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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

Two week old baby

30 replies

PeggyL · 30/01/2013 18:55

Hi all, I know it's early days as LO is only 2 weeks old but does anyone have any tips on helping her sleep. I know it's a bit crazy at night with a newborn but she just won't settle and if she does fall asleep on me/feeding/with dummy - she just wakes up again as soon as put her down or when dummy falls out. Thanks x

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

amazingmumof6 · 30/01/2013 19:13

5 words Babies Use (Baby Language).flv - watch this on youtube.

learn it, use it, enjoy baby (thank me )

Iggly · 30/01/2013 19:26

Don't put her down... Or wait about 10-15 mins before you do. She's only 2 weeks old and this is common.

As for getting to sleep - what have you tried?

BikeRunSki · 30/01/2013 19:28

Sounds like perfectly normal (and expected) behaviour for a 2 week old.

RooneyMara · 30/01/2013 19:34

Mine's 4 weeks. Just the same and all day as well - have to hold him.

Only thing that helps a bit is to put him inclined - so not flat. I think he cries from wind so lying on his back really hurts sometimes - the more upright without slumping, obvs, the better. Otherwise it is wait it out, I think!

have had about an hour's sleep per night on average.

SirBoobAlot · 30/01/2013 19:34

She was curled up inside you listening to your heart beat constantly until fourteen days ago. That has been her constant. It is perfectly normal, expected and healthy for her to want to sleep on you right now.

Don't stress about it. Enjoy the tiny baby cuddles whilst you can.

Original poster

PeggyL · 30/01/2013 19:45

I've tried rocking her, letting her sleep on me but then she wakes as soon as I put her down, I've fallen asleep with her on me a few times now. It takes ages to get the wind from her, up to an hour after a feed, before you know it, it's 3am!!

Oh my god RooneyMara - 1 hours sleep a night, how are you surviving?! I thought my 3/4 hours was bad. SirBoobAlot - when you put it like that I just feel a lot less stressed, you're so right, I need to get over the crap nights and enjoy her! xx

OP posts:

Original poster

PeggyL · 30/01/2013 19:46

amazingmumof6 - just watched a bit of that youtube clip, pretty impressive, just need to write down the sounds & what they mean, I know I'll forget otherwise!

OP posts:

SirBoobAlot · 30/01/2013 19:48

They pass before you know it, promise :)

As an aside, you say it takes ages to wind her. Is she breastfed or bottle fed?

Original poster

PeggyL · 30/01/2013 19:52

She is now bottle fed as got mastitis (expressed and froze milk) but formula now. I make sure I don't shake the bottles to avoid getting air bubbles in etc but a lot of the time she gets the hiccups too...any tips on that too as I think wind is a right bugger for keeping them awake and uncomfortable isn't it? x

OP posts:

Iggly · 30/01/2013 19:58

Mmmm well let her sleep on you... As she gets a bit bigger you can put her down I promise - she will let you.

Has she been checked for tongue tie? Can you make sure she's got a good seal on the bottle?

DeDevilTail · 30/01/2013 19:59

White noise was my saviour. The hairdryer lulled DD to sleep for weeks.

amazingmumof6 · 30/01/2013 20:01

peggyL - I know, it is, best thing ever!
it should be only thing given to a mother on postnatal ward if nothing else!!!!

I only discovered it when my DD ( 6th child) was 5-6 weeks old and as soon as I started listening my life changed! I realized it works and I was so relieved!
I felt like Mother Earth, but was also in physical pain & floods of tears thinking about all the unnecessary struggles I went through with the boys and wishing I had known this when DS1 was a newborn!

I'm quite tempted to have 1 or 2 more kids, just so that I can do the "baby talk" and breeze through it!!!!!

yes, write down the sounds on cards , one set where baby sleeps for nighttime/naps, 1 set for where they come handy during the day.

and remember there are mixed sounds too, say hunger and wet, but listen for the most urgent one.

also they change the sounds quickly, so if you can hear "burp" "hunger" and "wet",
change nappy quickly, then burp baby, then feed! you'll hear the sounds change after each action, it's unbelievable!

amazingmumof6 · 30/01/2013 20:04

nothing you can do about hiccups, whether in or out of womb!

you can try the anti- colic formulas (or whatever they are called) I tried Aptamil and Cow & Gate, bit good.

I also used Avent anti-colic bottles, the ones with the blue ring inside - trick is to not tighten it too hard, it won't work.

Rikalaily · 30/01/2013 20:07

Sometimes they wake when you put them down because they feel colder without your body heat. Try laying a warm hotwater bottle in the crib before you put her down to warm it a little. Also 3 of my four have prefered sleeping on thier side, they would wake up within seconds if I put the on their backs.

preggersshock · 30/01/2013 20:28

I agree with everyone else, cuddle her, it goes too quick! I remember posting a very similar message & everyone said the same thing to me. DD is 14 weeks now and in her own room and her big cot and it went too quick, I miss our evening TV & cuddles! Wish now i'd worried about it less & spent my time cuddling her instead of stressing about why she wouldn't go in her own bed. She'll go in her bed when she is ready :-) Then you'll need a hot water bottle & Ewan the dream sheep! She'll feel lovely & secure, it'll be like being back in her old bedroom (mummy's tummy)

Pleasenomorepeppa · 30/01/2013 21:01

Just watched the YouTube clip. DH & I are sitting with 8 day old DD2 & translating!
She's v windy & sleeps on my chest most of the day & night, I'm figuring it won't last long & at least she's not crying .

honeytea · 30/01/2013 21:11

My friend gave me a swaddle me blanket when my ds was 6 days old it was amazing it really helped him sleep. I'd breastfeed him to sleep then my dp would put him in the sidecar cot and put his hand on ds's tummy and rock him from side to side for a few mins. In the early days ds would wake 3-4 times a night now we have put him in a baby sleepingbag and he wakes 1-2 times. He has even started letting me put him down in tge daytime for naps, he is only 6 weeks and I miss his newborn cuddles!

amazingmumof6 · 30/01/2013 23:09

pleasenomorepeppa it's like magic!
give it a day or too and you'll start to hear the different sounds!

