Help! DS (7 wks) not settling back to sleep after night feeds

[spongebrainbigpants]

Hope some more experienced mumsnetters can help me - my DS, 7 weeks old tomorrow, is in most respects a little star. Not a screamer, eats well, sleeps well, etc, etc. Only one problem - night noises!

He normally wakes at 1 am and then again at about 4.30/5am. I'm ff so dh does the 2nd feed, I do the first one. DS has trouble bringing wind up, and it can take me an hour/hour and a half end to end to feed and wind him (is that too long?) and even then, he drops off to sleep and then starts making these groaning and grunting noises and squirming. Sometimes he stays asleep through this so I leave him in his Moses basket, but I can't go back to sleep! If he's awake then I take him back out and try and carry on winding him - should I be doing this?

He actually falls asleep better on his front, so sometimes I put him on his front on my bed (I'm sitting up doing this so no chance I'll fall asleep cos of risk of SIDS) and once he's dropped off I flip him over back into his Moses basket.

At the 5am feed we get the wind, but also sometimes he just seems absolutely wide awake and lies kicking around and gurgling in his Moses basket. Dh just goes back to sleep but I stay awake until DS drops off - is it ok to try and sleep while DS is wide awake?

Sorry, some of these questions must seem really stupid but I'm a first time mum and a bit clueless about all this (didn't realise how noisy babies were when they were asleep for starters!!). I'm becoming quite seriously sleep deprived now and wondering if anyone has any suggestions?!

[laura325630]

My dd is also 7 weeks and had this problem although she seems better now. We are bottle feeding and she has trouble with wind. We give her gripe water on every other feed and it is fantastic. She has massive burps now and is a lot happier going to back to sleep.

She doesnt go down until around 11/12pm each night and is awake at 8am!! She too grunts all the time when she is asleep but we leave her to it although I dont tend to sleep until I know she is asleep and grunting! I have her in bed with me in a snugglenest - I stroke her nose between her eyes and she usually drops off quite easily.

Good luck, he will get there x

[pudding25]

I know what you mean about not being able to sleep until you know they are! in fact, many a night, DD goes back to sleep and I am still awake for ages.
I wouldnt worry about going back to sleep if he is still awake. If he is upset, he will start crying and wake you up. If he is grunting but asleep, then I wouldnt worry about it as he would be awake if uncomfortable. I am BF so not too sure about wind and bottle feeding and how long it takes to get wind up or best way to do it so hopefully someone else can advise but why don't you try the gripe water and see if that makes a difference. Good luck.

[LadyBee]

Hi Infacol helps them to burp more easily, the grunting and squirming does sound like he suffering a bit from trapped wind, so perhaps you could try using Infacol regularly before each feed and see whether that helps him out? It did for my DS, we used it from about week 4 to week 13 when he started being able to burp more easily by himself.
DS also preferred sleeping on his side or front during this time, I think it's possibly related to the wind discomfort.

As for sleeping while DS is awake - sure, why not? If he's safe & content to be awake, looking about, not hungry, not bored, not upset, there's nothing you need to do for him so may as well get some more shuteye. You'll probably only doze lightly anyway so feel confident that you'll wake if he does need something - and it doesn't necessarily mean you're waiting for him to cry before responding, I wake when I hear DS start his little 'ahem' coughs for food, one of his early hungry cues. Mum radar is on a pretty sensitive setting

[spongebrainbigpants]

Thank you for the replies - we have tried infacol and gripe water, they have helped but not stopped the night noises.

dh slept with LO last night and Saturday and he only woke once for a feed at 4.30am (I was sleeping in the spare room) so I wonder how much of his disturbed sleep is down to me disturbing him as much as him disturbing me. Is it time to move him into the nursery?

laura, v at the 8am start!

pudding, do bf babies not get wind as well? Or is it not as bad?

ladybee, yes mum radar is a little too sensitive sometimes!!