u/HermioneGrangeeee45

6 week old reflux baby refusing bassinet overnight.

He will sleep on our chest upright, in a lounger while supervised, on a Boppy pillow while supervised (NOT the recalled version), basically anywhere except flat in the bassinet.

Bassinet gives us maybe 1–1.5 hours tops overnight before the grunting, bubbling/snoring sounds, squirming, and waking starts.

He sounds congested/rattly but has no fever, cough, or runny nose. Eats well, normal diapers, normal color. Pediatrician thinks reflux/noisy newborn stuff.

We have tried heating the bassinet slightly, feet first transfers, 20–30 min upright after feeds, pacifier, Love to Dream swaddle, white noise, different transfer timing, and smaller feeds more often.

The second he lays flat he sounds uncomfortable and wakes quickly.

Our first born wasn’t like this and took to the bassinet way easier and even moved to the crib at 2 months old without any issues, so this is new to us!

Did anyone else have a baby like this around 6 weeks? Did anything actually help or was it just time? When did the bassinet become usable?

My MIL constantly wants to take my 2.5 year old son out alone and keeps pushing for park trips with his older cousin (4). The boys are complete opposites temperament-wise. My son is pretty calm, sweet, and reserved, while his cousin is very rough/physical, curses, talks back to his parents constantly, and hits/acts out a lot. We intentionally keep their interactions mostly to family parties because we don’t want my son picking up behaviors.

My son is also on the shy side with certain people/situations right now, which honestly seems normal to me for 2.5, but MIL is obsessed with trying to make him more social even when he’s clearly uncomfortable. I feel like he’s still little and will grow out of it naturally.

MIL also has a habit of saying they’re going one place and then making multiple extra stops without really telling us beforehand, which makes me uncomfortable with longer outings. We do trust her overall or we wouldn’t let her take him at all, but we have certain boundaries — for example no pool or beach trips without one of us there.

She acts like she should have a say in who he spends time with and keeps pushing these outings even when we say no. I also honestly want that quality time with my own kid sometimes.

Now, I’m not the confrontational type at all and neither is my husband. How do you politely but firmly handle this without creating family drama?

Looking to see if anyone in NY has dealt with this or knows what’s going on. I have 2 babies and bills/a mortgage so it’s not fun not being able to get any updates.

Last day worked: 3/5/26

Filed for unemployment: 3/6/26

Reason: straightforward layoff (lack of work)

Severance: lump sum (not salary continuation)

Timeline so far:

DOL asked for severance info → submitted over a month ago

They mailed a questionnaire → completed and returned over a month ago

Received a pending monetary determination about ~1.5 months ago showing $869 weekly benefit

Since then… nothing

I’ve been:

Certifying weekly

Working part-time (<10 hours/week) to stay eligible

Calling multiple times daily (can’t get through)

Sent a secure message in the portal (no response)

Still no payments, no updates, just stuck.

Questions:

- Does this sound like a hold or something else?

- How long did it take for payments to start after monetary determination?

- Did anyone have to do anything to “unstick” their claim?

- Is this just normal NY backlog or should I be escalating somehow?

Appreciate any insight — this system is impossible to get answers from.

Second time mom here, and this experience is completely different from my first.

With my first baby, he did well in the bassinet and we moved him to the crib around 2 months. At that point we used a weighted sleep sack along with a Nanit camera and breathing band, and everything went smoothly.

This time, my 3.5-week-old (about 8 lbs) is the opposite. He refuses the bassinet, hates being put down, and sleeps best with full contact. He also seems uncomfortable lying flat and likely has some reflux. He will sleep in a lounger for short spurts, but we know that isn’t considered safe sleep so we can’t keep relying on it.

We’re really trying to stick to safe sleep only. We already have non-weighted HALO sleep sacks, and we are not using weighted sleep products. We’ve tried everything we can think of—swaddling, sleep sacks, warming the bassinet, transfer techniques, white noise, upright time after feeds—but nothing is giving us more than very short bassinet stretches.

Right now:

Bassinet sleep is very short or doesn’t happen

Contact sleep is the only thing that consistently works

Reflux seems to make flat sleep harder

We’re exhausted and at a loss for what’s considered safe at this age

Main question: is a non-weighted sleep sack actually appropriate for a 3.5-week-old (~8 lbs), and what did people do at this stage that’s considered safe sleep when babies absolutely refuse the bassinet?