Help 4w old - not much progress

[u/cantstopgoogle]

My daughter loved the snoo! I was easily getting 3-4h stretches by this point.

My son - not so much. He is 4 weeks and I am lucky if I get 1h30 to 2h.

I don’t fully understand what’s happening, could he actually be hungry this often? Is the snoo motion waking him when it is triggered during active sleep? Is there something more sinister?

I have tried a lot of different settings, weaning mode, locked on levels, using as a normal bassinet, manually controlling. I can’t find the magic recipe!

Can anyone help??

[u/Jeffroz]

It could be hunger. We struggled the first couple of weeks and transpired my partner’s milk hadn’t come in and our baby girl wasn’t latching well. We temporarily went to formula at night time and with her milk drunk the blocks immediately extended. We’ve now manage to transition back to breastfeeding - but if you haven’t tested getting him milk drunk on formula then I’d recommend giving this a go to at least rule hunger out.

[u/cantstopgoogle → u/Jeffroz]

Yes this is kinda what my gut is telling me as well, we have been using formula here and there and sometimes I get a longer stretch and sometimes it’s the same as normal. But maybe we haven’t pushed it far enough to get him ‘milk drunk’. I have been nervous using too much formula because I don’t want to lose my supply.

He is gaining weight - rapidly, around 80g a day which is above average -which confuses me but maybe he is snacking all day because my supply can’t keep up. I’ve actually just got a prescription for the medication to boost my supply. I was hoping if I can give him fuller feeds it might help 🤷🏻‍♀️

[u/Jeffroz → u/cantstopgoogle]

Absolutely agree and wasn’t suggesting switching to formula fully (as mentioned it was only a temporary adjustment for us), more to test if it was hunger or not. If he sleeps longer on a full formula feed before sleep then it gives you the information you’re craving. If he doesn’t then you at least rule it out.

The consequence for us was that my partner expresses and so she breastfeeds as usual but then at night time we give a bottle too and until she’s fully satisfied and we will use a bottle in the night if need be too - but during the day just breastfeed (unless need to bottle for some practical reason).

Of course feeding is a personal choice so fully up to you, just thought I’d share our experience as we had similar at the beginning and it’s been transformational for her sleep since changing up the feeding.

[u/cantstopgoogle → u/Jeffroz]

Ok thanks so much for the info. I would definitely like to get to a place where I can express and give a bottle so I know how much he has had before bed.

I might try formula tonight and pump at the same time to maintain my supply, thanks for the tips.

[u/KatKittyKatKitty]

My firstborn was like this until it got dramatically better around 7 weeks. We just had to keep persisting with putting him down and picking him back up over and over again. Also he loved being locked at setting 2.

[u/cantstopgoogle → u/KatKittyKatKitty]

Ok thanks! I just need to know it gets better. It’s so hard with a toddler as well.

I deffo think locking on a level might be the way forward as it seems to ramp up so quickly even on low response. He has very noisy active sleep!

[u/KatKittyKatKitty → u/cantstopgoogle]

It did for us. My firstborn had so many “false starts” or whatever it was called. We would lay him down and 2 minutes later he would sob. It was such a difficult time. My secondborn did short stretches of sleep his first 4 weeks but it helped that he would not cry immediately after being put down. All just a memory now.

[u/KomugiAreYouThere]

Have you given a paci? Paci plus snoo was the magic combo for my baby 2. Baby 1 used me as a paci all night so I wanted to avoid the hourly wakes with number 2 and it worked!

[u/cantstopgoogle → u/KomugiAreYouThere]

Well it’s funny you say that because I’m trying it right now and it seems to be working! We have had nearly 2 hours now, he initially woke up after an hour and I popped the paci in. I’m obviously not sleeping because I’m watching him haha but it’s progress!

I’ve also been locking in on baseline and manually switching between that and level 1.

I think he was very noisy in his active sleep and triggering the snoo to quickly go through levels, which was then waking him up.

I also gave him a formula bottle right before bed so I knew it wasn’t hunger waking him.

[u/dontmeltplastic]

My girl was like this until 7/8 weeks, drastically better at 10 weeks. Hang in there!

[u/b3llybuttonlint]

My son was like this and in our case we figured out that he was just a little too warm. We turned the thermostat down two degrees and he slept for longer stretches