10 week old will only nap if being held!

[Maysoond]

Help! My DS will only nap if I hold her. The moment I put her down she wakes up. She will be 10 weeks old on Sunday and is diagnosed with Reflux and is currently on Prilosec. The meds are helping but she also super gassy. Her crib is inclined to help with the reflux as she gurgles a lot on her sleep. I have a two year old and I can't get anything done! She won't nap in the swing and she will does not like the Ergo baby. She is exclusively breastfed and I cut out dairy, caffeine, sugar and any gassy foods. I don't want to let her CIO as she is so young. But I would like to teach her to sleep on her own. She's too young for pu/pd. Shhh pat works sometimes. She is not on a good EASY routine because I spend so much time trying to get her to sleep in her crib. I put her down when she is asleep and she wakes up right when I put her down! She's in a cycle of over tired!!! Help!! I'm exhausted and she's up every hour at night between 3am-6am

[ammie32]

Ahh!  I know this all too well as my 1st DS was this way.  I held him,Daddy held him, Grammy held him, we all did.  He wanted no such part of lying alone for a nap.  That's when I bought the baby whisperer book and a big bottle of wine:)  To be honest it really took time to get him to sleep independently.  I should have swaddled him, which I didn't.  My now 4 week old is swaddled and no one is allowed to ever hold him asleep:)  Is your LO swaddled?  Will LO take a paci?  I would ask also what your nap time routine is?  For example, I swaddle my DS, turn on the fan for white noise and sit quietly with him still for 5 min until he begins to nod off.  Then I lay him down VERY carefully so as not to startle.  For the 1st few weeks I HAD to shush pat, but now he is is good without.  I know how frustrating the baby who only sleeps while held is!!!  Hugs and sending some good fortune your way for some independent naps in the near future!

[Maysoond]

Hi! Yes so tired!! Tried not holding her as first dd was like this but she wouldn't sleep otherwise! She is swaddled. She sleeps much better swaddled! I have her in the miracle blanket so she can't get out. She refuses paci! Tried 5 different brands! Don't want to force it. Our nap time routine needs work. Trying to get her out of state of overtired! For naps I swaddle her, and put her against my shoulder and pat and bounce as she won't sleep otherwise! Also have white noise! I usually wait till deep sleep and put her down, but she still wakes up and I have to start all over!
She had her 2 month shots yesterday and I moved her to her crib last night( was a nightmare, up every hour ). Her crib is inclined slightly because of reflux. I will start shush pat tomm with naps. How long did you do it for and did you have to go in at the 45 minute mark or so he sleep through?

[ammie32]

Ugh... I know those frustrations all too well.  It makes for a lot of sleepless nights and well needed naps of your own

I dont always use shush pat unless DS has trouble settling which usually means that he is OT and I missed the boat on his happy sleepy window.  So, I go into his room, swaddle, turn on white noise and sit in the rocker with him totally still... no rocking or patting.  I hold him cradle style.  Sometimes I walk the house holding him in the swaddle and multi task if he isn't quite ready to settle.  When his eyes start drooping I go back to the room and sit still.  Then I set his CAREFULLY in the crib and slowly remove my hands.  If he does stir and fuss I pat and shush.  He usually makes it past the 45 min.  Sometimes not.  I get him up and he has an earlier feed and ready for a nap quicker again. 

I hope that helps... You will get it!  Just stay consistent and try to make whatever works work!!!  Good luck and keep us posted. 

Ammie

[Papaya]

Hugs hun, no one here will be suggesting you leave your LO to cry, we don't advocate CC or CIO at ANY  age

I'm really wondering is the reflux under control? If there's still some discomfort there, you can't really try to teach independent sleep just yet.  Has her med dosage been checked recently? They can be very weight specific and LOs put on weight so quickly! Even with the crib elevated - is she still making those uncomfortable sounds?

