Can you please tell me if this is as bad as I feel like it is?

Pelusa214

I'm getting NO sleep.  Like, none.  As in 1 hour per 24 hours.  DD is 1 month old, and I have no idea if this is all from the reflux, or what.  Most of the screaming episodes have subsided, but she's still not sleeping.  This is our day:

DD sleeps a good part of the morning, from 8 or 9 am until noon-ish.  Yesterday she slept from 10 until I woke her up at 2:30.

Nurse.  Awake/play a little/fussy mostly.  Nurse again.  45 minutes trying to get her to sleep.

Some days she sleeps the afternoon away.  Lately, she's been sleeping for 20-45 minutes & waking up.

4:30 pm-6 pm - some days she sleeps during this time, some days she's awake the whole time & falls asleep at 6 pm.

Wake up between 7 and 7:30 pm.  Nurse. Alert/playing and/or fussy. Nurse again.  Bath/pjs.  Nurse again.  Then I take her upstairs (after DD1 is put to bed) to the bedroom - sound machine on, lights low.  Nurse again.  Fall asleep.  I put her down.  5 minutes later she's awake.  Go upstairs.  She's screaming to nurse again.  Then fall asleep.  Awake 5 minutes later.  Crying...nursing...this goes on until midnight-ish.

Sleeps from about midnight until 2 am.  Diaper change, nurse, then another 1-1 1/2 hours to get her back to sleep.

Sleeps another hour, sometimes almost two.  Then awake around 5 am, nurse, then another 1-1 1/2 hours to get her back to sleep, just in time for DD1 to wake up for the day.

 

Yes, I've tried swaddling.  She screams bloody murder if her arms are in there, so I swaddle from chest down.  She REALLY resists the paci, especially from me.  I've been trying to force it on her...sometimes she takes it, sometimes not.  Last night I finally refused to pacify nurse her & gave her the paci & paced the floor with her instead.  She threw a tantrum for a few minutes, but eventually she took the paci & calmed as I walked with her.  That was the only way I eventually got her to sleep.

Often, she is woken up by hiccups (which are almost constant) or pooping.  Another reason I don't want to let her comfort suck, because every time she eats, she poops, and it starts an endless cycle where we're up for 3-4 hours eating, pooping, falling asleep for 2 minutes & then pooping, etc.  She's still doing a lot of moaning, straining & crying in her sleep.

I'm dying.  My 3 y/o is sick as a dog, I woke up with a scratchy throat this morning, DH works a 24 hour shift every 4 days so I'm doing nighttime and all day/dinner/bedtime alone with 2 kids quite often.  Nobody wants to come here to help.  We live an hour away from both sets of parents.  His mom came yesterday & stayed until bedtime, which helped, because at least I only had to deal with one of them at a time.  But I wasn't able to sleep at all while she was here, and I wound up doing housework while she held the baby   My mom sometimes will come, but only if I ask, and she makes me feel like it's a burden, and she'll only stay for 2 hours or so and always comes at the time I least need her and won't come when I really do need her, which is early morning or evening/bedtime.  I don't even ask her to come unless I'm desperate.

We haven't even bought a single Christmas present for either of our girls yet.  We have no Christmas tree.  I dont know if it'll make me feel better or worse if others arent having the same experience, but at least i'll know...