Advice needed on sleep situation

mom2be0912 · December 2012

B is 6 weeks old right now and from the start, he had very bad gas pains and some mild reflux, especially while he was sleeping causing him to grunt all. night. long. None of us were getting any sleep. After trying multiple things to ease his gassiness, the only sleeping position that would even slightly work for him was to be in his swing since it's the only thing we had with an incline. Fast forward several weeks later and he is still sleeping in his swing, with it on or off depending on whether he needs a little extra assistance in getting to sleep. He still grunts but not as bad. We also discovered and corrected a tongue tie a week and a half ago which has made an improvement since it was causing him to suck in so much extra air while nursing.

I really want to transition him to at least sleeping flat, whether it's in bed with us or in his PnP and eventually we will transition him to his crib (but we're not ready for that yet). I feel like whenever we lay him flat, he flails his arms and legs all over the place and wakes himself up, but on the other hand, if we swaddle him, he will scream until his arms are free. I feel like how the swing cradles him allows him to feel like he's got some support all around him and yet his arms are still free. Does anyone have any advice as to how we can make this transition so he doesn't sleep in his swing forever? Or have we totally created a monster? Until now, I've had the attitude of "whatever works" because I had to get some form of sleep and that's what we did but now I gotta figure out how to establish some better habits! TIA!

PixelPosy · December 2012

The RnP is suppose to be great for reflux babies because of the incline. That's what my LO sleeps in and she likes that cradled feeling as well. I thought I'd try to move her to the crib for at least naps...but now I go with the attitude of it works for us, why experiment. We'll deal with it when she outgrows the RnP and keep our sanity for now.

yinyang124 · December 2012

He's only 6 weeks. I don't think you need to try to transition him yet. I would try to put him down for a nap on his back and go from there.

dcunningham2 · December 2012

yinyang124:
He's only 6 weeks. I don't think you need to try to transition him yet. I would try to put him down for a nap on his back and go from there.

This. You have plenty of time to start routines.

Britt1406 · December 2012

I second the RnP. LO stopped sleeping in the PnP and would only sleep with me. So I founf a RnP for 20 on CL and he sleeps much better in that!

AmyP4383 · December 2012

We have had Daniel is his crib since week 1. To deal with reflux we actually elevated his mattress by rolling a blanket underneath one end 30' angle. I know you are not ready for crib but an FYI for the future.