5 week old - can't get to sleep or stay asleep

[grace annes mommy]

Do you think one of these would help the paci situation?  I'm thinking of trying to make one myself for my LO.  Seems like it would hold the paci in place for her?

[labrodyk]

Our day today...

7.30-11.30am; awake crying wouldn't settle/sleep
2.30-8.30pm ; awake crying won't settle/sleep

Finally eyes are shut next to me in my bed 😱 But having great difficulty sleeping soundly and drifting between sleep stages by stirring, waking, dropping dummy.

[lily_layne]

(((hugs))) Have you been able to try Dr. Karp's 5s's again?

[grace annes mommy]

Do you think one of these would help the paci situation?  I'm thinking of trying to make one myself for my LO.  Seems like it would hold the paci in place for her?

jeez... apparently I'm sleep deprived. Didn't even post my link....
http://www.wubbanub.com/

((hugs)) for the sleeplessness. I've been there..

[labrodyk]

So we tried the 5s' to the T last night and she calmed but was not having a bar of sleeping! We did it for over an hour...

Those wubanubs look great. I've tucked a toy up with her pressing it in (so similar) but she just flicks her head around.

I tried to co-sleep with her last night and what an effort. All she did was roll around and drop her dummy, grizzle/cry and I got no sleep. When I fed her she was so erratic on the bottle spilling it everywhere and crying and taking about 50ml only. She fed at 5.50 and still awake, no luck getting her down now it's close to 7. Going to be a LOOOOOONG day.

[grace annes mommy]

Do you think she's in pain/uncomfortable?  How's her dose of reflux meds?  How are her poos - could she have a food allergy?

Is there any way to force sleep into her like hold her and rock her in a dark room for a whole nap just to curb the OT a bit?

[lauradj]

^^ That's not a bad idea, so long as it doesn't become a habit.  It might help her get over the OT hump.  The other thing you could try, though it's not something Tracy recommends, you could try BF her as you lay on your side, baby on her side too, and then when/if she drifts off to sleep, you oh-so-carefully extricate yourself and leave her sleeping on your bed.  My midwives recommended it when we hit a difficult spot around 4/6 weeks and it worked like a charm.  I only did it the one time and I made sure DS1 was smack in the middle of our bed.  Just a thought. 

[labrodyk]

Do you think she's in pain/uncomfortable?  How's her dose of reflux meds?  How are her poos - could she have a food allergy?

Her sleep is certainly not restful, wriggling and writhing around which in turn causes her to lose the dummy! I've kept up her reflux meds but I don't even know if that's the issue anymore. Her poo is normal for a formula fed baby...

Is there any way to force sleep into her like hold her and rock her in a dark room for a whole nap just to curb the OT a bit?

She woke and I couldn't resettle at 9.30, so fed her but she was drinking her bottle terribly (gulping and spilling milk etc). By 10.10 she was cranky and OT but her eyes are so wide awake. I swaddled her and put in bassinet after some rocking and shushing to calm her. She screamed and screamed but finally got her to calm down. She spat the dummy constantly and wriggled around so I kept my hands on her and rocked and put dummy back in. She then would sleep for a few minutes or up to 5/10mins and wake wriggling around and crying with dummy in her mouth! Then spits it.
By 11 I put hr on my chest and she slept very uncomfortably (wriggling, squirming; waking, crying) for about an hour/hour and a half. By which time it was 3hrs since last feed so we started EAS all over again.

Went for a swing nap after the last hopeless feed and she just keeps waking in there too! She even wakes and cries with the dummy still in her mouth. What's going on?!

[grace annes mommy]

Oh hun, sounds exhausting!

This really sounds like discomfort to me.  The restlessness and OT combined with the feeding issues.  Does she need to increase her meds dose?  or maybe try a new med? 

Has she ever been a bit more settled?

What kind of formula does she take and how long has she been on it?

Is she gassy?

Sorry for all the questions... just want to help you and your bub get some rest and figure out what"s going on!  I have 2 reflux babes here and what your describing sounds all too familiar.

