3 week old who doesn't seem to sleep

[Joannezipan]

Hi all,

My baby is 3 weeks old today and he doesn't seem to sleep very much. After he feeds he drops off, but never into a deep sleep and only ever for about 10-15 mins. Then he wakes and either starts crying/grizzleing or just stares at the world. I thought babies this age were supposed to sleep nearly all the time? I have to admit the lack of naps combined with long (3 hours from waking to sleeping) night feeds is just about killing me. Any advice?

Thanks J

Hi,

I had this problem with my DS (now 18 weeks). The excellent advice I was given on here was that he was overtired, so too tired to sleep - babies of that age can only really stay comfortably awake for 45 minutes - 1.5 hours. Even now, he manages 2 hours tops, but usually only 1.5 hours. Short naps are a classic sign of being too tired to sleep.

So you need to get him to sleep within that time. In our case, we could only manage it by wearing DS in a sling most of the day. Being attached to me seemed to make him feel secure enough to sleep.

hth

Oh - just to add that he would also sometimes sleep on top of me, whilst I was lying down, so I could nap a little with him. We still do our long morning nap that way.

My dd1 was similar. Swaddling and slings were the only things that helped.

Thanks for the advice ladies, I'll give getting him to nap on top of me a go this afternoon. Apologies for the delay in replying, life seems very busy with a tiny baby!