8 week old DD won't sleep!!! Feeling desperate :(

[Absofrigginlootly]

Posted this in 'sleep' but also posting here for traffic. Sorry, but I am so desperate now!!!!

Sorry this is long, but detail needed I think. Typing this after hours of trying to get DD to sleep she has finally given in and asleep on me (for the moment).....

DD is almost 8 weeks old and exclusively BF. Has always been a crap sleeper/frequent waker and fought naps in the day but sometimes went 2-3 hours in her cot at night.

This week (week 7) she has become even more alert and it's made her sleeping even more of a nitemare! She is basically point blank refusing to sleep anywhere but on me or DH so we have to take it in turns throughout the night...but sometimes she won't even sleep on us until hours of 'battling' her to sleep have passed!

I have noticed that if she is awake for more than 2 hours she goes into meltdown (hard as she is SO alert she would stay awake all day of left to her own devices!!! This has happened on few days when I've had to attend appointments, and ends in hours and hours of screaming and taking until 12-1am to settle her!!!) so I try to get her back to sleep before 1-2 hours of awake time.... Hit and miss at the moment.

We are both feeling desperate now, if DH wasn't here I'd be averaging 1-2hrs a night max. Surely this isn't normal?! You can tell she's exhausted but she just won't let herself go, and even when she does, she's sleeping so lightly that the slightest thing (e.g, she moves her own arm) wakes her up. She's comfort sucking so much she's pooing loads, I'm worried she'll make herself ill...but if I don't give it to her then she just screams hysterically!!! The only time she gives in if I refuse her the boob (if I'm ridiculously sore for e.g.) cuddle her/rock her and essentially let her cry (which is f'king awful!) is after many many hours and she is completely exhausted. Can't co sleep....have tried it, it doesn't work because she wakes herself up, being led down next it me is the same as being in her cot so she might as well be in there because at least I sleep better. Sometimes I can rock her to sleep if she's almost asleep from feeding lots, but she's getting so heavy I can't do it much longer because it makes my stitches hurt (extensive tearing) Even DH is struggling to rock her to sleep now.

My HV is useless and never has more than 5 mins to speak because she's so disorganised and always running late. All the usual suggestions (swaddling, trips out in pram/car seat, white noise, dummy etc) make no difference at all :(

Considering giving a bottle of formula last thing at night....?! But I KNOW she's not hungry, she just won't sleep!!!!!! So don't think it would make any difference and after all I've gone thru to breastfeed (another thread!!) it feels like a failure.

I'm feeling pretty low and desperate....

Update: scales arrived today, DD following just above 50th centile line perfectly...has done since birth so defo don't think it's a hunger/BF thing

Well after a brief chat with a neighbour who is a local HV she said even urgent paeds appointments were taking up to 4 weeks(!!!!) I got desperate and went to a&e!!!!! Eventually seen by paediatrician who has indeed diagnosed silent reflux and possible cows milk protein intolerance..! (stupid fecking GP who told me I was wrong to suspect it and that I needed to adjust my expectations!) starting her on omeprazole and Dr is hopeful things will improve quickly....fingers crossed!!!!!!!

Thankyou to all of you who took the time to post and the support to trust my initial instincts that something was wrong, despite being dismissed by the GP. Hope someone else in a similar situation reads this thread and gets some help instead of struggling on hoping things will just improve as I have been doing

So glad you got some help. Hope it works! I had a sleepless DC1 (couldn't get enough food in so was always hungry) and I don't think I'll ever forget the weeks before we got some help!

Swaddling might get her through the rem to the next sleep cycle or also try being there and patting/shushing her back down - as she gets to that rem sleep put your hand on her. Ds used to startle himself awake but if I could keep him down he would go into another cycle.

Interesting. That's what my DS had and the symptoms were the same, coupled with feeding refusal, puking and very odd BMs.

Hope the Omeprazole does the trick.

Glad you were listened to. Hope the omeprazole helps. I remembering seeking so much advice when my dd had silent reflux. One friend's pediatrician was insistent that infant gaviscon should be used with meds like omeprazole and ranitidine, because the gaviscon would keep the milk down, while the other medicines helped to neutralize the acid. So if you still have a problem it might be worth asking if you can try gaviscon alongside it.

