Help with 10 Week Old night sleep

[PinkRita]

Hi,

My DS is 10 weeks and has yet to sleep longer than 5 hours at night. We have a loose routine in place where he is given a bath at around 7/7.30pm then dressed and fed in a dark room and put to sleep in his moses basket. He will then usually sleep from 8.30 / 9pm until around 2am when he wakes for a feed. He will then waske again around 5.30, 7 and then gets up at 9am.
I was using the SShh pat method after feeding him to help himm go to sleep and then putting him in his moses once he was deep asleep but my HV has said I should not do this as his waking in the night could be because he cannot self soothe.
The last couple of nights I have tried to put him in the moses drowsy but he seems to become wide awake as soon as he hits the pillow. How do I go about helping him to self soothe or is it just to young?
I'm not willing to let him cry as I believe he is too young to use a cry to manipulate just yet. But he won't settle again in the night unless he is fed. He easily goes back in the moses after feeding.

I keep hearing stories from other mums of their babies sleeping for 12 hours straight, however I would just love to lose the 2am feed and all would be well.

he is 10 weeks old. he NEEDS to feed at night

you're incredibly lucky he only wakes once!

Hi Hun

I have a 9 week old, and mine is doing pretty much the same as yours - feed at 10.30, feed at 3.30, then up at 7am. I think it's pretty normal. However, my first baby was through the night at 8 weeks, so I keep expecting DD2 to be doing the same, or at least doing a longer stretch, say from 10.30 til 4-5am. But she isn't and it's soooooo frustrating - so I feel your pain and know where you're coming from.

But, DD2 was a pound lighter at birth so I keep telling myself not to compare apples to oranges.

The good news is, that you're doing everything right - the dark room, the bed-time routine etc. DON'T deviate from this. If you keep it up and keep it consistent it'll pay huge dividends, because as soon as he is developmentally ready to sleep through, he will.

Sounds like, like mine, he's just not ready to sleep through. If he's waking in the night and he won't re-settle he's probably needing the calories he's getting from a feed. If he's settling and going straight back to sleep after a feed, then it shows that you've given him what he needs.

I try to look on the bright side and think that the more milk I'm getting into her, no matter what time of day or night, the faster she'll gain weight and the faster she'll sleep through!

He's only 10 weeks! Of course he's going to want a feed in the night. Ds (18 weeks) still feeds once a night and is only just getting into a sleep routine. He also only learnt to self settle last week. Before that he always needed me to settle him.

can i just ask something? my little one is 15weeks old and she still needs to be swaddled. have you tried growbags yet? just wondering as she is almost too big for swaddle but still flaps her arms about.

she sleeps through from 9-10pm through to 6:30-7am!
but early evening is just a no no for her.

Mine is 9 weeks and she hates gro-bags. Will only be really tightly swaddled or she won;t settle. DD1 was out of her swaddle at 10wks and into a gro bag with no probs. I can;t see that happening with dd2 though!! They are all different I guess.

You can buy something called a 'swaddle graduate' from mothercare which is a cross between a gro-bag and a swaddle. I tried my little one in it, but she wriggled free. But I'll try it in another few weeks when her moro reflex calms down a bit. Might fit the bill for your little one though, as she's a bit older. Either that, or you could swaddle her in a cot sheet 'double burrito' style (look on you tube to see how it's done) if she won't settle.

Good lord, never thought I'd know as much about bloody swaddling as I do now I've got a 'houdini' baby!!

lol thanks, i bought a miracle blanket and its been great but she's a long baby. so i think a trip to mothercare at weekend is on the cards. thanks

Thanks everyone, I find it much more useful to listen to mums on here than the HV generally.

I thought he was a bit young to be manipulating and learning bad habits so will just continue as I am and hopefully he will sleep longer of his own accord.

@luvlybunchofcoconuts - I found that DS would not settle in moses until we started using gro-bags. He didn't like swaddling at all as he waves his arms and legs a lot. A gro-bag is great for him as he has freedom to move but still enclosed in a warm space.

Hmm, my 8 week old is following the same pattern - asleep around 9 and then wakes around 1 or 2, and again at 4-5. Nice to get confirmation that this seems to be about normal.