Hi Everyone!
I hope this finds you all well.
My 3-month old son, it seems, is a very poor sleeper. We were blessed that my daughter, now 3, was always an awesome sleeper. She was breastfed and supplemented with formula, which could be partly why, but was sleeping through the night at 3 months, so this is kind of new territory for me, which is why I have these questions.
My son is solely breastfed and for the first month slept well--he'd get up to nurse every 3-4 hours. Around the end of the first month, his reflux started to get really bad, so much so that it started to disrupt his sleep. I tried all the natural remedies out there to no avail. Finally around two months, we put him on Zantac, which seemed to help for the first 3 weeks or so. He was sleeping again, but not great. He'd maybe sleep for an hour in the morning, then do a nice long 3 hour nap in the swing in the afternoon, then a few more one hour stints in the late afternoon/evening. He'd get up every 2 hours to nurse at night.
Around the same time the Zantac stopped working, his sleep worsened up until present day. He is on Prilosec now, which did seem to help, so I don't think his lack of sleep is reflux related, but who knows? Now, he does not sleep at all in the morning, even though he is tired. He'll sometimes fall asleep, but then wake up 5-10 minutes later. He'll still do a nap in the swing in the afternoon, but even then wakes up often, cries and falls back asleep many times. He does not sleep in the late afternoon anymore, and if he does, it is only for 20 minutes. I've started to put him in the swing in the early evening again just so he (and I) can get some rest and he'll sleep again for 1-3 hours. If not, he gets super overtired and cranky.
Around 8:30-9pm, he starts to settle down again and will fall asleep and get in a good chunk--like 3 hours straight in his co-sleeper, which is great. Then it starts to vary--sometimes he'll sleep only 1 hour and wake up, other times 2, sometimes, if we're lucky, 3. And then in the morning (around 7am) or so, he'll either fall asleep again for another few hours or is wide awake.
I know babies are so different and their sleep cycles, too. And I know being breastfed, he is more hungry than formula-fed babies. I guess what I'm asking and wondering is is this kind of sleep routine okay? I asked my pediatrician at his 2 month appointment how he should be sleeping and he said between 14-16 hours and constantly (not too much wake-up time), which my son is clearly not getting. I told him he wasn't sleeping as much, and he didn't seem concerned, but everyone (he, my lactation consultant) seems to think he should be doing more than 2 hours at night. When he has slept, he is happy. And he is eating well. He has been sick a lot. He had a cold, back when the Zantac stopped working, then a mild form of the stomach bug (which I had had) and now a cold again, so it is possible lack of sleep is related to that.
Just looking for answers if anyone has any. I know lots of kids don't sleep well, often until their toddler/pre-school years and sleep patterns change...just wondering if there is anything I'm doing wrong or should be doing differently.
Also, he is swaddled (often one arm out b/c he doesn't seem to like two in), we have a fan running in the room and when not in the swing, he sleeps either in his co-sleeper or with us in bed.
Thanks and take care!
We used the ferber method. the graduated waiting helped our little boy learn how to self soothe back to sleep at night. He was better rested, so were we, everyone was happier for it.
Our ped said when babies are 12 lbs or 3 months old, they should be able to sleep through the night 7+ hours, at a go.
Ferber can be done, even if you b-feed, and even if you co-sleep.
Good luck to you and yours.
This sounds normal to me for a 3 month old with reflux. For what it's worth, my reflux baby did not sleep through the night until he outgrew the reflux at 16 months. Until then, he woke frequently to nurse, because breastmilk is a natural antacid and it made his reflux feel better. And, although I know the 'standard' sleeping pattern is 2 naps a day at that age, he only ever took one nap a day. And it wasn't very long. Despite the fact that he didn't fall into any of the typical sleeping patterns, he was always healthy (other than the reflux), happy, and has grown into a perfectly healthy todder.
Also, make sure you talk to your ped about readjusting his prevacid dose after every growth spurt. They can outgrow their dosage almost overnight sometimes, and that can lead to a miserable baby until you get it fixed.
When I was desperate and sleep deprived, I had a lot of advice here about the ferber method, etc. But that doesn't seem like the right thing to do to me when you know that the baby is likely waking because he's in pain. I could never do it, and it turns out I didn't need to, we just had to wait until his tummy matured and then he was happy to sleep comfortably through the night, no sleep training required. Just my $0.02.
Congratulations on your new little addition!
