Running out of ideas

[Rebeccaelizabethxo]

DD is 5 weeks old and I cannot get her to sleep anywhere that isn't on my chest, her laying on her tummy. I'm running on 2 hours sleep a night (before Oh comes up) and not able to rest in the day.

I have tried putting clothing of mine in her cot, warming it with a bottle, rocking the cot constantly, not rocking the cot, having the cot at an angle, co-sleeping in my bed, I've tried swaddling her in the cot and in bed. Nothing works other than being on my chest but I don't want to fall asleep like this through fear of sids.

The routine so far is changing, bfing, burping, cuddling and keeping up right for 20-30 mins, she goes sound asleep but the second I lay her in the cot or next to me she starts squirming, fussing and eventually crying/screaming. Which then starts the whole process all over again. I don't know what to do anymore ! is there anything else I can do or am I resigned to just getting 2 hours a night sleep ?

[Jemzy12345]

Possibly has burps that haven't come up. Bounce her gently on your knees. If she sounds like a water bottle (not sure how else to describe it ) she still has air that needs to come out. Possibly this is what is making her uncomfortable. Or overtired, does she look left and right really quickly and a worried expression on her face ?

[Rebeccaelizabethxo]

Do you mean like a trickling sound in her belly ? Because sometimes she has this but not often. Most of the time she has her eyes closed, thrashes her arms about, head turning, gurgling, making odd inhalation noises, this carries on until she cries and scream, but the minute I pick her up she stops. I'm just at my wits end, I just want to run away from it all

[Jemzy12345]

Yeah like when you push on a water bottle it makes like a watery bubble sound. If you can hear that she still has air. I thought it was just the contents of her belly but it's not, you can only hear it when she has air. Bounce on your knees gently, if nothing comes out try all the usual a, patting and rubbing back and over your shoulder then back to bouncing, you can bounce her on knees and then move her in a circular motion whilst doing it, sometimes they are a bugger to get out. My son had a tough one earlier, got it out eventually tho. Bounced him after he burped to see if sound went and it had. So see if you hear it and then after burp see if you do after, if not carry on feeding or if it's the end you know she is free of air.

[Jemzy12345]

Think this will help her feel more comfortable as only got a little belly so if it's full of air she is going to be uncomfortable or it will be painful for her to try and sleep with out it gone. We keep our boy up for 30 mins after to ensure he not sick then, swaddle then rock him to sleep on us while stroking eyebrows and down the nose, seems to help get him sleepy, we play white noise on I pad and then transfer him to crib

[FATEdestiny]

How much awake time is she having? At 5 weeks the answer should be not very much. Through the daytime you should be looking at maybe 15 minutes free awake time between naps, less if a breastfeed takes a long time.

I am thinking over-tired. You see good sleep promotes better sleep and unfortunately poor sleep makes getting to sleep even harder.

In those first few (6 to 12) weeks your day pretty much wants to go:

• wake
• feed
• wind
• nappy check (change if required)
• Quick cuddle, happy awake time
• another feed to ensure full tummy
• gentle winding on your shoulder
• Swaddle/dummy/cuddle to sleep
• Put down

Repeat, repeat, repeat

This is a very short period of time when baby is awake and not being fed/changed. It's basically just a while round of feeding then getting to sleep, mainly.

If she is already getting enough sleep over 24 hours, my next suggestion would be to work at getting her to accept a dummy. Some babies don't instinctively 'get' a dummy and it takes perseverance. But babies get natural comfort and security by sucking, it helps them sleep.