Sleep patterns for preemie with reflux?

lwmooney87

Up until the past few weeks, we had it great with DD. She would sleep all night from about 8:30pm-7:30am with one dream feed at about 10:00 or 10:30. She would nap really well during the day- sometimes up to 2-3 hours at a time. I know she's getting older and more active when she does, it's about 30 minutes at a time if that maybe 2-3 times a day. It's rare that it's 45 mins to an hour. I'm thinking her sleep patterns may be my fault.

At night I have to hold her upright for 30 minutes after eating so she falls alseep in my arms. This is the same for naps. Because of this, I think she isn't sleeping well because she's not able to self soothe and put herself to sleep. (She doesn't take a paci...she refuses it) I try to let her cry for a few minutes before going into her room but she will literally whine forever if I don't go get her. (BTW, when she wakes up she's not hungry, if I give her a bottle she will eat 2-3 ounces at most and she will almost immediately fall back asleep if you hold her for a few minutes) She's been doing this A LOT. My question is...what do you guys do? What is your bedtime routine? What time do your LO's go to sleep and wake up? Do you hold them upright after feeding before bed? Do you let them CIO at night time wakings? How are naptimes handled? Sorry for all the questions. It just seems like SOMETHING is screwed up and I'm thinking we need more structure.

adrielegorburu

all I can do is tell you what we do at home - DD is a bad napper and always has been - she naps twice a day for only about 30 minutes - occasionally we will get an hour out of her but normally she will be majorly cranky and tired (eye rubbing paci sucking tired) and we will have to walk around and around until shes almost asleep and then try and put her down somewhere for a nap, usually her PnP (sometimes her swing, or on a pillow on the couch and shes even napped on the floor on her play mat - she WILL NOT NAP in her crib or bassinett) - napping is always an issue but I dont think it has anything to do with her reflux. At night she tends to fall asleep in our arms after (or during) her last bottle. We hold her for 20 minutes or so and put her down in her bassinett and after a few tosses and turns she stays asleep all night 0- we dont dreamfeed or feed at night and we havnt since shes about 3 months adjusted. If she doesnt fall asleep with or after her last bottle (party animal mode) she stays up with us until she starts to llok really tired and then we walk around and look at the fish tank until shes nodding off and then we put her to bed, sometimes there is some crying in the bassinet until she dozes off but hats it. Why is it you think her falling asleep in your arms isnt good for her? I love those days, its the easiest way to put DD down in my opinion

lwmooney87

I never thought it was a problem before but lately it seems like she can't soothe herself back to sleep if she wakes up. She needs us to come in to her room and hold her until she falls back asleep. If she wakes up after you put her in her crib, you have to pick her back up and hold her and the whole process starts over again. I love rocking her to sleep but for some reason, she's waking up at night now and can't seem to get herself back to sleep. I thought maybe that was the culprit. From what I've seen from other boards, you're supposed to put them to bed "drowsy but awake" and they are supposed to put themselves to sleep.

BTW, since you don't dream feed...do you have any problem getting her to sleep all night? I know your DD doesn't have any weight gain issues so you don't have to worry about that but do you find that she makes up for the ounces during the day? DD is only around 14 lbs and she gains weight so slowly, I want to make sure she gets enough calories in.

adrielegorburu

DD hasnt ever had issues with weight gain so I never had to worry about if she was eating enough, I dont schedule so shes always eaten and slept on demand. She just started to sleep for longer stretches at night until she STTN.  She sleeps in a bassinet (Arms reach mini) at my bedside so if she fusses at all at night I just reach over and give her back her paci and she goes right back to sleep. Now that shes getting older if I leave the binkie close to her hand she will put it in herself if she needs it. She gets 5 6oz bottles a day (sometimes she doesnt finish and sometimes she falls asleep before her last bottle) but on most days shes getting 30 oz. She never actually wakes at night so I'm not much help to you - I dont pick her up at night. Could it be develpmental? how old is she now, I can tell when DD is taking a developmental leap - she sleeps like poo for a few days. Its like all of a sudden she figures something out (like lately she started to cry if we take something away from her or if shes reaching for something she cant get to) growth spurts and teething have also messed with her sleep some - maybe you've got a combo of things going on that are waking her up (or messing with her sleep cycles)

nayandjosh

My DS went from sleeping 1.5 hours at a time to 10 hours solid at night because we put him on a routine we learned from Sleep Sense.  My sister is a pediatric endocrinologist and she came over to sleep train my son in 3 days.  The book has what you should do for all stages, 0-3 months, 3-12 months, 12-18 months, etc.  It has chapters on naps and feedings too.  Its not really a book, its a pdf file but the gist of it is "eat, play sleep".  Rule #1 is do not let them fall asleep taking the bottle, and put them to sleep awake.  My son was on oxygen and had monitors and reflux, it was a nightmare!  He was awful the first 6 weeks he was home from the hospital and I thought it was the cannula or the monitor belt around his chest, but it turns out he was just strung out from being tired!  Slept the whole night since and still takes 3 to 4 naps a day and he'll be 1 on thursday.  HTH!