Do I need to swaddle my 5 month old in order to implement EASY?

[Emillward]

Hi everyone,

I'm currently on day 4 of EASY with my 5 month old, I'm a struggling to keep him in a swaddle and he seems to get very stressed (Screams and arches his back) However, he does thrash his arms and legs about during the PU/PD without a swaddle, my feeling is this is prolonging getting him over to sleep.

Any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Hendix]

Re: Starting EASY tomorrow on 5 mo unable to sleep without nursing - few questions?
Hi can you access this link?
Might help you.
X

[jessmum46]

Personally speaking if you've never swaddled before I wouldn't bother starting at 5 months.  LO will be rolling soon and then you'll have to wean it for safety reasons.  How was LO going to sleep before you started with EASY?

What routine are you aiming for at the moment?  Just wondering if there could be OT or UT issues at play making it harder for LO to settle?

[Emillward]

Re: Starting EASY tomorrow on 5 mo unable to sleep without nursing - few questions?
Hi can you access this link?
Might help you.
X

hi there

Thank you so much for replying to my post. I accessed your link and found it quite helpful, I've spent the last day not worrying about swaddling and he seems less stressed about this, the PU/PD seems to be working and I am now able to settle him in 15-20 minutes. He still gets very angry but tires quickly and settles with the shush pat.

Thanks again

[Emillward]

Personally speaking if you've never swaddled before I wouldn't bother starting at 5 months.  LO will be rolling soon and then you'll have to wean it for safety reasons.  How was LO going to sleep before you started with EASY?

What routine are you aiming for at the moment?  Just wondering if there could be OT or UT issues at play making it harder for LO to settle?

Hello,

Thanks for replying. It's a long story but after months of dealing with reflux and milk intolerance, he has always cat napped and woken due to tummy ache.

We saw the paediatrician and we now have a hydrolysed milk and medicine for the reflux and sickness.

Following several weeks of adjustment, including weaning early . I struggled on my own to adopt a routine and managed to increase his naps (following a small feed) to 25 minutes.

I am now on day 4 of EASY and PU/PD, he has adapted well to the feeding change and is able to drink 3-4 oz following a nap and before bed. Our routine looks like this:

5-6am   4 oz feed and back into cot

E. 7am wake and breakfast

A

S. 9-11am (1 1/2 - 2 hour nap) he tends to wake after 25 minutes but using the shush pat soon sends him back off.

Y

E11am 4 oz feed

A

E 12.30-1pm lunch

A

S 2pm-4pm (1 1/2 -2 hour nap)

Y

E 2-4 oz feed

A

E dinner

A

S (25 min cat nap)

Y

E (2oz feed)

A 7pm bath, story, 4 oz feed

11pm attempting dream feed but only managing 1-2oz

He is still waking several times a night but I am using the shush pat and Pu/PD to get him back to sleep

It's a hard journey ...... Any advice or encouragement is very welcome x

[jessmum46]

Oh (((hugs))) on the tummy troubles - they are an absolute disaster for sleep.

Routine wise it doesn't look too bad and you are getting good naps so I wouldn't necessarily change anything just now.  How frequent are the NWs and when in the night do they happen?  Do you feed at any of the NWs?

Just a note of caution - PUPD isn't recommended for refluxers as it can aggravate the condition by sloshing the stomach contents around, plus LO will often inhale a lot of air whilst crying.  I would try as much as possible to stick with shh pat (or whatever variation of it suits him) and minimise the picking up. 

[Emillward]

Thanks for the advice,

His reflux has much improved over the last couple of weeks as he is sitting up more and getting stronger and more upright. I have noticed some difference though so thanks for the pointer.

His wake ups in the night seem to follow at set pattern 1am, 2am and 4am, so I am feeling they are out of habit, when I used to feed on these times he took a lot of milk but it was naturally dropping off to about 1oz each time, so don't think he was actually hungry. I f he wakes at 5 or 6 he seems very alert so I feed him and he takes about 3-4 oz and goes back over till about 6.30-7.

Day 6 tomorrow and I'm leaving the house during A time, cabin fever is setting in 

[Eminvc]

I found sleepsacks super helpful...not as restraining as the swaddle but keeps their legs from flailing all over the place. I used them at that age for naps as we transitioned away from swaddling. Or a swaddle sack with both arms out also worked.

[jessmum46]

Hope things are going ok and you enjoyed your day out