MSE Parents Club Part 16

Make-it-3

My LO was the same WW - better to go with the flow and what they need you really can't spoil them at that age. A sling and co-sleeping were my life savers.

basscadette

missymoo81 wrote: »

Morning,

I have had yet another night of 2 hrs sleep! That's 3 in a row, feel like absolute rubbish. He's 4 weeks old and used to sleep a lot better.

The problem I have is after feeding, baby falls asleep and i wind him, which no matter how hard i try isnt always successful, i swaddle him up, with his arms out as he likes to suck his fists sometimes, within 5 minutes, he is whinging and kicking his legs out and does that for the next hour and a half sometimes breaking into proper crying where i get him out and try and wind him again, hes often quite sicky too. He has infacol before every feed, and if gripe water after if hes screaming. He will breastfeed every 2 hours for half an hour. But this goes on all night, i can walk him up and down and after a while he might quieten down and appear to fall asleep, but if i even so much as try to put him in his crib, he wakes up and starts screaming.

I really am getting to my wits end and find myself getting upset, cross and frustrated, i cant go on with this little amount of sleep, i cant even begin to function.

Can anyone give me any tips on getting his wind up, or helping with his colic, or getting him to atleast sleep, am practically in tears, i just don't know what to do, told the HV yesterday, but she said all babies are different and unfortunately there is no cure for colic but will get better with age. Am going to cut out dairy and gluten from my diet and see if that helps.

sorry to whinge

Aah Missymoo, I so feel for you - I'm a few weeks ahead of you and we had a few nights of this, although we have got better at winding and we're not having too bad a time of it now (although some days are off days).

WInding techniques we use are,

Sitting upright on lap, one hand supporting chin while heel of hand is on stomach and patting (sometimes quite forcefully). This works most of the time. DH bends him right over in this position and gets a lot of burps this way too. You can also rub, or alternate the two for full effect.

Sitting in the position above but sway from side to side, back to front and round in a circle - often dislodges a few small ones after the above. (ETA - Sway the baby, not you!)

Over the shoulder - head and arms resting on or hanging over shoulder, legs hanging down, patting the back. My LO loves this one and it calms him down when he's crying, even if he has no wind.

Over the lap, face down,head and arms resting on thigh while you pat his back (and bum if he has pump pain). My LO farts like a trouper with this one lol. Make sure he can lift and turn his head though so he doesn't suffocate on your thigh!! You can also rub the back in circles - this sometimes helps too.

If it's pump pain, which my little fella gets a lot, also try lying him flat on his back and cycling his legs.

We swaddle fully, arms, legs, the lot. We have to - he wakes himself up raving in the night. Often punches himself in the face or scratches himself and this ends in tears. Also swaddling fully helps him feel comfortable, safe and warm so he falls asleep easier. If he does not feel in the mood to be swaddled (although always up for it at bedtime) he gets very angry and we have to undo him.

jennynoo

mirrorimage0 wrote: »

thanks for the reply hun. x i have good days and bad weeks with food, issues from yrs of not eating, the kids have always eaten fine though, im actually a cook for my job and love making meals so know all the right things for feeding them lol how ironic.

LO latches on great and it hasnt been painful at all since about week 4 i think. yep feeding on onside till he is finished, i have given him a couple of bottles the past two nights and he has slept for about 4 hrs at atime so feel a bit more awake and refreshed now lol. im still breastfeeding him whilst making up my mind, one min i think no def bottle next min i feel guilty and thik im gonna keep on with the breastfeeding.

im sure i never worried thismuch with the other two (but it was a long time ago )

I've been reading up about giving formula and the reason LO will go longer on it is that it takes longer to digest which is not necessarily a good thing as it puts a strain on LO. If it helps you get your sanity it may be worth it but there are consequences. Could you expresses and get your OH or someone close to give that so you can get some rest? Your doing great if you can feed comfortably, sounds like you might just have a baby who needs to feed often, it will get easier and if you can stick at bf you will save yourself effort in the long run.

jennynoo

missymoo81 wrote: »

thanks jennynoo, it is just so hard at the minute. BF I have always found pretty easy to be honest, baby latched on just after being born and thankfully it has never hurt feeding him. I feed baby from one breast and switch each time i feed him and he comes off it naturally. When he really doesnt settle and when i've really had enough, like 6 am i will put him in bed with us, OH then quietens him down and he'll go to sleep, trouble is OH can't sleep then, and the HV advised not to get into the habit of doing this. We have done it the last 2 mornings though as it is the only way i have been getting any sleep!!

