Right, tips please! Determined to have a better night tonight

[FebMama]

DS2 is 5 weeks old on Monday. Recently started to show signs of reflux. Prescribed infant gaviscon from the GP.

The past two nights, he has hated being put down to sleep in his next to me cot. The minute he's down on his back, he wakes within seconds crying. As soon as I pick him up, he's content.l and sleeps soundly. I'm ashamed to say that the only way we got some sleep last night was for him to sleep on my chest for a few hours. I don't want to do this again. It wasn't intentional, I was trying to settle him and found that we both nodded off.

Before the last two nights, he was actually going to sleep on his back fine and sleeping well in between feeds.

I am so determined to have a better night tonight. Please throw your best tips at me!!
Midwife today advised I tilt the next to me cot so he's on a slant. So I'll try that. Anything else?

Sorry forgot to add that baby is EBF.

Anyone? 😊

Mine was like this and also has silent reflux....are you open to co sleeping? As you are bf and it's much safer than falling asleep with baby on your chest. I would find that my dd would only settle next to me, lying on her side facing me (I know not recommended!). It was easier feeding her lying down and I found that I got some sleep. I think in these early weeks don't worry about bad habits, just do whatever gets everyone the most sleep. Also are you holding him upright for 30mins after feeds...that helped my little one. The gaviscon is a pain to administer when you're bf! My dd is 5.5 months and will do the first stretch of the night in her bedside crib, I then bring her in with me after first wake up. She still wakes a lot in the night and I may consider some gentle sleep training in a few weeks time. It's so tough...hope you get some more rest soon. X

@MooMa83 thank you for your reply. I don't really want to co-sleep if I'm being honest. But I did attempt this one night a few weeks back and it didn't exactly go well in any case! LO was still very unsettled.

I'm holding my LO up after feeds but I'm finding that this is where I tend to risk nodding off with him. I'm really struggling to stay up when I'm not feeding him at night.

Luckily we had a better (ish) night last night. He settled in his next to me cot quite well. I'm wondering if the tilting it helped him.

Mine struggled with reflux and Gaviscon did help! It took a few days to start seeing improvement though. He also wouldn't cosleep before the reflux was sorted because the problem was lying down, not proximity to me.

In the mean time, if you need to, check out cosleepy on IG for how to chestsleep as safely as possible. Disclaimer: it won't be as safe as alone in cot on his back, but since that option isn't currently available you need to find something that works.

To add: even if you don't plan on falling asleep holding him it is a good idea to set up the space so that if you do so accidentally that you're not surrounded by hazards. In the early days I also found it insanely, insanely difficult to stay awake during night feeds and then holding him before putting him down. It's absolutely no joke how breastfeeding hormones just knock you out!

Is there somewhere you can go to feed/hold upright that isn't your bed? We have a chair in the baby's room, where I can have the light on, water and sugary snacks. That's how I stay awake! Plus watching TV on my phone. Keeps me sane if I don't feel like I'm about to nod off.

As for the cot, watching with interest. We're only having about 50% success at the moment - though no reflux in our case that we know of.

Good luck!

@GinnyBee @CastleTower thank you both!

Thankfully for the last few nights, LO has been so so much better at going down in his cot and staying down until the next feed. Just now he's woken up after 4 hours since the last feed.

One thing I've done in the last day or two is go to the bathroom and splash cold water on my face before a feed to wake me up which I'm finding has helped! I also set a timer on for 20 mins after a feed justttt in case I do nod off again, it's only for a limited time and I make sure I eventually put him down. Luckily I haven't fallen asleep with him again since my post. But thank you so much for the tips.

Sadly no, nowhere else in the room like a chair or anything that I could feed, just the bed x

Well done! We had an ok night too apart from a nappy explosion. 😂

I suffer with reflux and propping the head of the bed higher than the bottom really helps, so I would definitely give this a go if your midwife is happy for you to tilt the cot. Good luck.

@CastleTower always at the worst times aren't they!

We had a rough night again last night, well after 3/4am anyway. Little man was just grunting and fidgeting SO much he seemed so uncomfortable. Small grunts I can easily sleep through and he'll just nod back off but there was no sleeping through it last night. I picked him up each time to try and wind him (he wasn't hungry) and he wouldnt burp but would just fall asleep in my arms. The second I put him down in the cot, same thing happened. Sometimes he's so fussy and I just can't figure out what's up with him, it's so frustrating.

@Freysimo that is what I have done and we have seen some improvement 😊