Preemie eating/sleeping troubles! :( - UPDATE

I'm sure I should be posting on a different board, but since this is my 'home board', I'm curious to see others advice!

My baby Grayson is a month old now! He has bad reflux therefore he has to have rice cereal in his formula. In turn, this rice cereal has made him constipated and today he is just miserable. In the NICU we had an every 3 hour eating schedule that he seemed to wake up for pretty well and we've implemented at home, HOWEVER, now that he's constipated he's so fussy and in pain that he's up a lot whining and crying and then when he does get to sleep, he wants to sleep through his feeding times.

I've woken him up when it was time but he's usually too tired and it seems to forced for him to eat that it always seems to puke it up through his mouth and nose. Should I be waking him up and striving to stay on a schedule or just go with the flow? I feel like I can't win!

We've tried gripe water for the gas and he can't keep it down due to it's thick/stickiness. We've tried adding dark karo syrup which, again, he has a hard time keeping down.

Suggestions?

UPDATE: OK! It's been 3 days that I've fed LO without the rice cereal and he's keeping it down perfectly! thank goodness....
Simultaneously (he still seems in pain and constipated) so I've been giving him a couple oz of apple juice mixed with baby water and adding in a dab or dark karo syrup. This was what my ped advised me to do and it's not done much for him. He was one almost normal bowel movement this morning but nothing since then (abt 10 hours now) & he's grunting non stop and seems, still, in pain. I called back to ask what I should do and they advised me to do the apple juice for another 2 days. I don't understand why! I feel so bad for him

We've done countless bicycle kicks & tummy massages as well....I guess we'll see