Help! My 8 week old won't sleep during the day except when cuddled. He just doesn't stay down in his pram or cot. I pop him in fast asleep and he wakes within minutes. He sleeps very well at night - will sleep 11:30pm until 7am - but because he doesn't sleep during the day he gets VERY grouchy and irritable very quickly. He spends all afternoon and evening unsettled and upset because he is so overtired. I can't put him down for more than 5mins before he cries.
The only time he is happy is when he is breastfeeding. However because he is getting so tired, he keeps falling asleep when feeding. I'm not sure if he's getting enough food or not - the health visitor is coming to weigh him again today as he only put on 80g last week. He will fall asleep on the feeding cushion after most feeds (although not this morning) but usually wakes when I try to move him. This means the only way to get him to have some sleep is spend hours sitting in a chair with him .. which sounds nice, but is horrible in this heat, and means I can't even get a drink or go to the toilet, never mind attack the messy kitchen or sort the washing or the other 1001 things that need doing.
The latest advice from a La Lech League breast feeding counsellor via the health vis is that he is too young to sleep the night through and this is depriving him of a feed and affecting my milk production (as feeding in the night good as high hormone levels) so I should wake him at least once in the night for a feed. The last two nights, i've fed him at 10pm, got him in cot at 11:30pm, woke him at 3:30am for a feed, and then he's woken for day at 7am. So far the only difference I see is that he's now grouchy in the morning too as he has had even less sleep from being woken in the night. (He won't stay in the cot ever unless he's put in it asleep at the moment - settles himself back to sleep in the night, but not when first put down. Takes ages to feed and settle so the change-feed-settle in cot cycle takes 1.5-2hrs.)
Has anyone else had a baby of this age who won't sleep during the day? This started at around 6/6.5 weeks when he got more alert. My theory is that he is just too interested in what is going on around him to sleep as he's too busy looking around and doesn't want to shut his eyes. You can see him fighting sleep. He then gets so overtired that he doesn't know what to do with himself, and can't sleep unless I walk around rocking him .. and he often wakes if I sit down. Have tried a dimmed room to reduce stimulation, and it helps calm him, but he still doesn't stay in the cot. He's such a light sleeper a lot of the time, that unless he's in the cot he doesn't get a decent length sleep.
Having a miserable baby all day is really getting me down. We quite often spend the afternoon walking round the house with both of us crying! Any ideas or advice or similar stories much appreciated.
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My 8 week old won't sleep during the day .. except when cuddled.
40 replies
ilovemyoboe · 01/07/2009 11:11
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