My 11-week old son won't sleep. Help!

[gingercurl]

My ds hardly sleeps during the day. 2 hours at most and only if I or dh carry him in a carrier. We've tried going for a walk in a pram. He doses off but wakes up the minute we stop moving. Now he has started not sleeping at night as well. He is tired as anything but will not go off to sleep unless he is on my breast. The minute I put him in his cot he wakes up and refuses to go back to sleep and just cries. Once he nods off he'll sleep for nine hours but getting there is a nightmare. Tonight we have been trying to get him to sleep since ten o'clock and he is still crying. We've tried picking him up and not picking him up... This has started in the last couple of weeks. Any ideas?

Go with the flow. Feed to sleep if you have to. After he appears to be asleep, give it another quarter of an hour or holding and rocking. I sympathise as I have had one 'bad' sleeper and it looks like I'm on my second (5 weeks in).My strategy has always been path of least resistance incl bf to sleep for a very long time) and hence I have kept my sanity

of holding and rocking

You could also get a cradle or an Amby nest, then you can put him down and continue the motion.

If he wakes when you put him down then try conning him a little! Makes his sleeping space smaller, so he feels cocooned, perhaps roll some(4) hand towels(sort of place in a square shape) under his bottom sheet so he touched on all sides but no chance of being smothered by towels. also If you are breast feeding perhaps get a thin sheet or nighty or yours and sleep on it one night then next night use it as bib/mop up cloth whatever so when you do last feed, spill a little onto item that already smell like you and place it whilst still warm into cot so when you put DS down its more body temp in there( no cold sheet). Hope it works its just about tricking those little receptors that let him know he is still safe, and if you are going to sleep he will hear your breathing too. Good luck

is the cot next to your bed? if so do you have side down closest to your bed so he feels like he's still in bed with you?

also have you considered getting a dream mover if the motion of taking him out in the pram gets him to drop off?

dream mover

also do you swaddle him? try spraying a bit of your perfume on his blanket so he can smell you. have you tried a dummy?

also very controversial but my ds would only sleep on his side or tummy - never his back.

Thank you for the tips. It always amazes me that no matter what time one writes on this site, there is someone up too that can give you a reply. I've tried waiting until he is deeper asleep before putting him in the cot but he senses he has been moved and within five minutes he wakes up and cries. I've tried feeding him lying down in our bed and we've both fallen asleep then but, once again, when I move him he wakes up. We have tried warming his bed with a hot water bottle (not hot, just warm) but that hasn't worked either. May try making a little "nest" in his cot using towels and putting a worn tshirt in it. Thanks.

Yes my ds was a side sleeper 10 years ago so we got away with not conforming a little more! I used rolled towels then to balance him on his side without risk of his face being smothered

Tightly swaddling did the trick for us. I also lay mine on their side slightly leaning backwards propped with rolled up towel or sheet.

Having said that, though, they still woke up at night.

Gingercurl, I have one like this atm, it's very hard work.
He is now 6 months and more often than not will have no more than a 5 min nap all day.
It's very tiring, but I've started to accept that he doesn't need so much sleep.
My baby before him now 21 months, still sleeps like Rip Van Winkle, for which I am eternally grateful!

Still, it's early days for you and he might well change!

Hi all, He finally nodded off at 3:35 this morning and slept until just before 8. He was so tired from last night that he fell deeply asleep in my arms about 12:30 so I put him in his cot with my used pillowcase underneath him and a worn t-shirt over him and he has slept since then! WOW!

We have tried swaddling him in the past but that just makes him upset and he cries even louder. He won't sleep on his front but he will sometimes sleep on his side. His cot is at the foot of our bed because it won't fit on the side. Oh, gotta go. He's just woken up again.

i would really recommend cosleeping at this age. if you can get him to fall asleep next to you and moving him is the problem then don't move him.

DS would only sleep in a moving pram at this age as well. Now (at 1 year) he'll happily fall asleep on our bed and doesn't wake up the minute the pushchiar stops moving if we are out. It DOES get easier

Just thought I would check, not sure how long he usually sleeps but glad it worked either way. If you do find it works, then keep it for night time only, so he can differentiate between short sleep times and those time you want him to sleep, in the day time a quick soothing word could settle him, whereas at night you want to be able to sleep soundly, so use the warmth and scent thing then.
Fingers crossed for you

have just seen this thread and am taking all your advice too as am having pretty much the same problem with my ds (12 weeks). only started this week - but lol at sprogger - thats exactly what my ds does too. think he doesnt want to miss anything. will try the scent thing.

Just loads of sympathy from me. Mine's 14 weeks and has been like this for what seems like forever. I gave up and co-slept, so he's feeding to sleep but I'm beyond caring, it makes my life easier so who cares!

It's so dreadfully tedious, to have this screaming baby who's desperate for sleep but can't seem to grasp the concept of closing his eyes ... I feel like I'm being driven slowly mad by infuriation.

Sprogger and conker - we should start a poppy-eyes club. People think I'm mad when I start stuffing DS into the sling fast as I can and mumbling about being able to "see the whites of his eyes too much" ... it's crisis prevention, honestly!