Newborn won’t settle unless held and won’t sleep on his own! Help!

[Jade123f]

Hello ladies. Wondering if any of you can give me some advice! My baby boy was born at 35 weeks gestation and we had 11 days in hospital due to feeding and temperature issues. When we got home he wouldn’t settle in his crib or in any of the rockers we had bought, he just wants to be held all the time including all night long! He had a bit of reflux, doctor gave us gaviscon to help with that, and he also has colic so we have had a few nights with hours of intense screaming and discomfort which has been difficult! Colief is helping with the colic and that seems to have calmed down a bit. He feeds on demand which can be anything between 1-3 hours. But he just doesn’t want to be put down all day, or at night. I’ve been so exhausted that I’ve even started to co-sleep, but sometimes that doesn’t even settle him, he literally wants to be in mine or my partners arms constantly. Baby is 4 weeks old now, and my due date was 18th August. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you xx

I had a baby like this and had to co-slept, but I believe this is not recommended for prem babies. I would focus on getting the reflux under control. Gaviscin is useless. Go back to the GP and ask for ranitidine.

fairly normal, I think, can you get a friend to cuddle him for a while so you can have break?

Sorry , should say co-sleep and Gaviscon!

@Childrenofthesun thank you for your response! Gaviscon has helped to keep his feeds down as he was bringing them all back up but maybe you’re right I need to go back and ask for medication. I keep trying him in his crib but he just won’t settle, it’s difficult! How did you end up settling your baby?

@Clairetree1 My partner tries to do a couple of nights a week for me but he is bac at work full time so I try to do the majority, and my mum helps where she can too.

If you think about it in an evolutionary sense, a baby that didn’t cry when its parents put it down wouldn’t survive for very long! Babies are designed to want warmth, closeness and protection. Propping up the head end of the crib helps with reflux (even if you’re an adult, doctors advise not to lie flat if you have reflux).

Have you tried swaddling? This saved my sanity in the first couple of weeks. I love the zip up swaddle bags. I would BF to sleep and I could move him into a next to me cot slowly without him noticing and get my head down.

The desperation for sleep in the first weeks is so hard but hang in there it really will get easier!