6 Week Old Sleeping

[Poshers]

Hi

Pleeeeease can someone give me some advice or at least understand. My son will not sleep anywhere but with me, I have tried:

Warming Moses Basket
Putting in used breast pads (for smell)
Gro Bag
Blankets
Letting him cry for a while

I've tried, the car seat, pram, swing .... he just will only sleep with me. I desperately want to get him to sleep in basket for obvious reasons. Can anyone advice HOW I even start with it? I'm EBF

Thank you

At his age it

oops! isn't unusual for him to want to be close to you. Have you tried swaddling him?

I need to get a proper swaddle blanket as haven't tried that

Try swaddling, then hold and cuddle, get DS drifting off to sleep and then try putting down.

In the Body and Soul section there is a subsection called Sleep, maybe post there too?

I think you should stop fretting about the sleep thing which I know is easy for me to say at this stage but the thing is your beautiful baby is paying you the greatest compliment by this behaviour by letting you know that he feels most content when he is in your arms or by your side when asleep. I joke about the amount of money we spent on cots etc when really all that was required was a large bed. I got in the habit of letting my son drift off to sleep in the cruck of my arm and then I was able to sneek off when he was asleep. My son is now a huge 7 years old and is one of the most emotionally intelligent of his friendship group which I attribute to the lovely way he went to sleep! Your beautiful boy just loves everything about you including our heart beat, smell and breath. it is a very special time and you are doing so well EBF and point this out to anyone who is moaning at you about his sleep preferences -we all have them really! I hope I have been of some comfort - the bizarre thing is that if I can't sleep now I end up getting into bed with my son and I drift off to sleep in a moment!

Co-sleep - do whatever works to get sleep.

Thank you so much for your kind words, I feel awful as I can't even put him down for 2 mins without him screaming for me - I know I'll get there in the end but just finding it very hard - I'm also on my own so extra tough

Its totally, totally normal. Neither of you are doing anything wrong. Six weeks is tiny, tiny, tiny - think how long he spent inside your body compared to how long he has been outside it. He is bound to want to be close to you. He loves you :) That said it is very tiring and at times frustrating (speaking from experience) so I would say do try gentle techniques to begin to help him to feel comfortable away from you. I would recommend Elizabeth Pantley's The No Cry Sleep Solution. But honestly, at this stage just try to give in to it and enjoy eavh other - you can move slowly and gently and you will get there. I am speaking as someone who had a LOT of sleep troubles, I was on Mumsnet about it tons, and now my 19 mo DS goes to his own bed perfectly every night, dropping off quite happily by himself. Just get sleep however and whenever you can. x

It is that he doesn't like to be on his back? I had some advice recently from a fellow mum that said that due to the trauma of birth some babies plates in their heads aren't quite aligned and as a result it is uncomfortable to sleep on their backs. Apparently you can go to see a cranial osteopath who can re-align them for you (most do a mum and baby appointment so you can get some treatment too) and it helps.

Not used one myself yet as my 5 week old seems ok at present but maybe worth a try

Have you tried a sling? Here are comments on a Moby stretchy wrap:

www.mumsnet.com/reviews/on-the-move/baby-carriers-and-baby-slings/9543-moby-wrap-original-wrap

Babies are needy little creatures, it's not spoiling them to respond to them crying, BUT it doesn't mean you're neglectful or causing him any long-term damage by letting him cry every once in a while, for minutes at a time. If you don't have the support of a live-in partner you will need to make time to eat/take a shower/have a few minutes head-space on your own. Even five or ten minutes in another room, with a radio or earplugs and a book. Please don't feel like a bad mother if you let your DS cry for few minutes every now and then. You will most likely be upset with yourself anyway.

Quite overwhelmed with all the support from everyone I'm going to not stress about it xxx

I second the swaddling blanket. Also, have you tried breastfeeding him lying down? I found that once he'd nodded off on the breast, I could then slip away without him waking up.

Yep I breastfeed lying down, think this is how I got to this stage in the first place! ....

As everyone else has said - don't beat yourself up, you're doing brilliantly. Just a couple of quick tips from me:

Be a bit careful about swaddling - it has recently been linked to problems with hip development. See eg http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/health-24710090.

Wait until your child is in a deep sleep before putting him/her down in the bed. If you can lift their arm and it drops like a wet noodle, you're there see http://www.a-healthy-lifestyle.com/sleeping-baby.html for further info. This works for us (DS 3 weeks old).

Argh crap linkfail - sorry, you get the idea I'm sure!