Babies: 0 - 3 Months

Hard Nights

Hi everyone, I’ve seen a few posts similar to this but wanted to air out my frustrations. My son will be seven weeks on Saturday 8/19 and the nights in our house are ROUGH. My husband is a firefighter so twice a week it is just me with him for 24 (26ish hours really) which is hard with any circumstance.

When we brought baby home he slept great, even 3-4 hour stretches! But as the weeks went by, really at 3 weeks he started grunting more and bringing his knees to his chest. I’d have to settle him for a long time to sleep. We started getting 2 hour stretches. Now it has come to the point where the only stretch of sleep we can get is if he is sleeping on a chest which means one of us is awake or if my husband takes him for a drive in his truck. If you place him on his back within 2 minutes he is grunting, bringing his knees to his chest, and eventually crying. He isn’t spitting up excessively, maybe once a day but his poor tummy gets hard as a rock so I know he’s got some intense gas pain. He also went from 6-7 poops a day to 3.

We massage his belly, do bicycle kicks and pull his legs up to his belly to relieve the gas but it feels like too little too late. We got the Frida windi and it hasn’t helped at all. He hates being swaddled and the pacifier doesn’t distract him from his grunting and I’d still have to be right there to hold it in his mouth. He actually typically settles really well and passes out quickly from being rocked and goes into the bassinet well, but the second I get myself back into bed he’s grunting, pulling his knees to his chest and eventually crying. I’m doing my best to breastfeed him as upright as possible and burping 2-3 times a feeding and holding him upright and having him start on his tummy to help push any gas out. I’m working each feeding to make sure he’s latched well.

Definitely wearing me out. We have his 2 month appointment august 29th so I’ll talk to the pediatrician then. Thanks for listening mommas. It has to get better sometime.

Re: Hard Nights

  • my son is 8 weeks tomorrow and we went through some of this in the past week or so.  I try to make sure he has some upright time after nursing so gravity can help him digest 💁🏻‍♀️. If you download The Wonder Weeks app, there are certain fussy periods around 6/7 weeks and it explains what growth is going on.  This helps me know it’s not me or the baby, it’s baby’s growth!  It will get better though!
  • Sounds familiar!! We have a gassy babe as well. You mentioned a lot of the same tricks we try. One I didn't see was Mylicon gas drops. These have helped our LO, and they were recommended by his pediatrician. They're over the counter. I've also heard of probiotics helping, and also got that approved by his pediatrician, but haven't tried that yet.

    Ultimately, time is best healer, I think. You're doing great! We can do this!!
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  • I am also going through this exact situation. The grunting, the pain, the only sleeping being held in one of our arms. I’m trying everything you shared you’re doing too. It’s SO hard. I am exhausted and the mom sadness if watching my LO in discomfort is just devastating. What did your paediatrician suggest when you chatted with them?
  • It's NORMAL! what looks like pain and constipation at this age, as long as they're pooping ok, is just developmental. If you actually stop and pay attention, our digestive systems do a lot of strange, uncomfortable, and sometimes painful things. Baby hasn't dealt with that in all his time in utero. He really just has to get through it. I know we want to fix it, but his discomfort will decrease as his system matures and he gets used to it
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