4 weeks old won't sleep

[Pikette]

My son is nearly 4 weeks and hasn't been a great sleeper since born, I know he is still very young but this seems to be getting worse rather than better. He now won't sleep for more than half an hour at a time. He has periods in the day where he is colicky or perhaps suffering from reflux but like now he is not crying or seeming to be in pain but just wide awake. It is really draining as have a 23 month old also and I could really do with some sleep! Sorry for the ramble and thanks to anyone that has stuck with me this far! If anyone has any advice or experience in this I would really appreciate it!

[Montysaurus]

That sounds very difficult. He's still in that crazy newborn phase where they confuse day and night etc so that's probably part of it and will pass soon, as you probably know from your older child (my ds2 reverse cycled at that age and was just awake for ages at night, thinking it was daytime ... And once he'd sorted day from night he still only slept for half an hour at a time during the day until 6 months, which was a shock after my amazing napping ds1.).

He may also be overtired and in a cycle of being unable to sleep. Will he sleep in a sling or carrier? You won't get a rest but at least he can catch up and get less overtired, meaning you'll hopefully have a better chance of getting him off to sleep in his own bed.

Also, he probably needs his naps very close together, eg half hour nap, feed, v brief awake time, back to sleep, repeat, and if he's missing that sleep window then that may be creating the overtired cycle.

Is your older child at home all day with you? That can sometimes make it harder for the baby to sleep if they're not naturally a big sleeper to begin with. Not much you can do for that other than ride it out, I'd imagine.

Have you mentioned his discomfort to your hv or gp? If it's reflux then ranitadine or another medication may help.

Can your partner take over for several hours in the evening and morning before work to allow you to sleep a bit in the short term?

[Coconut0il]

Do you have support at home? Get as much sleep in at any time you can.

For us I went to bed early as often as I could and left DS2 with DP or DP would get up at 5 and take DS2 downstairs till he went to work at 7 so I could sleep.

[Pikette]

Thank you for the replies.

My eldest is at home other than two days that she is with grandparents and she is a bit of a nightmare for keeping him awake some days so that probably doesn't help! I do have good support from family so I will lean on them a bit more in the day. Have also now put a plan in place with hubby so he does the first few and last few hours of the night and only wakes me if little one needs feeding.

Gp checked him over and said other than being windy she couldn't find anything else serious wrong. If it is reflux the first thing they would try is gaviscon and he is too young for that at the moment so she told us to go back in a weeks time if no improvement.

He has actually "touch wood!!" Been a lot better today and tonight so I'm feeling in a better place for having some rest!!

Thank you again for reading and giving your advice, it really helped in my sleep deprived and desperate state yesterday!!