7 week old preemie, night sleep & easy

[Moogleit]

My DS was born 7 weeks premature and spent 4 weeks in the NICU. He has been home with us for 3 weeks now and he is eating well and gaining weight! He is now a whopping 6lbs! Currently he is up about every 90 mins all night and I can't seem to get him settled enough to sleep longer. I think we've had 1 stretch of 3 hours since he's been home.

He is very gassy and seems very distressed after each feed, especially at night. He's also prone to spitting up if I don't hold him upright for 15 mins or so after he eats. I'm sure that doesn't help. He has to work very hard to get relief and hates being flat on his back. I use warmed blankets as well as massage his belly with an essentials oil tummy blend and I lay him on his side in his crib hoping that makes.
I don't have him on any kind of schedule at the moment and I'm wondering how if at all EASY changes for a preemie? Am I expecting too much from him right now? Of course I don't expect him to sleep all night but a couple of longer stretches would do us all some good I'm sure! Dream feeds come to mind but at this point I think it would just wake him right up....

Any insight or advice would be very much appreciated.

[nevinsmama]

Oh hun, hugs on teh sleep deprivation! I know it is tough but that LO is so very, very tiny still that honestly I wouldn't expect much more than what you are getting. With EASY and preemies I would base sleep routines and what all on adjusted age ( how early they were) and go from there. Waking that often can also mean discomfort, has he been checked out for reflux? Being upset after feeding could indicate that. HAve a look here and see if this looks like him:Reflux 101 - General reflux information Hang in there!

[Moogleit]

I'm sorry I never replied, your response was super helpful thank you! So it turns out my son does have mild reflux and colic He is also intolerant to dairy as well *sigh*. I'm off dairy and he's on meds for the reflux which is helping but we just have to ride out the colic I guess...
On the brightside his nights are for the most part pretty good, he only wakes up a couple of times. We started sleeping him on his belly and that seemed to make a huge difference!

[nevinsmama]

So good to hear, hope the reflux meds continue to help. DD was a belly sleeper too and did much better that way! Let us know if we can help in the future!

[1stimer]

Yaay! Just saw this...Our ds was 6 weeks early and we had very similar issues...I thought his gas was never going to get better but once I cut out all dairy and soy and certain veggies it helped so much! Just remember to take his adjusted age into account. I always do and find myself expecting him to do too much.

[1stimer]

I mean always forgot to...not always do. Trying to nurse and type lol!!