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Original poster

My 7 week old baby d wont sleep

32 replies

liz24 · 24/02/2005 14:27

Hello,

I am new to mumsnet and am looking for help!
My 7 week old baby d will not sleep. If I put her in her moses basket I can guarantee she will only sleep for 40mins and then wake up crying, the only way she will sleep longer is by cuddling her. The longest time I get her to sleep is from 10pm until 2pm (4 hours), she will then have a bottle and then sleep until 4am and will not go back to sleep.When she is awake she is cying unless someone is cuddling her. She never seems to have any time where she is awake and happy.
I am now exhuasted and very stressed as I cannot get anything done during the day and my 3 1/2 year old d is not getting enough attention and is now behaving really badly. Any tips please!!!!

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Jimjams · 24/02/2005 14:39

Does she cry when put on her back? DS2 and ds3 were both like this. I've now put ds3 into one of there and he's sleeping well. Ds2 just would not go his back (didn't have the amby then) and I ended up sleeping him on his side, or propped up on my arm in with me. I think he would have takken well to the hammock.

Jimjams · 24/02/2005 14:40

BTW ds3 is 7 weeks old as well- born 4 Jan. Still not getting sleep as ds1 was up from 1-5am yesterday- but that's a different story!

Original poster

liz24 · 24/02/2005 14:47

hi,

she cries whether she is on her back or side. The only way I can get her to sleep longer than 40 mins is for her to sleep on my chest or if she is in her swing.
How long does your 7 week old sleep for on average? Does he have time when he is awake and happy?

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biglips · 24/02/2005 14:50

we had a similar thread like this one as i bought baba's cot and she wouldnt sleep in it so i put her in a moses basket and she was flat out as the cot mattress is solid hard and the moses basket is soft so baba prefer soft mattress... now she is 4.5 months old, ive taken the soft mattress out of moses basket and put it between the cot's hard mattress and the bed sheet.

biglips · 24/02/2005 15:02

how many hours is baby sleeping during the day and night as mine used to have 4 hours asleep and then she wakes up for a feed.

Jimjams · 24/02/2005 15:05

Ah she sounds like ds2- he would only sleep on my chest (fine to begin with but a nightmare when older). Ds3 is a slightly less extreme version of the same. I think he has reflux as he throws up a lot and is probably uncomfortable on his back- that's partly why I got the hammock - as it was designed for babies with reflux. I now think that ds2 was tghe same as he still has to sleep very propped up age 3.

He does sleep but only in a baby chair or now the hammock (only got it on Monday), or in a sling (upright again). He's fine and happy when sat up but very grumpy and gristly when lying flat. Looking around reflux sites I also mcame across a wedge thing (on a US site) that allows them to sleep more upright. Although must say I love the hammock. I don't think the hammocks casn be returend but I decided to try it out as they fetch a good price on ebay so I figured if he hated it I could get a lot of my money back by selling it on. As it is he's happy as anything in there.

If she is crying a lot, especially when on her back it might be worth asking your HV about reflux/ gaviscon or something. I'm not using it with ds3 because despite throwing up everywhere he is happy when upright and is gaining weight.

WestCountryLass · 24/02/2005 21:48

My DD does not sleep in the day, she never has either. Have you tried putting her in bed with you?

wanda · 24/02/2005 22:26

Liz 24 I do sympathise My DD is now 5 and was exactly as you describe. In fact DD NEVER slept in her moses basket for even 40 mins! I am going to suggest something which may go down like a lead balloon but have you tried a dummy? I finally got dd to take one at three months and it changed my life overnight. I was breasfeeding ( sorry but you dont say whether you are) and never got a minutes peace. DD was my first so I didn't have to cope with a sibling, that said it was bad enough and boy oh boy the dummy saved me. It gets better honest. Thinking of you.

MummytoSteven · 24/02/2005 22:28

how about having her in a sling during the day whilst you do stuff round the house?

