How long does it take you to settle a newborn?

[BrassHorses]

DS is 11 days old and has started sleeping for periods of 3-4 hours at a time occasionally, but he also does 1 hour at a time sometimes. When he wakes up we feed him, change him and then wait for him to look sleepy and try to settle him. Often he will look tired but then start gristling and getting upset and crying and I would say it's taking between 1 and a half hours and 2 and a half hours to settle him each time (including the time for feeding, changing etc.)

We try white noise, a dummy, gentle rocking, cuddling and I'm just wondering if this is a normal amount of time to settle a little one?

He doesn't need to be asleep all the time. Just go with his flow, feed him or cuddle him to sleep at 11 days old!

At 11 days old they don't have set naps, it's far too early.

It used to take ages to settle my DD (now 20 months) too. We did all the things you’ve done, but a swaddle (really tight!) was a game changer. Also, really, really decent winding. I was under the illusion that breastfed babies didn’t really need winding, but it turns out sometimes they do!

Also, I thought that all newborn babies just slept and ate, but DD wasn’t that keen on sleeping! She was awake quite a lot, and just seemed to like looking around. We would go out in the pram / sling a lot in the day so she could get fresh air, and see things. She napped well on the move.

We also tried to keep nighttime dark, very quiet, and super boring. Minimal talking / engaging, just gentle soothing as needed.

She soon got used to life in the outside world, and sleeps like a champ now!