No sleep for over 3 weeks - pls advise!

[Hangonintherebaby]

Our son is nearly 20 weeks and was settling into a reasonably good sleep pattern - down around 8, sleep for 4-6 hours, a feed, then down for another 2 or 3 hours. He always woke at 0530 and was hard to settle after that, but it was mainly due to wind and needing to poo wakening him.
However, just over 3 weeks ago he started waking really frequently in the night, feeding, but only for a few minutes, going back to sleep but being incredibly hard to settle - his dad or I have to hold him for around 20-30 minutes before we can put him down without him waking straight back uo again. Often he is awake again within an hour, so I have just gone back to sleep when he wakes up and it starts all over again.
He is hard to settle in the daytime too - again, only able to put him down after a lengthy hold and he always wakes after 45 mins except for the odd occasion in his pram when he sleeps for an hour or more.
He's had a dreadful cold which is badly affecting his breathing, but 3 weeks on and it shows no sign of clearing up. The GP gave us nose drops but also no improvement so far.
Am sleep deprived and demoralised and totally lacking the ability to step back and work out if it's something I'm doing wrong, or something else going on.
Any advice?

My DD has suffered with being bunged up since she was born! Nasal drops do nothing as it just bungs up again within minutes.

So, I suggest that you get an Olbas Oil Vaporiser and put it on in his room (not too close to him as it can be quite strong) and see if that helps. Also, make sure he's got air circulating in his room, so even if it's chilly, keep the window open and just put a warmer babygro or something on. As it's starting to warm up, is it that maybe he's a bit hot?

I would recommend that you try all these things first as being bunged up is a sure way to wake them up because they hate it! They can't breathe and get quite distressed. I would recommend using the nasal drops about 15 mins before you give him a feed though as being bunged up will make him take much smaller feeds because he has to gasp to breathe and can't hold his breath for long when he's trying to have a drink. If you think about it, we sip when we've got a cold and you tend to also fill up quicker if you're struggling to breathe (not quite sure why...).

So, because of the waffle a bit of a summary, try the Olbas Vaoriser, make sure there is fresh air and that he's not too hot and about 15 minutes before a feed, give him the nasal drops to be able to breathe.

I hope that at least some of this works for you! My DD is coming up for a year in a week or so and she's still really bunged up, so I think she's got it for life...

we were always told to put books under the feet at the head end of the cot/bed this should help. also "baby vic" chest rub helps keep nasal passages clear .. dont worry it will pass. good luck

Oooh yes - forgot that bit! Raise the head of the cot. We actually put a folded blanket under the head end of the mattress and that worked a treat.

Be a little wary of baby vic and maybe put it on the clothes instead of the skin. After a few nights of my DD having it on her chest, she almost had a burn-patch! She suffered from excema and it was exacerbated by the baby-vic stuff (it was the Boots make for 12 weeks plus) and that's what caused it.

Of course your LO may be fine with it, but just use a small amount at first, just in case.

Teething?? Good age for that. Mine used to be utterly hideous for a few nights and then a tooth would pop out. Ashton and parsons powders are good to try as well as the usual painkillers. Sounds like good advice for the cold, thought I might suggest something else

Thanks for the advice everyone, and yes you're right, it probably will pass - just feels like it will last forever! He's slept really well this morning/afternoon so maybe there's light at the end of the tunnel.

@ Dawn and Latootle - sadly we have tried the Boots infant vicks -and it just made him sick. We're trying the Kolvas vaporiser, but no effect so far. And we've raised the head of the cot, though I might try a blanket as that sounds a better way to do it - books always seem to go wonky for some reason. I was wondering about temperature, though actually as it has dropped again I thought I might have gone too far in the opposite direction and he was waking up from being cold. I'll try freezing him again!

@bladders - I am keeping an eye out for teeth and providing a bedtime dose of Calpol in case that's what the problem is. Will have a look at the powders - hadn't heard of them so that's useful thanks.

Should have said Dawn - poor you, if you're suffering this all the time!

Thanks Hangon, and TBH with my DD, having the fresh air all the time seems to work wonders - not so sure how she'll cope with her first real summer in her own room though as it's difficult to keep cool... Might have to invest in a small fan!

Flamin' awful when she actually gets a cold though because it's so much worse then! Luckily she seems to fight things off and has only had a couple of colds, so fingers crossed it stays that way!

DawnAS - have a look out for an air conditioner. Last summer we got a good one half price at Homebase about this time. Cost just under £100 and was a lifesaver in the heatwave last year.

Hangon - that sounds really, really hard for you. We have a DS whose sleep is very badly affected whenever he is ill, and unfortunately we seem to have only had about 3 weeks since Christmas when he was without a bug.

I'm guessing you've already tried a nasal aspirator? Our DS hated it, but it did sometimes seem to help a bit.

Hoping he gets better soon!