My Three Old Month Baby Wakes up Every 10 to 30 Min. Need Advice..

It could be acid reflux. Medication and a formula change may be necessary. For now try letting him sleep elevated, in a swing, or infant seat, and see if that helps. Call the doctor. Good luck!!

Wow, what a tough situation. I don't know what you mean by "soft" noise and padding. Have you tried the techniques used by Dr. Harvey Karp, author of The Happiest Baby on the Block?

In these short videos he explains why he calls the first 3 months the Fourth Trimester, during which time babies run pretty much according to their own needs. You should be getting toward the end of this trying period, but your baby boy may need a little more "intense" shooshing sounds (a vacuum cleaner may work), as well as the other techniques he shows here:

How-to's: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6KnVPUdEgQ&feature=re...

Enhanced sleep: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tk5MUOMecHI&NR=1

Is he ever gassy? Does he act like he's uncomfortable - kicking his legs around a lot or arching his back? I'm wondering if he has an unrecognized food allergy or something that is causing him pain and making it impossible for him to relax. I would try cutting out dairy from his diet for 2 weeks to see if that helps since that is such a common food sensitivity (rice milk instead of whole milk, etc). Also, if you are still breastfeeding, you need to cut it out of your diet as well. If that doesn't work, you could try cutting out soy, eggs, and wheat (I'm assuming at that age he's not had nuts yet).

Alternatively, could he have reflux? Some babies have silent reflux, which means they don't actually spit up but they are in pain, especially when lying down.

I agree with your friends that you should talk to your pediatrician and get his/her help to evaluate both of these things, and he might have other ideas as well.

There could be several things going on.
- could be reflux. usually there is a LOT of crying with reflux, but not always.
- could be there is a problem when he's laid on his back. try having him sleep while strapped into his carseat (make sure it can't tip over)
- could be sinus problem and the drainage is waking him up.

Your pediatrician is going to be a key ally in your child's life. You current issue is a KEY issue. You should not feel strange about asking questions. You are the one around your child most. You are the one that observes these types of things. Unless you take him for a sleep study the pediatrician would not see a 5 min nap in his office as a problem. Do not feel weird about calling the nurse for advice. They are there to help. They are there to make sure that little things like this don't become big things as mentioned below.

Go ahead and call them.
M.

I love the answers about getting the books, but I also agree that he should be checked out by the pediatrician. My younger daughter, as a baby, slept in tiny cat naps like your son -- lots of 5-30 minute ones, but she never slept more than a 90 minute chunk - maximum.

Before seeing the pediatrician, write down all the sleep he does for a few days and total it up per day. My baby slept an absurdly short amount of time total in a 24 hour period.

The pediatrician still blew us off as simply being tired and the baby was fine because she was gaining weight and seemed healthy (don't let the pediatrician do this to you!) ... By 1 year old, physical problems began (growth and allergies and ear infections). By two, things were worse.

My parents had said something was wrong with my baby, but the pediatrician felt everything was fine. I swaddled, I put her down sleepy, I did everything... and her sleep did not improve until she was older. In retrospect I wonder if she actually had what is now called "silent reflux"... OR she might already have been sensitive to gluten or dairy (passed through my milk) which was later found to be problematic.

She had physical problems later (brain and body) and immune issues, (http://www.ItsNotMental.com) but I cannot help but wonder if the poor sleep triggered everything else, but I also wonder if something else triggered the poor sleep. I'll never know now, but I wish the doctors had taken the sleep issue much more seriously since your baby's sleep is critical to the health of his body and brain. http://itsnotmental.blogspot.com/2008/07/sleep-critical-y...

Hi--
Google the video for happiest baby on the block and follow all the advice. Swaddle, stomach/side lie, shush, shake, and suck (the 5 s's). Doing these things in the right way will trigger his calming reflex. Swaddle for sure and maybe even let him sleep in a swing. Or hold him.
UNLESS he has symptoms like spitting up, constipation (not going AT LEAST once a day), diarrhea, or rashes of any kind. In that case there may be another reason other then just being a young baby that he's having trouble sleeping. Most likely he's just sensitive and need you to re-create the environment of the womb, which the above video (I'm pretty sure you can find it on you tube) will explain.
Good luck!
J.

