9 weeks old and overtired

[Lwarnock]

DS is 9 weeks and 5 days old and I have spent the last ten days in a sleep deprived whirlwind of extra bottles and overtired clinginess! All of sudden, out of no where DS has stated to not nap properly in the day but instead falls asleep at 11.45 naturally hen wakes up at 12.45 still exhausted but refuses to sleep unless in my arms and then he wakes up to check I am still there every ten mins or so. This is then leading to over tiredness at around 4 when he literally passes out wherever he is and sleeps for another hour or more if I let him. He settles at night okay and I dream feed him at 10pm. He used to go through till 6 but has stated to want a bottle at 3.15am every morning. He then Wales up at 6.30 but will not take a full bottle at all even if I try later at 7 or half 7. He just wants to be cuddled and keep sleeping till 10 when he then takes a bottle.
I had a great 4 hour my routine with a couple of two hour naps a day. What has happened?

[ElephantAndBird]

He's still a newborn and has no idea what a routine is! Just cuddle him and feed him on demand. Let him nap as and when he wants to.

[Lwarnock]

That's the problem he wants to sleep but is overtired most of the day and therefore cannot get to sleep. He is more and more fussy and the lack of sleep means he constantly rubs his eyes during the day and they are sore. Babies need their sleep to process and develop. I don't necessarily want a routine but routines help babies thrive and develop security.

[BeeFace]

He’s too young for routines. Can you let him take his naps in your arms? DS is 5mth and sleeps much better when being held still.

[NinaMarieP]

We have problems with over tiredness at times. It was worst around 3-5 weeks because we weren't reading his cues and he was over stimulated.

Some ideas we have used:

Working out how long he can go between naps without getting overtired. Ie if he gets over tired at 1.5 hours of awake time, start trying to get him to sleep before then.

If he is over tired already we employ all our sleep tricks - a dummy, white noise, rocking him in arms or his pram, (some people swear by wearing him in a sling but I don't do that usually as he's bloody heavy!) and always a cosy blanket.

Most of his naps are taken in the crook of my arm on the sofa still and he's 16 weeks but it keeps him from being too overtired. I also let him sleep in the evening if he needs to before bed.

[DoubleHelix79]

Try sitting on one of those giant exercise balls with him in your arms and bumping up and down. Our DD absolutely refused to nap at that age, to the point where she was hysterical most of the day. The ball finally helped us get her to sleep (although it still was a bit of a gamble to then transfer her to the cot, so often she'd still end up in my arms for the duration of the nap). I also fed her to sleep when I was particularly desperate.

Over the following few months we got her very very slowly used to putting herself to sleep, but it took until she was about 7/8 month before we stopped rocking her completely (still had to do it on difficult days)

Also recommend white noise and very dark room. Both definitely helped.

[Lwarnock]

Thank you for all the advice everyone

[Lemondrop99]

My 8 week old naps best in a sling. Will do a good 2-3 hours over lunch time in there.