8 week old - Sleep getting worse

[shivawn]

My baby turned 8 weeks old on Tuesday. He's never been a good sleeper but we were getting 2 hour stretches (with one hour awake between them to feed) pretty much since birth which I found manageable. Loads of people told me he would start sleeping longer around 6-8 weeks but the opposite has been true. Although we did have 3 nights in a row in week 7 where he slept for 4 hour stretches at the beginning of the night. The last few nights he has only had one 2 hour stretch all night and the rest of his sleeps have been 30-50 minutes. Usually I haven't even fallen asleep myself yet by the time he wakes up again. He used to wake hungry but now he just wakes kicking and waving his arms around. I normally feed him to sleep (breastfeeding) or my husband rocks him to sleep - neither makes any difference to how long he stays down. We play white noise all night and the room is dark. Room temp is 19-20°.

His daytime sleep is crap but has always been that way. Usually he'll sleep on me for 40 mins or so after each feed but even that only lasts about 10 mins this week. He used to sleep really well in his pram too but again it's 10-15 mins sleeps now.

Is this just a developmental leap that I need to power through? I'm not looking for him to sleep through the night but I'd love to get my 3 two hour sleeps back!

Just to add, he is breastfed but gets a bottle of formula most nights from my husband. He is also a big hungry boy, he was on the 91st percentile at birth and now is around the 99th I think, gaining around 1lb a week.

Did you try a swaddle+dummy? It makes them feel cosy and safe and sucking on dummy helps to fall asleep/get back to sleep after a wake up.

@Dahlia5
He's not a fan of the dummy unfortunately, I've tried all the different brands. I never tried swaddling, do you think its okay to try now or is it too late to start at 8 weeks old?

If he's not showing signs of rolling you can always try and see, if you're already sleep deprived you have nothing to lose
It may take a few nights to get him used to it though. If you're saying he's waving his arms and legs then it could help calm him. I still swaddle at 18 weeks and only now an beginning to transition my lo into sleeping bag.
Mine was the same with dummy rejection, however I persisted for a couple of weeks offering it to him at every nap time and he finally accepted it, it worked a treat for his independent sleep. The Mam dummies worked for us.

It’s torture but it is normal I’m afraid. It will get better

When he wakes kicking his arms about is he actually awake? As in are his eyes open? I thought my LO was 'awake' but she was just being noisy and I spoke to a sleep consultant who says that if it's early morning between 4-5am it's called farm yard hour where a baby's digestive system wakes up and it sounds like they're awake and the legs moving around etc lead you to believe they are but they're sleeping.. I stopped rushing to my baby when she made a noise at this time and she'd then just quiten down!

@testy1997 hmmm I thought he was awake but honestly I was so tired myself that I can't really remember for sure. I did wait about 5 mins before reaching out to him (since he wasn't actually crying) to see if he'd settle. I'll try tonight to be sure he is actually awake before touching him. Thanks x

Have the health visitors given you any advice? Would sage Co sleeping be worth a try? My 9 week old sleeps for much longer if she's with me in bed.

My ds1 hated his Moses basket and slept so much better with me so we did that until he moved into his own room at 5 months. He had a dummy and was swaddled. Try different things and see what works best for you. The first few months can be really hard. Good luck!