Inconsistent sleep pattern

[mariateresa]

Hi,

My daughter is 7 weeks old and it seems to have a very inconsistent pattern when it comes to sleeping. I have been implementing ESAY since she was 2 weeks old and I continue to have a hard time getting her to sleep on her own. She has reflux and I some times think that that is the problem. however, sometimes I think that she cries to sleep. I Try to feed her every 3 hours but some times she wants to be fed every 2.5 hours so because she is so little a feed her. Last week for example she was great. I was able to put her in her crib and she sooth her self until asleep. This week has been different. She has been fighting it and cries sometimes for 1.5 hours. She was also able to sleep from 11pm until 6 am two nights ago, and last night she woke up again at 3 am and did sh and she felt asleep. Then she woke up at 4am and I BF. As you can see altough I am trying hard to implement a routine so times is very hard. Maybe she is too young yet to learn how to fall asleep on her own? 

[Lsmama]

Could she be having a growth spurt and needing a little extra during the night? My boy went through a growth spurt at 7 weeks and after about a week we were back to normal. Maybe same for your little one??

[mariateresa]

 Thank you for your reply,
how often do they go through a grow spurt? It seem to me that she takes turns. One good week, one bad week. It drives me crazy, becuase when I finally think that she has learned it she shows a regression. Was your son doing the same at this age?

[mariateresa]

Hi Stacy,

Your reply couldn't come in a better time. I just put B on bed and I am crying so hard of frustration because she has had a really bad day today. She has been crying a lot and it really doesn't matter if I am following the routine, she screams so hard that is very hard to take for a whole day. 
I am glad that you have mentioned that she is too little because I really question myself a lot about doing the right  thing. For ex. I live in Florida and I started to swaddle but I always concerned that she is too hot. Then if I don't swaddle she keeps on waking up a sucks her fingers but it doesn't help her to fall asleep again. As you can see I am very frustrated. Thank you again for your help.

[rinajack]

One of the ladies on our birth club board lives in Florida and she swaddled til now - and her lo is just turned 6mo.  if it is hot she sometimes has nothing but a nappy under the swaddle.  And you can use fan or aircon - just don't blow directly on baby.

For the reflux, have you propped the cot mattress up on an angle?  Are you BF or bottle? Remember night wakings, if they are at different times, mean hunger normally, and at this age lo probably needs a night feed still.

My lo didn't scream through the day at this age (because she napped on me, I hadn't found BW yet then) but every night screamed for hours and hours, and it is very tiring.  But it does pass.

Will lo nap in the pram.  Maybe for the catnap you could do this in the pram to get yourself out of the house and some stress release by walking.  Take breaks from this napping business when you can.  But do persevere over all, it will be worth it.

[mariateresa]

Hi again,

The Ped is treating the reflux with Zantac and I have raised the mattres and keep her in an upright position for 30 min. after meals. but I don't think the reflux is under control yet. I called the Ped yesterday and he want me to feed her 5 min less in each B and observe what happens.
About the swaddling, I have air con. but I feel guilty when I feel hot becuase I think she is feeling the same way. Tonight I just use a shirt and swaddle to see what happens.

Thamk you all for your help

[rinajack]

I too live in a very hot climate, we are approaching summer (it is spring here) and already we have about 100F during the day (35C).  My lo often feels warm, as do I, but honestly she will have to get used to it.  We have weeks and weeks in summer of temps over 40C (which is about 110F).  Even with the aircon on, it is still going to be really warm.  Don't worry about her, just check on her every now and then, and let her wear as little clothing as possible.  Better she be a little on the warm side than not sleep.

[Sandi Mom]

I just had the worst week of short naps to no naps and then to no sleep at night with my little one. Last week also happened to be the first week at home with her since I quit my job. I was so excited to be at home and it was horrible. She would cry and would sleep for only 1 hour or so if that much. She would eat a little and then begin crying. At first I thought she may be in pain since had terrible gas before and this is what she did but I found that she was overtired, extremely overtired. She was so wired she could not unwind and it just got worse as the week went on.

