Sleeping patterns during the day

[FraggleMum]

My DD is really resistant to sleeping during the day. She is 7 weeks old and hardly goes down during the day. She will sleep if you hold her but the second she goes down into her moses basket she cries. I have managed to get her to sleep the last two days by swaddling her and popping in patting/quick cuddle if she starts crying. Even then only get 2 hours and thats it for the day.
She won't even go off to sleep in her pram - a quick 10-20 mins snooze and that's it. Most parents seem to be able to get their babies to sleep for hours in a pram...I'm so jealous. She is better during the night as does sleep but its quite fretful (lots of movement, grunting etc).
Is anyone else having a similar experience...I'm really worried she isn't getting enough sleep.

i think most babies of this age tend to need to sleep after about 2 hours of being awake. I put DS2 down for a sleep after this time esp in the morning and then again at lunch time even if he doesn't seem to be too tired and he always nods off. He has never slept for very long in his pram either - the minute we stop moving he wakes up!

Try to make sure she is not getting over tired or over stimulated prior to sleep as this can make it hard for them to drift off.

Don;t worry about the fidgeting and grunting in the night, she is probably coming into a lighter sleep and settling herself again.

hth

Oh this sounds just like DS, who had quite bad reflux. Does she appear gassy after eating, or spit up? Does she eat well in general?

Swaddling at this age is a good idea; I would stick with that and the quick cuddles if she won't settle on her own.

Generally it's also a good idea at so young an age to keep naptime to a regular time. As Nanoon suggests, try at least in the morning to get her down at about the same time each day - maybe it's 2 hours after she woke, you'll have to see when your DD starts rubbing eyes, yawning, etc. Once it's established routine at home you should be able to take her in the buggy and nap no problem. The time will trigger it.

Good luck

Will try the regular morning naps and stick to the swaddling...it does stop her waving her arms and legs all over the place which probably wakes her up!
Now you mention it, she does spit up quite regularly after her feeds and seems quite 'rigid' with gas. She is breastfed and generally eats quite well although she has recently started hitting me with one hand when I'm trying to get her to latch.
I'm glad I don't need to worry too much about the awful grunting at night - sounds like a pig and very disruptive to my sleep!!!

with DS, we had to hold him upright after eating and he whilst falling asleep - and "rigid" is exactly how he would be - arching his back.
you could ask your GP about trying infant gaviscon, which really helps a lot of lo's who have reflux, though I am unsure how well babies take it with breast milk (we did FF mostly).

elevating the cot/moses basket mattress by putting a small pillow under the one end of the mattress may help too.

Hi

I am glad it is not just my daughter grunting, l felt really bad saying she sounded like a pig to my husband.

I was wondering if it was wind that makes her grunt.

Keeping DD elevated has really helped. However, daytime sleeping is an exhausting battle. I managed about 40 minutes out of her this morning. I've been trying to follow the Tracy Hogg EASY Routine (Eat, Activity, Sleep, You) but its already gone to pot as she spent so long fussing and trying to get to sleep, we were onto the next feed and then she went to sleep. Is it bad that she would go straight to sleep after the feed. I really want her to get into a routine, so she knows what is coming next and hopefully be calmer,happier and sleep a bit easier during the day.
Mind you, she is (so far) a good night sleeper. Goes down at around 7 to 8pm wakes for a quick feed around 1 - 2am, again at 5ish then wakes up at around 7 or 8am. Which is pretty good for a seven to eight week old (I think?).