How to get a 6 week old to sleep

[Youngharriet]

Hi, I have a 6 week old who fights sleep! Currently the only way to get him to sleep during the day is to drive or walk him and in the evening I've been trying the baby whisperer's shush pat (after bath and feed) but after 10 days I've made no progress at all, in fact he seems to cry for longer.

I don't want to get in to "bad habits" and get him used to "props", I just want him to settle on his own so I can then deal with my other little one.

Am I being unrealistic? Does anyone else have a similar situation, how are you dealing with it? Thank you.

you are being unrealistic! he is SIX weeks old...
there are no bad habits, he is unable to settle on his own - he does not realise he is a different being to you!!

you will just have to do what works, and that usually means holding him close - have you got a sling, so you have hands free for your other DC?

Our LO started sleeping through the night (8-10 hours) at 6 weeks old and everyone was envious, but now, at 25 weeks old, she wont go to sleep at night at all till 3am, then wakes at 6am. It seems every baby is different and there's no particular age at which they will or wont sleep well at night. At this stage I agree that you should just do whatever it takes so you can get some rest - though saying that we are avoiding having our DD in our bed now, even though she co-slept with us in weeks 2-3 of her life as she hated her Moses basket and we needed some sleep. She was much, much happier and began to sleep for 5+ hours at night with an hour long feed then another 4-5 hours sleep as soon as we put her in her own room in a cot aged 3 weeks. Now she's nearly 6 months and not sleeping well but we really don't want her back in with us as we don't want her to get into a habit of being able to sleep only with us!

He's tiny. No such thing as props at that age, whatever all the books say. He'll get there in his own time, for now just enjoy the cuddles and invest in a sling!

My DS slept better being cuddled at that age and we did everything just to get him to sleep. Now he's an excellent sleeper and self settler.

He's six weeks old, sit and cuddle him. You are being unrealistic.

I tried shush patting with my now 10 week old but he found it too stimulating - pick up/ put down likewise. He used to get more and more wired til it was impossible for him to sleep (and DP andI were breaking our hearts).

What I found worked when he was teeny tiny and easily overstimulated was: swaddling him, popping in a dummy (sorry all, know they are infra dig) having the lights low/ off, and putting him in his moses basket. If he was really upset, I'd hold his arms by his sides because I can't seem to swaddle securely against a force nine meltdown.

Although it is counterintuitive, we found he had to be put down calmly even when crying - cuddles seemed to have him more upset because he didn't want to interact. At a whole ten weeks, he is way more cuddly and would probably prefer a cuddle to sleep. But when he was teeny tiny that didn't work. HTH