For the past two weeks before I stayed home, someone else was watching her and they thought she needed to be kept up longer after eating. She is 11 weeks, but premature, so she is developmentally 5 weeks old. The week I stayed home I also began keeping her up a little longer.

She cannot stay up longer than 45-50 minutes for A time. She just physically cannot do it. It makes her fussy and she cannot sleep. I was crying myself by Wednesday and Thursday and then Thursday night I held her tight and she cried and cried and cried until she fell asleep. They were tired cries...so tired. But I knew then what it was.

On Friday I started out fresh. We caught up on her sleep - which she really needed. I found some white noise using a radio and let her catch up on all the sleep she had been missing out on for the past three weeks. It just felt so good to know that she was going to be all right. Today has been 95% better. She has been napping about 2 hours and she is able to put herself back to sleep after one sleep cycle.

I have learned to let my little one tell me what she needs. She will let me know when she wants to start staying up longer for A. I had no idea that being up could have that much to do with how she naps and her whole being.

[mariateresa]

Hi Sandi's mom. It is great that you were able to quit your job to stay with your LO. I can't even imagine how hard those two first weeks were for you. but I am glad that everything is much better now. Maybe thats the problem with B, that she is overtired. Because everything that you mentioned sounds very familiar to me. Like  the crying while eating and afterwords it gets really bad. My only concern about putting her to sleep that soon, is that she will wake up too soon before eating time and then she will start crying. because she does it now, when she wakes up after a half an hour nap, she cries very hard until is time to eat.

[yaya]

Mariateresa...sorry ur having  hard time. I have  refluxer here and I just wanted to say that with reflux babies it is very unpredictable. My LO doesnt always portray 'classic' reflux symptoms so I always realise in retrospect that this is what the prob was. You sound as though you're doing a great job, I know its frustrating (you should read some of my posts LOL) but it will get better and easier!

PS. where do you live?

[mariateresa]

Hi yaya.
I live in West Palm Beach, Florida. Where do you live? Maybe Spain. My family is from Spain and my son, of course calls his grandmother yaya.
 I have read some of your posts before I have placed mine. As you said it is very hard with a reflux baby, but the worse part is that some times I am not even sure that is the reflux ot that she is over tired. This morning. I tried Sandy'mom advice to have 45 min A and the put her to sleep. She didn't cry but stayed on her crib for 20 minutes awake, then she fall asleep for 10 min and woke up again and after doing the same thing three times she felt asleep and she still sleeping. She usually takes 30 min. naps and that is a killer. And as I said before, sometimes she wakes up because the reflux, so I have to hold her, but she doesn't fall back to sleep and I feel guilty if I put her back on her crib because I am not sure she is in pain.

[yaya]

IKWYM, I find it really hard still to tell if its the reflux or something else go with your insticts tho, if u feel something is not right go with it. ALso check out the baords on extending naps, there are some excellent methods

[mariateresa]

hi yaya, I ahve a question about the reflux. Where you BF? Sometimes I think that the fact that I am BF makes reflux worse.

[mariateresa]

It's great to hear that because i don't really want to stop BF.

[Sandi Mom]

Hi MariaTeresa,
How are things going? I hope they are better. I agree with the other Moms. Trust your instincts and do what you feel is best. I found that to be the most helpful advice. You do want to make sure that it does not have to do with the reflux.

With my lo, I swaddle her and hold her until she is very calm and then begins to get slightly drowsy before putting her in her crib. This week (it's only Tuesday) I have not had to do any shh or patting with her. She has just been going to sleep. Honestly, the white noise machine has helped her tremendously. I never would have believed it, but it works. Then I started questioning that maybe the shh or the patting was overstimulating her too last week? So see, we can begin to question everything we do.  I was patting her for over 30-45 minutes to get her to go to sleep last week and she never would. I dunno.

Hang in there!! Read some of the other posts and know that you are not the only Mom to go through this. My little one does not have reflux so I can't give you any experience on that.