5 mo DD squirms, grunts and moans all night with trapped wind!

[marushka82]

Hi everyone, I hope someone here can help or suggest something to try before I go insane :)
My DD is almost 5 months and is EBF. I co-sleep and so far she hasn't been sleeping through the night, but she'd do a 4 hour stretch from about 10:30-11pm and then would feed and go back to sleep in literally minutes, then wake up after 3 hours, feed, then wake up after two hours or so. Not ideal, but since she would feed quickly we'd both be back to sleep in minutes and wake up around 7.30 or 8 am.
For the last few nights her sleep has become more and more erratic and she sleeps for max 2 hours at a time... From about 1-2am she's squirming, grunting and thrashing around, pulling her legs up and occasionally farts, then sleeps a bit, then the cycle repeats. A lot of the time she doesn't even want to eat, but it's obvious to me that she is in pain or something is bothering her. I am EXHAUSTED and don't think I can deal with this much longer. I'm also worried that she's not getting enough sleep and won't develop properly! She has three naps a day, each one is about 40mins-1hr, she just won't sleep for longer.
I already gave up eating dairy and soy, as I think she's sensitive to them. The only new thing I ate in the last few days was orange juice - the evening and night after was seriously the worst. I haven't touched citrus since then but last night was no different (ok, maybe slight improvement in that DD was squirming in her sleep and not crying out in pain like the night before).
Should I try giving her gripe water before bed? I'll try anything, I just want a few hours of uninterrupted sleep!

Just wanted to add that I'm going to snap if GP says it's normal and all babies do it. ugh.

GP checked DD and said no ear infection, so it's most likely a combination of teething/trapped wind. I'll try again with Calpol and Dentinox colic drops tonight and hopefully it'll work!
I guess my new mantra will be 'it's just a phase, it's just a phase' ;)

Hi OP I feel your pain! We had similar with DS who turned out to have reflux and cmpi. As you are already dairy free I would push your GP for some antacids. Also have you seen a children's osteopath? Reflux can cause back pain due to the tension they are in, from all the gastro pain.
Finally, I found after 4 months, DS slept much much better when in his own cot in his own room (disclaimer: I know guidelines are not to do this till 6 months, this is just what worked for us). Being in our bed/room when he was more aware of us than when he was a newborn seemed to keep him awake.
Anyway good luck, it does get better, DS is 11mo now and generally sleeps through

Marushka - still at rock bottom here.
Dd is not feeding well at all. Thrashing and screaming and we give up as soon as it's started really.
Tried formula with gaviscon yesterday and he was the same with the bottle. She only took 20 mls in an hour.
Feeling very sad tonight with a distressed babe who is of course awake. x

No joy here... Back to the gp today. Dd seemed to have a tummy ache all night with much crying, farting and very broken sleep!

DearTeddy - thanks for the suggestion, if there's no improvement soon I will probably pay GP another visit...
Flopsy so sorry to hear that... I admit I was very tempted to give DD formula in the evening as well, but after reading other threads it's obvious that it's not food that's the issue...
The hardest thing for me is that it's all a guessing game, it CAN be so many things: infection, teething, gas, too hot, too cold etc... I hope it improves for you soon!

Hello all! I have just rediscovered you while looking through the sleep section and rocking DS2 in his car seat. He's been awake since 3am after waking hourly before then. I've given up and come through to the sofa. No idea how i'm going to get through today will 3 kids .

I have no answers (obviously). The moral support is good though.

Since we last spoke we have tried a gradual retreat type thing in the evenings with a view to getting him to sleep in his cot overnight. I don't have anything against co-sleeping in principle but it's just not for me. I hate it. Plus I have to go back to work in 2 months with on-calls so he cannot be dependent on me to settle.

Needless to say it hasn't worked. He settles ok but is then awake again 5-30 minutes later.

