I have a 2 week old DD who was born at 36+3, so slightly preterm and probably only just 'cooked' now. She took a while to get feeding properly (breastfed) and is still slightly under birthweight, so I'm feeding her on demand and waking her every 3 hours or so for a feed if she doesn't wake naturally.
For the first 10 days or so, she would only sleep on a person. In the last few days she has started to tolerate being put down for naps in the daytime - she managed 3 hours straight yesterday on a Cocoonababy cushion in the living room.
At night is a different story however. She tends to sleep for a couple of hours downstairs with DH from about 8-10, then he brings her up and she cluster feeds until about 1am. I'm told it's normal for them to cluster feed at night, but now I'm not sure if she's actually hungry or just comfort feeding because I'm trying to put her down between each feed and she doesn't like it.
I tend to try putting her on the Cocoonababy until about 2am, then relent and try co-sleeping. She will occasionally sleep for a bit next to me - we managed 50 mins last night which was the most so far. Mostly she objects though.
I know a lack of sleep is to be expected but I'm getting a bit frustrated now and feel like I don't know what I'm doing - I don't know what to stick with and what to try changing.
Some things I have considered are
- Temperature and clothing - she will sleep on the Cocoonababy happily in the living room where it's warm, but the bedroom is usually 17-18 degrees. She wears a sleepsuit in it and I tuck a blanket over her. When co-sleeping she wears a sleepsuit with a 2.5 tog sleeping bag. Should she be wearing more? I don't want her to overheat though.
- Swaddling - we have tried this quite a bit and have lots of different swaddling solutions now! I'm never quite sure though - for one thing, I don't like that she can't use her hands to give feeding cues so is more likely to get worked up when hungry. Also the bags are quite thin so again I don't know how to make her warm enough but not too hot.
- Am I just being unrealistic to expect her to sleep at night so soon, especially with her being a little undercooked? I am comparing to friends of ours who had a baby at the same time and seem to have this problem pretty much sorted now.
Sorry this was so long! Any advice much appreciated.