# Squirming, restless baby - cranky mom question



## YinYang (Apr 3, 2006)

HI - my dd is squirming like mad at night and I have no idea why. Neither of us is getting much sleep and after 3-4 days of this, I'm feeling resentful towards my beautiful babe.

When she first goes to sleep she is fine... but from the time she first eats until we get out of bed, she is very squirmy... her arms flail a lot and she just seems restless. Her eyes are closed but her breathing isn't sleep breathing.

We used to swaddle her but she doesn't want to have her arms confined anymore. I'm probably going to try this again tonight but I tell ya, if I try to swaddle her in the morning when she is restless like this, she doesn't like it, she wants her arms free.

When she is squirming she doesn't want to eat (in fact it makes her more irritated the more I try to shove a boob in her mouth).

I'm completely exhausted. She is alright during the day and smiling a lot so I'm not sure what it is.

Anyone have any idea what it could be??? I need some ideas please mamas... I'm becoming cranky and that's not good.

TIA


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## JamieCatheryn (Dec 31, 2005)

Sorry for the sleep dep you must be dealing with, when I have just one day of it I get grumpy, you must be miserable







. DS did that for a while, it may just be a stage. Often, though, when he did that he would need to burp or be changed then be willing to nurse back to sleep. Now he does it early in the morning when he no longer wants to lay in bed. Maybe your DD doesn't know she needs to sleep in bed all night, and thinks it's time to be up already. Do you have a bedtime routine? Undressing her/changing clothes, quiet time before bed, very dark in the room, etc? It might help to get her used to the nighttime thing. Also, many people swear by dressing them in sleeper gowns that restrict the legs a bit to cut down on squirming.


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## Ape94 (Apr 5, 2004)

my ds was doing the same thing. he would sleep the first half of the night fine, but after his 2 am (ish) feeding he would spend the rest of the night squirming, wiggling and grunting and waking up every 1.5 to 2 hours to eat. I talked to his ped about it his 2 month check-up and when we combined that with some other stuff that was going on with him, she diagnosed him with reflux. We now give him prevacid before bed and that combined with sleeping on an incline has improved his sleeping a ton!


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## YinYang (Apr 3, 2006)

Ape94 - did your ds spit up or show other signs of reflux during the day?? Mine doesn't so I'm not sure that this is the case... but they are acting the same...

Also, how do you get him to sleep inclined if you co-sleep?? Just curious what I can do in case this could be it...

JamieCatheryn - thanks. You know, it could be a burp or something. I'll try that and a look at the diaper. I guess because she needs good sleep sometimes I don't want to move her unnecessarily when her eyes are closed... but at this point, I just need to see what's going on.

Thanks very much mamas.


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## snoopy5386 (May 6, 2005)

my dd does this too, she is asleep but loud and squirmy. usually i will take the monitor and go sleep in the guest room and leave her in our bed.


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## Shanana (May 11, 2005)

My dd had horrible problems with gas and digestive upset which caused her to squirm off and on all night (even when she was exclusively breastfed) for most of her life. And it was not related to my diet, as I did a total elimination diet (nothing but lamb, turkey, rice, potatoes, squash and pears for several months), and that didn't help. I noticed some improvement when I stopped drinking our well water, but it was still bad. So we had to put an end to co-sleeping at about 9 months, since I was so exhausted I was falling asleep while driving, and was just a miserable, mean person in general.

We used Colic-Ease with fair results ... sometimes it really helped, sometimes not so much. I took her to a chiropracter, and also for craniosacral therapy, and we are now seeing a holistic ped who prescribed some homeopathic remedies. Even after moving her to the crib she was waking around 4 or 5 AM many nights fussing, and would go back to sleep after getting some Colic-Ease. The last few weeks things have been much better, though.

Her digestive system seems a bit wacky all around, since she also doesn't tolerate solids very well (can get constipated), and hasn't pooped with regularity for a long time (usually every 3-5 days, used to go weeks). The chiro and holistic ped both think this is not good (even though many people say it's no big deal for a bf baby), and I agree with them. So between the gassiness and inconsistent pooping, that's why I sought help.

I have seen improvement slowly but surely, and now the gassiness seems gone, so we just need to get the constipation cleared up!


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## MrsTC (Nov 18, 2005)

Have you tried letting her sleep on her tummy?

It may be developmentally related, as she might be trying to re-situate herself, trying to get more comfy and just can't. Maybe switching positions?

And have you adjusted what she's wearing to bed now that it's fully-blown summertime? We've had to adjust what ds wears so many times...it seems simple, but it often fixes the problem of nighttime fussing--that can't be fixed by the boob, that is.









T


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## Shanana (May 11, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *MrsTC*
And have you adjusted what she's wearing to bed now that it's fully-blown summertime? We've had to adjust what ds wears so many times...it seems simple, but it often fixes the problem of nighttime fussing--that can't be fixed by the boob, that is.









T

Oh yeah, I forgot about this. For a while I was keeping dd under the covers with me, and one night I was really hot and threw the covers off both of us. I was amazed when she seemed to sleep better and started experimenting with leaving the covers off her. She still kicked me during her gassy bouts, but it made me realize there were definitely times when she was just overheated.


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## newbie_mary (Nov 29, 2005)

You can put something under the head of your bed to make the whole bed inclined and see if that helps. My dh put some blocks of wood under our bedframe at the top when I was pregnant and having trouble with reflux and it did the trick.

Mary


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## Ape94 (Apr 5, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *AshleyR*
Ape94 - did your ds spit up or show other signs of reflux during the day?? Mine doesn't so I'm not sure that this is the case... but they are acting the same...

Also, how do you get him to sleep inclined if you co-sleep?? Just curious what I can do in case this could be it...


He spits up some, but nothing excessive. Usually it's just a dribble here and there, basically just a burp with some milk follwing it. It might happen right after he eats or even an hour afterwards. (FWIW, my first son had silent reflux - we had to treat him for it until he was about 2 years old....he NEVER spit up). Otherwise, he really doesn't show any obvious signs of reflux. He's generally pretty good natured. He HATES to be laid flat....he will tolerate being on his tummy more than his back (and sleeps so much better on his belly), but either way, he will scream within minutes of being laid down. We keep him upright as much as possible. Also, every so often, he will just suddenly scream in pain....usually associated with some coughing. We can tell that's when the reflux is really bothering him. But it's not a constant thing - happens maybe once or twice a day. If we hadn't gone throught the whole silent reflux thing with my first son, I don't think it would have ever even crossed my mind that DS2 has reflux also.

We don't co-sleep, so I can't help you there. He was just too squirmy and none of us were sleeping well, so we moved him to a pack n play next to the bed. He's sleeping pretty good these days, so I plan to leave him there.


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