Oh NOW what's going on? :( not sure where to post this....

[NrsT]

We're going from bad to worse, I could really use some help with our routine, and any suggestions as to what you think might be going on at night...?


How old is your child? 13 weeks
What’s his/her daily routine?
Start EASY at 10 am, as I am so tired before this from night before that I am coming in and out of comarous state with him in bed with me...
10am feed - gaviscon, 15 minutes Left Breast, 10 mins Right Breast then give formula top up - soya based, lactose sucrose free.  Takes about 30-120 mls depending on time of day, less in morning graduating to more at night feeds.
Activity - lying under play gym, dancing with me etc..
Put to bed at 11.15. 
Usually asleep by 11.30, no crying just burbling, or 5 mins crying.  Me sitting next to him just shushing, he hates being patted, rubbed etc, might hold my hand...
12.15 wide awake, no amount of shushing, whatever will get him back off, tried w2s doesn't seem to work with him...  get him up, more activity or me walking around jiggling him for 45 mins til next feed at 1pm, he seems to start insisting for food at about the 21/2 hr mark.
1pm feed LB, RB, bottle no gaviscon
same as before
sleep same - 45 mins
4pm gaviscon, feed
activity same
sleep same
630 bath - then feed at 7pm, have tried the other way around, but he chills out in the bath for 15-20 mins then SCREAMS when we get him dressed, so this undoes the relaxation from bath. 
Feed at 7pm, 7.30- 7.45 gets drowsy so put to bed, usually goes down without too much fuss. 
Asleep by 8pm
Wakes himself at 10pm for dream feed - is this normal? do they usually wake themselves for this?
back to bed at 10.30.    For a few nights he was going back to sleep til 3 am, but for 7 nights he was waking at 1am, 3, 5 or different combination - but getting about 4 hours sleep to start with and then feeds (about 3-4) more and more frequent. 
Then for the last 2 nights he started waking (from 8pm sleep) about 1 hour 45 mins in to sleep screaming with bad farts.  My husband could settle him (he would just want to feed off me) and get him back to sleep but then he wakes again about half an hour later, this carried on through the night after each feed, until I get so exhausted that I put him in bed with me feed him, fall asleep myself and then we get a few hours sleep.  HEnce why EASY doesn't start til about 10am, - I can't get up til about 9am.  I think he helps himself to a feed at about 6 or 7 am.  Not sure if he's feeding properly though as if i move he unlatches.
 
No solids, no lovie, won't take paci.
I must confess that I myself have some certain odourous emissions currently, have been eating a lot of red meat? over the last 3 days.
I thought the initial upheaval was 3 mth growth spurt, but when its carried on to wind problems...? now i don't know, we have had unsettled sleep for 10 days now and i am grumpy and hallucinating from sleep deprivation.
I seem to be surrounded by gloating mothers whose children slept right through the night at 5-6 weeks.
Please please some help?
Natalie
New Zealand

[katriona]

Natalie,

Just wanted to send you some {{{hugs}}} and say hang in there. I'm sure there'll be some words of wisdom here soon. Unfortunately I don't have any myself, but I just felt for you.

Katy

[deb]

I suspect you're probably all going through your LO's 3-month growth spurt right now. His eating and sleeping schedule is all messed up, he's awake when he usually isn't, his naps are shorter from the messed-up night sleep and his night sleep is messed up from the messed-up day sleeps AND from increased hunger AND from gas, probably caused as much from the new eating patterns as from anything/everything else.

My suggestions:

Ride it out as best you can for a day or two and try to follow his cues for sleep and hunger as best you can. Yeah, you'll probably mis-read them for a while, but for now, just try to survive, sleep when you can and eat when you can and don't try to follow EASY too much. If he's temporarily craving food every 2 hours anyway, no point to EASY for the moment.

If you're giving him a bottle at night, just put the Gaviscon right into the bottle, even if it's EBM, so you're not having to go through a separate dosing and waking him up.

If you're not "tanking him up" for the last 3 feeds before bed, i.e. feeding every 2 hours or so, give it a try so he's going to bed on a REALLY nice full tummy (and Gaviscon then might not be a bad idea). If he still wakes at 10PM looking for a feed, consider trying a true dream feed, i.e. with him still asleep, around 9:30 before he wakens, so you know if he DOES waken it isn't from hunger (assuming he'll take the feed then - Natalie never did and Josie only did about 2/3 of the time). This dream feed should also have the same effect as wake-to-sleep and hopefully help to re-set his waking schedule if it's become habitual.

Hire a neighborhood teen to entertain your LO between feed and naptime so you can grab a few extra minutes of shut-eye or a shower and/or some makeup to help YOU feel better!

And when he goes down for the night, at least for a night or two, assume that he'll be up again and GO TO BED WHEN HE DOES!!!! Seriously.

When you've got your equilibrium back, check out the Naps forum for how Tracy saved Josie and our family from her 45-minute nap issue at about the same age. We also had reflux to deal with - you can check the Reflux101 post on the Reflux forum for symptoms - which complicated things, but between meds and Tracy teaching us how to extend Josie's naps we were able to get back to a "normal" routine in about a week.

HTH, and feel free to post back if you need more info!!!!

[TDR'smom]

I seem to be surrounded by gloating mothers whose children slept right through the night at 5-6 weeks.

Don't let that get to you.  Chances are they are lying or let their little one CIO. 

You are doing a great job.  Keep your chin up.

[NrsT]

Thank you.... it continued, so we did 10, 11.30, 1.30, 3.30, 5.00 and 6.30........ omg.
This turmoil has been going on for 10 days - isn't that too long for a growth spurt? Last night was by far the worst though.  THank you will try your suggestion on 9.30 df, because 10pm he initiates it. 
Why is he fine all day though and then everything goes pear shaped at night??? Could it be my evening meal?  IS it something I am eating then? Last night I had a whole lot of peas? Has anyone else had any problems with them?

[TDR'smom]

Doesn't peas make lo's gassy??  Maybe she had a tummy ache?


Just a thought.

[deb]

Thank you.... it continued, so we did 10, 11.30, 1.30, 3.30, 5.00 and 6.30........ omg.
This turmoil has been going on for 10 days - isn't that too long for a growth spurt? Last night was by far the worst though.  THank you will try your suggestion on 9.30 df, because 10pm he initiates it. 
Why is he fine all day though and then everything goes pear shaped at night??? Could it be my evening meal?  IS it something I am eating then? Last night I had a whole lot of peas? Has anyone else had any problems with them?

Oh, legumes in general might be causing gas; you should see what they do to Josie!  On second thought, maybe not..... 

I agree, after 10 days it probably isn't the growth spurt any more. Crazy thought: might he be teething? Josie didn't show any teeth til 7 months, but Natalie popped her first two at 4 months.

How about extending naps? Have you been able to give that a try? Basically it means being in there before the 45-minute stirring that usually wakes them up if they aren't properly tired. Another crazy thought: have you tried extending Awake time JUUUUUST a little, like 5-10 minutes, to see if he'll sleep longer? Not so long awake that he's overtired, but maybe keeping him awake and drowsy in a dim or dark room till he's almost ready to drop off. If you read our Naps post you'll see how we did it, between extending Josie's Awake time gradually and extending her naps by being there and getting her back down before she'd stirred all the way awake.

HTH!

[NrsT]

I've been popping a finger in his mouth the last few days to see if any teeth have arrived...but nothing.  I've realised that he has bad farts through out the day as well, not just at night, but during the day I jiggle him and don't notice the unsettledness as much.
Today I have changed him to goat's milk formula to see if that makes a difference. THanks again for your help, i'll keep you posted.