Help with baby sleeping

I am at my wit's end. My 6 week old will not sleep anywhere but on me or my husband. It is getting very old. He does have gas and reflux issues which I get but I can't be holding him 24 - 7. I have a 3 year old that needs my attention too. We have tried everythng. We bought the Fisher Price Rock and Play, we swaddled him, we tried the cry it out method, we tried putting him to sleep on his belly. None of these work. We got him to sleep maybe 20 minutes to 40 minutes at a clip. He is crying all the time when he is not sleeping. It is exhausting and I don't know how much more I can take. As I write this he is screaming bloody murder in the crib. Please help!

Re: Help with baby sleeping

Is his reflux under control? I know you said you tried the RnP, but what about the swing?

Help with baby sleeping

In the beginning the swing, and the vibrating chair helped.
Does he have reflux or constipation?
Have you tried the gerber soothe drops? Those helped us a lot!

Re: Help with baby sleeping

I've tried the swing and the car seat. He did sleep in the car seat for a few nights but not anymore. We are still dealing with the reflux issue

Re: Help with baby sleeping

Sounds like colic too. My DD had it and it didn't matter where we put her-swing, rock and play, bouncy chair, carseat- she would scream bloody murder and never ever sleep.

You say he has reflux- what did the ped say? Is he on meds for it? Formula change?

If it's reflux making him cry so much, it needs to get under control first and then you will see a difference

If it's just colic- well only time will help that.

Re: Help with baby sleeping

im in a similar situation! my dd will be 6w on sunday. she eats every 2 hours! I am up ALL night. At night after shes done feeding, I put her in the RNP and within 1 minute she starts to be fussy and doesn't like it. I pick her up rock her a bit and put her back in the rnp. then I have to rock the RNP for a few min until shes asleep. this process takes over an hour. its ridiculous. I bought a bassinet thinking she would like to lay flat instead, no. During the day she will nap in the swing. She too loves to sleep on people. The longest stretch she did overnight was 5 1/2 hours and that was one time. It happened to be the other night, but that's because she went to bed at 10:30 ! I was hoping the long stretch would become a new pattern, but no. I also have a 3 year old who is loud and active, lol. My newborn has reflux too. We are going back to the doc today because zantac just isn't working. This is all so stressful! You are not alone!

Message edited 10/1/2015 10:49:34 AM.

Re: Help with baby sleeping

Are you using meds to get the reflux under control? With both my kids, things seemed to settle down a bit after the reflux is better controlled. That being said, 6 weeks is still so tiny. Just keep trying everything until something works. I'd keep trying the swing or RnP. They usually like to feel all cozy still at that age.

Re: Help with baby sleeping

My son was like this for the first 2 months and only time helped. He is our first child so we were able to hold him pretty much 24/7. I don't know what we would have done if we had another child to care for. Eventually he took to the rock and play and would sleep long stretches in there when swaddled. Hang in there.

Re: Help with baby sleeping

front pack , ring sling or wrap? That helped me a lot with trying to pay attention to the 3year old with a newborn that didn't want to be put down. Wasn't perfect but helped and allowed me to be outside with both

Help with baby sleeping

Sounds something is bothering him or reflux. Talk to his Ped about potential reflux. Could just be good old colic. My little guy was EXTREMELY fussy from 2-3.5 months. He would not let me put him down and did not nap. It was rough, but you get through it. You have to remember, he spent is whole existence living inside of you. Everything is new to him.

Also, 6 weeks is too young for CIO so that will not help solve the issue. If you feel comfortable maybe co-sleeping for a little while.

Is there anyone who can help you during the day or night? Friends, family, baby nurse. Some times I found if I was more rested so was baby.

Sending hugs! It gets easier!!!!!!!

Help with baby sleeping

Is he on meds for the reflux?
What formula is he on?
How often is he eating?
Does he appear gassy or uncomfortable?

And to be honest, 6 weeks is way too young to do any type of cio. It sounds more like something is bothering him.

My dd used to do this. She would only sleep on me or my DH. Always wanted to be held. She ate all the time. Was terribly gassy. Did not sleep well unless she was on 1 of us.
She turned out to have a dairy protein intolerance with a mild case of reflux. But it took well over a month before anyone figured this out. I did my own research and decided to change her to Alimentum and zantac gave me a whole new baby! She slept and stopped crying and being so uncomfortable.

Re: Help with baby sleeping

We are under the care of a gastro doctor whom i don't care for. He blames us because we are stressed so the baby is feeling our stress so he says. We are on our fourth formula. We are also seeing a feeding specialist. Our feedings are like torture. He screams on the bottle at every feeding. So i know that doesn't help his sleeping. But he could be in a deep sleep on me and the minute i put him down some where he wakes up. I know this too shall pass but when you are in the trenches it is hard to see the light.

Re: Help with baby sleeping

It will pass. Hold in there for a bit longer!

Why don't you try changing gastros if you don't like him?

Also, are you swaddling in the swing? Try swaddling in the swing with white noise. And if he'll take a paci, add that, too. There can't be to much soothing at that age.

Re: Help with baby sleeping

Every time i swaddle him he just squirms and squirms until he gets out of it. He takes a paci but every time it falls out we have to put it back in

Re: Help with baby sleeping

Re: Help with baby sleeping

Help with baby sleeping

But what are his symptoms beyond sleeping???? You still haven't mentioned what is going on with him besides some bad sleeping.

Re: Help with baby sleeping

Help with baby sleeping

Have you considered food allergies? My dd had very bad allergic proctocollitis that started around 5-6 weeks old but I did not see blood in her stool until nearly 8 weeks old. It caused her very bad reflux and lots of gas- once we identified and eliminated the foods in my diet she was reacting to (she was BF) the reflux and gas improved. My pediatrician recommended elecare for her if I wanted to switch to formula-- have you considered baby wearing? It would allow you to wear the baby and still get things done.

Message edited 10/2/2015 10:28:39 PM.

Re: Help with baby sleeping

It sounds like your baby is in pain. I would try reflux meds, diff formula. Change your gastro if you don't like him. Could be colic as well and you just have to ride it out

6 weeks is way too young for cio imo. At that age they are way too little to self soothe.

During the day trying wearing him in an ergo, sling, anything.

It will pass. Hang in there

Re: Help with baby sleeping

Re: Help with baby sleeping

Thanks everyone. I do wear him during the day but would still love to put him down and have a little freedom. Would also like to sleep in my own bed without a baby on me. I've been sleeping on the couch with him do he won't fall. I'm not confident having him on my chest in my bed.
All these doctors and websites tell you not to have baby sleep on you, don't put baby on his belly, let him very it won't hurt him and etc. But they are not living in our homes on the front lines. Everything works in theory i suppose.

Help with baby sleeping

Have you tried colic calm? Mommys bliss gripe water?

Help with baby sleeping

Sounds like something is bothering him. Possibly switching formulas will help. Also, white noise and a paci helped keep DD1 asleep when I transferred her from me to the crib. We used a rain sound for white noise.

Help with baby sleeping

Sounds like my dd. Reflux, colic and would only sleep on someone. She was on reflux medicine for 6 months and I was dairy free while breastfeeding due to lactose allergy in her and nutramigen. Odd enough we would put her in her stroller in front of the sink with it running slowly for hours to get her to sleep. Waterbill was a little bit higher but it was our only relief. I feel your pain!