Ronniebaby · 24/02/2005 23:01

Hiya Liz24

I have an 8 week old, the way we found to get him to sleep is the swaddle him up, get his celluar blanket, put his arms by his sides and wrap him up, then he cant move thru the night, which is what actually wakes up most babies.

He now has his last feed at 11pm, and sleep thru to anytime between 5.30am - 7am.

We also take some water with us in case he wakes up and give him some of that as he may be thirsty.

He will only sleep for long periods of time on his front, in fact about 4-5 hours. If on his back and not swaddled he only sleeps for 30 mins.

I do sympathise with you.

Try swaddling him or buy a swaddle me, type in a search engine swaddle me or click here swaddle me

MummytoSteven · 24/02/2005 23:02

blooming marvellous also sell the "swaddle me" thingy

Ronniebaby · 24/02/2005 23:04

Soz that site was USA

Here is a UK one Swaddle Me

Original poster

liz24 · 25/02/2005 15:06

Thanks for all your messages.

I am going to try swaddling her tonight to see if that will work. I have given her a dummy which stops her crying for a little while but she pulls it out all the time!
Last night was a good night as she went from 10.30pm til 3am, and then I managed to comfort her in her moses basket without picking her up, and then she fell back to sleep until 5.30am when I gave her a bottle. But after that bottle she would not settle back to sleep. If I put her in bed with us I know she would go back to sleep but I really dont want to start that as when does it stop??
Today I have just put her in her moses basket and when she woke after 40mins I have just put her on her side and patted her bum which seemed to comfort her for 10mins. I just feel so guilty that I am not spending that much time on my 3.5 year old dd and I am missing my time with her, I didnt realise that going from a mum of one to a mum of two would be so difficult!

OP posts:

Jimjams · 25/02/2005 15:22

with ds2 I ended up just taking him into bed with me. It seemed the easiest solution. He's in his own bed now and has been for ages (he's 3 now) in fact he's a dream going to bed and I can't remmeber it being a problem getting him in there. If it works for you don't feel that you shouldn't iyswim. I used to get a lot of grief of busybppdies for doing it but I'm pleased we did as it defintely worked for us.

Jimjams · 25/02/2005 15:23

PS have you looked up reflux sites? the symptoms vary but from the stuff I''ve read it sounds as if your dd could have it. HV's can be quite helpful if it is- I know gaviscon worked wonders for my friend's son.

marbeth · 25/02/2005 15:41

Is she bottle feed or breastfeed.If bottle feeding you could try changing milk to omneo comfort.It is marketed for unsettled babies.I think it is madeby cow and gate.Mothers I know have found it made a feel difference.can be used from birth onwards.

Ronniebaby · 25/02/2005 18:11

Liz24, Excellent that DD slept for you last night

As I said DS2 sleeps thru (ish) when he has his morning feed I put him into bed with us, on his front too,( I feel happier as I can hear him breath and feel him move) I also did this with DS1 and he went into his cot at 5 months and we had no problems with him, in fact when DS1 wakes in the morning, around 8 - 9 am @ weekends, we all get into bed and cuddle, have family time, it's great, then we watch a bit of tv before getting up.

My DH was a bit like you and said if we put DS2 in bed he'll get used to it, as I pointed out its only in the morning from bwtn 5.30 - 8am, it can be dealt with when he's bigger as he'll be asleep in his own bed/cot at six months,& will prob sleep thru to 8am solidly (work pending of course).

As long as they arent with you all night, its then that they get used to it and wont sleep alone, I had a friend who ended up with her DS in bed with her til he was 2 yrs, as he wouldnt sleep alone, due to being in the bed all night.

Go with what you want to, its your child and only you know what they are like.

Good luck with the swaddling, fingers crossed it helps

rich110277 · 26/02/2005 20:45

We are having a similar problem with our new daughter. We are first time parents, and my wife is trying breastfeeding -which we intially thought was going well, but my very uyoung daughter is really strugglinbg with wind and really bad hiccups (I know the hiccups thing sounds soft but you should she her trying to cope when a big one comes!)

