Taking an hour to settle - help

[mrsdelany]

Hi, really hoping for some tips/support. My darling LO is 8 weeks old, sleeps well when asleep (five hours at night) and knows diff bt night and day BUT no matter what sleep we are putting him down for, it takes up to an hour to calm and settle him. I have to start when I first see the yawns, otherwise overtirdness equals mass hysteria, we swaddle then rock until he drops off. He has recently started using a dummy which helps. He will drop off on the boob, but will curl up in pain if we attempt to lie him down without winding. By the time this happens he is wide awake. This is fine in the day bhut the early morning feeds are killing me. Any suggestions? There is no way he would self settle. He arches his back after feeding so wondering if bit of reflux?

hi there

could be reflux, you could try elevating one end of his mattress slightly to see if this helps? DD is 6.5 months and to be honest was the same up until 5 months, we would have to wait until she was in a real deep sleep (up to an hour) before putting her down in cot, and eventually this stopped working as she would wake 30 mins later, upset that I was not there :(. She did actually have reflux, but knowing that did not solve her sleep issues as the gaviscon had little/no effect to be honest...

at its worst we ended up co-sleeping from when I went to bed. DD would feed on her side (me on side too) then when she was doneI would gently roll her on to her back. I NEVER thought I would co-sleep but in the end you do what you have to, to preserve sanity and sleep :)

Now at 6.5 months she self settles in cot at 7, after 10-15 mins of moaning, and at present wakes once for a quick feed around 3. Your LO is very young, I know it feels crap at the moment but this stage will pass soon...