My dd made a dramatic improvement with both meds running together, which went downhill when my own gp decided the gaviscon was no longer needed. It was all a bit hit and miss after that, though thankfully never as bad as the first few months.

Good luck. I hope things improve for you soon.

Are your rooms too bright? Where You try to settle her?

With all my babies I made sure it wasn't too bright during the day, and evening times we had no harsh lighting, living room was very minimal lighting from 6ish in evening. Hope your sleeping better?

I've just seen this. I was going to suggest silent reflux as you're describing my DD down to a tee at that age. Hope the medication helps. Some reflux medicine makes them constipated though, so keep an eye on that.

I honestly feel like I could have written this post myself! After nights of researching why my 6 week would become so inconsolable... And money spent on every colic medicine out there... We realised that he was just getting overtired. It seems there is something about this 6-8 week period, must be where all their senses are coming to. He is a good sleeper of a night but terrible during the day but he would become do upset and frantic towards the end of the day it was upsetting to see. I could just not get him to nap during the day, he would nap for 10 mins max and then something would wake him.

The things that worked for me were get out of the house, in the car or walk seemed to help him sleep.

Also download a white noise sleep app there are heaven sent!!! Who knew the sound of a hairdryer would be so sweet..

Haven't read the full thread and apologies if this has already been suggested but swaddling and a dummy saved my sanity with dd! She also would be a nightmare when over tired so I kept to a really strict routine (loosely based on Gina Ford shhhhh ) which helped. Dd also needed lots of quiet time in a dark room to calm down when it was all too much.

She is older now and recently being diagnosed with sensory processing difficulties which fits with how she was as a baby.

My 8 week old was like this at 5 weeks. We only sorted it about a week ago after two weeks of closely watching him for tired signs (rubbing ears, eyes, yawning.... for him it was rubbing his hair with a fist and staring into space or right through us). Then id use a dummy to initially get him to sleep. Improving his daytime sleep helped so much.

We’re now going up to bed at every nap time (be prepared to be at home for a while), and closing the curtains and side lying feeding. My little guy is very sensitive to his environment too and so keeping things the same has helped him feel safe and relaxed enough to fall asleep. I’ve also been feeding side lying and so when he falls to sleep, he does so laid on a surface and not me.

He now falls to sleep within 20 minutes of being upstairs and slept for 1 hour 50 earlier today. That was unthinkable a few weeks back. I then have to lay with him until he wakes (so again he feels safe enough to fall asleep). I feel like im living in bed at the moment but its worth it to see a happy, smiley boy when awake and to not watch him fight sleep anymore.
The progression will be to start putting him in his moses backet with a monitor and leaving him to rest (although this is a while off yet).
I just think as soon as he learns how to relax into a sleep and not feel afraid then i’ll have my days back. Good luck x

ZOMBIE THREAD

I would hope, given that it was in 2014, the problem is sorted now!

Hi there, I have a 15 week old. She has a milk protein allergy and is on Neogate. They also prescribed gaviscon as she is screaming in pain during most feeds. I was wondering if anyone had used gaviscon and it had made things worse? Thank you

ZOMBIE THREAD

I would hope, given that it was in 2014, the problem is sorted now!

Ha!!!! This was MY old thread! How weird to see it pop back up from the ether!!!

Yes DD is now 4 years old and thankfully sleeping through most of the time (baby DS is another matter entirely though........! 😞)

If anyone is reading this and going through the same, DD was diagnosed with CMPA, soy allergy and silent reflux.

I was BF so went on strict exclusion diet and she needed 20mg of omeprazole to achieve symptom control.

We coslept for sanity. Unfortunately she developed a bloody awful feed to sleep association and I had to do the Dr Jay Gordon method of night weaning at 15 months when she was waking up every 1-2 hours and staying awake for 1-3 hours at a time and wanting breast milk constantly!!!!

It was tough but it worked and then she would sleep 8-8!

@Alexbond I would start a new thread you’ll probably get more replies

Good luck! We never bothered with gaviscon and went straight for the omeprazole as the paediatrician said he silent reflux and CMPA were so severe