Newborn fighting sleep

[Bxxth]

My little girl is 6 weeks old, for the past few weeks she’s been fighting her sleep to the point where she’s awake for 4-5 hours at a time and is utterly exhausted. She’s always been very alert from birth and whilst I love interacting with her, it’s difficult for me to engage her in things like tummy time because she’s so unsettled and tired. I’ve tried to stick to wake windows and prevent overstimulation but nothing seems to help her settle off to sleep and if she does manage to fall asleep she’ll wake within 10 minutes or so. I follow her cues as best I can and start winding down with her as soon as I notice them, if she does start to doze off she’ll wake up crying, I resettle her and it’s a repeated cycle.

My baby is exclusively breastfed and I’ve excluded dairy from my diet as advised by the GP because we believe she has CMPA. I don’t know whether the discomfort from this is what’s unsettling her as I know it can take up to 6 weeks for the symptoms to clear.

I’m a first time mum and I just can’t help but feel like I’m doing something wrong, it’s hard to see my baby so unsettled, upset and exhausted. Is it possible for newborns to be chronically overtired/stuck in an overtired cycle? Has anyone had similar experiences? Or is this just normal newborn stuff and I’m reading into it too much?!

6 weeks is peak colic/fussy/crying for hours stage.

I remember feeling a horrible panic around 4pm, knowing I have an evening of uncontrollable crying ahead of me, from 7/8pm to midnight.

Going outside helped. I put him in the carrier on my chest and go for a walk late at night. It really really helped. It was the only thing that settled him.

Also walking up and down the stairs singing.

Otherwise, just grin and bear. It goes away by 10-12 weeks.

My son also had/has CMPA. Stopping dairy helped resolve his other symptoms (severe reflux and eczema) but did nothing for the crying or the sleep. He was a poor sleeper until well after 1.

Swaddling for naps helped; walks in the pram; contact naps; sending DP out with the baby in the carrier (I couldn't baby wear because I had a bad back from the end of the pregnancy and baby screamed even harder for milk when that close to me). I also used a dummy from four weeks, which I didn't think would help but was actually a godsend. Got rid of dummies around 5.5 months when they became more of a problem than a help.

We swaddled DD because she would wave her arms around and wake herself up. It also soothed her as she was falling asleep.

Perfectly normal and nothing wrong. Take a breath.

Happens during this time so no need to think anything is wrong.

How are you trying to get her to sleep?

Are you lying her on you face forward and letting her sleep on you?

Mine spent the first 5 months of their lives like this. Then I could transfer to a flat surface after they were in a deep sleep by laying them down then gradually removing the pressure of my body from them as I got up.