3.5 mo old back to sleeping only with breast in mouth?!

[Freya]

Hello all, I'm new around here and super happy to have found this place!

My DS (3.5 months) woke twice a night for the first 2.5 month of his life, and then began sleeping through the night. At three months he stopped the all-night sleeping, and will now sleep from 9-1:30 (on average), and will then be up every 15 minutes-45 minutes, whining and wanting the breast in his mouth. I have tried not responding with the breast, and not responding at all, but if I don't respond it turns into a full blown cry, and if I don't respond with the breast he seems to get woken up more and needs the breast eventually anyway.

I have him on a 3 hour easy in the day time, and i can't seem to stretch it longer. He just won't nap more than 45 minutes except on rare occasions.

He has reached a number of developmental milestones over the past week and a half (rolling off of stomach, laughing, holding toys, discovering his tongue, squealing, razzing) but he's not trying to do any of them in his sleep so I don't know how they could affect it.

He is also teething, and has been since he was 2 months old. It has recently gotten worse, as now on top of the drooling, chewing and light fussiness, he has a diaper rash, green wet poops (as he won't suck long enough to get more than formilk in the daytime anymore, probably to do with gum pain?) and a flushed slightly swollen face (no fever though). I can see white spots where a molar is coming in on the top left side of his mouth, but that's all. His latch has also gotten weaker and he makes a clicking sound while nursing now.

Any ideas? I'm getting desperate here, I am totally sleep deprived! I got desperate enough to bring DS into our bed for the night last night, because I couldn't handle all the getting up!

HELP!

[Samuel's mum]

Welcome!

What a lot to contend with!!

The developmental milestones do affect sleep but not because they happen at night time. Babies just seem to get more 'restless' before and just after a milestone as if their body knows something exciting is on its way or their brain is 'processing' a new skill.

Are you giving him anything to help him manage his teething? It sounds as though he is in discomfort but also perhaps hungry as well if he hasn't been feeding well in the day. If he doesn't feed properly for a while that might have had an effect on your milk supply as if the supply isn't stimulated effectively it can slow down production.

As you probably know a clicking sound is an indication of a latching problem and if this is the case that can also mean your supply isn't being stimulated properly.

I would suggest you do try and speak to someone trained in breastfeeding - a counsellor from a free helpline or a lactation consultant to talk about your latch and the possible foremilk imbalance.

It could possibly also be a growth spurt with all these extra development going on but I would suggest you speak to someone. Good Luck!

[Boys Mom]

Would you consider giving some motrin/advil for the teething?  You could try it at night and see if it helps him relax and sleep better.  I honestly can't remember if it is okay to give that to 3 month olds, but I think so.

[Freya]

I have been giving him Advil just at night for the teething, it helps for a little while but the relief wears off before he can have his next dose, and I've tried tylenol but it did nothing for him :-( We are dosing him by weight instead of by age (he's a big guy).
We saw a little improvement last night after I moved him to the swing to sleep... I really need this to be over soon, I'm losing it!

[Samuel's mum]

Are you still hearing the clicking/ sensing the weaker latch/ getting green poo?

Do speak to someone tomorrow if you can. It doesn't have to cost anything. There are numbers here: https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=63599.0

[jbepko]

I would double check with your physician on giving the Advil. Some physicians caution against ibuprofen/Advil until 6 months of age.
Another thought...before I eliminated milk/soy from my diet- my LO had MPSI and diaper rash, unusual poops, irritability (especially at night). Here's a link to the Food ALlergy Forums. Just a thought...we are HTH. 

[Freya]

Yep, I am still hearing the weak latch/click noise unless he is super hungry (at which point he is willing to latch properly!)

On the dairy/soy thing, I actually don't eat dairy or soy, as dairy upsets my stomach and I don't like eating foods as processed as soy. But that actually was my first thought when this started happening! I think he may just not be willing to stick around for the hindmilk (he gets annoyed and tugs at my nipple and kicks and squirms). I am going to call the La Leche League tommorow I think, and I am going to visit the community health nurses at the drop in on Wednesday.

I did check about the advil thing, I feel a little weird about giving pain meds but it just breaks my heart to see him in pain. I was advised that I should alternate with advil/tylenol, so that way even on his bad days he only gets two doses of each :-)

Thanks so much for all the ideas everyone.... I am just so frustrated. Someone on the sleep forum said it could be to do with learning how to roll over and not really wanting to stay asleep. We shall see!