Fights naps and won't sleep through night

[SanMarcosmom]

Hello!
I have a 10.5 week old baby boy; he was born 6 weeks early. A preemie.
We are having problems getting him to take naps and sleep through
the night. He is on a 3 hour eating schedule during the day. His
last "nighttime" bottle is at 11 pm, and we don't feed him again until
8 am.  He dropped his 2am and 5 am feedings pretty fast.  He has
been formula fed from the start due to spending time in NICU.
Anyway... he fights his naps during the day and has been waking
up at least 4-5 times during the night and staying up for at least
15-30 minutes each time. We pick him up to soothe him back to sleep,
and he takes a pacifier. We've also had problems with the 45 minutet intruder
when he does go down for a nap.  We weaned him off swaddling due to
waking up at night when he "broke out" of his swaddle.
I have somewhat of a routine for his naps, but they're not working.
Also, I've tried to soothe him back to sleep during the day -
yea.... doesn't  work.  Also, any suggestions on how much he should be eating?

thank you!
Sanmarcos tx mom

[SanMarcosmom]

I am sorry I wasn't clear on his age. He was born 6 weeks early on May 17th, 2006.
So 10.5-11 weeks is his adjusted age. I am so use to using his adjusted age
for everything that I was careless to not clarify what I meant. Sorry!
I went up on his feeding portions yesterday. He takes 6 bottles
a day, I start his first bottle at around 8 or 8:30 am @ 5ounces,
and continue with 5 ounces until his noghttime bottle at 6 ounces
with 1/2 a teaspoon of rice cereal. MAson has acid reflux
and is on Zantac. I don't know if that has anything to do with his
poor sleeping habits or if it's me failing to teach him how to
go to sleep adn sleep for awhile.

sanmarcos mom - kathy

[Zoey]

Hi there!  My son has reflux too, he was diagnosed at 4m, he is 8m now. 

How long has baby been on Zantac?  We began on Zantac and it worked very well.  Be aware that the dose is weight based, so as he gains weight he will need the drug increased. 

What formula are you using?  We use Alimentum ready to feed, we have found that it great reduces gas, and spitting up.

What bottles are you using?  We use Dr Browns bottles, again they reduce the amount of air that baby sucks in during feedings.  I love them!

Is baby spitting up alot?  Does he cry when you lay him flat?

Here are a few tips for you, if baby is in pain - he won't sleep well.

~Elevate the head of his mattress, it should be pretty high.  You could also get a Tucker Sling (http://www.tuckersling.com) Also elevated anywhere else he has to lay down, changing table, bassinet - whatever.
~Keep him upright (not bent at the tummy either though as this puts pressure on the immature sphincter and may cause him to spit up more) we used a bouncey seat, or his stoller reclined - so upright for 20-30mins after the feeding.
~Burp well, but don't pat - try rubbing in upward motions.  When you use pat/shhh, try rub/shh - sometimes patting can make things sore in the tummy area.
~A paci is great, if he will use it, stick with it lol
~A swaddle is also great.

I hope this helps some, please let me know if I can help in any way.  Also you can stop by the reflux board, tons of great info there and Ryan'sMom (the moderator) is wonderful.

Love,
Zoey

[SanMarcosmom]

Thank you ladies for your wonderful advice. 
Mason has been on Zantac since he was
5-6 weeks old. It's pretty common in premies.
Thanks for the heads-up on increasing his doseage
with his weight gain. I will ask the pediatrician
how much we can go up to.
we can't put Mason on his back very much
because of the reflux, and he sleeps on a wedge
right now. He's not comfortable on his stomach
as well when we TRY tummy time. Any
suggestions on that one? Also, he has
a significant flat spot
on the left side of his head, it hampers him
from rolling.  We're getting concerned
that this may hurt his development.

thanks ladies!
kathy

[SanMarcosmom]

Zoey
hello...... 
We are currently using NeoSure by Similac, but am considering changing to
BrightBeginnings-Organic. It has higher levels of dha and ara.
I also use Dr.Brown's bottles - LOVE EM! He spits up alot sometimes, and
then other days he seems to be okay. Sometimes he has 'reflux" attacks.
BREAKS MY HEART!
I really hope he outgrows it SOON!
Zoey thanks for taking the time to help out!

kathy

[Zoey]

Hi Kathy

I so hear you, it breaks my heart too.  Keep on top of his dosing, you will (if you haven't already) start to see signs when he needs an increase.  For us, Owen starts having trouble eating.  I think Zantac is fab - we used it right up until he maxed out on the dosing.  Also we did it three times a day, not sure what your doc has your son on but sometimes they find better coverage when dosed more frequently in young babies as their metabolism is SO fast.

Tummy time ~ yep been there.  Honestly up until 3 months ago, Owen didn't do much tummy time.  Each time he went on his tummy he vomited, so he would cry everytime we would put him down on his belly   Concerns when they don't do alot of tummy time are their head shape, and upper body strength.  So it's important to keep trying.  We found a bit of success when we did tummy time right before, like 10 mins before a feed.  That way there was only a little, if any food in the tummy, so he didn't vomit as much.  I also found putting him over the boppy pillow or a rolled towel helped.  Also a bumbo seat (http://www.bumboseat.com) helped with the head shape.  They can sit in it as soon as they can hold their head up, so its a good place to take a break from having pressure on the head.  I also carried Owen around in a front pack alot during A times to give his head a break too.

As for side sleeping, try alternating sides.  Like one nap put him on his left side, next nap turn him upside down in the crib (cf course move the wedge too lol- head where feet were, feet where head was) and have him on his right side.  I have read in many places that if you start now flipping side to side to back for all sleeps, you may see an improvement in the flat spot fairly quickly.  I am sure your pedi is aware... keep an eye on this, if it is very bad you should have a specialist see it and see if he needs a helmet.  You may want to look at the tucker sling, it may create a comfy angle so he can sleep on his back at times too. 

I am not familar with bright beginnings organic - but I looked it up and it has 19mg of DHA per 100 calories and Similac's Alimentum and Enfamil's Nutramingen have 17mg of DHA per 100 calories.  So they are pretty close.  Naturally this is something to talk about with your pedi, but the two I list there are heavier/thicker formulas and the heavier they are the less likely they are to come back up.  Just something else to consider and talk about with your pedi.

I hope this helps, Owen wasn't a preemie, but we have had our share of flux problems since he was really young, at 6weeks he was diagnosed with "colic" I am sure that it was reflux.  I hope you can get on the Easy, it really helps a ton.  let me know if I can help in any way.

Hugs,
Zoey

[SanMarcosmom]

thank you Zoey! 
Mason is on Zantac 3X's a day as well. We're
having a bad "vomit" day today.....
thanks again for all your help.

hugs back at ya-
kathy