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Parenting

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Baby won’t sleep for more than 15mins.

24 replies

Mrwilsonswife · 06/11/2023 00:36

Please help, I’m literally at my wits end. My daughter is 8 weeks old and absolutely nothing soothes her at night. She will nap on and off during the day and it’s impossible to keep her awake but come night time she will not stop crying. I’ve tried everything, she’s on prescription milk because the doctor suspected a milk allergy, she doesn’t have wind or reflux, the doctor has given us everything under the sun to try but nothing works. She just cry’s and cry’s and maybe settles for 10mins then is back to crying. She doesn’t seem to be uncomfortable or in pain but just cry’s constantly until she’s picked up. I’m so so exhausted, my husband and I have been taking nights each on the couch so we can try at get some sleep, I have other children with additional needs and am struggling to look after them during the day I’m so exhausted. No family members will take her as they can’t handle the constant crying. I can feel the depression sinking in, I’ve bought everything that’s supposed to help, total darkness, white noise absolutely nothing makes a difference. Any advice will be so appreciated I’m so so drained.

OP posts:
Rockchick1984 · 06/11/2023 00:57

Have you tried Co-sleeping? It’s not for everyone, but my youngest would only settle with me, it was the only way I ever got any sleep.

SausageMonkey2 · 06/11/2023 00:57

What alternative milk is she on?

Mrwilsonswife · 06/11/2023 01:07

She’s on aptamil pepti

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Mrwilsonswife · 06/11/2023 01:19

She’ll sleep on my chest but as soon I stop shoogling her she wakes up again, she won’t lie next to me. I find it impossible to sleep when she’s in bed with me also. I work one on one with a girl who has disabilities from an accident cosleeeping and although I know it was such a rare thing & thousands of women cosleep it’s still always in the back of my mind.

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justanothermanicmonday1 · 06/11/2023 01:25

Hi OP.

Maybe the milk she's having just isn't working for her.

Have you tried being prescribed Omeprozol? Your DC sounds very similar to mine and she's now 14 weeks and sleeps 6-7 hours at a time at night and only waking for one feed.

We had an horrific start with her. Wouldn't settle, wouldn't sleep. Was just awful then I pushed for Omeprozol to at least try and it worked within a few days.

ApplesinmyPocket · 06/11/2023 01:49

"She doesn’t seem to be uncomfortable or in pain but just cry’s constantly until she’s picked up."

So pick her up. She's telling you she needs to be near you or on you to feel safe and to sleep.

We seem to have moved into a mindset in the UK where co-sleeping with tiny babies, so normal in humans all over the world, is thought of as weird or wrong or unusual?

Just look through the Sleep section on here and the phrase 'my baby won't sleep unless on me' comes up over and over and over, like it's somehow a strange phenomenon and needs a complicated fix.

This is NORMAL for tiny babies.

coxesorangepippin · 06/11/2023 01:50

Does she have a dummy??

Guibhyl · 06/11/2023 02:02

At 8 weeks neither of mine would sleep independently. They still needed to be held pretty much the entire time whether awake or asleep. During the day just wear her in the sling and she can nap in there between feeds.

Am I right in thinking that aptamil pepti still contains cows milk? If so you could ask to try nutramigen or similar.

OurChristmasMiracle · 06/11/2023 02:25

Have you tried a baby sleeping bag. I found neither of mine liked to go from my warm arms to the cold cot

justanothermanicmonday1 · 06/11/2023 02:29

I also suggest baby wearing. This helped me massively especially with having a toddler as well.

AutumnVibes · 06/11/2023 02:46

I second the suggestion of asking for Nutramigen. The hydrolysed cows milk formula didn’t work for mine, they needed the amino acid one. Might not be CMPA, but since you’re trying everything, it’s worth a go.

LadyCuntington · 06/11/2023 03:08

Ask your nanny to take on some of the brut while you rest and then you'll be fresher to start again

Janefx40 · 06/11/2023 03:32

@Mrwilsonswife it's so tough isn't it? We had to co-sleep because of this (there's no choice because if they really have to be held all night, eventually you fall asleep anyway in whatever position you are in). In the early days we slept with a complex system of pillows allowing me to sleep upright safely whilst holding the baby. We're now at 6 months and we mostly lie down together tho I'm sitting up now holding him. It is super tough and I know it feels like forever but your baby is still very young at 8 weeks. It will get better xxx

NatMoz · 06/11/2023 03:43

LadyCuntington · 06/11/2023 03:08

Ask your nanny to take on some of the brut while you rest and then you'll be fresher to start again

Are you a troll keeping up with your username? 🤣

I laughed but come on! This is a serious thread.

