Reassurance that I'm doing the right thing - 10 wk old

[Loafie]

Hello

 I'm hoping someone can offer some advice and hope this is the right board to post on...
My LO is 10 weeks on Wednesday ( 5 weeks adjusted as she was born 5.5 weeks early)

She is doing well and has no serious health problems. The main problem is that she is very very gassy and this makes it very hard to get her to stay asleep. I'm trying as best I can to implement Easy and slowly start to teach her to fall alseep independently  but this is improving so difficult and exhausting...
 She is on a 3.75-4 hour easy which they implemented in special care nursery and she happily has maintained this.
Her routine is roughly is as follows:

7-7.30 am wu
Bf 7-7.30 am
Sleep at 8.30-9 am
For up to 2.5 hours but broken with wake ups every 15-30 mins with squirming and gas pains
Bf 11 am
Sleep at 12-12.30 pm
For up to 2.5 hours but broken with wake ups every 15- 30 mins with squirming and gas pains
Bf 3 pm
Sleep at 4 pm for up to 1-2 hours but broken as above
Bf 5.30-6 pm
Bath 6.30 pm
Wind down
Top up bf
Bed 7-7.30 pm
Will squirm and fall in and out of sleep till about 8.30 pm when she finally settles into a deep sleep
Bf 1.30-2.30 am
Will wake and squirm with gas pains sometime between 4.30 and 6 am for up to 2 hours

Can sometimes resettle  with a dummy, shh- patting etc till wu and bf at 7-7.30 am
I know hunger is not causing these wakes ups since she can and has managed 6 hours plus overnight. Feeding her at this time just makes things worse since her gas pains start after every feed.
I realise her nights are really good for her age and generally ( I think! ) her routine is ok but I'm concerned about her sleep habits and gas pains

For info, she will only mostly fall asleep in our arms with shhhh patting. She will then stay asleep for a short time in either the rocking chair, bassinet or car seat and will squirm and wake then begin crying. We pick her up and start shhh patting again, out her down and it all starts all over again...
The only place she will sleep long stretches of comfortable sleep are in the baby carrier. I don't mind using this but am worried about creating bad sleep habits with her and also this is proving to be difficult since I also have a 2 year old LO that I find to tend to whilst carrying a newborn all day!!

Some background info:
- I have a very fast let down so have been experimenting with bottle feeding with a special anti wind bottle and ebf which has given very slight improvements
- we have tried all sorts of anti wind medications ( mainly herbal) with limited success
- we do ' bicycle' legs ( we often get lots of gas when we do this )tummy massage, warm baths , lots of
Upright holding and burping as much as possible when she's awake
- I am trying to limit all dairy incase it's an allergy thing and have been doing
so for 4 weeks with limited success
- she will only fall asleep with a dummy since it helps with her gas pains but will also wake as soon as it falls out will this become a sleep problem in the future??
- have also taken her a baby cranio since it worked well with my son and her birth was rather traumatic ( emergency c section and forceps)


I've been told I need to wait until her digestive system matures and the wind will improve but I wondered if anyone had any btdt advice and especially, I would like some reassurance that I'm
doing the right thin with her sleep since most attempts at any type of independent sleep are failing and we are exhausted !!
Thanks in advance
Sophie

[katkniep]

Hi

We had a really gassy baby as well until we started with the anti-colic massages, and using Sab Simplex, have you tried that one? Also, a real gas causer for me was onions, i've cut them out completely, and things like lentils and beans of course and voila, a lot less gas!

[anna*]

Honestly, with a gassy preemie, I would do whatever it takes for the next few weeks. There's no props you can set up here that you can't undo later. In a few weeks time she'll be easier to burp, better able to handle the whole digestion thing, and easier to stay asleep. IIWM, until then I'd just put her in a sling as often as it takes. Likewise with the dummy - just let her have it! Whatever it takes to sleep! You may have problems later or you may not, but if you do you can deal with it when the time comes. Don't even worry about independent sleep for now. If you can get one nap per day when she goes down in the bassinet (even if she doesn't spend the whole nap there) that's great. If you can avoid feeding to sleep, perfect.

[creations]

Hi, agree with pps to do whatever it takes to get you all some rest in the early weeks.  Dr Harvey Karps 5 S's work wonders for new babies and despite Tracy warning us of not rocking babies we all know babies just love to be rocked Karp has more "S"s than BW but otherwise very similar and will help you get through the rough times. You don't need ot read a full book, just google videos to see interviews and examples of him settling a baby in literally 30 seconds - ah bliss!  The rocking can be gently weaned and replaced with patting by the way when baby is a bit older.  Or many here adapt the shush/pat to a shush/rock or a shush/stroke if it suits their baby and all of these can be weaned. You can still work with an EASY routine and follow BW methods for sleep training etc

[Shdef]

Have you tried sitting her more upright for the breastfeeding and then burping throughout?

[Loafie]

Thankyou so much for your replies .

I think the Sab Simplex is an anti wind medication with active ingredient Simethiconum and we have the same in Australia called anticol. Unfortunately, it has not helped at all:( ill look more into anti colic massage and foods that are gassy and try and eliminate  them from my diet. And yes, I have tried breast feeding upright, lying  down , football hold etc etc as well as burping very regularly , with no improvements at all. The problem she has isn't burping, she's great at doing  that, it's trapped gas down the bottom that is the problem....
Your comments on independent sleep are reassuring and I will try and forget about this for the moment until this sorts itself out..
We were awake every hour last night with her squirming and crying in pain ( we get these  nights  every few days) and tbh, I'm exhausted all I want to do is nap today but can't since she will only
Settle in the baby carrier...
I'll do what I can in the meantime but would be so so grateful if anyone has anymore tips on dealing with gassy babies. Any more btdt advice???

Much appreciated
Thankyou

[anna*]

Jut a note on the dairy - if it is intolerance you should see an improvement by now BUT only if you've been really vigilant about cutting out all dairy including 'hidden dairy'. Also many babies who are milk intolerant also have problems with soy. IIWM I would cut out 100% of dairy and soy for two weeks. Then go back on them if no change.