September 2016 Moms
lilaros
member
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Sleep Issues
lilaros
member
Hi ladies. I know I have complained about my son's sleep issues many times before but I'm starting to think this is a bigger issue that needs to be addressed with a pediatrician. Most people are dismissive about how badly he sleeps so I guess I am just trying to gage of this is legitimacy of this issue before addressing it with his doctor.
Here's the rundown: He just turned 3 Months and usually sleeps for max 1-2 hours stretches at night. He slept for 4 hours straight twice in his life both times around 6-8 weeks. Lately his sleeping has been worse. Tonight for example, he has been up every 15-30 minutes since we put him to bed at 7:30 PM. It's now 3 AM. He takes about 3-4 naps a day usually with 3-5 hours of sleep spread out between those naps. We have a whole bedtime routine, I do a dream feed, he's swaddled and none of this seems to make a difference. We have tried literally every sleep tip that exists on the internet (with the exception of CIO) and nothing has even eeked us out an extra hour of sleep. I cannot continue on like this but I am unsure what to do to make things better. I'm hoping having a doctor involved might provide some insight but I'm not even sure they'all have any suggestions.
Here's the rundown: He just turned 3 Months and usually sleeps for max 1-2 hours stretches at night. He slept for 4 hours straight twice in his life both times around 6-8 weeks. Lately his sleeping has been worse. Tonight for example, he has been up every 15-30 minutes since we put him to bed at 7:30 PM. It's now 3 AM. He takes about 3-4 naps a day usually with 3-5 hours of sleep spread out between those naps. We have a whole bedtime routine, I do a dream feed, he's swaddled and none of this seems to make a difference. We have tried literally every sleep tip that exists on the internet (with the exception of CIO) and nothing has even eeked us out an extra hour of sleep. I cannot continue on like this but I am unsure what to do to make things better. I'm hoping having a doctor involved might provide some insight but I'm not even sure they'all have any suggestions.
Re: Sleep Issues
Also, when he's getting up frequently is he legitimately up and crying or is he being noisey? The reason I ask is because there are a number of occasions when it sounds like my LO is up, but when I go to him, his eyes are closed. Unless my LO is actually crying, we typically wait a few minutes and many times he falls back asleep.
I know you have a bedtime routine, but do you have a consistent bed time and wake-up time? I've read a few baby books lately and many of them stress the importance of being consistent with bedtime and wake up time.
When does his last nap take place in relation to bedtime? Although it sounds like he's getting good daytime sleep (sleep begets sleep), perhaps he's having a long nap too late into the afternoon/early evening.
I don't pull him out of his Bassinet unless he is full blown crying. If he is just fussing, I'll try to put my hand on his chest to get him back to sleep.
I haven't been super consistent with the wake up time so that's definitely a good thing for try working on. He is usually up for the day sometime between 6:30-7:30 AM. I should probably try and pick a time and stick to it. After that he typical goes down for naps at 9:00, 12:30/1:00 and 3:00 sometimes if his lunch time nap isn't very good he'll take two naps in the afternoon/early evening. The morning naps are consistently good long naps. I try to have him up by 5:00 every night and we start his bedtime routine (bath, story, bottle) at 7:00 and aim to get him down by 7:30. Usually he goes down for bed pretty easily, thank goodness.
Oh and thank god, but I am not back to work yet.I do go back in a month though so I would definitely like things to be better than they are right now!
if you get meds just remember it can take a bit for them to work fully. Zantac is ok but really not best for severe reflux babies. Prevacid is ok but they can grow a tolerance to it. Nexium seems to be the best. No tolerance issues and is a PPI.
Best of luck to you mommy! You are on the right track :-)
The main issue they're concerned with right now is that he is not gaining enough weight. He only gained 5 oz in a month, going from the 90th percentile for weight to the 48th. He has a weight check this Friday and if he doesn't gain then he has to go in for an ultrasound to rule out plyoric stenosis, though they're pretty sure that isn't the case.