How do I get DS ( 6 weeks) to sleep for more than 2 hours?

[InTheZenGarden]

He will sleep for a max of 2 hours, often only one :( When he wakes, he doesn't always seem hungry, but will only settle if he is BF, clearly using me as a dummy (he won't take a real dummy).

I am desperate for some sleep, need more than these short bits!

Any advice gratefully received :)

No advice really, only to say i feel your pain, DD is also 6 weeks and while she sleeps pretty well at night over the last couple of days has been wide awake and fussy ALL DAY! What the hell do you do to entertaine a 6 week old, im exhausted.

Also would love some tips :)

Congrats on your babies, Ladies!!

I wish I could say your LOs will start doing longer stretches of sleep very soon, but this may go on for some time yet.
BUT
You'd be surprised what you can cope with in terms of fragmented sleep. 9 months down the line, I consider 5 hours (total) of broken sleep to be a decent bit of kip and I don't usually even feel tired during the day.
VERY IMPORTANT: Try to go to bed early. Often, the longest stretch a baby will do is in the evening. Try and grab Zs at this time if you can.

Go and check out Dr Karp's 5S baby calming technique, if you haven't already - it really does work and may help you settle your LOs.

If your LO is very sucky, try different dummies - he may go for a variety you haven't tried yet. (But beware: dummies are a mixed blessing...)

Nowt much you can do to entertain a tiny baby except take it out for walks - I know the weather isn't great, but I recommend putting the baby in a sling (ideally - much easier in crappy weather than a pram), getting well wrapped up and taking a few strolls. Tell yourself you're getting some healthy exercise and enjoying the chance to enjoy the countryside/window shopping/people watching etc. etc.

The other good thing is the baby will probably take the opportunity to nap and getting out in the air will often help their sleep at night too.

I'm no expert, but here are some of the things I've picked up in my 9 months of motherhood! Good luck.

Agree with everything IC says above, although if you'd asked me at 6 weeks I would never have believed that I could survive on so little sleep and feel tired as little as I do.

The sling is your friend in the daytime and may be the most likely way to get them to nap.

6-8 weeks is when unsettledness is supposed to peak so hopefully things will improve a bit in the day, even if not at night.

Are you co-sleeping? If not, I'd definitely recommend it. It doesn't stop the waking, but it does mean that (a) you don't have to get out of bed and (b) your sleep cycles synchronise with your baby's so that you're never woken out of a deep sleep by a crying baby. :)

Thank you ladies for taking the time to reply :) Not thrilled that this may be the status quo for a while to come, but certainly good to hear that you are coping well with this level of sleep :)
He is in a sling during the day, he will not be put down... and falls asleep easily and quickly in it :)
We have been co-sleeping, out of necessity rather than choice, as he refused to go down in basket. For the last 2 nights I have been trying to get him into his basket, not with much success. When we co-sleep, he will usually only fall asleep with my boob in his mouth, which seems a terrible habit to be in. Keen to try to break these habits sooner rather than later. I wonder if this is why he wakes so often? The boob is so close, he just has a quick drink little and often ... was hoping being in the basket, he wouldn't smell the milk, so might be more settled?
Will try basket again tonight, but am so tired, I know I will pull him in with me at the first sign of trouble!
One step of progress - he has just slept on DH for 3 hours - the longest sleep he's had - and I slept too, longest sleep I've had for ages too! :)
Fingers crossed for tonight :)

Have you tried giving him some expressed milk in a bottle at all? Only ask as one thing I found great as my dd only went two hours between feeds was if I fed her, then went to bed leaving dp to do the feed about 11. It gave me just that extra bit of sleep which really helped. She is 12 weeks now,and whilst still 2 hourly in the day is now 3-4 hours at night. Also, if you're not already doing it, sleep/lay down when he does in the day - I have a 3 year old too, so didn't have the opportunity! It does improve after 6 weeks usually, and a bit more after 12- both key growth spurt times.

InTheZenGarden - no problem with feeding to sleep for as long as you want to. All babies grow out of it and learn to self-settle eventually. Of course, if you want to encourage that, there are books like the No-Cry Sleep Solution which may be helpful. Just wanted to say, though, only do it if you want to, not because someone tells you you should.

It's so tough in the early weeks.

Sounds pretty normal tbh. It will improve.

I agree about the co-sleeping - needs must and all that. You will get more sleep.

Also, remember you are not a dummy - you are the real thing! But if you feel a dummy might save your sanity, then most bfing organisations recommend minimum of 6 weeks which you are at now. Your babay is still really wee and feels the need to be close to you at all times, which, when you think about it, makes sense from a caveman-safety point of view.

Kellymom is a fab website. Great evidence based bfing info. Does tend to the lentil-weaver end of the parenting spectrum which isn't everyon's cup of tea (though it is mine, secodn time round!) but there is fab info and advice there.

Ds1 loved the sling. Ds2 never really took to it, so borrow one if you can. Ds 2 loves being out and about in the pram though and even at that young age would be more settled out in the hustle and bustel than he was in the quiet of home.

Sleep deprivation is tough, especially first time round. I don;t think we are prepared for it. I know I wasn't!

Good luck.

Oh, and feeding to sleep is FANTASTIC. A very useful calming tool for babies of all ages.

Having had one 'good' sleeper and one awful one, I personally agree withthe assertion that self-settling is a developmental stage, not something that can be forced. Ds1 was able to do it early on. I dout ds2 will be able to do it before 2yrs!

cant really add anything other than my solidarity

Also at the 6 wk stage- thought we were getting somewhere but now DS has reflux (mainly at night) which is making nights a (no pun intended) nightmare. I'm trying to restrict his feeds a little (he's Bf) to limit the out of nose vomiting, but then he's hard to settle because he's not really full. Seeing paeditrician on Sat so hoping she might be able to give me something for it.

It just really upsets me to hear him gulping ad choking to try to control it - the panic in his little eyes had me in tears last night. We're both sat there in the nursery at 4am covered in sick and crying- what a perfect vision of motherhood!

Thank you ladies :) Hophop - am impressed that you have the time to express when you have a 3 year old. I have a 2.5 yo DD and no way can I express. Hard enough feeding DS, I have to read stories to DD whenever I feed. And he has most naps in the sling so can't do it then. Am trying to get him into the basket for these, so maybe that'll be possible soon.
Nicky - he loves the sling, as did DD, it is a life saver!
Anyway, an update - he slept for 2 hours in his basket this evening, but every time I put him down again (after a feed) he wakes after 45 mins, which I seem to remember from DD is one cycle. He doesn't seem to be able to stay asleep/go back to sleep - any tips?
:)

No tips, sorry. Just sympathy. DS was the same - 45min naps until about 6 months, then he started to sleep for an hour or more at a time. Pretty much the same at night. He was just a really light sleeper - the only thing that saved us was co-sleeping so that I could shush and pat him back to sleep without waking up each time. Life started to pick up at 1, and he was sleeping through at 18mo.

I didn't believe it at the time but it's a phase and it will pass.

I'm not expressing at the moment, but when I did, I used a an electric medela I bought off ebay - after having a manual pump last time, I was amazed at how much easier/quicker it was. The secret was cbeebies while I did it! I hope he settles easier soon, I will say that dd2 seems easier at 12 than 6 weeks, or maybe you just get used to it! It's the other one I have trouble with - she's at prime tantrum age!