HELP! 6week old sleep issues - preemie

I am posting this for a friend of mine who lives in PA and is having issues. I also had an earlybird (36 weeks) but although he was colicky, he slept at night.

This is the issue:

Her DS was born at a few days shy of 35 weeks. He spent a week in teh NICU and was fed through his nose. He went home at 35 1/2 weeks. He has slept in their bed or in a bouncer in their bed since day one. He never liked the crib, bassinet,swing etc.

He is now 11 weeks (6 weeks adjusted age) and still will not sleep more than 2 hrs at atime without being held either by her or her DH. He will sleep a little longer if he is on their chests. He is breastfeeding and/or bottle fed breast milk.

She is going crazy trying to expand teh sleep hours at night....but can't come up with anything that works. The minute she puts him down he screams! She can soothe him to sleep , but only if she is holding him. I feel really bad for her as she is trying everything, but nothing works.

Anyone else experience this? Can you suggest something for her to try?

She ordered a snugglesnest, but it didn't come in yet.

Thank you!!!!!!

Re: HELP! 6week old sleep issues - preemie

maybe he is suffering from reflux.. it is VERY common in premature babies and can be very subtle.. your baby does not need to be spitting up for it to be reflux..
does he sleep better on his belly
does he cough or arch or even wretch or make a throaty sound?
would he sleep with an incline in the crib?

Re: HELP! 6week old sleep issues - preemie

DD was also preemie (born at 33 weeks). At about 11 weeks old, I started putting her to sleep on her belly. She had very good head control, and she didn't spit up nearly as much...she slept soooo much better that way. This method is not for everyone, as people have different opionions on putting babies on their bellies...but I was willing to try anything to get some sleep...and it WORKED

Re: HELP! 6week old sleep issues - preemie

With swaddling, the snugglenest is a GODSEND. I really think that will do the trick- he probably feels lost in any bed right now since he is so little.

Re: HELP! 6week old sleep issues - preemie

I would try keeping the mattress on an incline in the crib or bassinett. We also used a sound machine at night to help ds sleep. He was born just shy of 32 weeks and spent 10 weeks in the NICU. Tell your friend there are boards for parents of preemies. www.preemie.org
to her and to you for being such a great friend!

Re: HELP! 6week old sleep issues - preemie

My DD had colic and was incredibly difficult to put down at night also. I found that swaddling helped. We also used a sound machine with white noise and DD found that very soothing.
We co-slept with DD for about a month b/c it was the only way to get some rest when the colic was really bad.

Re: HELP! 6week old sleep issues - preemie

We had a bad sleeper too, but he wasn't a preemie. What worked for us was to co-sleep for the first month because it was just easier. We all got more sleep and it was easy to BF. But DH and I really didn't want to co-sleep, so at 1 month we started putting him in his bassinet. He didn't sleep that great the first two nights but it did get better. Swaddling was a Godsend for us. Once he learned to roll himself over (which was much later, like 3 months) he sterted sleeping on his belly and slept much better and much longer. If I have a bad sleeper next time around, I will putthe baby on their belly earlier.

Re: HELP! 6week old sleep issues - preemie

Unfortunately, time will probably be the best help. Sometimes they just need to be held and fed constantly at that age.

Re: HELP! 6week old sleep issues - preemie

Thank you for everyone's input!