5 week old - gas and self soothong

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Hi ladies and gents. Newbie here! I am hoping to get some advice about my 5 week old ebf baby boy here.

He is a fairly good sleeper, touch wood. Nighttime, he goes down at 7pm,sleeps to midnight /1am, feed and change for half hour, sleep until 4ish, feed and change for half hour, and then his worst sleep until 6ish. During the last sleep he squirms and grunts and fights his swaddle a lot. We use the miracle blanket. He is also quite grumpy and vocal when he is up from that last sleep.

Daytimes are  getting a bit easier. He has his first nap around 7.30am-8.30am, then 9.30ish-1030ish, then 12-2 on a good day and his last nap around 3.30 ideally but he fights this one so it ends up being 4.30-530 most days. Then we feed and play  for a bit and have bath time, massage and bed.

I rarely feed before a nap, usually only before his night sleep to give him a bump and we always put him down drowsy but awake. I will swaddle, hold him and away a bit and then down into cot. I leave. He fights swaddle and whinges. I leave him unless he cries, in which case I go in and shhh him and leave. I only pick him up for a cuddle if his cries escalate. He then usually settles and according to the monitor, it's wide awake and just staring at the wall and yawning for a good 15-20 minutes before drifting off.

I guess my questions are - is leaving him to whinge until he cries mean? Does it qualify as CIO of sorts?

Is it OK to leave him there awake in the dark and alone for upwards of 20 minutes? He usually doesn't complain, just looks around. That dammed video monitor and his sad little eyes break my heart!

He has gas which cause him to grunt and squirm, especially after that last night feed. This is mainly due to, I think, my oversupply and fast let down, which I am dealing with. The swaddle possibly contributes to this too as he hates it. Unfortunately his arms are out of control and he loves to stretch (to the side, back arched) so not swaddling is not an option at this point and he breaks out of everything but the miracle blanket. I hate hearing his grunts! When naps, he sometimes goes through one sleep cycle and then starts the grunting (sometimes followed by lots of farts). I usually pick him up when he wakes grunting and can't transition to the second cycle, and hold him to my chest upright and he drifts off immediately. He's clearly still tired but seems far too uncomfortable lying down. I don't think it's a matter of wanting to be held or comforted as he is usually ok going down at the beginning of his nap. I guess the question here is whether the grunting and gas are common, or whether it could be reflux too? He rarely spits up and rarely whinges during feeds.

Overall he is a happy and engaged and active baby, except when he first wakes. Definitely not the cooing in bed type.

Thanks for reading!

[lily_layne]

Welcome to BW and congratulations on your precious DS.

is leaving him to whinge until he cries mean? Does it qualify as CIO of sorts?

If he is just fussing, it is fine. That's definitely not CIO.

For a five week old, things sound pretty good. That's pretty amazing if he's going to sleep on his own sometimes. Most newborns have their most fitful sleep from 4-6. It's usually a lighter sleep so there's a lot of grunting and groaning. If he's grumpy when he wakes at 6, you could try treating it as a NF and putting him straight back to bed. I know my DS would often go back to sleep until 8 or later.

It definitely does not sound like reflux. A reflux baby wouldn't self-settle and likely would cry/fuss a lot more. It does sound just like gas which is pretty common. As his digestive system matures, he will be less gassy. I found the best way to burp my LOs was the "milkshake". Hold your LO under the chin and on the bum and jiggle him up and down a bit. It works wonders. Some moms also like the "elevator" method. Lay him flat then lift him slowly a few times and then burp him.

What are you doing for the oversupply and overactive letdown?

And one piece of unasked for advice - turn off the video monitor Looking at it can drive you crazy. If he's not crying or only fussing, he's fine.

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Welcome to BW and congratulations on your precious DS.

is leaving him to whinge until he cries mean? Does it qualify as CIO of sorts?

If he is just fussing, it is fine. That's definitely not CIO.

For a five week old, things sound pretty good. That's pretty amazing if he's going to sleep on his own sometimes. Most newborns have their most fitful sleep from 4-6. It's usually a lighter sleep so there's a lot of grunting and groaning. If he's grumpy when he wakes at 6, you could try treating it as a NF and putting him straight back to bed. I know my DS would often go back to sleep until 8 or later.

It definitely does not sound like reflux. A reflux baby wouldn't self-settle and likely would cry/fuss a lot more. It does sound just like gas which is pretty common. As his digestive system matures, he will be less gassy. I found the best way to burp my LOs was the "milkshake". Hold your LO under the chin and on the bum and jiggle him up and down a bit. It works wonders. Some moms also like the "elevator" method. Lay him flat then lift him slowly a few times and then burp him.

What are you doing for the oversupply and overactive letdown?

And one piece of unasked for advice - turn off the video monitor Looking at it can drive you crazy. If he's not crying or only fussing, he's fine.

Thank you so much for your reply, it's do nice to be able to talk about this. I love away from family and friends at the moment so I really appreciate it!

For the oversupply and letdown, I'm doing block feeding. We're getting  there, it is getting much better than it used to be, when LO used to choke on the milk! I am down to 4 hour blocks from 6 hours. I had to use a nipple shield on an inverted nipple so we are weaning off that too - with pretty good success so  far, touch wood.

Poor thing just has so much lower gas. Once he does a few good farts, he's a different baby. I'm trialing cutting out dairy for 2 weeks to see if it helps.

It's also good to know about the 4-6 sleep, I had no idea it was a light sleep period. I will try putting him back down right away and see what happens. Thank you!

And yes, he's an awesome baby so far so you're  right, I should turn that video monitor off, or at least stop using it as my nightly TV program!

[lily_layne]

That's the wonderful part of these forums. There's always someone to talk to!

It sounds like you are on the right track with feeding. I tried cutting out dairy too and found it made no difference. Some babies are just gassy and if he's fairly content (a fussy period or 2/day and a fussy day/week is totally normal), I wouldn't worry about it. Eat what you like (and lots of it - it takes a lot of calories to produce milk) and enjoy nursing your son!

Ha ha to the nightly tv program