2 week old with cold, won't sleep unless attached to me :-(

[PickledLily]

My beautiful 2 week old baby has a cold (blocked nose, slight temperature) and won't sleep unless it's on me. She will sleep in my arms/on my chest but as soon as I try to move her (to DP, into the moses basket, into the bed next to me), she starts crying and won't settle (lots of 'Neh', but seems to be after comfort rather than food). She doesn't like sleeping on her back at the moment (during the day she'll normally sleep ok in her moses basket, if she's already asleep when put down).

Any suggestions? I can't go 24hrs with her attached to me.

Poor thing. It does sound quite normal. You could try propping up the moses basket so that her head is higher than her feet (books underneath? Or a wedge pillow under the mattress, if you have one). And you could try taking her into a steamy bathroom before sleep times to help her to clear her nose (I used to feed mine with the shower running on hot when they were very snuffly, just to help them to take a decent feed). I'm not sure that there is much more you can do for such a little baby - even Karvol and things are from 3 months, I think? There is something called Snuffle Babe which is a similar product, not sure if that might be a possibility from younger, you'd need to check with a pharmacist. Hope she feels better soon.

poor little thing. Have you taken her in to the GP for a check up? Even though it is only a cold, she is so tiny that she should be seen if she even has a slight temperature and stuffy nose. When my DS2 was 3 weeks old, our GP referred us back to the paediatrician when he had a cold because it can be difficult to spot serious infections in newborns (don't want to scare you - it is very unlikely to be serious and DS2 was fine btw).

"Any suggestions? I can't go 24hrs with her attached to me."

Really sorry- but I think you'll find you can!

Just keep repeating "this will pass" over and over again.

Thanks for the advice. i have a doctors appointment tomorrow anyway so will get her checked. Tried the shower room for feeding and it worked well. it's just working out how i get any sleep. 1 night without i can manage, 2 on the trot (on top of an average 2 hours/night for the past 2 weeks) will be a struggle.

Sympathies . If you can, enlist someone else to hold her for a short time. Even an hour of sleep will make a massive difference although you will feel terrible when you first wake up. Also have plenty of fresh air, sunlight, exercise, juicy fruit such as oranges and apples - but avoid heavy starchy food (mainly proteiny food). Have strong coffee (immediately after a feed of course!) and try to plan activities with lots of conversation eg toddler groups, breastfeeding groups etc.

This is how I got through doing consecutive all-nighters with the DCs (DS1 was a terrible sleeper). Good luck and come back and let us know how you are getting on!

Hello, reporting back!

Your replies helped keep me sane last night, thank you! DP rang the GP and we were sent to the hospital to check she had nothing serious. Doctor confirmed she just had snuffles, temperature wasn't too high, but I could give her a 1/4 teaspoon of calpol if she continued to be distressed. Big relief. Of course by this point she was out for the count, only to wake up once we were home and in bed!

Fast forward through 2 hours of crying/feeding/wind and she eventually went off to sleep, only to wake and repeat the cycle again for a couple of hours at 4am. Weirdly, she then slept next to me (normally she sleeps on my chest) quite contently without needing any burping/wind/screaming for 3 hours .

She's better today, so hopefully we'll get more sleep tonight if she's just got the usual windy stomach to contend with.

She may have slept better because you knew she was ok - babies are very good at picking up our signals and if you were worried she may have been stressed too!

Well done ! It sounds like you managed brilliantly. so glad your DD is better today.