5 week old sleeping

[sophi1207]

Hi everyone. I have a little boy who was 5 weeks old yesterday. He has never once slept in his next to me and at night he will only sleep either in my arms or sometimes he will sleep in the bed next to me but will wake every few minutes and stir and I have to shush him back to sleep.

I know that this is very normal as he is still so young but it does mean I am getting very little sleep. Do I just keep trying to put him in his crib and one day it will just get better? I do white noise, have tried swaddling which sometimes he lets me sometimes he fights.

My partner is sleeping in the spare room as he works long shifts and would love for our little one to go into his crib and him to come back to bed. Thank you x

"Do I just keep trying to put him in his crib and one day it will just get better?"

Yes, that's what happened with me. I was in the same situation with DS who is now 5 months. He would not settle in the next-to-me crib so during the week we co slept while DH slept in spare room. He would only sleep on my chest which was v stressful - I got very little sleep. At weekends we tried putting him in the crib and took turns trying to settle him, but it never worked until... at around 10 weeks things suddenly got better. We started getting 2-3 hour stretches at the start of the night in his crib, and things steadily improved from there. We're now in a pretty good place with sleep - DS sleeps from 7pm til 6am with 2 wake-ups.

We tried everything in those early weeks to get him to sleep in his crib, but in the end it was just time which sorted it and him coming out of the 4th trimester. So hang in there... you'll get there!!

Yep just keep trying and sleep in the day when he sleeps - first few weeks are just about survival. We tried your top in the bottom of his next to me for your smell, white nose etc/ but tbh I think it just takes time. Good luck OP!

Thank you both! I think I just needed to hear that it takes time and others have been in the same situation x

I found that mine took to a moses basket better as obviously less space, if you have one you could try the moses instead? You could even put the moses basket inside the next to me crib, we did this to transition him.

I’m afraid I gave up and just coslept. Got a bed guard and did the safe 7 for cosleeping. Then started putting him in his own cot (in his own room) just under 6 months old for the first part of the night, then when I gave up getting him back in his cot he would come in with us. Still do that now but it’s usually only 2am-6am in our bed. He loves his cot bless him now. You’ll find a way, it’ll work itself out! Enjoy your lovely little baby and get your sleep whichever way you can (safely of course)

We found DC wouldn't sleep in the next to me at first too so put Moses basket in the next to me for a couple months then transitioned into the next to me. I think the next to me was too big when he was so little but he soon started to fill it out and sleep in it

I found the same as others, he just felt a bit lost in the crib but he hated the basket! I got a purflo sleep nest which really helped but they aren’t endorsed by the lullaby trust, just so you know.