I'd be going spare

Mrwilsonswife · 06/11/2023 08:53

And at what point did I say I don’t pick her up? She is in my arms constantly, but as I explained I can’t sleep if she’s lying on me, neither did I say I’m looking for some “crazy fix” I wrote a message exhausted and defeated at 1am. It baffles me how other mothers can be so cold & lack empathy. If you think a baby in your arms for 24 hours a day is sustainable then I envy your life.

OP posts:
Mrwilsonswife · 06/11/2023 08:58

Thank you for the replies, it’s so appreciated! The doctor wants us to try and pepti for 4 weeks before he’ll consider trying the other milk. She’s on omeprezol because he suspected silent reflux but this so far hasn’t made any difference after 2 weeks. I love my baby, but those long nights are exhausting. I have to wake up at 6am to prepare feeds/meds for my other child and I feel like a zombie. Things are just really tough just now.

OP posts:
Isthisexpected · 06/11/2023 09:02

It can take time. I won't suggest you do anything other than continue shifts with your partner. So many things going on at once here so you need to not change too much at once.

WowOK · 06/11/2023 09:03

Have you tried cranial osteopathy? It made my niece instantly more comfortable.

Mrwilsonswife · 06/11/2023 09:06

There is a lot isn’t there🤣 he works long shifts and drives a lot so he does weekends I do weekdays. Think it’s just going to be a waiting game. (Which is much easier to accept at 9am as opposed to 1am) 🤣

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Mrwilsonswife · 06/11/2023 09:07

I haven’t heard of that, I’ll look into it. Thank you!

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Oscar5 · 06/11/2023 09:13

This sounds really tough. You’ve probably tried all these, but just in case, these are the things that worked (to some extent!) for us: baby in a fairly tight sleeping bag, white noise machine on loud, making sure they were the right temperature (some babies seem to feel hot/ cold more than others), being in a small Moses basket rather than a cot, sleeping on a sheet that I’d had in bed the previous night (so it smelt like me), and getting outside during the day to help set his body clock. Really hope things improve for you soon.

gotmychristmasmiracle · 06/11/2023 09:17

My little one was like this so exhausting, but she had colic. I wore her round the house to try and get jobs done and I literally had to sleep when she slept. She was my only child and I had a c section so couldnt move to much in the beginning anyway and I got a cleaner in, I know, a huge luxury but was needed. I used to get grandparents round in the day to hold her and I would go to bed or take a bath. My partner and I somehow survived till 6 months and I thought she knows I am not going anywhere time for sleep training and managed to get her to sleep through in a couple of weeks, we were all so much happier for the sleep. You will know when the time is right to help her with her sleep, maybe start looking up sleep
Schedules for 8 week old babies and see if you can see any patterns. I know you are totally sleep deprived but if you could start writing down her sleep and awake times and see if there is any correlation on a day to day basis when she usually sleeps so you can start putting her down awake and should nicely fall asleep 🤞. Keep going things will get better Xx

gotmychristmasmiracle · 06/11/2023 09:23

Just read your other reply re reflux, sounds like colic. Only thing that helped was colief, it's expensive but worked. Also the colic hold helped also, just put it in YouTube and it will show you how to hold the baby to give relief also. Also bouncing to baby shark made her go to sleep also, I removed from 9pm- 1am all she did was cry 😢 so upsetting, just remember this isn't your fault and she will get through it and never even remember it! Just traumatic for parents Xx

Superscientist · 06/11/2023 10:01

Nutramigen mentioned above is another extensively hydrolysed formula. You will probably have to try a second one before trying an amino acid formula. The amino acid formulas are neocate, alfamino and puramino.

If they also suspect reflux you might need a thickener with the formula. The hypoallergenic formulas are thinner than regular formulas so can trigger reflux. You can get gaviscon on prescription or there are some you can buy yourself I think there is carobel, magic mix and thick and easy. We have only used gaviscon though. It can cause constipation, it made a big difference to my daughter but did make her very constipated so we needed a stool softener too

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