Sleep disruption advice, pls

JSS1002 · July 2013

Hey ladies, LO will be 4 months old on Monday and I am in need of some serious sleep advice.

I went back to work last night, and little dude -- who has always been a great sleeper -- was an EXCELLENT sleeper that week, sleeping straight from 8 PM'ish to 5 or 6 or even 7 AM... it was amazing! He had a slight cold over the weekend (thank you daycare), and then this week the switch has flipped.

He's been waking in the middle of the night HORRIBLY upset -- cry cry cry crying bordering on screaming, food does only a little to help him, kicking like crazy, even writhing and arching his back if I set him down to change him. He does have reflux and is on zantac, but this has never been a problem in the middle of the night before. Last night he took down 5 oz right away when he woke up... but seemed so incredibly hungry still aftewards that I gave him another 4 oz bottle (which he sucked down as though he was being starved).

more crying, writhing, kicking, squirming... finally I put him in the bath becaues he loves the bath and it usually calms him down, and he just cried and cried, os I took him OUT of the bath, put him in a sleep n/ play (he'd spit up on his halo sleep swaddle), more rocking, and then he just finally passed out from exhaustion in my arms and then happily slept until 6:45 AM... when he had another 5 oz, and was all smiles on the way to and when I left him at school.

All in all,he was awake from 12:30 AM - almost 3 AM.

Any advice or shared experiences or suggestions on how to handle this?

It would be one thing if I was a SAHM, but unfortunately I have to be a professional today... unfun.

VPGIRL06 · July 2013

I'd call your ped and see if the zantac dose needs to be adjusted. I'm pretty sure Zantac dosage is weight sensitive, so if your LO recently had a growth spurt (very likely, since he's almost 4 months and probably just hit the 12 week one) the dosage may be too small and his reflux is effecting him.

it's weird that your LO is hungry-if he's going to daycare, how much are they feeding him? ? I know when I worked at a daycare we fed babies by a schedule so if your LO needs his oz upped to meet the time frame that they feed bottles in then he may not be getting enough food. It doesn't sound like the 4 month wakeful from what I've read, but then again my LO didn't really hit that so I'm not sure other mom's experience.

JSS1002 · July 2013

I think he might need to be taking more oz per feeding based on what i've read in another thread. The daycare uses an app that tracks all his bottles, diapers, and naps, so I know they are feeding him regularly, he usually takes 4-5 oz bottles but I'm wondering if we should up that amount (he's probably 17 lbs).

Re: the zantac -- yes, the ped upped his dosage at our last appt, but he probably needs ot be upped again. Good call. I have a call into them right now to ask about oz of formula, so I will ask about this too.

VPGIRL06 · July 2013

he might. My LO is about 16.5lbs and takes 26-30 oz spread over 4 bottles (6-8 oz per bottle) and she STTN. If he's sucking down formula like it's his job that might be it. But the zantac too, esp. if growth spurt hit since his 2 month apt (i'm assuming unless you go for 3 instead of 2 months)

JSS1002 · July 2013

I just got off the phone with a nurse in our pediatricians office and it sounds like he might not be eating quite enough. And he might need more zantac, so tonight I need to weigh him and figure out. His 4 month appt is coming up but not for a couple weeks and momma needs sleep.

(I also caught the cold he had over the weekend, making this especially more miserable)

JSS1002 · July 2013

Nicb13 said:

JSS1002 said:

I just got off the phone with a nurse in our pediatricians office and it sounds like he might not be eating quite enough. And he might need more zantac, so tonight I need to weigh him and figure out. His 4 month appt is coming up but not for a couple weeks and momma needs sleep.

(I also caught the cold he had over the weekend, making this especially more miserable)
Good thing the Pedi's office was able to give you some advice but I also wanted to say that sleep regressions do happen and I'm not trying to be negative but just because your LO was sleeping good at one point doesn't mean he always will. I used to get my hopes up when DS would sleep really good then he'd go back to waking multiple times in the night again. Hopefully the meds and upping the amount he eats will help right now though.

Yes, thank you, i know it won't be consistent but the behavior was so odd, it wasn't crying or being awake, it was a lot of kicking, arching his back, writhing... really hard to watch. I just got a text from the daycare saying that he looks really red and to bring diaper cream tomorrow, so maybe he has some diaper rash too. Sigh. My poor little guy. I miss him so much right now.

JSS1002 · July 2013

Nicb13 said:

JSS1002 said:

Nicb13 said:

JSS1002 said:

I just got off the phone with a nurse in our pediatricians office and it sounds like he might not be eating quite enough. And he might need more zantac, so tonight I need to weigh him and figure out. His 4 month appt is coming up but not for a couple weeks and momma needs sleep.

(I also caught the cold he had over the weekend, making this especially more miserable)
Good thing the Pedi's office was able to give you some advice but I also wanted to say that sleep regressions do happen and I'm not trying to be negative but just because your LO was sleeping good at one point doesn't mean he always will. I used to get my hopes up when DS would sleep really good then he'd go back to waking multiple times in the night again. Hopefully the meds and upping the amount he eats will help right now though.
Yes, thank you, i know it won't be consistent but the behavior was so odd, it wasn't crying or being awake, it was a lot of kicking, arching his back, writhing... really hard to watch. I just got a text from the daycare saying that he looks really red and to bring diaper cream tomorrow, so maybe he has some diaper rash too. Sigh. My poor little guy. I miss him so much right now.

That does sound like odd behavior It's so hard to know what's wrong with them at that age. Good luck to you and hopefully you all start sleeping better!

Welllllllllllllll the daycare called at 4 and said he was running a temp and had four loose stools in 20 minutes. And that he had red hot diaper rash. So DH raced in to get him, I raced off to get desitin, and together we raced him to the pediatrician -- he has a virus and bad diaper rash from diarrhea... so that explains last night's weird behavior. I'll be staying home with him tomorrow. Poor little dude, he's just crashed out now.