4 month old insomniac

[donska]

Hi, My DS used to sleep pretty well - 5 hours then 3 usually when he was two months old. Once we hit the 3 month mark he then did a full two days of 8 hours and then, bam!, it's now virtually impossible to get more than a couple of hours sleep at night without him waking. He has got baby eczema and is a bit itchy but I thought that it got easier after 3 months! Any tips? Advice? (BTW he's not BF anymore, SMA gold and we're trying to wean him onto baby rice as he's a big boy)...

If he has eczema, then it could well be the itching that is waking him. Make sure he has plenty of cream on before bed. Has he seen a dermatologist?

IMO 4 months is a bit on the young side for weaning and it will not necessarily help him to sleep any better. Plus if he is prone to allergies (as lots of us with eczema are) weaning might not be the best thing for him. Have you spoken to your GP (or a decent health visitor) about this?

Out of interest, have you formula fed all along or did you start around the time (say, a week or two before) his sleep got more disturbed? I only ask because someone I know had the same problem and it turned out that her child was allergic to formula (cows milk proteins being the problem, I think) and this was making him very uptight and grizzly at night. He was getting very snotty at night as well which meant he didn't sleep for long.

Finally, it isn't that odd for babies this age to wake up a lot at night (as you will see from all the postings on MN!). It could just be a phase which he will grow out of in a few weeks.

Good luck - I hope you find a solution, but if not, just remember that it won't last forever!

Echo everything in Plibble's post really. Early weaning wouldn't be the best idea for you especially because of the eczema issue.

I stopped exclusively BF at 8 weeks and by 12 weeks when my supply had completely gone DS2 had gone from being happy, lovely skin, great sleeper, to tired, grizzly, eczema and waking more in the night again. We actaully used routine methods to get him to sleep again after I was sure it wasn't hunger waking him (about 4 months)- we were pretty sure at that stage it was itching so we gave him a muslin to snuggle with which helped him sleep.

We've recently started nutramigen which is a hypo-allergenic dairy based milk and that has really helped his skin and also hi day time naps have got better so I assume he is more settled on it and/or his skin itches less. Depending on how bad the eczema is it might be worth asking your HV about hypoallerginc milk.

Also, eczema babies need bathing every day in a bath with some sory of emulsion in it - your HV can give you some) and creaming at every opportunity. If you do this you may find DS becomes more settled as he'll be less scratchy.

BTW, you said you thought eczema got easier by 3 months - sometimes it does go away by then, sometimes it stays for a year, sometimes through childhood and occasionally into adulthood. However long it lasts you need to keep treating it but do speak to your HV about it as it is possible sometimes to isolate a reason for it and then control it better.

Thanks for that - I breastfed exclusively for 8 weeks then limped along (with grim milk shortages at night) until 12 weeks. The eczema started after I started him fully on SMA gold - before he was doing 60 breast 40 formula. If my health visitor wasn't utterly useless I'd ask her! My GP's given us loads of creams, the oatmeal based ones seem to help but it's not getting better. I have eczema, usually stress related and I haven't had it for 10 years but now, due to the sleep deprivation & guilt over the lack of breastfeeding and his eczema I've got it back.

The weaning was really an effort to make him less hungry at night, maybe I'll try soya formula and see what happens, I tried the SMA white and he hated it, screamed.

I've just re-read your messages & wondered whether liquidclocks (I won't ask) started on the nutramigen as a recommendation? Is it something that's sold over the counter?

The GP recommended weaning if he seemed hungry and he is particularly big for his age. We're at the end of our tether really and are trying to help the poor chap get more rest.

It was the sleeplessness that I thought got better at 3 months, I know from experience that eczema can last a lifetime. My GP did say, however, that babies with eczema often leave it behind completely at around 9 months whereas toddlers appear to be more likely to carry it with them to adulthood.

If you haven't tried it, I would recommend putting Epaderm in his bath. You can buy it in Boots and it produces a lather so it can be used as a soap substitute. I think it is a matter of trying various different creams to see what is right for your son. Also you might want to hassle your GP for an apppointment with a specialist. My friend has eczema and so does her daughter, so she has been taking her daughter to see a consultant from being about 4 months old. The consultant takes a much more agressive line with treating the eczema than a GP would (e.g. she prescribes some weak steriods), but it does seem to be helping.
If you think your son may have some sort of milk allergy, then it is worth trying to get a proper diagnosis - non-cows milk formulas can contain things (e.g. stuff to make them taste sweeter) which might not be that great for babies. There are pros and cons of all formulas, but if your son is suffering because of a milk allergy then switching might be the best thing for him, but make sure you talk to a decent doctor first.

Donska, sleep is for the weak was a thread started by a few of us experiencing exactly the same problem with our LO's when they were this age. I think it's really common and either some mega growth spurt or a developmental issue. My DD has definately got better (now almost 6 months) but a long way off being perfect. Read our thread, see if it helps.

ginger - how are your nughts now? mine still range from 2 - 6 wakings crap again last night