need some advice on getting DD (almost 8 weeks old) to sleep during the day

[GabriellesMummy]

hi there,
was looking for some help/advice, my DD who is nearly 8 weeks doesnt really sleep for long periods of time during the day - she seems to be fine at night though.
the reason for her waking up a lot during the day is her dummy - when she falls asleep with her dummy in she will be sleeping fine on me but then after I have put her down in her carry cot she normally wakes up within about 15mins because she has pushed her hands over her mouth and face and her dummy has come out which wakes her up.
then i need to start it over again - getting her to sleep on me then trying to put her down again.
she sometimes falls asleep without her dummy but the same thing happens - I put her down and she will move her wee fists about her face and mouth to try and pull her dummy out even though she doesnt have it in!
i've seen in some other threads about sleeping patterns, people have said that by about 12 weeks the sleeping routine should be a lot better but because we're having this problem with the dummy being either spat out or pushed out, im worried that she wont grow out of it and it will just continue like this.
occasionally she could sleep for 1-2 hours at a time but most of the time its not very long at all.
also a lot of the time when im getting her to sleep in my arms or on my legs, she gets really frantic - she kicks her legs and throws her arms about and starts to cry - i've tried giving her more milk to see if that calms her but it only makes her worse! not sure if the getting frantic thing is to do with her not wanting to sleep as she is really interested in what is going on around her. so this along with her waking herself up when i put her down is very tiring for both of us - some feeds just roll into the next.
sorry, i know these things may not be related (the dummy/sleeping thing and the getting frantic thing) but just wanted to detail everything as any advice/help is much appreciated.
thanks a lot

[rubyslippers]

swaddle her - nice and firmly or let her sleep in a sling

[slowreadingprogress]

the frantic thing sounds like it might even be her getting OVER tired tbh.

I would at this age try and ensure you give her a nap after two hours of being awake at the most. No idea if this will work for your dd but it certainly did for ds, who also got frantically tired. If he was put down for a nap after no more than two hours, he would drop off fine. And I second swaddling - it gives them a nice sense of security and stops that involuntary arm flailing that can wake them up - though I guess the dummy issue might still arise, no advice there I'm afraid as ds didn't have one but sure someone else will be able to advise!

[GabriellesMummy]

thanks a lot for your comments - will try the swaddling with her, still not sure what to do about the dummy issue though as this is what is stopping her from getting a good nap during the day. hopefully if others that have used dummys have experienced something similar they may be able to give me some advice on that
thanks again

[Mercy]

Agree with swaddling too (and swaying, patting etc) Babies don't want to be left alone basically!

ANd I'm sure you don't want to hear this but dd was 5 months before she had regular naps and even then it was only once a day. Ds was quite different (thank god)

It's not so unusual for tiny babies not to have a regular sleep pattern or lengthy daytime naps.

And you won't automatically be gettng into bad habits by comforting your baby to sleep

[Mercy]

sorry crossed posts

Both dd and ds had a dummy (ds used it far less though). Dd was swaddled from very young so when she fell asleep the dummy would fall out and she didn't notice, ie she was never able to swipe it in the first place (or occasionally I would gently pull it out when she was in a deep sleep)

Try swaddling and see how you go. Good luck

[Dotty38]

Second the swaddling, worked for me, then when DD was about 12 weeks I started half swaddling for day time naps, I used a sleeping bag for night time from day 1 at home.

I also follow the 2 hour rule, don't let her stay awake for more than two hours (well in theory) as she gets over tired.

I too had the same issue with the dummy and made me wish I had resisted using it. Over the last 3 weeks I've offered DD a comfort blanket at all sleeps as well as the dummy (a small cut up peice of muslin). I lay it across her chest which covers her hands and she now likes to hold it with both hands which for me when she has dropped the dummy she then seems to use the muslin as a comforter too. Not everyone agrees with comfort blankets as sometimes the baby can cover their face with it. I am happy with using a muslin sheet, my DD was 12 weeks when I introduced this.

I also had huge success using a vibrating bouncey chair and even now she still has her 4pm ish sleep in the bouncy chair in the kitchen while I'm getting tea sorted before bed time.

But I have to say even now, she's 15 weeks I have a mixture of days when she sleeps well and days when she doesn't sleep at all apart from catching 10 mins here there and every where on these days I get frantic behaviour when holding her because she's over tired, she gets so tired she can't feed, can't sleep, can't play........ so I reckon don't try and find the perfect solution as they are constantly changing. My moto is everythings a stage and it will pass (when it's hard work that is!! )

[Dotty38]

Forgot to say, the other tactic I used was a sling in the day time and for me this did not affect her ability to now nap in her cot I still use it now when she has the frantic over tired days and it completely calms her but it's now really tough on my back as shes a big baby cruising to 15lb's.

I used a fabric wrap sling (moby wrap) the most but also a baby bjorn one usually when walking with the dog.