I actually put the clip on a few times while she was crying for a proper comparison - it was comic, but worked.

oh and if you burp baby, then start feeding him/her, then baby stops feeding and cries " burp me" - do that! when all is good you can resume the feeding.

it's just so fantastic, and once you get the hang of it saves a lot of guess work. and your sanity.

BertieBotts · 30/01/2013 23:17

Ha! How funny. DS is 4 now but he had a very distinctive hungry cry when he was a newborn, so I just watched that to see if it matched and it did although I always described/thought of his as a "lair" rather than "neh", but exactly the same when listening to the clips of the babies. What a weird thing that they all make the same sounds!

amazingmumof6 · 30/01/2013 23:38

I found the hungry sound especially hilarious, because it sounds exactly like the Hungarian word for "don't"!! (ne)

as if a baby would be crying "don't" don't" don't" - as in don't starve me any longer.....

it is the same sound she says because they are reflexes not conscious "words".
best understood with the "wind" sound, love Oprah grunting!!!!!

RooneyMara · 31/01/2013 07:33

I watched this last night and had never heard of it before but Ive been teaching my other children about what the different noises mean since ds3 was born 4 weeks ago.

I thought about this video all night and I have t o say I don't agree with her on all of the noises.

Mine all made a sound like 'eh-eh-eh' when they were hungry - the baby in the 'burp' clip is clearly after milk, not needing winding! But they showed him on the 'hungry' one too..I think? Also it's accompanied by fast breathing and rooting and sometimes a hand to the mouth.

the upset cry is 'elair' here - often repeated quite quickly with a square mouth and wobbling tongue when he gets really upset. I think it's debatable if that's discomfort caused by wind, colic, uncomfy car seat and so on.

Those are the main ones I think. So I feel quite cross with her and I'd hate someone with a baby making the hungry noise to think it needs winding some more. etc etc

but she is kind of right in some ways...though I think most mums develop a sense of what the noises mean after having one or two kids.

RooneyMara · 31/01/2013 07:36

Also the sounds change as the baby gets bigger. So at the moment ds3 is on the 'eh-eh' and 'elair' stage, but it's changing already, and sometimes we get 'helair' instead of 'elair', sometimes he manages to say what sounds like 'ungeling' when he is cross, in a week or two it'll be 'h-eh, h-eh' and then 'ef-ef-ef' so it all depends on the age of the baby, too.

As they get more consonants they make better words

RooneyMara · 31/01/2013 07:39

Peggy - try a woollen blanket in the cot as well. Or next to you in the bed. They are a warmer surface to be put down onto and it really helps ds if he's put on wool instead of a cool sheet.

Original poster

PeggyL · 31/01/2013 10:04

Morning all, another crap night had by all, hubbie went to sleep on sofa at 1am, I had LO beside me in bed and she finally settled by 4am, for the hour before this dummy in, kept falling out, she kept crying etc?I?m feeling a little crazy this morning!!

Iggly ? no she hasn?t got a tongue tie, I had the midwives check in the hospital, I am Infacol?ing her before every feed which does help bring the wind up?eventually!

amazingmumof6 - can?t believe you?ve got 6 kids, that is truly incredible, you must be an incredible mum, going to watch that clip again later and write the noises down, see if that helps.

Rikalaily ? will try the hot water bottle, could it really be that simple, I think when you?re knackered you just can?t think straight can you, but they?re so warm and snug on or beside us aren?t they.
Preggersshock ? who or what is Ewan the dream sheep?!

Honeytea ? she was fine in the swaddle for about a week and then just kept wriggling out of it (however tight it was, she?s a determined little thing I think!), she seems to get on better with her arms out, so hard to know what to do when it?s the dead of night and you?re tired/crying!

RooneyMara ? I?ve got this really soft blankie, it?s not very big but so soft and snug, do you think it would be ok to place that in the Moses under her head, should I try it during the day first, can?t imagine it moving up to cover her face, but you never know?

Thanks for all your advice, I tried replying to this post from my mobile in the dead of night, but just couldn?t think straight/kept pressing the wrong buttons, this site is so helpful isn?t it xx

OP posts:

amazingmumof6 · 31/01/2013 10:29

I use/d a fleece blanket in place of sheet, rooneymara says, the cool sheet can wake them up.

I also did this - put a soft pillow under the sheet, which you can kind of mould to her body shape,
kind of like a dent in the middle of pillow- when they are so little their backs are curled up, so when you put then on a flat surface they roll or stretch and get startled and wake up!
think shape of baby car seat - how it follows the curve of their back, that's where I got the idea from.

mine actually preferred to sleep on their sides anyway, so I did that and put something next to their backs to keep them stay in that position.

I don't know if any of that makes sense

yes, 6 little monsters angels, though I'm not incredible..but hopefully good enough

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