Take him to the doctor. It sounds a lot like reflux to me. All 4 of my babies had it- medication made all the difference in the world :)
Mine also slept much better in the swing until they got a little bigger. I used to sleep on the couch next to them.
Hang in there- I know it's really rough to not be getting much sleep night after night!!

Your baby is over tired and unable to settle himself. The nature of sleep changes at 12 weeks and becomes more like ours, so now you have to each him how to settle himself a little.

You need to get him taking a good long morning nap first. So 1.5 hours after waking in the morning, he should be back in bed. This means, if you nurse him, whatever, do so before the 1.5 hour point. But they usually need their morning nap 1.5 hours after getting up for the day. And then, you can do another 1.5 or 2 hours between the next nap, and then the next nap. At 12 weeks, he should be taking at least 3- 5naps a day, with a nap being at least a 60 minute time block.

Does he wake at the time time from his morning nap? If so, 5 minutes before he is set to wake, go in and rustle something around. This should get him to roll over and reset the sleep cycle. This is one way to force nap consolidation for babies that need help learning how to settle. Usually sleep cycles last 45 minutes, that he is waking ever 10-30 minutes shouts that he is exhausted.

I highly recommend Weisbluth's Healthy Sleep Habits, Healthy Baby. I don't CIO, but he has a lot in that book about understanding baby's sleep.

I agree with the other moms to have your doctor check this out. Your son could have silent reflux or sleep apnea or any number of breathing problems that are waking him up.

My son also had silent reflux from about one to six months. He gained weight fine, and hardly ever threw up, but made raspy choking sounds when he breathed. We actually ended doing a sleep study overnight at the hospital and found that his reflux was definitely affecting his oxygen intake.

We tried several medications that didn't work, but positioning him on his left side, so that his esophagus was above his stomach, really helped a lot. (I know the rules are to lay them on their back, but even with his head elevated, being on his back really aggravated the reflux.) I found that the Peaceful Pea Nursing Nest was the one positioner that would keep a bigger, stronger infant in place. They are sold to assist with breastfeeding, but really work great for positioning too.

Also, thankfully, our pediatrician was familiar with silent reflux. However, not all pediatricians are, so don't hesitate to press the issue if your doctor dismisses it off-hand.

Hi. I really can empathize.
Here are some books/websites that helped me with this issue. You are definitely not alone:

"The Happiest Baby on the Block" -- Dr. Harvey Karp
No cry sleep solution -- Elizabeth Pantley
Dr. Sears baby book
www.ahaparenting.com
drjaygordon.com

Good Luck, and this too shall pass.

Jilly

My last child did that and she did ended up being diagnosed with reflux and on medication for it.It is still not great(the sleep i mean) but it is better .She will wake about 3 times still at night. Like she goes to bed around 7 /7.30 pm and will wake at 9 /930pm and around midnight and at 3.30 and then 6 am.The last one might be because of all the noise though since everybody wakes around 6/6.30 am to be able for hubby and the older kids to make it on time to work and school. She is still on med at 10 months old.She was evaluated for the reflux again at the 9 months old check up and she still NEED her medication. She also switching from breastmilk to formula so the doc wanted to see if she will adjust to the formula on her own or not with more time(he said let's give it a few weeks).So she does have reflux but it more silent reflux now which mean she doesn't spit up much but she is still in a lot of pain when /if i forget to give her medication(i have 4 kids 8 and under so i am not always on the top of it ,moreover if one of the other kids is sick).She was spitting a lot "projectile "as a small infant like under six months old.The pain looked a lot like the strong heartburn i had during the pregnancy with her.It really came back up during pregnancy with her and it did really gave me a burning sensation up my stomach and down my throat .
I hope all this makes sense and help.
N.