7 week old EASY, dont know where to start!

[Hazelksh]

Hi, I have just started trying to do the EASY routine with my 7 week old baby boy. Since his 5-6 week growth spurt everything has gone downhill and I don't know where to start to try and fix things.

He has taken well to having a bedtime of half 7 and will settle himself in his cot and sleep until 1am. After this though it all gets a bit messed up. He wakes again at 3.30 then again every hour until its time to get up. This then results in him being cranky and over tired and I spend the whole day trying to get him to sleep and to stay asleep for longer than 30 minutes. The only way I can get him to sleep in the day is on me and even then he doesn't stay asleep long.  He has also started waking from his naps screaming and will only settle if he gets feel but then he is so tired he won't eat enough. We have gone from having a 3 hour easy to a 2 hour one. I'm so tired and feel like  spend all day trying to get him to nap.

Help please I don't know how to fix this!! This was our Easy yesterday

E 12.30am
A
S12.50

E 2.35
A
S 3.00

E 4.50
A
S5.23

E 6.06
A
S7.00

E 7.45
A
S 9.30

E10.00
A
S12.00

E 1.20
A
S 1.50

E3.40
A
S 4.30

E5.35
A
S7.20pm BT

Also my boy has silent reflux and bad wind problems which I think are part of the problem.

[Erin M]

It sounds a lot to me like some discomfort -- which you mention with the silent reflux and the wind problems.  The frequent feeding probably is him trying to soothe his sore tummy and the long stretch of sleep could very well be him crashing from all the short naps. 

Have you seen this: Sleep and the reflux baby. -- it has some advice on reflux and sleeping. 

I'm going to get some other folks who know a little bit more about reflux than I do to take a look and see if they have some advice for you.
((hugs))

[ZacsMumme]

Hugs. Sounds so much like reflux discomfort. My first did this from 6-16 weeks and it was so hard!

Is your LO on reflux medication? - of not are you going to visit the dr/pead to see what can be given to help?
Are you bf or bottle? - feeding upright and keeping LO upright 20 mins after a feed?
If you haven't already really try to persevered with a paci. They really do help. I used to get Z to take it by dipping it in gripe water.

For now, do whatever works to get him to sleep. The link Erin gave has lots of good tips. What worked for us was paci in and between my armpit/breast and Zs face. Side on and lots of rocking or jiggling. Patting on the bottom to a heartbeat rhythm can help too. White noise and a dark room can help. A swaddle helped my second.

You can try side sleeping with a positioner. Reflux is often eased when sleeping on the left side. It the cot elevated?

((Hugs))

[Hazelksh]

Thanks for the advice so far.

He is on gaviscon at the moment but I'm going back to the drs as I don't think its helping much.

He is bottle fed, I hold him upright after feeds, his crib is titled up and he has a paci although he usually spits it out and wakes himself up. I can get him to sleep ok but he just wakes up again after 20/45 minutes. Oh and he is swaddled as well but still manages to wriggle around alot.

[ZacsMumme]

Waking after 20 was is always pain for us that young (hugs) let us know how drs go. If is likely acid reflux then hopefully you can get a 2 wk trial of Zantac/ranitidine.

Any intolerance symptoms?
Does my LO have food intolerances?

[Hazelksh]

He does have a few symptoms but is gaining weight so the doctor disregarded it. His Dad had very bad milk intolerance as a baby though, although I don't know if that's relevant. I'm tempted to try some different formula myself but I don't know which one is best, don't want to make things worse.

[ZacsMumme]

It is relevant...intolerances tend to run in families. My LO has multiple food intolerances and is MSPI but didn't start to loose weight till 10weeks or so when he stopped feeding because it was hurting him so much

Which symptoms does he have? Can you try a hyper allergenic milk trial?

[Hazelksh]

He has reflux, bad wind/tummy pains, crys a lot unsettled, won't stay asleep, he did have mucosy poo but the gaviscon has made him constipated. A lot of those symptoms could just be down to the reflux/wind hurting him though I think? Drs tomorrow, depending how I get on I might look into different formula. He has been eating less/refusing bottles recently which I put down to his reflux but that's interesting you didn't have any signs of weight loss until later.