24 days old and often won't settle at night for HOURS

[WooLulu]

DS2 is between 3 and 4 weeks and breastfed. He sleeps for hours in the day (in his bouncy chair/pram if we're out) but is very difficult to settle at night.

Our night feeds/winding/pooing routine is rarely under one hour and often two. Yesterday he wouldn't settle really after 1am and today he's only dozed a bit (in my bed) since 4am. We change/feed/wind etc and then sometimes he poos again so go through the whole thing again.

I can't tell if it's simply that he hates the Moses basket or whether he has bad wind for hours. He gets very gripey in bed and often doesn't really burp. His poos/farts are quite explosive.

Lack of sleep is really making me hate it all at the moment and he must be tired too. Doesn't help that DS2 would go back to sleep around 7am for some hours but that DS1 is usually up for the day around 6-6.20.

How do you keep night feeds short and settle your babies afterwards?

[WooLulu]

Now DS2 has just had an explosion and conked out in my bed immediately. So he's asleep at last (first sleep since 4am) but he's got a dirty nappy. Also it's 7.45am and poor knackered husband is busy with DS1 and it's breakfast time really. What you do in this situation?

[knaffedoff]

I would encourage you to find a local support group for specific advice, however in the meantime babies do need to feed more often at night particularly if they are feeding less and sleeping the day away. Good luck and congratulations

[mouldycheesefan]

Does he have a lactose intolerance? Or just wind, have you tried infacol or similar? Could he have reflux, my daughter had this but it took several weeks for us to realise.

[katienana]

You change him and hope he doesn't wake, it's not worth risking a sore bum.
I found the first 6 weeks my ds would poo during the night and it take ages to resettle but after 6 weeks he stopped and went longer stretches. Just keep in mid nothing is permanent and try to make changes as easy as possible by having everything nearby and using a lamp.

[MigGril]

Are he's still so little, but I'd say this is more of a feeding issue. I seek help at your local breastfeeding group of you have one. Or give one of the helplines a ring, if he's sleeping a lot in the day then he's going to need to feed at some point. Babies this age need about 10-12 feeds in 24hours (if I remember that right). And night feeding is great for building up your milk supply so many babies do this in the early weeks. But it's worth going over everything to make sure there's nothing you can do to help him seal.

[ricketytickety]

Infacol will help with the wind. And putting his bed on a slant. Explosive poo is common with bf baby. See your HV for better advice or the local bf group. Just remember - this time will pass. And nap in the day with him if you can

[WooLulu]

Thanks for the tips. I am bf on demand, often at least 12 times a day, and he's a big boy (95th percentile) so I think he's getting enough. But he's a less attentive feeder than my first and often falls asleep on the boob which makes him difficult to wind.

Think we'll try infacol, maybe get the Moses basket on a slant and continue with the bicycling legs. Maybe it's just that his most awake time, at the moment, is in the early hours...

[starfish12]

Try and get out with him every day in the pram so he exposed to lots of natural light as it will help set his circadian rhythm.

Totally normal for them to be fussy in the eves... early bedtime doesn't come in for some weeks yet.

Very hard with 2 little ones but you will find your groove. Hard as it is now just try and roll with it and don't expect number 2 to be like number 1 (which is the mistake I'm making and getting stressed about why he isn't sleeping thru by now like number 1!!!).

Good luck xx