I also have a daughter (now almost 4 y/o) and a son (now almost 2 y/o), and my son sounds very similar to yours! Both had reflux (my son worse than my daughter) and had trouble sleeping and both were exclusively breastfed, but my son was much worse than my daughter. When he was first born, he wasn't doing too badly, but around 3 months he went totally downhill. His reflux got worse, and he and I had more than one all-nighter. I would try different sleep positions for him - pack-n-play with slightly raised mattress (towels carefully placed underneath mattress) (I believe doctors say a mattress raised to 30 degrees can help with reflux.) That might work for a short stint for my son. Then we'd move to a sleep basket, papzan chair, I even resorted to the carseat (after talking to my doctor about it b/c I was nervous about him being so upright - turned out the carseat was about a 30 degree angle!). Some of those would help somewhat sometimes! There was no perfect solution. Many nights - for a long time - he would be up every 20 or so minutes.
I think there were a few things going on with my son - and there may be with yours also. First - the reflux. Second, my son just seems to be a very light sleeper - he does sleep through the night now, but he wakes much more easily than my daughter, so I think he had trouble sleeping when he was an infant with his noisy 2 year old sister around! Third, my son seems to crave much more physical touch than my daughter did / does. My son is much more cuddly - seeks out hugs, sits on my lap whenever possible,etc. He's not clingy at all - but if we're doing an activity together, he'd rather sit on my lap than across from me. As an infant, I think he just needed a little more cuddling than some other babies might (of course all babies need cuddling, but some seem to want a bit more than others!).....so, I found myself holding him while he slept through many nights. And finally!.... I talked to my pediatrician about my son's sleep a lot - especially when he hit about 4 months and was waking SO much - every 20 minutes or so - maybe would have a 1-2 hour stretch of sleep once per night. I know every pediatrician is different and everyONE has different opinioins on sleep "training," etc, but my ped. said that my 4 month old son was acting like a typical 4 month old boy. He feels that girls tend to sleep a bit better than boys at that age. He also told me that if I saw no improvement by 6 months, then we should talk more about steps to take to encourage better/longer sleep - supposedly babies are generally capable of learning to fall asleep on their own (and therefore, put themselves back to sleep when waking mid-night if not hungry, etc.) between 4-6 months - girls tend to be on the earlier end, boys on the later end.
So....I waited.....saw some small improvements between 6-7 months.....some more small improvements around 9 months......then again around 1 year. Then I decided to try the "No Cry Sleep Solution" book by Elizabeth Pantley. This book may not be for everyone - some people prefer a Ferber-ish method as another mom posted, but I knew that wasn't for me/my son. I had used teh book with my daughter starting around 4-5 months with much success (she would wake 1-3 times per night to nurse and would go back to sleep like an angel! - started sleeping through the night at 9 months). When my son was that age, I felt that he wasn't even close to ready for it - but I also wish I had started with the book sooner than 1 year - just so that we could've reached "success" a bit sooner. We (me, my husband when possible, our daycare provider, even my mom here and there and even my MIL once or twice!) worked for a few months - probably from June to September to get him to sleep through the night. It wasn't easy, but it was SO WORTH IT! He learned to fall asleep on his own and put himself back to sleep over those few months with minimal tears from him and me! He's been sleeping through the night since September, and it's been SMOOTH SAILING since then!
I know that the lack of sleep is so very hard. Hang in there! Good luck!
I would say if he is waking three times a night and going back to sleep fairly easily (after nursing), this sounds normal to me. I nursed my son several times a night until he was probably nine months old (times per night declined as he got older). I don't remember him sleeping for a five or six hour stretch until he was at least six months old -- I think he was even older. Even then it wasn't a regular thing. He slept in bed with us so he could nurse pretty much on demand at night and I didn't have to get up. Also during this time, he only took really good naps if I was holding him or in the carrier. I think each kid is different. My son needed me close to him to be able to sleep -- not the ideal situation but that's what it was.
Also I don't think breastfed babies are "hungrier" than formula-fed babies. As long as he is gaining weight and the doctor is happy with his growth, he's getting enough to eat. Good luck!
I think with their little tummies and growth spurts they wake up frequently
It can be every 3 hrs.
This may not be what you want to hear but my little one didn't sleep through the night or very long stretches for a long time!
I just went with it because I was a SAHM and didn't really mind. I did what I thought was best & rested when I could.
The time does go by very quickly and now things are good.