The early morning wakings - is she hungry, are you feeding her during the night? Or gas? If you have quite a strong letdown when feeding, this can sometimes cause gas issues too: Forceful Let-Down Problems

It this age, she should only be awake for about 1hr20-30 before going down for her next nap - and that's everything eyes open to eyes closed, so feeding and any settling time included. If you think she's really OT at the moment, I would aim for a shorter A time. I would start with swaddling and doing shh/pat over your shoulder, similar to what you have been doing, and then continue the shh/pat as you put her down in the crib (some refluxers are not so keen on the patting bit - maybe just a hand on her might suit her better). Stay with her for the first 20mins to see that she doesn't jolt herself awake. Then you may need to go back in at the 40 min mark as well, as she learns to transition. With another LO, it probably won't be feasible to do this every nap unless you have help - so you could start by aiming for the first nap or two of the day in the crib, and be prepared to AP (= accidental parent) the later ones if you need to.

As PP said, if LO only does a short nap, keeping the next A time short as well is key to avoid OT

xx

[Maysoond]

Yes I do have a fast let down and i have been block feeding since birth. Now she is taking both sides during wach feed. We have been working on that since day one and it seems to have gotten better. I think she's waking due to gas between 3-6. I do feed her but she will only eat a little so last night if it wasn't at least two hours I would just Rock and pat back to sleep. She is not interested in food more interested in comfort. Thanks for the tip about adjusting the meds. I emailed the doctor and she upped her dose from 2 ml to 2.6ml. Yes she is making those uncomfortable sounds and is gurgling a lot in her sleep. They did an upper gi X-ray about two weeks ago to rule everything out as she spits up a lot and it was normal. Only thing is the reflux. My first dd had reflux but not as bad.

I know that she swallows a lot of air during nursing as she doesn't fully latch. I went to the lc and we tried everything, but dd refuses to latch properly. I burp her throughout her feeding and sometimes at night she won't burp. I do hold her upright for 15-20 minutes after each feeding due to her reflux. I tried giving her a bottle but she refuses. I tried several brands.

Thanks everyone for your help. Any other tips are welcomed with open arms :-)

[Fiver]

she doesn't fully latch

Can you clarify this, please?  Do you mean her mouth isn't properly closed around the breast, so she is clicking/swallowing air?  Or do you mean her latch is shallow and she's not getting enough breast into her mouth?

[Maysoond]

She is clicking and swallowing a lot of air and she does not take the entire aeroela in her mouth. She has very shallow latch. I have to keep pulling her off and trying to get her to take full latch

[Fiver]

Have you tried an exaggerated latch (http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CDIQtwIwAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DOGttPTx7iSs&ei=tm26UOjuO8600QX8zYCgCg&usg=AFQjCNHwf-5XaLF06F3dOklTP8mpUz_ISw&sig2=17stAcYPe5WopbNnQ-KQ_A) - it might help to get a bit more breast in there.

Are you getting pain alongside the shallow latch or any discolouration/misshaping of your nipple?

[Maysoond]

No pain and no discoloration. Thanks for the link its worth trying.

[Fiver]

Otherwise it might be worth looking out another LC to see if they have any other ideas.  I would've thought a good LC would be doing all they could to find a solution for you rather than, seemingly, trying some things and then sending you away without a way forward

[Maysoond]

Yup! She basically said that they gave me all the tips they could and that there's nothing else they can help me with. Was very frustrating especially since I knew her latch wasn't proper like my first dd. because of reflux should I feed every two or three hour schedule? Now she occassionally grazes but I know it makes things worse

[Fiver]

Can you find another LC who would be able to go through this with you again and actually find a solution?  I find that totally unacceptable and am sorry this is where you find yourself

I'm not entirely sure about timing, but how about trying for 2.5h so feeds aren't too close together, but not too far apart?  Sometimes refluxers will feed more frequently because the milk soothes the burn, yes, it can mean they're more sick.  A hard juggling act

[Maysoond]

Thanks for your help and support!! I am going to call the one I went to for my first dd tomorrow to set up an appointment. I will keep you posted. Oh and I have been doing 2.5 between feedings and seems to be going well

[Fiver]

Good news.  Yes, keep us posted, thanks