Reflux? Losing it.

[Strugglingonagain]

I'm losing it.
The last couple of nights DD (5 weeks) has been really unsettled after the night feeds. She is asleep but grunting, whinging, wriggling/writhing. She is obviously uncomfortable (despite being asleep). I cannot sleep through the noises at all, so I'm now not sleeping once she's woken up for the first feed (3.30am last night, 1am tonight). I can't carry on like this.

My instinct is reflux. My first had it, but she would wake with the pain whereas DD2 is sleeping just uncomfortable. Tonight I picked her up to wind her further, didn't get any wind up, she wiggled about unconfortably fussing for a couple of minutes and settled. Put her back in and it all started again. Propped the Moses basket up and it maybe slightly improved but didn't solve it.

What can I do? It's one thing not sleeping cos they're not, but she's sleeping and I can't and I don't want her in pain. But this is only happening at night?

Babies are noisy sleepers! If she’s not waking in pain I would say it’s not reflux. Earplugs/white noise to drown out the snuffles and grunting. They usually get quieter at about 12 weeks.

I have earplugs, we have white noise it's louder than both of those!
She hasn't made the noises at all in the first stretch of the night, it's only after that. Surely if they were normal baby noises she'd do it all the time?

They generally sleep well for the first portion of the night, and then it all goes to pot after 12/1 ish. That’s what I’ve found from my extensive sleep research when dd didn’t sleep at all!

If she’s obviously distressed then I’d see a dr, but if just grumbling whilst asleep I think it’s a suck it up moment. It’s awful when they don’t sleep, but hopefully she’ll grow out of it ASAP.

I don’t think it necessarily means that the baby is uncomfortable, it can just be how they sleep. My daughter made noises like a pterodactyl whenever she was asleep for the first few months. Dr Google suggests that babies are just reacting to the feelings of digestion that are new to them.
My 14 w old son has just started sleeping through and he makes noise and moves after a few hours but doesn’t wake. However, the second he is uncomfortable (he just woke up with a nappy leak) he wakes up and lets me know.
Unfortunately you just have to get used to their noise so that you can sleep too.

My 12 week old makes these noises like clockwork from 6am! I had feared he is in pain or gas has built up over the night so am trying infacol for the night feeds. Will keep you posted on if it makes a difference. But it is normal. I feel for you having it start at 3am though

This is perfectly normal and my baby was the same. Around 10 weeks it got better. Babies actually have REM sleep during their first phase of sleep rather than deep sleep (like adults). This is her brain processing everything. This phase is worst between 2am-4am. DD sounded like a farm animals at that age. It was awful. It was also worse during growth spurts and wonder weeks.

Well now I've had 4 hours sleep total I tried feeding lying down and she was sick anywhere. I feel dizzy with tiredness and have to be up in an hour to do the school run. I can't do this.

Oh love, you can do this! She’s only 5 weeks old, everything will change again in a couple of weeks. We all know how bloody horrific it is having a newborn, no sleep and having to get on with real life as well.

Can you have a nap when you get back from the school run? I used to sleep every single time dd did at that age, it was the only way I survived. The housework etc can wait.

She doesn't really nap well when I need her to. My parents might be able to come over for an hour or so though. I feel broken.

Thanks for your support though, I appreciate it x

At 4 weeks I downloaded the little ones sleep programme (about £30) and got some good daytime naps going so at least I got an hour to catch up at lunchtime. It also meant DD was in bed around 6/7pm so I could get some sleep before the late feed. You do need to sleep. If your parents can pop round so that you can nap then even better.

Have you tried the feed/play/sleep routine? Well it’s not a routine as such, but encouraging baby to have a few minutes of ‘playing’ (tummy time/looking at black and white images, singing to them etc) after a feed and before a sleep seems to encourage naps. Dd responded really well to it. Another thing that worked well was only being awake for an hour to an hour and a half max. So I’d feed her, ‘play’ for a bit, change nappy if needed and then into a sleeping bag or swaddle and pop her in her Moses basket for a nap. And just repeated this constantly throughout the day. It seemed to help a lot with her naps!

Can you have a nap when you get back from the school run? I used to sleep every single time dd did at that age, it was the only way I survived. The housework etc can wait.

Totally agree. Sleep when you can.

Yeah I've heard of that. Issue is she seems to fall asleep during a feed? Not sure how to overcome that?

I just used to wake dd up after a feed even if she’d fallen asleep! Probably a mean mummy but she didn’t seem to mind. By 6 weeks she’d happily nap for an hour at a time which was a frigging godsend.

I think it's about adjusting feed and nap times. A lot to go together so I then wasn't too bothered when DD fed to sleep. Other times she'd be fed right after a nap so she wasn't tired.