My preemie was born 6 weeks early and it 6 weeks old (or corrected age, 2 days)
I am completely drained and exhausted. He will start getting fussy in the evenings and typically will scream and cry from 12am-8am. The only thing that will soothe him is his pacifier, however, after he falls back to sleep it falls out of his mouth and he resumes screaming, which means, I stay up ALL night and morning putting it back in his mouth over and over and over and over again.
I've tried letting him cry it out, doesn't work. I've tried holding and rocking him and it works, but the very second I lay him down...screaming. We give him gas drops and get good burps out of him after he's eaten so I wouldn't think it's gas?...but who knows. I change him when he's dirty or wet. Today I decided I'd try to go the day without giving him his paci, rather see if he could be soothed by his glow worm. This seemed to work, however the second it stopped playing music (It plays for about 8 minutes) he's back to screaming and crying. He doesn't show any signs of being sick and his temperature has been normal also.
He IS a very gassy baby (passing gas and burping constantly) but I'm not sure what else we could do to help with that. When leaving the NICU he was on a 3 hour schedule so I've tried to keep that, however with all of this crying I've been feeding him sooner and more ml per bottle. He seems to suck it right down....almost to the point that I'm afraid I'm overfeeding him. (only done this a couple of times)
WHAT ELSE CAN I DO?!
Re: Desperate for sleep advice! HELP!
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any back arching with the crying? Reflux doesn't always equal tons of spit-up ....
What about bowel movement issues... do they seem normal - regular timing and consistency? Just thinking that it may possibly be a formula/your diet (if bf'ing) sensitivity issue, at a long shot.. My little guy has severe reflux as well as dairy intolerance. At the pediatrician's suggestion, I recently tested him on Gerber Gentle to see if he's outgrown the sensitivity and he writhed and screamed for 3 hours after a bottle of it. So we are back to Alimentum until further notice.
If Reflux is ruled out-I found a product in CVS or Walgreens that is called Colic Calm. But your LO may still be a little too young to try it out. It's a thick, tarry like goo-liquid that smells a little like charcoal. I think it's made by Hyland's but I could be wrong. But on the same shelf as their homeopathic meds for babies. One of my twins had a horrid "witching hour" and gripe water didn't touch it, but a coworker of hubby mentioned it worked for his baby, and it really helped my baby at that time. . It runs about $25 a small bottle and it will permanently stain clothing and sheets, so be careful about that if you do try it.
We are all addicted to white noise machines around here. Seriously. It was the only thing that would help my second child sleep longer than an hour and a half during the night. She was such a light sleeper that any sound would startle her awake and screaming. She had a horrible time learning to soothe; she was about 20 months before she finally slept through the night. Thankfully, she is now one of my heaviest sleepers in the family.
Definitely bring this up with the pediatrician, and soon!
- baby wearing: DD needed to be close and snug. It can be a big shock for LO's leaving the safety and comfort of the womb. Even DH wore her.
- swaddle: we had to use a double swaddle method to get it tight enough and for it to stay on. But similarly to baby wearing, young babies feel more safe and secure in a swaddle.
- white noise: we still use it and found that it's been really helpful when we're traveling too. It's something familiar and soothing.
- rock n play and co-sleeping: DD would sleep in the RNP for short periods. The incline helps with gas and reflux. I would sleep when she did. Sometimes this meant going to sleep at 7:30. When she woke and needed a feeding, I would bring her into bed with me and BF laying down. For months, she would latch on and off all night. It wasn't great sleep for me but it was something. I took her out of the swaddle when co-sleeping.
- feeding: dd was on a schedule at NICU as well. But we really wanted to EBF so when she got home we fed on demand. So for you, maybe more frequent feedings? Or take a look at your diet if BF or formula? Gripe water didn't work for us but worked for others I know.
- bouncing: to get DD to sleep, we held her while bouncing/sitting on a yoga ball. The motion helped and sitting on the ball made it possible to keep doing it for a while.
-CIO: we didn't give that a go until DD was 8 months. And we did a modified version of it. Listening more for how she was crying and not necessarily timing it. In the end, she really didn't sleep through the night until about 13 months.
Good luck to you and hope you can get some rest!