As I gather from other messages here, we have recieved contradicting info from midwives (our regular midwife is really uppety - which is really started to upset my wife and annoy me).

I anyone has any good tips re winding a newborn and settling one down to sleep - as a concerned Dad I would very much appreciate it.

Best wishes all

marne · 26/02/2005 21:01

Hi,
Had same problom with my dd who is one now and still not sleeping, Have you tried massage? aparently massaging there feet can help them relax and helps them sleep, tried it on my dd and it made helped a little, I also used infacol which was very good for the wind problom but it takes a few days to kick in, you just pop it into each feed annd it helps bring up the wind usualy in one big burp, you can buy it in most supermarkets. Hope it gets better soon, i found it realy stressful and very upseting when your baby is tierd, in pain and cant sleep. goodluck!

hewlettsdaughter · 26/02/2005 21:09

rich, i posted this on another thread earlier this evening but FWIW I have found this winding position to be helpful.
liz24, it WILL get better! (welcome to mumsnet, by the way)

Blu · 26/02/2005 21:33

Liz - welcome to Mumsnet, and congratulations on your lovely baby.

You know what? if she will sleep in bed with you, that is what i would do. She is still very tiny, enjoy her need to be cuddled and held close, it doesn't last. Muchh too young, IMO , to be worrrying about bad habits and 'when does it stop'? it stops when she has actually got into the habit of having learned what night time is and that it is for sleeping, and it stops when she is old enough to sleep through the night without a feed. For now, you need all the sleep you can get,, and she, apparantly, needs you in order to feel relaxed and sleep. Take the pressure off yourself!

MiriamR · 26/02/2005 21:37

liz24 - swaddling for sleep saved my sanity when ds2 was a young baby. As well as the swaddling, when I knew he was close to sleep - just before the eyes starting to shut -I would put him into his baby chair or moses basket, and if he started to protest, gently pat his bottom and make quite loud shush noises. Seemed to work a treat. The BabyWhisperer book has excellent descriptions of baby's body language and cues they give when tired, hungry etc - only wish I had it for ds1 and gave me the info re patting/shushing. Apparently a common problem at this stage is babies getting overtired and difficulty winding down (I didn't follow all aspects of the book - just the bits that I found made sense - kinda borrowed bits and pieces from all over the place). Ds2 was always a far better sleeper than ds1 and I think that's because I had more info second time around. When I saw ds2 stirring, would try to rush over and pat/shush before he fully woke - sometimes worked.

Rich -we found that holding the baby upright in the air with both hands under his underarms and fingers supporting the back of the head was an excellent position for winding, if all else fails. Tired and windy - being swaddled and put into an almost upright position, so head snuggled against the neck and back gently rubbed and patted sometimes helped.

HTH.

bambi06 · 26/02/2005 21:44

my daughter was always like that and she would only sleep if on front..YES I KNOW ITS A BIG NO NO!!! but heh if i could get some sleep i`ll try anything but also good swaddling does work too but you have to do it so they cant get their hands free as thats what wakes them up as they knock themselves in the face or scratch themselve plus they love the feel of being all cocooned up and secure so good luck and let us know what happens

TiredBunny · 26/02/2005 22:21

My dd didnt really sleep for 4 months and was always crying when she was awake. Holding her under her arms so her legs dropped downand then letting her body relax right into a sitting position got a lot of wind up. Also sitting her on knee and circlng her body and head round helped. A really definate bed routine helped me - same every night without fail and dare I say it.... controlled crying was my saving grace!!! (some people dont agree with it!!)

Ronniebaby · 27/02/2005 15:37

Rich - I sympathise, we found, rub the back as normal, then hold baby and rub the stomach in a upwards position, as if pushing up the wind, then rub the back again and hey presto, you wind will come up. Hope you have luck with all the suggestions.

Liz - any luck with the swaddling etc. Let us know

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