I'm so tired. I need to get some sleep.

[Itsaplayonwords]

DD2 is 5 weeks old. She was born premature and shouldn't even be here yet which means she is still little and feeding constantly. We've worked really hard to get to the point we have with breastfeeding where she just has one bottle of expressed milk a day. The past few nights she has fed loads and she also won't sleep in her cot. I'm annoyed at myself because I don't want to encourage her to sleep on my chest but when I'm so exhausted its easier just to let her do that so I can get some sleep too. But it's not very restful sleep as I'm constantly aware that she's there. DD1 is at nursery today so in theory I could get a bit of sleep while DD2 sleeps but she will NOT settle in her carrycot. The second I lay her down she's wide awake and acting like she's never been fed.

I need to get some sleep. I'm so tired. What can I do?

Will she sleep if you take her out in the pram? Then nip back home and hope she stays asleep for a while? Or the same in the car and car seat?

(I'm typing this with a 5 week old that was born early (not quite prem) fast asleep on my chest, so I'm right there with you!)

I thought I had success. I managed to put her in the carrycot and she settled...for a grand total of 13 minutes. Then she woke up to do a poo. Typical.

It wasn't around when DS was a newborn and sleeping on my chest ALL THE TIME (he got too big and found it uncomfortable after 6-7 weeks) but I know people swear by the expensive Sleepyhead. It gives them that same cosy feeling. Could you safely co-sleep at all?

Nappy changed. Starving again. Started feeding. Another poo!

A friend of mine has just given me her sleepyhead but DD is still a bit too little for it so doesn't touch the sides so it's basically like being in the cot for her at this point. I'm going to persist though! I'm wary of co-sleeping - I've always been too worried about rolling on to her - but the past few nights she has fallen asleep next to me after breastfeeding laying down and I've let her stay there while I sleep but I'm still very aware of her being there so I don't sleep brilliantly.

Can you put her in the Sleepyhead on your bed? That will make it harder for you to roll over/be worried, and at least she is right there and can probably smell/sense you. I also suspect she's having a growth spurt. You'll wake up on Wednesday (if you got any sleep at all) and find that nothing fits her!

I'm wondering about a growth spurt too - she's starting not to fit in her "Up to 5lb" clothes. It's stupid though because the next size up is "Up to 7.5lb" which drowns her.

She's had me questioning if I've got enough milk for her but she's having wet and dirty nappies so I think she's just being greedy!

I might try that with the sleepyhead. We've got a Bednest so she's right next to me in there but she still doesn't seem keen. I'm willing to try anything. If she'll sleep in the sleepyhead on our bed that'll be ideal for now, and hopefully it'll make the transition back to her cot easier...I hope!!

Could you try rolling up a cellular blanket to pad our the sleepyhead a bit? Agree about sleep not being brilliant when you co sleep but it's better than not sleeping at all!

I leant my sleepyhead to my cousin and her little boy was eight weeks prem. He settled in it well despite being tiny. It is really good for co sleeping, I used to lower DD down on it.,keeping my body close to hers (sometimes rocking her all the way down) and once down take away one hand slowly at a time, then placing one hand on her chest until I felt she was settled. Sometimes when she was in the sleepyhead on the bed next to me I would drape an arm over her. Some of my friends would lay one of their tops under them so they could still smell Mum. I also had Ewan the dream sheep which helped.

My son was like this. We survived the first month by a mixture of co-sleeping with him falling asleep on his side during feeding, and letting him sleep on our chests. After 4 weeks we moved to formula so breast feeding to sleep wasn't am option and we resorted to buying a sleepyhead and putting it on the bed. It worked at night, but he still slept on us for most naps. At 12 weeks, we moved the sleepyhead to his crib and he was fine with the move. Now at 16 weeks, je still begins all sleeps on me, but I make a point of putting him down in the sleepyhead afte 20-30 minutes. At night he nearly always continues sleeping, with naps it will work once a day and the rest of the time he wakes up when I put him down, but he's still reasonably happy if he just gets those 30 min catnaps. Its slow progress, but progress nonetheless. Hang in there!

Please remember that babies feed for more than just food so as log as baby is putting on weight appropriately and having enough wet/dirty nappies then please don't question your supply. DS was 10 days late, a hefty 8lb 15oz and fed constantly and slept not at all for months. He was huge and piled on weight so nothing to do with supply.

Try rolled up towels in a horseshoe shape under crib sheet. May work, may not. I would also suggest feeding laying on one side with baby tummy to tummy so you can lie down and snooze through feeds. This saved me with DS.

When DD was this young we co slept (sometimes using the sleepyhead or cocoonababy) and fed laying down in the bed as we'd both usually drift off. DD loved to be swaddled too - if I put her in her crib without being swaddled she'd freak out but swaddled she managed it.

Lots of good YouTube videos on different methods.