Help - reflux and baby won't settle after first sleep

[user1497339042]

Hi all,

I've got a 5 week old baby and I am seriously struggling to cope. She has been sleeping fine ish at night until recently - waking once or twice for feeds and usually going back down easily.

Over the past few weeks however she's been sleeping for a 4/5 hour stretch and then I either can't get her back down or if I do after a little while she starts grunting, crying and pulling up her legs. She doesn't always wake but it keeps me awake so I am exhausted. Any ideas why she might be doing this? Or any similar experiences? She is taking Gaviscon for reflux as she is very sicky and cries after feeding in the day and I thought it might be this making her constipated but I didn't give her any Gaviscon yesterday and it still happened despite the fact she pooed twice overnight. I burp her but overnight and hold her for 15 mins before putting her down.

She also won't sleep in her crib in the day - only on me or in the sling so I can't catch up on sleep and I think I've got PND (seen GP and waiting for a referral) so I'm really struggling. Family are coming to help a few days a week but they can't do more than that as they work.

Oh and I should say she is breastfeed but has a small bottle of formula before bed.

How much/often is baby sleeping in the daytime?

I don't know if you realise but babies who have no reflux of any sort also do these sorts of things.

Settling for an initial longer chunk of time then finding it harder to settle is normal, a baby without reflux would do this. It's often a sign of not enough sleep over 24/48 hours causing over tiredness making it hard to settle.

Many babies make grunting, sniffling and generally odd noises.

Pulling legs up does not necessarily mean anything. Remember your baby has next to no muscle control, the leg movements are largely random in the newborn, or just mean "distress" - which could be tired, hungry, feeling exposed, need comfort.

All that said, while it certainly could be reflux, I wonder if there is a possibility that you are adding to your stress by medicising normal baby behaviour in the hope of "fixing things". The fact that baby was previously sleeping well and that not having gaviscon made no difference - I'd sack it off and focus on breastfeeding and sleeping if it was me.

Have you tried a swaddle?

Have you tried a dummy?

Try to not let baby stay awake for any longer than 45 minutes at a time in the daytime.

Do you think baby is feeding well? Your HV will be able to point you in the direction of breastfeeding support, if needed. But don't be afraid of formula. If you are struggling with PND and would like to take the pressure off yourself, it is ok to move to mix feeding or formula feeding.