Sleep for a three month old

[rosierosa]

Hello,

My 11 week old daughter is so tricky to get to sleep. I thought i'd cracked it with getting her off swaddled, but she's started to break out of it. I've tried three different types of blankets to no avail. I used to be able to rock her to sleep, but now she;'s got wise to itl. I've started putting her into more of a routine and trying the sssh patting (Tracy Hogg). But still it does n't always work, or i'll get her off and she'll sleep for twenty minutes, that is normally when i've put her in the moses basket asleep, so i wonder if that's because she wakes up thinking, eh where am i? It can take hours to get her settled and i wondered if anyone had any really good tips onm self settling and sleep generally? I feel a bit like i'm not doing a good enough job when i can't get her to sleep. I think she might be starting to teeth so maybe that's it? Any tips would be really appreciated. PS i've tried her on a dummy for ages and she won't take it. She's exclusively breastfed.

Thank you x

Hi rosie,

Same here. I'm surviving by feeding to sleep (see thread "feeding to sleep- is it really that bad?").

Didn't want to be doing this but it's the only thing that works and I don't want to let DD2 cry.

Trying to hang on to the fact that this is just a brief phase...

We managed to crack napping for about a week. The way we did it is one day I sat and bounced DD2 in her hammock for an hour while she cried till she fell asleep :(

However after that she either when down without a peep or with just a 5 minute protest. I also put white noise on.

However that's gone tits us this week for some reason. If we go out in the morning and she doesn't get a proper sleep it seems to make the afternoon worse.

I had months and months of trouble getting my LO to sleep. I used to spend about 40 mins every nap..feeding, swaddling, rocking ,singing...and then all again and again and again. It was very stressful. I introduced a comforter which helps now. Some babies just find it difficult to get to sleep and self soothe...so rosie, you are doing a good enough job!!!! After months of stress and never ever having any time I went down the route of controlled crying(although frowned apon by many). It worked briliantly. I did this when she was at 6 months though! NOw at nine months, I never worry, I just put her down in her cot with her comforter and leave her to get on with it...She doesn't cry or anything just plays or sings to sleep. I didn't want to do Cc but I was at the end of my tether. I think you shouldn't do it til 6 months though...at the mo just try different methods. I find white noise like the sound of the sea( or even a detuned radio/hoover/hair dryer can work, yes I was desperate)

Best of luck!!!!

My DS is around the same age. I have trained him to associate swaddling (firmly wrapped, not loose) and white noise with sleep. He will go to sleep by himself if he is swaddled and white noise is playing loudly. I bought a sleepsheep soft toy on Amazon - it plays white noise. It works very well for DS. There are white noise CDs for sale on Amazon or you could just put your radio to play static. The trick with white noise is that it needs to be loud to recreate the noise baby is used to hearing in the womb.

I feed DS to sleep in the evenings and if he won't sleep. Never caused any problems with DD1 and DD2 and I do whatever is needed to get sleep.

All children are different - some fall ssleep easier than others - but swaddling, white noise and sucking (dummy or thumb) are all conducive to sleep. Good luck and hope you get some good sleep soon.

I think at 11 weeks she's still a bit young to be self settling, DS is only just starting to get the knack at 14 weeks, and it's very hit and miss. Up till now he's been feeding / walking / driven or rocked and sung to sleep. Oh and it's co-incided with him finally deciding dummies are not the work of the devil, so keep perservering with the dummy (have you tried different ones, he only likes the cherry teat ones)

We hve been through the same of them waking up after 20 mins in basket, or even less! I think you need to wait longer tahn you think to transfer them over in to the basket.

Good luck :)

Our DS is the same - at the moment he will only fall asleep if we swaddle him tightly and rock him in front of a detuned radio.

His sleep (especially his naps) went tits up this week, but am wondering whether it was his 12-week growth spurt (he's now 12 weeks and 1 day) so maybe see whether things improve in a couple of days. He's been a bit better today.

As someone pointed out above, the white noise needs to be quite loud. We leave it on during his sleeps but turn it down when he falls into a deep sleep.

Are you sitting with him for 20 mins after you put him down? It apparently takes 20 mins for a newborn to fall into a deep sleep. We sit next to him with a hand on his tummy until his breathing becomes imperceptible. He is far less likely to wake prematurely if we do this.

He has also become far easier to settle at night after we introduced a proper bedtime routine - feed, bath, massage, PJs, feed in darkened room, sleep. He will now sleep consistently for 3 hours from early evening to around 10/11pm. His naps and night wakings are still a struggle though and I get very frustrated so I do sympathise. He also won't take a dummy which would make life SO much easier!

Does he sleep in the pram at all? DS has suddenly decided he will fall asleep in there after weeks of refusing to. He cries a bit before he drops off but if I keep him moving will stay asleep for an hour or more. I do one of his naps like that most days as it provides a break from the endless rocking.

Sorry, meant will she sleep in the pram ...

I'm with you re the feeding to sleep, it seems to be the only thing that works. I try putting her down when she's semi awake, so she does n't wake up and think eh, what's going on? good luck and here's to some sleep!

Thank you! where did you get the white noise from? LB is the same, if we go out in the arvo it's so difficult to get her to sleep and also the following morning, it's really tricky as you do want to be able to leave the house! I read somewhere you should spend two weeks setting a routine up, but i don't know if i can stay in for that long! good luck!

Thank you, am glad i'm not alone> it@s crazy how long it can take to get them off and then hey presto, they are up again. will try those tips though,

Thank you very much, that toy sounds great< i will give it ago. She won't take a dummy, but has just found her thumb, so here's hoping.

Thank you, i wonder if she had a growth spurt early, as the naps have been so tough. that could explain it. Do you know how often they happen. It's such a relief to know that other people have been through this too, my best mate has a baby which goes down so quickly and it makes me feel like i'm not doing a good job when she doesn;t go down.

If you have an iphone or ipod touch you can get a really good white noise app. Mine has loads of options like a cat purring, or wind turbines, but I like sound of the amazon