Is it possible to avoid making 'rods' when dealing with a 5 week old who is suffering from very painful wind?

[BellaBalloon]

I was being very conscientious and always putting DS down in moses basket to sleep and trying to limit the amount of time he sucked on my little finger before nodding off. I was trying to gently space out feeds etc
(he weighs nearly 12 pounds but still wants to feed every 2.5 to 3.5 hours.) And I seemed to be making progress.
Anyway his trapped farts give him so much grief little love and today I have committed every cardinal sin (according to the books and my mother which is all i have to go by)

I have let him sleep on me when he kept on waking straight up in basket

given him a dummy

fed him to (nearly sleep)

Am I going to end up having a nightmare months down the line? I just don't want to have a fight on my hands later on but am so tired from night grunting an squirming.

Sooooo back to my original question. Will it be very hard to get him back on track once the wind issues have cleared up?
should i just chill out?
Am so jealous of all these people who are sailing through this bit...I love it all but want to be in the smug gang

5 week old babies don't develop bad habits. Do whatever he and you need to be happy and comforted

back on track??? You had a 5 week old baby on track??????? Think you need to chill out! Despite what interfering well meaning folk say, 5 week old babies do NOT manipulate their parents to get their own way. Do what he needs to be comfortable - for your own sanity as well as his!

no please don't think that you are doing ANYTHING wrong by picking up your baby, carrying him around, comforting him

You are responding to his needs, whoever says that you should not should be strapped to a rocket - and I'll stop right there

I am shaking a fist at the books and your mother, too

Pleanty of time to sort out issues arising later - and they might not

Chin up, you are doing a great job

AT this age he has no wants that aren't also needs. Cuddle, co sleep, dummy, constant feeding - whatever he wants, give it to him. It'll make life easier for both of you. You just can't spoil a tiny baby.

He's still so little.. and that time when they can sleep cuddles into you is so short when you look back on it.
As long as it's not every sleep I wouldn't worry, and at around 6 weeks it's normal to have some unsettled time while they have a growth spurt. Feeding every 2.5-3.5 hours is normal, not too frequent for 5 weeks old at all. Would expect every 3 hours for weeks to come yet, perhaps gradually getting a little longer at night in a few weeks time.

I have two DSs and have done what you described with both of them when they were small at times. There are always problem times like teething but they settle to sleep well. I made sure that from around 3 months onwards I put them to sleep awake but sleepy in their cots sp they would learn to settle themselves. Both of mine had dummies too, otherwise they made me sore using me as one!

DS1 was very windy as a baby and Infacol seemed to help.

Don't worry and enjoy cuddles while he's so small, good luck

I am smug with lots of sleep because I am a) feeding to sleep b) letting DS2 sleep on me as much as possible c) co-sleeping rather than battling to get him into his cot/moses basket.

My advice would be to chuck away the books and trust your own instincts as to what makes you both happy.

2.5 to 3.5 hourly feeds is brilliant for that age.

Crikey, if you're committing cardinal sins, I need burning at the stake.

My 18 month old dd:

breast feeds to sleep

sleeps on me

sleeps in my bed

feeds whenever she wants to day and night

But you know what, I get 8 hours sleep every night, so we are all happy.

Thanks so much for speedy replies. I want to be the perfect mum but worry when they say that these things form bad habits that are hard to break. i know it's silly and i would enjoy it all so much more if i didn't heap all this pressure on myself. it's ridiculous trying to be a perfectionist when dealing with the ever changing needs of tiny little baby. it's not his fault that he has lots of backed up little farts all the time. And yet I find myself treating it like a school project as if I am going to be marked on my efforts by others judging how much he sleeps and eats. Sorry - just trying to give myself a pep talk now!!

at rockets

You need new books, in my opinion. Have a look at Dr Sears' Baby Book. (I forget the exact name, probably just that).

And practice saying to your mother: "Maybe that was what was done in your day, but..." and to everybody else, "When I want your opinion, I'll ask for it."

And cuddle and feed for as long and as often as you both want to, and enjoy it. They are little for such a short time.

more comments since i posted. so thanks for those too!
yes snuggling up to sleep with a little baby is one of the most scrumptious things i have ever experienced.

To be honest, I found cuddles and feeding were what worked best for wind - I worried about overfeeding and making my DS windier but if he still wanted to suckle and I let him the windiness cleared more quickly than if I didn't. Possibly partly because he wasn't yelling and gulping down more air. Or because milk took up wind space.

I really wish I hadn't been so obsessed with improving DS1's sleep when he was little and instead had just relaxed from the start and enjoyed the time when he was so tiny. Its really hard, but try not to benchmark yourself against other people because, it may be a cliche, but all babies are different.

Try not to go down the path of talking about sleep/eating/weight with other people, if you can. It only leads to more stress.

oh yes, I agree about feeling as if it is a project

with my first I went from being a manager, with a team to do my bidding, snap my fingers and task done, delegate and no need to check, all staff respecting my opinion to well, you can guess the rest, house a shambles, baby cried heaps, it was HORRID till I learned to calm down and go with the flow

Snuggle up - these are such precious times and in a couple of years it'll be "Oh MUM!" And before you know it he will be walking six paces behind you pretending not to know you.

I'm off to snuggle up to DS3 now. He just turned one and I'm dreading the day he demands to sleep his own bed.

You are the best judge of what is best for your baby so don't let anyone make you feel guilty or inferior. Advice can be quite irritating if it is not requested even from your mum so don't feel obliged to take any.
For wind I found that doing bicycle lets with my ds worked a little so it may be worth a try.

I agree with the previous posts, can't spoil a baby etc etc...

And remember that even if you did get DC into a nice routine / system then it would all change before too long anyway. I just go with the flow with DS (now 8.5 weeks), but at 5 weeks he had his own self-created routine - 6 feeds a day, 10 mins on each breast, sleep for at least 2 hours at once, sleep for longer at night. He hit the 6 week growth spurt and now hardly anything is predictable about his patterns - feeding 8 or 10 times a day for varying lengths of time, sleeps are between 30 mins and (a couple of times) nearly 6 hours.

Just go with what your baby needs to do, try not to stress about it and life will be much more chilled!

Well - immediately after posting I did have a word with myself and everything has rapidly improved - for now at least!
We have both chilled out and i have accepted that babies grizzle (is that the spelling or a word invented by snoop dog?!) if their tummies are hurting not because their mums are failing them somehow.
He actually sleeps through his night time wind issues but makes such a racket, so the last couple of nights I have brought him into bed with me and we both had a much better night's sleep. last night he slept for AGES. And it was just divine. So i feel much more positive.

(for now) i have discovered he does have his own little routine which keeps him happy and i am just aiming to feed him when he's hungry and put him to sleep when he's tired and to keep him warm and his bum clean.

to be honest though everything just seems easier once you have a couple of hours sleep and take the pressure off doesn't it.