4th time trying to reply :mad:

Try bed sharing with LO next to you rather than OH, it's not a bad habit! I did have a lot more to say with more reasoning but this stupid iPad keeps dying on me. Will try and get on the laptop tomorrow.

jennynoo

Here is a link for a little video about bed sharing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_1x5UNet_Q&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Wonder_Womble

Make-it-3 wrote: »

My LO was the same WW - better to go with the flow and what they need you really can't spoil them at that age. A sling and co-sleeping were my life savers.

Thanks again MI3, just from reading the info I feel calmer, and less overwhelmed/ consumed by LO's constant attachment to me. I suppose it didn't help that I couldn't hold her for 2 hours after she was born due to a reaction to one of the meds they gave me in theatre, then within 5 hours of her being born I was back in theatre under a general. After lots of cuddles last night LO has had a better night :j

wendz86

Great to hear your LO had a better night WW. I agree that cuddling them is the best thing to do at that age.

Missy - if Lo is waking up when you put them in basket you could try putting something in there that smells of you. Also I usedto put a hot water bottle in for a couple of mins and then take it out and put baby in. Sometimes i think its a bit of a shock going from the warm of mummy to the cold bed.

ddebski_us

Wonder_Womble wrote: »

Oh that doesn't sound very good!! How old is your LO?


I am having the same problem and hoped it would settle down. LO is a week old today and seems to have some form of seperation anxiety during the night. But when myself or OH put her in her moses basket she will snooze for about 10 mins then wake up crying. OH has been up all night last night with her to let me get some sleep. She will happily sleep in there for about 45 mins to an hour during the day! Someone please tell me that this is normal and it will pass soon!?

The breast feeding support worker came out yesterday and we got LO feeding from both breasts and I was really chuffed. LO seemed so content and it seemed really straight forward while support worker was there. However once she left LO decided she would now use my nipples as a dummy to soothe her to sleep.

I'm combi feeding at the mo until my milk flow increases, but every time I pick her up she is looking for my breast and won't settle until I let her on, she does a couple of sucks and then falls asleep. If I try and dislodge her she screams. We even tried giving her a dummy last night to soothe her but she wouldn't entertain it. Anyone got any hints or tips?

Also her body clock seems topsy turvey, happy to sleep in her basket all day, but won't settle when we go up to bed. Has anyone else had this and got any advice on how to change it?

Thanks in advance ladies

I know you've had replies to this since you posted but wanted to add what has worked for me (in response to above and other struggling new mums!)

My first few weeks (4-5) were horrendous, with LO screaming regularly until 11 at night and then being up every 2 hours or so. To start with she also slept more during the day.

I read a book called the Sensational Baby Sleep Plan (which is a little controversial but I took the parts from it that made sense...) and from 7-7 fed her every 3 hours, waking her if necessary to stay on track. If she didn't seem to want a feed upon waking, I'd put her down and try again half an hour later. To start with, she was a snacker and I was feeding every hour or so, but gradually it's got better and she's become more efficient at feeding - now lasting 20-40 mins.

I also expressed a feed for 7pm, giving her 4oz to start with at around 6 weeks and at 11 weeks she's now having 6oz. We also bath her each night at 6:30 and she now knows it's bedtime. She'll sleep from 7:30-7:30 with 1 or 2 wakes during the night, usually between 1-2 and then 5-6. I don't mind this as I understand BM doesn't keep them full for as long.

It does get better and you will all find your feet.

xDx

Metranil_Vavin

Thanks mit3. In reality I have had to take a bit of a step backwards with this job in terms of the role itself, but to be honest I'm not bothered.

I'm not in a position now where I can be jetting off around the world on business trips and putting in full time hours.

The girl I will be working with basically does the same thing I used to do, and she just needs some help, so I'll be managing smaller accounts, picking stuff up when she is away and generally helping make her life a bit easier.

The only downside is the fact it's based in Surrey and the train there took me 2 hours last week :eek: so I am going to try driving there instead. If it's a nightmare though, that'll be a major stumbling block.

Ugh DS is going through a really horrible clingy stage. I can't leave the room at all now without him kicking off and going bezerk. It's really wearing as he is so bloody heavy to carry about. I'm hoping he grows out of it soon.

gizmodo_2

Metranil_Vavin wrote: »

The only downside is the fact it's based in Surrey and the train there took me 2 hours last week :eek: so I am going to try driving there instead. If it's a nightmare though, that'll be a major stumbling block.

Ooh where abouts? I'm in Surrey, although it's a big place so I probably won't be able to help you with shortcuts.