

What should I be doing during all these wakings in the night? I tend to think he's waking from some sort of discomfort from his feeds. I tried a few nights to just feed him once in the night...but he definitely isn't ready to go to just one yet. I also have been eating NO dairy for about 2 weeks now to try to help with the gas (breastfeeding). I know his wake time is pretty early, but this is the ONLY time in the day that it gets to be just mom and LO, so I don't want to push it later or I will have all 3 kids bouncing on the bed next to us. 

Any suggestions would be great! Thanks!!   

[katie80]

It sounds like discomfort to me as well. I think you're doing the right thing by picking him up and trying to get a burp out of him, I wonder if he doesn't just become a bit more 'awake' then, so has a harder time getting back to sleep. Do you burp after each feeding before you put him down?  You could also try propping his mattress so he's sleeping on an incline to encourage the gas to come up on its own. Have you tried any gas drops or anything?

I think dairy can take a little while to fully get out of the system, so I wouldn't place any bets on that yet. I don't think there's anything wrong with his wakeup of 6:30. I also don't think it's a routine issue, but between 6 and 8 weeks, when they start to 'wake up' a bit more, you might start pushing the A time out a bit by 5-10min. I also don't think he needs to be down to one feed, he'll get there on his own when he's ready.

(((Hugs))), those early days are tough enough with the feeds, it's no fun to have the extra wakes. I'm glad you are at least able to enjoy the extra cuddle time with him.

[mama of four]

Thanks for responding Yes I do try to burp him before putting him down because he does take in a lot of milk during his night feedings (probably due to having days and nights mixed up for the first month and now I just make more milk at night because that's when he use to be the most alert). It's also really hard to burp a swaddled baby! Have you had that problem? Last night I didn't worry so much about burping him and he did better, so maybe my firm rubbing was waking him up lol. I have also propped him up and also put him in the swing (not turned on, but just on an incline) and those don't seem to make a big difference. I was doing gas drops but the only kind that worked are the cocyntal ones and they are hard to find. Just got my delivery of more today in the mail! Hallalujah!

I didn't know that about the milk. I figured a few days and I would know. But I am seeing improvement of his gassiness in the daytime so I'm definitely sticking with this approach. He is starting to get really alert during the day just the last few days. In fact I hate putting him down for a nap after an hour because I wanna spend more time with him (but I know he's tired and I have too) Anyway I will keep the gas drops going- maybe after each feed at night too, and increase his activity a bit just to see. Thanks for the advice!

[Erin M]

I used to unswaddle mine for the first side (helped them stay more awake anyway), get a good burp out of them, change diaper (if necessary), reswaddle, and then do the second side.  It is hard to burp a swaddled baby!