Hi,
My little girl Lily was born 6 weeks prem and also very small for gestational age. She is a very fussy baby and just wants to be held ALL the time!! just wondering if anyone has had a similar experience with their prem bub?
how old is she now?
most babies need to be that closness for a few months..
have you got a sling you can carry her in(i wouldnt reccomend a baby bjorn type) that way you can do what you need to but also giving her what she needs.
She is now 10 weeks old...so adjusted age of 4 weeks. I do have a sling and she's in it all day and sleeps on our chest at night as we just cant get her to sleep any other way. She gets extremely distressed when put down on her back, i.e. in bassinnette, nappy changes etc! I dont know what else to do??
DD was born nearly 7 weeks early, and I can completely sympathise with what you are going through. It is a very difficult time, as with Prems we go through the new born stage for a lot longer than most.
We bought DD home at 35 weeks 1 day, as soon as she was on all suck feeds for 24 hours (she hadn't had any weight gain though and lost the day we came home) so I was very stressed out for the first few months, not only being a new mum, but wanting DD to put on weight. I won't go into that any further as it is a whole other story!
As your DD was born SGA you will be going through the same thing, I am sure that you are tired, worried and feeling emotionally exhausted.
What saved me was a friend would come by a couple of mornings a week, and take DD after her first morning feed (well "normal time") morning feed, she would arrive around 8am. She woudl then hold, settle, look after DD while I either went back to bed, had a good long shower, had a little bit of time out. This really saved my sanity and gave me the break I needed. DD also had to be held a lot, and I could rarely put her down.
DD screamed when we changed her nappy for the first couple of months, we just tried to stay calm and reassure her, we made sure we did it in a warm room and was a quick as we could be. It will get better, I promise, I can't remember when she did actually stop, I think I was actually in the office (as I would take her into work with me) and there was a meeting on in the next room and I expected her to scream but she stayed quiet!
Does she have any reflux? Can you try elevating her bassinet when you put her down, DD seemed to settle better lying on a soft squishy pillow on my lap, then I would transfer her to her bassinette (ours was attached to her pram). We also tried a little rocker seat (that had a vibrate thing) that worked a few times, then we eventually bought a swing (The F P Rainforest Cradle swing), it swings in two different directions, and the seat can be elevated a bit. We wish we bought it soooo much sooner!!! It is brilliant, DD still loves it, but is about to grow out of it, we only use is very occassionally now.
I hope some of those suggestions work, I hope you have some that might be able to give you a short break or two, even if it is just to sit down and enjoy a hot cuppa tea!!
Take care, if you use messenger you can add me if you need a chat.
My DD was really adaptable - at 31 wks she was still small for her gestational age also. She'd spent sooo much time in that damn humidicrib she was probably not used to being held - but when we got her home and she was about 12 wks corrected age we had a hell of a time trying to put her to bed - she'd only sleep in our arms.
I'd heard about 'infants friend' on Today Tonight - and once we started using that our problems seemed to pretty much disappear. It was just a small dosage in her milk given via a syringe.
She didn't have reflux - it was more having an upset gut - as it was under developed being prem...but we also did the rolled up towel at the head of the bassinette mattress and that helped out too I think. As Beema said - we then got a rocker for during the day and that worked well too.
Beema- thanks for the reply!! my Lily is also having weight issues!!! she's on added calories to help her gain faster..but its just such a SLOW process!!!!! i'm sick of worrying about it too! I'm glad to hear my girl isnt the only one who screams so bad during nappy changes, although it is slowly improving!! i do have a bouncer and she HATES it..she seems to hate all of the 'normal' things everyone suggests to help calm her down! as for reflux im not sure if she has it, have an appointment with the pediatrician tomorrow so might ask about that, but we had elevated the bassinette from the time we got home, but she still hates it! i guess i just have to keep persevering and hope that it all settles soon!
leesa- thanks for the tips, i might look into that infants friend stuff..is it to help calm bubs gut? yeah my Lily also sleeps in our arms only, but now she's started screaming and crying even when held, when previously she only cried when put down!! AGHHH this is one tough journey!!!
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Demanding Prem bub!
i guess i just have to keep persevering and hope that it all settles soon!
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