6 Weeks of No Sleep

[NewbornHelp]

Hi everyone..

We are now into 6 weeks of no sleep with our newborn. Everyone always said it would get better at 6 weeks.. I think I've been lied to! 😂

We get about 3 hours at the start of the night and then 45 minutes here and there or in tonight's case 2 hours and that's the lot.

Just needing some positive stories of how your LO has turned into the perfecter sleeper to get me through basically 😂 And also any tips if you have any to help him get more rest?

I know newborns are meant to get a lot of sleep through the day and night to help with development etc but we are lucky if we are getting him down for 12 hours throughout a 24 hour period.

Thanks

Reflux or silent reflux?
CMPA?

My babies had both and it affected their sleep badly.

Ignore people who say it gets better at X weeks. My DS, now 5 months, was a bad sleeper (FWIW 3 hours at the start of the night sounds pretty good to me!) People kept saying it would get better at x weeks and I was always gutted when we reached x weeks and nothing changed!! It did get better eventually and it will for you too... For us when DS's digestive system matured he slept better... previously he had silent reflux, wind etc which meant wouldn't settle.

@NameChange30 @Paris2019 I do wonder if he has reflux as sometimes his breathe smells acidic.. but he does go to sleep but will just wake up after 45 minutes! But like I said the first part of the night he will normally sleep 2-4 hours now so I'm not sure?

Some reflux babies sleep better than others.
Obviously disturbed sleep is not the only symptom.
It's worth looking into.
Mine is a different baby when she's not suffering with reflux!

My DS was grunty / squirmy and just couldn't settle on his back (although weirdly did during the day in the Moses basket for short periods). I never knew whether it was the silent reflux or 4th trimester which was the main culprit for his poor sleep... we were prescribed gaviscon and also tried infacol, but ultimately, it just sorted itself out in the end.

@Paris2019 Who prescribed you the infacol and gaviscon? Did you talk to a GP?

I think my DD has reflux as she vomits and farts so much. Even if I burp her and get the gas up then hold her upright for 30 minutes after a feed, she will often still wake within 10 minutes of being laid down and is grimacing and crying and trying to fart or hiccuping and being sick even if it’s ages after a feed. She’s then overtired as she can’t sleep and will be awake for hours. I just don’t know what to do to help her and the midwife and health visitor just keep telling me it’s fine as she’s gaining weight and has lots of dirty nappies every day.

Yes the Gaviscon was prescribed by our GP. I read that it can cause constipation so was a bit nervous about trying it and TBH it is a pain to prepare for BF babies. We tried it a few times and it's hard to say whether it made a real difference... it may have done or it may have been one of the other dozen things we tried!!!

The infacol you can just pick up from a chemist. That was more for DS's trapped wind. We felt it made a real difference, but it's one of those things like gripe water or colief where it's not clinically proven but works for some people.

Def worth speaking to your GP to see what they can prescribe. Mine was v understanding as she could see how the sleep deprivation was affecting me!!

@Paris2019 Thanks so much for the reply 😊. I will speak to my GP and I’ll give infacol a try as even if it doesn’t work, I’m in no worse position than I am now!