I keep wondering if I'm depressed but I genuinely think it's just sleep deprivation. I am tearful, snappy and easily angered. Poor kids.

to all x

Omg zuluwarrior - I literally feel you!!!
Except I do not have three kids. Ouch.
Dd is going to be an only child at this rate.
Even I want more, currently no time to dtd as she is awake 22.5 hours of the day!
I thought I had Pnd but I'm sure it's tiredness.
I've looked it up quite a few times.
We are EXACTLY the same re co sleeping. She will go down in the cot but ony ever for a max of an hour, often shorter. By wake up no.4 (10pm!) I'm tired and just give in but it was not my plan and is killing my relationship with dh as he doesn't get a look in. Plus she's waking up so much through the night that he has to sleep in te spare room just to function at work ??

I almost pissed myself laughing when the GP asked what contraception I was using at my 6 week check. Er.... separate bedrooms?

Yes, I often wonder how easy it is to tell PND and sleep deprivation apart when there must be a fair amount of overlap between symptoms.

It's comforting to know I'm not alone. My other 2 woke a fair bit at night but they always settled back to sleep easily, and were in cots by 2 months ish.

I literally do not know what to do with this one!

I just feel like a bad mother - I lost my temper last night... After the clock struck 4am and she had been fussing/ crying g since 11pm - worst night ever?!

Dh had to take over which I feel awful about as he has a job he must be alert for. He managed to rock her to sleep but even then she wouldn't go longer than an hour...and she's had about another hour with us since then at most, 4.5 broken hours last night ??...

Well if you're a bad mother then so am I. I lose my temper almost every night and DH will come through from next door to relieve me if he hears me punching the pillows .

Don't beat yourself up. You are shattered and your DH is getting blocks of sleep which you're not.

Yeah, I laughed at GP's contraception question too! Between being shattered, sharing the bed with DD and zero libido I don't think contraception is something I need to worry about:) I did feel v. guilty about it and luckily DH is very understanding.. he sleeps with us now, but for a long time slept on the spare room on a blow up mattress because otherwise he'd not be able to work... I'm telling myself it's just a phase...
I lose my temper with DD as well, especially if she wakes up early and then whinges, I always tell her: well, you should have slept more then! But immediately after that feel guilty and give her a cuddle :)

Thanks guys! So good to be able to hear other people are having similar experiences.
Trying dairy free diet this week. Watch this space.
It cannot be as bad as last night's 4.5 broken hours!!
Good luck for tonight xx

Flopsy, good luck with no dairy! I so miss cheese and yoghurts...
If you don't mind me asking, why are you trying dairy free route?
I gave it a go when my DD would scream while on the breast and consistently do green poos. I spent weeks wondering what was wrong and all hvs and anyone would tell me was: oh, she's getting too much foremilk, not enough hindmilk, make sure that she finishes one breast before offering another. Uhm, great advice, thanks! And how do I know when DD finished one breast when she keeps popping on and off my boob, huh? Finally I wrote about it on La Leche League forum and after messaging back and forth with some of the ladies there (super helpful and nice!) one of them suggested dairy sensitivity, although DD didn't display all the symptoms. I thought it won't hurt to try and I think it made a difference.
I initially just gave up the obvious sources of dairy (milk, cheese, yoghurts, cream etc) but then had to go all the way and now have to watch out for any dairy (so no milk chocolate, biscuits, etc, boo!) and soya as well! Grrr.
Hope it goes well for you!

We had our paediatrician appointment finally yesterday and the dr seems to think it's the cause. No green poos but other symptoms you mention. Was on low dairy anyway but now got to be totally free and soy too. Having two days 'detox' from bf to get it out of my system and she prescribed specialist formula for the interim. X

So far so good... We are trying not to be too hopeful but she seems much more settled and happy, and, far less windy. Please continue dd. how are you guys?? Xx

That's great to hear!
We had an okish night last night - DD did 2 x 3 hr stretches (I think, every night is a blur so I'm trying to keep track of sleep with an app:)

Only 40 min naps today, hopefully she'll sleep well tonight! Hope you guys have a good night too!