[labrodyk]

No, thank you so much for helping me! It's positively exhausting and I'm starting to get really anxious and upset by everything...

She is on losec liquid (2mg/1ml 3 times a day), haven't tried anything else but this stuff worked with my DS. Which is why I wonder if it's not reflux at all.

The issue I'm having with feeding is that she can't handle the flow of any of the teats, she spills it all out of her mouth. The only one she doesn't do it with is a premise teat but of course she takes 10 minutes to drink about 10-20ml so gets fussy and upset yet anything faster and she then spills, takes heaps of air, spits up and is fussy from both hunger and discomfort. Have tried so many bottles, even variable teats and she can't seem to have a

As for being settled; no, she's never been 'settled'. I had a super fast flow and ridiculous oversupply of breastmilk and she was extremely uncomfortable with it regardless of the care I took to feed her so we reluctantly gave that away. Now on the bottle she's similar... She's also had a UTI at 2 weeks which lead to 2 days of IV antibiotics and then 5 days oral antibiotics.
I've switched formulas to Novalac Colic a week ago from an Australian brand called 'Bellamy's Organic' as I thought it was making her excessively gassy. The colic formula has 30% less lactose and she seems to handle it better but the way she feeds is so haphazard.

I'm going to get some dr Browns bottles tomorrow and really hope they help. We've been using the Pigeon brand which are highly recommended here but I can't seem to get her feeding well.

[grace annes mommy]

It does sound like some kind of vicious OT hunger cycle, huh?  We have very similar things here with feeds and sleep but for totally different reasons.  We use Dr. Brown's bottles because they have several different nipple levels.  My DD actually drinks out of the "ultra preemie" nipple.    Does your dr. have anything to say about her feeding challenges?  Have they looked into tongue tie or into her swallow?

I wonder if probiotics may help settle her gut since she's been on antibiotics.  My dd has had antibiotics as well and ended up with thrush.  I started giving her this:
http://www.amazon.com/ReNew-Life-FloraBABY-Advanced-Probiotic/dp/B005LHN9S2/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1447623753&sr=8-2&keywords=flora+baby+probiotics

I would stick with the new formula a while longer while she adjusts to it.  But I also wouldn't rule out an intolerance just since she does sound so unsettled.

How did the rest of the day go sleep-wise?

[lily_layne]

More hugs. It does sound like discomfort to me and I agree with doing whatever it takes to get her to sleep a bit (even if that means holding her for a whole nap when you can). Will she nap in the stroller when out for a walk?

Do you follow Wonder Weeks at all? There is a wonder week (developmental leap) at this age than can really wreak havoc with sleep. My DD pretty much gave up napping for a week around this age.

[labrodyk]

Thank you so much for your help ladies!

We had a couple of hours sleep in my hudband's arms from 6-8 then 9ish-12 in my arms in bed. Then 12.30ish-3.30 in her bed. But after the 3.30 feed she took until 5.30 to truly get back to sleep and then woke at 6.30. I just kept dummying her cause I knew she wouldn't eat. She dozed on and off and slept a bit until just after 8. Fed her but she only took 60ml (although didn't spill as much). Tried to put her down at 9 but 40 mins later she won't settle. Keeps dropping the dummy and I've replaced it 20 times already.

We're giving her probiotics to help too   not a big pram napper unfortunately - does the same thing as in her bed etc. her eyes are just SO wide open it's ridiculousness!! 
She fell asleep at 9.55 quickly in her bed but again, wide awake after 10 minutes. I don't know how to keep going with this. My DS is soooo unhappy and it's a LOT for a 3yo to handle with limited support around me.

[lily_layne]

She sounds like she may be an LO who needs longer A times. My dd was like that but I was so stuck on the average A times that I was often putting her down too soon. In hindsight, I think she may have needed as much as 1.5 h A time at that age.

[labrodyk]

I'm so scared of longer A times because she's so miserable all the time