9 week premmie so loud we can't sleep

[marije81]

Hi everyone,

I am new here on this forum, but I was hoping someone has some advice:

My son was born 9 weeks early and is now 10 weeks old (corrected age 1 week).
He's doing really well and we've established breastfeeding (with dad doing some bottles expressed at night).
The main problem is that he so incredibly noisy and loud. Not so much the crying, it's grunting, moaning, sounding like a goat most of the time!
We just can't sleep with him in the same room, but he's too young to sleep in his own room (plus, he's a bit vomity, so like to keep a close eye on him). So we now do 'shifts', where mum goes to bed around 8pm, and dad stays with baby in living room until 4amish, then we swap (and dad sleeps till 1pm). I still wake up to do feeds, and dad does 1 or 2 bottles. But with husband going back to work soon, we can't keep doing this.
The added problem with this is that baby has no routine at all. He feeds (and sleeps) little and often (an average every 2 hrs), and he has no clear distinction between day and night (because he is mainly in the living room).

I have heard many people say: 'oh, but all babies make noises, you'll just have to learn how to sleep through it'. But they have no idea how loud and unsettling his noises are. I am a nanny, and know the 'normal' noises babies make.. this is definitely different! I know he suffers from gas, and we use Infacol, but that doesn't seem to make the grunting any less..

Somebody has any advice on this? Also on how to establish a routine with a premmie?

Many thanks,

Marije

 

[25weeker]

I remember being totally shocked the first night I roomed in and how loud Holly was. Couldn't understand how such a little person could make such a racket. Around a month corrected the noises did quieten down.

 

[lozzy21]

Feeding every 2 hours is perfectly normal for his corrected age. I dont think they tend to settle into a routine or be able to tell night from day untill 2-3 months corrected.

 

[toothfairyx]

We had this too - very noisy grunting baby more so after 3am. He was asleep but it sounded like he was in pain and we had to do shifts too or neither of us would have got any sleep. We also used to sleep in the living room as the lights have dimmers - he didn't like the dark when he was very little.
The feeding all sounds as it was for us at that stage too. I did start trying to differentiate night and day from around due date and by that point Jamie had been home for 5 weeks. I just used to put him in day clothes in the morning and baby grows after bathtime each night.
As for sleeping in his own room it wasn't until he was around 6 weeks corrected I started to put him in his own room and I got an apnoea monitor. By this point his reflux was well under control and I was going back to work so needed better sleep than I got with him.

 

[AP]

The main problem is that he so incredibly noisy and loud. Not so much the crying, it's grunting, moaning, sounding like a goat most of the time!

There is a poster who I swear must have wrote this sentence before - katy1310! I am positive she said this when her LO came home!

Our LO was noisy but after a while she was alright. You cant really force a routine at such an early stage but you can do basic things to help, like turn the lights down and the noise down at night, play certain music, use a certain scented lotions at night, and this will all eventually sink in!

 

[Marleysgirl]

We moved Andrew into his own room just 2 weeks after coming home, because we couldn't take the snuffling noises overnight in our room! He slept in his moses basket, inside he cot. (But we were lucky, he didn't have any reflux and rarely vomited.)

 

[Albatross]

I know exactly what you mean - and we had two of them so it sounded like we had a herd of goats in our room.

We only managed two days with them in with us and then they were evicted. We did the shifts downstairs for two weeks and then they moved in to their own room. As others have said, they do eventually stop making the odd noises, though one of ours does snore and I am sure he does not get that from me

 

[ermm23a]

All the nurses in the NICU told me that most preemies are very loud and grunty. Mine was no exception!

 

[PleaseBaby]

We evicted Amelia after a month I just couldnt take it any more. She was sound asleep but was the only one. We have a video monitor and an apnea alarm so I'm ok with her being in her own room, plus we live in a flat so we can hear her clearly anyway. Her night time noises have earned her the nickname miss sheepy pants.

Weve just started getting Amelia into a routine. She goes down at 7 after a bath and from then on shes in her room for the night, obviously if she crys, which she does we go to her and pop her dummy back in and she still gets fed every 4 hours. But when shes in her room thats it even if it means we have to stay in there all night with her, comfy chair is essential!

 

[marije81]

Thanks everyone. It's good to hear in a way that it is all quite normal!
I guess at some point they all have to grow up right?
x

 

[stepmum]

I'm just gonna jump in and put my hand up to say my preemie is a noisy one too, although we call them sheep noises lol

 

[kimbotrav]

so funny my lil one the same its mad me and my husband have to sleep seperately to get some sleep we call them goat noises lol xxx