Recent developments...

[Luka's Dad]

I've been psyching myself up to write a glowing report of how things have been in the past couple of weeks since I last vented my spleen on this board.  Things seemed to be improving somewhat.

Luka is 8 weeks old now.  A couple of weeks ago he started feeding loads during the day, only napping for 30-45 minutes at a time.  He would then get really tired in the evening and things would get really fraught between 7 and 11, at which point he would crash out and sleep for 4-5 hours.  We saw this as an improvement as it was getting to the point (during the day at least) when it would only take 10 minutes to settle him, and we could actually leave him in his basket to go to sleep.  He was also capable of settling himself again if he woke up in the night.

I just got off the phone to my wife though and she says that things have taken an unexpected turn...

He can be quite calm when going up for his nap, my wife swaddles him which she says he is taking in his stride more (this usually really upsets him), then as soon as she sits down to shh/pat (although we rub his back gently as his slight reflux is aggrevated with patting) he starts screaming.  And keeps screaming for at least 30 minutes.  She describes it as if he has associated shh/rub with something really horrible (unfortunately she says the only thing she can think of is the bad evenings I have spent with him due to his overtiredness).

We have been doing shh/pat with him for 4 weeks now, and as I said before, it seemed like things were improving!  Does anyone recognise this pattern and have any tips?

Thanks.

[tylersmommy]

I'm glad things have improved, it sounds like he's doing great! I wonder if maybe the rubbing might aggravate his reflux as well? Tyler didn't have reflux, but he hated any kind of patting or rubbing. He did much better when I just laid my hand on his chest, back, or thigh. I kept up the shhh, but I think the patting and rubbing just stimulated him for some reason.

Sometimes, though, they just have weird days every so often, then go back to normal before you know it. Hopefully that's all it is...keep us posted!