Help! Half sleep for most of night.

[Kerrie Hughes]

My lo is 12 weeks today and we have been following EASY since about 4 weeks. Fin was doing really well, generally waking for one night feed at about 4am. At most he would do 2 and sleep pretty well the rest of the time. However for the past week he has started making those newborn grunting noises again. I think it could have something to do with being gassy as I can hear him passing wind. However the problem is that he spends most of the night in a fitful sleep, tossing, turning, grunting and for the past couple of nights crying (something he never does at night). All of this he does with his eyes closed.

He just can't settle himself. I always leave him as long as possible to see if he will sleep, pop his paci back in, shh-pat him in his crib but it doesn't really work. If I pick him up and hold him for 5 minutes he will relax and sleep well but an hour later he is in this state of half sleep again.

He goes down well for his naps in the day but will probably only have one 11/2 or 2 hr sleep. The rest will be about an hour. Also, it can be very difficult to get the calories in him during the day. He knows his own mind and if he's not hungry he cries if I try to feed him.

Anyway, any advice would be really appreciated. It can't be nice for him not settling properly all night and I could certainly do with more sleep.

Kerrie & Fin

[Katet]

How are you feeding him, my thought is that it is a feeding not sleep issue... is he bf or formula?, at what hourly interval do you feed?

[Kerrie Hughes]

Hi Kate,

Fin is BF, roughly every 3 hours. He weighs 14lbs 4 (don't know of that's important).

There are quite a few issues around feeding, have been since week 2. Diagnosed initially as reflux, then colic, I am now thinking it is my let-down being too fast for him. He bobs on and off, gets very windy, gulps like no-ones business and generally gets very unhappy. Feeds are generally hectic rather than  a quiet comforting affair. Anyway the solution I have found is to feed lying down. He is happy in this position and feeds well although weight gain has never been an issue. He didn't even lose any of his birth weight (8lbs 5).

I welcome your thoughts.

Kerrie

[Katet]

I do think it is a bf issue, esp if you have to feed lying down & it is difficult. I did have a bit of that problem with ds#1 & it was fast let down, but also in hind sight I think I should have removed Dairy from my diet as later on he had dairy intolerance when I introduced solids

I would suggest posting on the bf board as my guess it may be related to a food intolerance & that is causing the colic, reflux etc.
Most people seem to find cutting out dairy in those situations helps, but I don't have much experience there as I never actually did it & no health professional suggested in. But I know many mothers on this site have had "different babies" when they cut out certain foods.