anyone know about babies fighting sleep?

[NiceCupOfTeaAndASitDown]

DD is 12 weeks old and until about a week ago was a model sleeper.. I just put her in the sling or fed/held her and she fell asleep.

DS was a complete nightmare from birth it seemed so I thought we'd got lucky with DC2, he'd show all the signs of being tired (yawning, rubbing eyes, frowning, looking away, fussing) but he used to be so interested in what was going on around him that he'd fight the sleep (or take 10-20 min naps) until the point he was beside himself with over tiredness and would just cry and cry for hours.. DD now looks to be doing the same for about a week, I was hoping it was just a development leap but that's well over now.. She will only nap on me in the sling but even that's a fight and my back is killing me, I also have DS to deal with (23 months) and and I have tried putting her down but she literally can stay awake long enough for a feed, a nappy change and a quick chat before she's ready to go back to sleep, she used to do this easily but is not playing ball any more.

Poor DS must be so sick of hearing me say "just let me get DD to sleep" and has started to really act out

I'm completely against any kind of 'trainjng' and that involves leaving her to cry. So have I just got to suck it up and carry her around for the next year? I wouldn't mind so much if she actually went to sleep in there when tired but she just fusses and looks around and then cries for ages first so I'm bouncing her and walking her etc.. I hate hearing her cry and she went a good 10 weeks falling asleep easily and barely crying at all. I'd this just a phase or is she just like her brother? I'm not sure my nerves can take it after such a laid back start

[NiceCupOfTeaAndASitDown]

I should add DS learnt to go to sleep on his own around 16 months

[CheungFun]

No expert at all, but I saw this in the active threads! I found DS quote easy going with sleep, but he definitely finds it harder to sleep now he's more aware of his surroundings and only sleeps in his cot, whereas before he was more portable and could sleep on my lap in noisy restaurants so I can imagine a little bit of what you're experiencing and you have my sympathy!

One of the books I always see recommended on here is the No Cry Sleep Solution so that might be worth a go.

With the sling and your back, it's probably a good idea to visit a sling library if you have one near as there are lots of different slings. I have a Connecta sling and found it a million times more comfortable than my Mothercare one, and I borrowed a friends Baby Bjorn which was a tiny bit better, but still made me ache.

Hope things improve soon for you

[MaryPoppinsBag]

I found My DS's slept quite well in a baby bouncer. They had reflux and the upright position suited them. One liked the vibration on, one settled with out.

I did however 'train' them to sleep in a cot from 6 months in their own room in the day. By training I mean I put them down, and went back in to comfort if they fussed, and they took to it in no time no trauma. DS1 used to crawl to the bottom step to go for his nap when he was around 9 months - so he obviously liked it. They still took afternoon naps in their rooms up to being 2.5/3. But they were older than your baby when I started.

I needed the break from them and don't mind admitting it!

[NiceCupOfTeaAndASitDown]

Thank you both. I think I might try a couple of different slings she's in a wrap sling at the moment that gets tangled and is too hot, we've got an ergo but even though she's massive she's still too small for it.

It might work to put her down and keep going back but ideally I want her in the same room as me as per sids guidelines. I've tried swaddling her but she starts fussing after a while almost like she knows she's tired but can't 'switch off' - she's fallen asleep once like that but was awake 5 minutes later. I will try again though because she's certainly more likely to take to it than DS was, he's much more high maintenance.

[NightLark]

I carried ds round in an ergo for YEARS. The only thing I didn't try was setting a timed routine, you know, the 'it's 10.30, must be nap time' kind of thing. Who knows, it might have been the magic bullet. Tried everything else though, and in the end just let him live in the sling on my chest and later on my back. He's almost 7 now, and still very cuddly. Good luck.

[NiceCupOfTeaAndASitDown]

oh no im not looking for her to have specific nap times, I don't even know how many naps she's having a day. .if I did I know I'd be stressing about things a lot more. I'm just going by her tired signals but she seems to be trying to ignore them! I'm happy to carry her around but obviously with another child to look after its not easy to play bending down or running around like I can without a baby on me and DS is starting to really misbehave because he's just not getting much positive attention. some days are better than others!

[BabyLabyrinth]

My DD likes to fight sleep, too. She's 8.5 months and has been like this since about 17 weeks. I sort of thought it was normal until today when a friend commented on how exhausted DD obviously was and why on earth wouldn't she go to sleep. (This was after over an hour of trying to put her down and me giving up .) And she used to be such a good little sleeper ...

I don't have any advice for you, I'm afraid, but I used to have DD in the sling all the time until she got too heavy for me. It was the only way she'd nap at all. Hopefully this will just be a phase for you and she'll start sleeping again soon!

[StarlightMcKenzie]

Are you sure she's not hungry?

Even tired babies find it hard to sleep if they are hungry.